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At a General Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Prince George' s County, Virginia, the following Resolves were proposed and unanimously agreed to:
Resolved, That we will, at all times whenever we are called upon for that purpose, maintain and defend, at the expense of our lives and fortunes, his Majesty' s right and title to the Crown of Great Britain, and his Dominions in America, to whose royal person and Government we profess all due obedience and fidelity.
Resolved, That the right to impose taxes or duties to be paid by the inhabitants within this Dominion, for any purpose whatsoever, is peculiar and essential to the General Assembly, in whom the Legislative authority of the Colony is vested.
Resolved, That every attempt to impose such taxes or duties, by any other authority, is an arbitrary exertion of power, and an infringement of the constitutional rights and liberties of the Colony.
Resolved, That to impose a tax or duty upon tea by the British Parliament, in which the Commons of the North American Colonies can have no representation, to be paid upon importation by the inhabitants of the said Colonies, is an Act of power without right; is subversive of the liberties of the said Colonies; deprives them of their property without their own consent; and thereby reduces them to a state of slavery.
Resolved, That the late cruel, unjust, and sanguinary Acts of Parliament, to be executed by military force and ships of war, upon our sister Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, and town of Boston, is a strong evidence of the corrupt influence obtained by the British Ministry in Parliament, and a convincing proof of their fixed, intention to deprive the Colonies of their constitutional rights and liberties.
Resolved, That the cause of the town of Boston is the common cause of all the American Colonies.
Resolved, That it is the duty and interest of all the American Colonies firmly to unite in an indissoluble union and association, to oppose, by every just and proper means, the infringement of their common rights and liberties.
Resolved, That a General Association between all the American Colonies, not to import from Great Britain any commodity whatsoever, except negroes, clothing, and tools, Irish linen, medicines, and paper, ought to be entered into, and not dissolved, until the just rights of the said Colonies are restored to them, and the cruel Acts of the British Parliament against the Massachusetts Bay and town of Boston, are repealed.
Resolved, That no friend to the rights and liberties of America ought to purchase any commodity whatsoever, except as is before excepted, which shall be imported from Great Britain, after the General Association shall be agreed upon.
Resolved, That every kind of luxury, dissipation and extravagance ought to be banished from amongst us.
Resolved, That manufactures ought to be encouraged, by opening subscriptions for that purpose, or by any other proper means.
Resolved, That the African trade is injurious to this Colony, obstructs the population of it by freemen, prevents manufacturers and other useful emigrants from Europe from settling amongst us, and occasions an annual increase of the balance of trade against this Colony.
Resolved, That the raising sheep, hemp, and flax, ought to be encouraged.
Resolved, That to be clothed in manufacturers fabricated in the Colonies ought to be considered as a badge and distinction of respect and true patriotism.
Resolved, That the dissolution of the General Assembly, by order of the British Ministry, whenever they enter upon the consideration of the rights and liberty of the subject against attempts to destroy them, is an evidence of the fixed intention of the said Ministry to reduce the Colonies to a state of slavery.
Resolved, That the people of this Colony, being by such dissolution deprived of a legal representation, ought to nominate and appoint for every county proper Deputies to meet upon the first day of August, in the City of Williamsburg, then and there to consult and agree upon the best and most proper means for carrying into execution these or any other resolutions which shall be judged more expedient for the purposes aforesaid.
Resolved, That Richard Bland, and Peter Poythress, Esquires, our late worthy Representatives, be, and they are hereby nominated and appointed Deputies, upon the part of the freeholders and inhabitants of this county, to meet such Deputies as shall be appointed by the other counties and corporations within this Colony, in the City of Williamsburg, upon the first day of August next, or at any other time or place for the purposes aforesaid.
Resolved, That at this important and alarming conjuncture it be earnestly recommended to the said Deputies, at the said General Convention, that they nominate and appoint fit and proper persons, upon the part of this Colony, to meet such Deputies, in a general Congress, as shall be appointed on the part of the other Continental Colonies in America, to consult and agree upon a firm and indissoluble union and association for preserving by the
Resolved, That this Colony ought not to trade with any Colony which shall refuse to join in any union and association that shall be agreed upon, by the greater part of the other Colonies upon this Continent, for preserving their common rights and liberties.
Resolved, That the Clerk of this meeting transmit to the Printers of both Gazettes copies of these resolutions, with the earnest request of this county that the other counties and corporations within the Colony will appoint Deputies to meet at the time and place, and for the purposes aforesaid.
THEODORICK BLAND,Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Prince George' s County, Virginia
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best and most proper means, their common rights and liberties.
Clerk of the Meeting.