d to return.

On June 24, 1775, the assembly adjourned. For all intents and purposes,
although the assembly met briefly in 1776, the history of the Virginia
General Assembly ended with this meeting. Thenceforward, government in
Virginia came from the Virginian Conventions. The membership of these
conventions was comprised mostly of the members of the old House of
Burgesses.

At the same time the Virginia Assembly came to an end the Continental
Congress was moving to aid Boston and to defend the New Englanders from
further armed attack. On June 15, congress unanimously elected George
Washington to take command of the new Continental Army created "for the
Defense of American Liberty, and for repelling every hostile invasion
thereof." The army of 15,000 formed to defend Boston and New York would
be supported by the congress with payments from all the colonies. Eight
rifle companies, including two led by Captain Daniel Morgan of Frederick
County and Captain Hugh Stephenson of Berkeley County were ordered to
Boston.

To rally popular support, congress proclaimed "A Declaration of the
Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms." Written by Jefferson and John
Dickinson of Pennsylvania, this declaration laid bare a long succession
of "oppressions and tyrannies" by parliament and the king's "errant
ministers" who had misled the king into presuming his colonists were
disloyal. Although professing continued loyalty to George III, the
delegates reiterated their intentions to defend themselves as "free men
rather than to live as Slaves", for:

Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal Resources are
great, and, if necessary, foreign Assistance is undoubtedly
attainable.

Nevertheless, the Congress made clear that it did not desire disunion and
independence, it merely wanted justice for the Americans. To that end
they passed the "Olive Branch Petition", a plea to the king to find some
way toward reconciliation.

It is unlikely Congress expected anything more to come from the "Olive
Branch Petition" in England than had come from Lord North's plan of
reconciliation in the colonies. Nothing did. The king refused it. He had
already declared the colonists to be rebels. Parliament rejected it,
applying instead its own brand of economic coercion by passing the
Prohibitory Act in December 1775. Effective January 1, 1776, all American
ports were closed to trade and all American ships on the high seas were
subject t