Give Me Liberty: The Struggle for Self-Government in VirginiaWertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson
History
Give Me Liberty: The Struggle for Self-Government in Virginia
Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson
Virginia -- Politics and government -- To 1775
But Henry turned to the ministers seated before him and denounced them
and the rest of the clergy in blazing words for trying to triple their
salaries at the expense of the people. "Do they manifest their zeal in
the cause of religion and humanity by practicing the mild and benevolent
precepts of the Gospel of Jesus?... Oh no! Gentlemen. Instead of feeding
the hungry and clothing the naked these rapacious harpies would ...
snatch from the hearth of their honest parishioner his last hoe-cake,
from the widow and her orphaned child their last milch-cow."[16] At this
the ministers got up and left the room. When the jury brought in a
verdict of one penny damages, the throng shouted their approval. Strong
arms lifted Henry aloft and bore him out of the courthouse.
Henry's contention in essence was that the people of the colonies had a
right to govern themselves. And in this he was but finding legal
arguments for the existing state of affairs. The Assembly, after a
century and a half of battling with Kings and Governors, had made itself
to all intents and purposes supreme. In annulling the Two-penny Act the
King crossed lances with the representatives of the people and had come
off second best. The jury, sitting in the little country courthouse,
under the urging of an obscure lawyer, had defied him. Thus, two years
before the Stamp Act, Virginia inaugurated the policy of resistance.
Most of Henry's arguments were borrowed from the Carter and Bland
pamphlets, but whereas they pleaded, he secured positive action. In so
far as the Two-penny Act was concerned, the King's veto power was
annulled.
Bland summed up the constitutional argument behind this action in a
pamphlet written at the time of the trial but published only eight
months later. "Under an English government all men are born free, are
only subject to laws made by their own consent.... If then the people of
this colony are free born, and have a right to the liberties and
privileges of English subjects, they must necessarily have a legal
constitution, that is a legislature, composed in part of the
representatives of the people, who may enact laws for the INTERNAL
government of the colony, ... and without such a representative I am
bold to say no law can be made."[17]
But the stubborn Mr. Camm was determined not to give up. In April, 1764,
his cause came up in the General Court after a delay of five years. The
case against him was argued by Robert Carter Nicholas, who claimed that
when the Governor had approved a law it was legal, even though in so
doing he broke his instructions. A majority of the court[18] were
convinced and voted that the Two-penny Act of 1758 was valid despite the
King's veto.[19] Camm appealed the case to the Privy Council. It came
up in 1767, and was thrown out on a technicality. In this way they
avoided giving further offense to the colony without admitting the
validity of their claims.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account