ecedent.... We conceive that no
Man or Body of Men, however invested with power, have a Right to do
anything that is contrary to Reason and Justice, or that can tend
to the Destruction of the Constitution.[14]

[14] Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, XII, 10, 13.
Comprising the committee were Councilors John Blair, William
Nelson, Thomas Nelson, Sr., Robert Carter, and Burgesses Peyton
Randolph, George Wyth, Robert Carter Nicholas, and Dudley Digges.

Navigation Acts were acceptable, Stamp Acts were a "Destruction of the
Constitution."

In May Grenville met with the colonial agents in London and possibly
suggested (his intent has been disputed) that a stamp tax might not be
imposed if the colonial legislatures came up with alternative taxes. At
least Montagu thought this is what Grenville suggested. The Virginia
committee even told Montagu in its July letter, "if a reasonable
apportionm't be laid before the Legislature of this Country, their past
Compliance with his Majesty's several Requisitions during the late
expensive War, leaves no room to doubt that they will do everything
that can be reasonably expected of them." It made no difference, for
even before the agents could receive replies from their various
colonies, Grenville had fixed upon the stamp act itself. This was
probably just as well for the Virginians, once they reflected on the
requisition scheme, came to believe that taxes imposed by the General
Assembly to offset a threatened tax by parliament were as unpalatable
and unconstitutional as a tax passed by parliament.

On December 18, 1765, the Virginia General Assembly confirmed the
constitutional stance taken by its committee in July. Unanimously the
House of Burgesses and the council sent a polite address to the king,
an humble memorial to the House of Lords, and a firm remonstrance to
the commons. The commons' resolution of March 17 was against "British
Liberty that Laws imposing Taxes on the People ought not be made
without the Consent of Representatives chosen by themselves; who at the
same time that they are acquainted with the Circumstances of their
Constituents, sustain a Proportion of the Burthen laid upon them."[15]
From this position, Virginia never retreated.

[15] William Van Schreeven and Robert Scribner, Revolutionary
Virginia: The Road to Independence, Vol. I. A. Documentary Record
(University Press of Virginia: Charlottesvi