George Washington to New Hampshire, 29 December 1777 (Detail, GLC03706) The Era of George Washington: Washington Takes His Stand by Lanny J. Westerman West Jordan High School, West Jordan, UT The Papers of George Washington: Colonial Series, vol. 10:128-131 George Washington wrote little about the divisive issues between the colonies and mother country until the British Parliament enacted the Coercive Acts -- the colonists called them the Intolerable Acts -- in the month of March, 1774. But passage of these acts apparently compelled him to seriously contemplate the conflict and to take a definitive stand in favor of the colonies' protests and actions. He wrote down his thoughts and position in the summer of 1774 in a letter to his neighbor and respected friend, Bryan Fairfax. The Fairfax family owned much of the lands of the "northern neck" of Virginia, and the family's patronage helped Washington in his rise to political and social prominence in the colony. Fairfax urged Washington to lead Virginia in greater American restraint and encouraged him to write yet another petition to King and Parliament requesting repeal of the offensive Coercive Acts. July 20, 1774 Dear Sir, That I differ very widely from you in respect to the mode of obtaining a repeal of the Acts of much & so justly complaind of, I shall not hesitate to acknowledge. But as I see nothing on the one hand, to induce a belief that the Parliament would embrace a favourable oppertunity of Repealing Acts which they go on with great rapidity to pass, in order to enforce their Tyrannical System; and on the other, observe, or think I observe, that Government is pursuing a regular Plan at the expence of Law & justice, to overthrow our Constitutional Rights & liberties, how can I expect any redress from a Measure which hath been ineffectually tryd already--For Sir what is it we are contending against? Is it against paying the duty of 3d. pr lb. on Tea because burthensome? No, it is the Right only, we have all along disputed & to this end we have already Petitiond his Majesty in as humble, and dutiful a manner as Subjects could do . . . that, as Englishmen, we could not be deprivd of this essential, & valuable part of our Constitution; If then (as the Fact Really is) it is against the Right of Taxation we now do, & (as I said before) all along have contended. The conduct of the Boston People could not justify the rigour of [Parliament's] Measures, uness their had been a requistion of payment & refusal of it; nor did that measure require an Act to deprive the Governm[en]t of Massachusetts Bay of their Charter; or to exempt Offenders from Trial in the place,where Offences were Committed, as there was not, nor could not be, a single Instance produced to manifest the necessity of it--Are not all these things self evident proofs of a fixed & uniform Plan to Tax us? In short what further proofs are wanting to satisfy one of the design's of the Ministry than their own Acts; which are uniform, & plainly tending to the same point--nay, if I mistake not, avowedly to fix the Right of Taxation--what hope then from Petitioning, when they tell us that now, or never, is the time to fix the matter--shall we after this whine & cry for releif, when we have already tried it in vain?, or shall we supinely sit, and see one Provence after another fall a Sacrafice to Depotism? If I was in any doubt as the the Right w[hi]ch the Parliament of Great Britain had to Tax us without our Consents, I should most heartily coincide with your opinion, that to Petition, & petition only, is the proper method to apply for relief; because we should then be asking a favour, & not claiming a Right w[hi]ch by the Law of Nature & our Constitution we are, in my opinion, indubitably entitled to; I should even think it criminal to go further than this, under such an Idea; but none such I have, I think the Parliament of Great Britain hath no more Right to put their hand into my Pocket, without my consent, than I have to put my hands into your's, for money; and this being already urged to them in a firm, but decent manner by all the Colonies, what reason is there to expect any thing from their justice? I cannot conclude without expressing some measure of concern that I should differ so widely in Sentiments from you in a matter of such great Moment, & general Import; & should much distrust my own judgment upon the occasion, if my Nature did not recoil at the thought of Submitting to Measures which I think Subversive of every thing that I ought to hold dear and valuable--and did I not find, at the sametime, that the voice of Mankind is with me. I am Dr Sir Yr Most Obedt Humble Servant Go: Washington 1. What points does Washington make in supporting his position that another petition from the colonies to Parliament would be ineffective? 2. According to the document, what was the real issue about the Tea Act: paying the tax, or the constitutional principle? 3. Explain the analogy Washington uses to describe Parliament's taxation of the colonists without benefit of representation in the English legislature. 4. Why did Washington conclude his letter with the words he used in the final paragraph? 5. How do you think the ultimate outcome of the American Revolution affected the friendship between George Washington and Bryan Fairfax?