In Maryland, Daniel Dulany, a respected lawyer and political figure, carefully considered the arguments supporting the Stamp Act and came into possession of several anonymously written documents that proposed a massive reorganization of the colonies to better solidify parliamentary dominance of North America. Dulany wrote Considerations on the Propriety of imposing Taxes in the British Colonies, for the Purpose of raising a Revenue, by Act of Parliament. It was one of the most widely read pamphlets on the Stamp Act, and it became an intellectual cornerstone of the anti-tax movement.
One of the last petitions rebuffed by Parliament in February of 1765, before it gave its final and official assent to the Stamp Act, was from the colony of Virginia. Virginia would not be so easy to ignore in May 1765, when the newly elected Patrick Henry, a young backwoods lawyer, took advantage of dwindling numbers as the session of the Virginia House of Burgesses drew to a close.
Over the course of the last year, the House of Burgesses had sent several urgent, but respectful, petitions to London, seeking a reconsideration of plans for the Stamp Act and later a repeal of it. All had been to no avail. Now, word had reached Virginia that the stamp duties would take effect in November. On his twenty-ninth birthday, Henry introduced five sizzling resolutions – four of which followed along the lines of petitions previously approved by Virginia, albeit in much sharper language. The fifth flirted with treason. It declared emphatically that only a colony’s legislature could tax its citizens, and that any effort by Britain to do so would destroy freedom in the Empire. After heated debate, all five of Henry’s resolutions passed, but the fifth was rescinded the following day. In the end, all five resolutions were circulated throughout North America. Their effect was electrifying.
By July, Henry’s resolutions had reached Boston. Oxenbridge Thacher, a recent widower and dedicated opponent of British taxation, read Henry’s resolutions with inspiration. “They are men!” he declared to John Adams. “They are noble spirits! It kills me to think of the lethargy and stupidity that prevails here.”
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