Samuel Davies, protected by compliance with the Act of Tolerance, came to Virginia when but twenty-three years of age and immediately went to work establishing churches. He appeared before the Virginia committee which under a show of compliance with the law, licensed as few non-conformist ministers as was possible; and from that body procured licenses for several ministers and permits to establish several churches in new territory. In the General Court of Virginia, where he was forced to appear; he argued that not only inherently but by the Act of Toleration, applicants for the ministry must be granted the power and place to preach. In this he was opposed by Peyton Randolph, then attorney general for the colony, and though he lost the case was said to have had the better of the argument. He procured from the attorney general of the Mother Country an opinion to the effect that the English law of Toleration, somewhat broader than the colonial, was applicable to, and the law of, the colony. Eventually his fight procured for Presbyterians a liberal interpretation of the Act. He was always careful to declare that his opposition was not to the Church of England but the clergy, expressing himself “as not against the peculiar rights and ceremonies of the English Church, much less against their excellent articles; but against the general strain of the doctrine delivered from the pulpit, in which their articles were opposed or not mentioned.” His was a fight, not only for religious liberty, but for the supremacy of Christ in the church, the authenticity of the Bible, equal rights under the law for all denominations and individual right to freedom of conscience. Because of his work, peace would have prevailed between all confessors of the Trinity and laws curtailing religious freedom would have been annulled; had not the Tidewater clergy bestirred themselves and fanned to flame the last expiring embers of intolerance in Virginia. He died in 1761; at the time head of what is now Princeton University, having succeeded Jonathan Edwards as president. After Davies’ efforts ended, other influences at work ultimately brought about the result. The non-conformists through immigration, natural causes and religious teachings, grew rapidly in strength and influence and became aggressive. Presbyterian ministers no longer thought of applying in person at the capital, Williamsburg, for license and location as required under the Act, but preached the word of God “wherever duty and conscience inspired them.” This was particularly true in the remoter settlements west of the Blue Ridge. The French-Indian war was highly favorable to the growth of religious liberty. The non-conformist frontier settlements stood as a barrier to Indian invasion and bore the brunt of the struggle. Tidewater, Virginia, felt grateful towards the Presbyterians and for that reason was inclined to give a liberal construction to the Act.