ck, Dunmore (now Shenandoah), Westmoreland, Prince George,
Essex, Middlesex--in all, 31 towns and counties, came outspoken
resolutions against parliamentary usurpation of Virginia rights.
Liberally sprinkled throughout the resolves were sentiments like, "it
is the fixed Intention of the Said Ministry to reduce the Colonies to a
State of Slavery", "we owe no Obedience to any Act of the British
Parliament", "we will oppose any such Acts with our Lives and
Fortunes", "the present Odious Measures", or "ministerial Hirelings,
and Professed Enemies of American Freedom". The targets were parliament
and the king's ministers. As yet, few Virginians were willing to
believe that they would not receive justice from the king, choosing to
believe instead that the king was as much a victim of parliament's
"corruption" as were the colonists.

The unifying theme in the resolves were calls for "non-importation,
non-exportation, and non-consumption". Halt the importation of all
goods from Britain, export no tobacco or supplies to Britain and the
West Indies, and consume no European goods, luxuries, and above all no
tea. Knowing economic coercion had brought repeal of the Stamp Tax and
the Townshend Duties, they were certain coercion would work against the
Intolerable Acts.[28]

[28] Copies of the extant county and town resolves with the names
of many of the signers can be found in Van Schreeven and
Scribner, Revolutionary Virginia, I, 168. There are known, but
unrecorded, resolves from at least nine more of the 65 Virginia
jurisdictions.

The outpouring of delegates to the non-legal convention, well over 100
of the 153 delegates eligible to serve, so gratified the usually
laconic George Washington that he noted, "We never before had so full a
Meeting of delegates at any one Time." With enthusiasm the
representatives, most of whom had sat as burgesses in May, elected
Peyton Randolph as moderator and issued a call for a Continental
Congress of all the colonies to meet in Philadelphia in the fall.

Much more difficult to achieve were tactics and strategies for applying
economic coercion. While the delegates agreed non-importation should be
instituted, they could not easily agree upon what English and European
goods should be excluded as luxuries. All did agree that no slaves
should be imported. Here the convention went beyond a mere desire to
place economic pressure on British slave traders; their objective