The Movement Toward Independence
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ony’s royal charter by transforming the upper house of the assembly
from an elective into an appointive body, and by restricting the right of
self-government in the towns. Under the Administration of Justice Act,
the Crown’s appointees in Massachusetts who were accused of capital offenses in the discharge of their official duties could be sent to England or
other colonies for trial. A fourth measure, the Quartering of Troops Act,
gave provincial governors the authority to requisition, with compensation to the owners, all inns, taverns, and unoccupied buildings needed
for the proper housing of British troops stationed in the colonies. Not intended to be punitive, the Quebec Act, which among other things deprived Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia of western land they
claimed under the sea-to-sea clauses of their charters, was also regarded
in America as one of the ‘‘Intolerable Acts.’’
In support of the Bostonians, the Virginia House of Burgesses passed
a resolution designating June 1, 1774 (the day the Boston Port Act was
scheduled to take effect) as a day of fasting and prayer. Governor John
Dunmore viewed this as an act of defiance against the authority of the
Crown and promptly dissolved the assembly. Earlier, in 1773, Virginia
had taken the lead as the first colony to establish committees of correspondence on an intercolonial basis. These promoted cooperation among
the colonies in a more continuous manner than had the Stamp Act Congress. The Virginia legislators now took the greatest step of all the colonies toward united action. Meeting on May 27, 1774, in a rump session at
Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, the dismissed Burgesses issued a call to
the other colonies to send delegates to a continental congress in order to
consult upon the common grievance.
A congress of some fifty-five deputies, representing every colony except Georgia, met in September and October of 1774 at Philadelphia and
devised a plan of united action against the English government. In essence, the delegates reaffirmed the longstanding principle that each colony was substantially autonomous within the British empire; and to
achieve that end they declared economic war on the mother country. The
delegates unanimously resolved that Congress request all merchants in
the several colonies to withhold the shipment of goods to Great Britain,
and further agreed that after December 1, 1774, there would be no importation of goods from Great Britain, Ireland, or the West Indies unless