July 5th 1774 George Washington and others from Fairfax County met in Alexandria to appoint a committee to draft a statement that would, as Washington described it, “define our Constitutional Rights”. The Committee of Safety, as they were called, were formed all over the colonies and were made up of several prominent Fairfax residents, they became the shadow government that took control of the colonies away from the royal officials who because increasingly helpless.
In researching the Fairfax Resolves I noticed that most online documents only include the first 24 Resolves and not the 25th. I found the complete copy of the Fairfax Resolves at Gunston Hall (home of George Mason). The original is at the Library of Congress. Resolve 25 is one of the most import (well to me at least), it is a list of all the people on the committee who signed the resolves.
Siblings William Payne Jr and Edward Payne were among George Washington and George Mason who signed the Fairfax Resolves.
In the heat of late July, 1774, two prominent citizens of Fairfax County make their way to Williamsburg to attend an outlaw convention. George Washington and Charles Broadwater carry with them the “resolves” detailing Fairfax County’s opposition to the most recent actions of British Crown and Parliament. The “Fairfax Resolves” were a small but significant part of the drama that paved the way for the uniting of Britain’s American colonies and ultimately the Colonies’ declaration of independence from England in 1776.
1774 had been a turbulent year in the Colonies. Reacting to the Boston Tea Party and the growing revolutionary fervor in Massachusetts, the British closed the Port of Boston, dissolved the Massachusetts legislation and instituted a series of measures that became known as the Intolerable Acts as punishment. Outraged at the treatment of Massachusetts, the Virginia House of Burgesses formally protested the Boston Port Act which closed Boston to all shipping. The royal governor promptly dissolved the House to express British displeasure that Virginia dared to support its northern neighbor and question the actions of the Crown.
Deciding not to retire meekly, the now dispossessed members of the House decided to hold a convention of Virginia’s counties on August 1, 1774 to respond to British actions. The members dispersed to their counties to determine where their residents stood and to receive instructions for the Convention.
Fairfax residents met and on July 18, 1774 and approved the Fairfax Resolves. With George Washington serving as Chairman of the drafting committee and assisted by several prominent Fairfax residents, including George Mason, the Resolves clearly delineated the mistakes, depredations and crimes of the Crown that violated the rights of free Englishmen.
The Fairfax Resolves were the most detailed and comprehensive of any of the Virginia Counties and included resolves against taxation without representation and the importation of slaves. In addition, Fairfax called for the establishment of a Congress including all colonies. George Washington and Charles Broadwater were elected to present the resolves at the Convention charging them to “…present these Resolves as sense of the people of this county upon the measures proper to be taken in the present alarming and dangerous situation of American.”
The Fairfax Resolves were part of the framework uniting the shipping and mercantile interests of Massachusetts with the agricultural, plantation economy of Virginia. The joining of Virginia and Massachusetts in common cause was necessary to unite all the colonies which, in turn, permitted July 4, 1776 to happen.
In its “Top Treasures” exhibit, the Library of Congress describes the Fairfax County Resolves as the first clear expression of the constitutional rights of the British American colonists as subjects of the Crown.
If you wish to read an online transcription of the complete lists of the Resolves (including who signed it) see here: http://usfoundingdocuments.blogspot.com/2011/05/fairfax-county-virginia-resolutions.html
What did this all look like when it was happening: https://presidentgeorgewashington.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/washington-co-authors-fairfax-resolves-with-george-mason/
I inquired about the Fairfax Resolves document names and they said they don't have them. Townshen Dade Jr 5th Great Grandfather of mine.
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