A comparison of the Virginia Resolutions on the Stamp Act (1765) and the Association of the New York Sons of Liberty (1773)

Darrell Hareford 10/14/2012

An examination of two documents from Eric Foner’s Voices of Freedom reader – Vol I and their relevance to the historical point in time in American History.

Taxation was stirring sharp conflict between Great Britain and the British colonists of North America in the mid-18th century. The British colonists of North America lived under a quasi-self-government created in the early 1600’s. Powerful men in the colonies established their own devices and alliances for the raising and spending of money. The arguments of liberty and freedom were to become the tenets of choice in their debate to defend this power. This paper will explore this argument through the Virginia Resolutions on the Stamp Act (1765) from the House of Burgesses, and a resolution from the Sons of Liberty of New York City (1773). Their writings are tempered only by the politeness of the society of learned men, but let no one doubt that they took affront to the loss in authority and the economic impact of recent taxation decisions by Great Britain. The House of Burgesses was established in 1619 as a representative body to govern in a legislative assembly and was created by the Virginia Company to make conditions more amenable by encouraging English craftsman to settle in North America. The Virginia Company set up a system of self-government which was composed of an appointed governor from London, a group of six citizens appointed by the governor, and an elected group of representatives primarily from the wealthier land owning citizens. The Sons of Liberty of New York was created in response to the enactment of the Stamp Act in 1765. It was composed of middle economic scale merchants who held a degree of respect from the artisans, craftsmen, and