Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia
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THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY

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May 30, 1774

Report of a Meeting Containing the Resolution Adopted, 30 May 1774, Colonial Papers, Folder 50, Item Number 17, Record Group 1, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Report of a Meeting Containing the Resolution Adopted, 30 May 1774, Colonial Papers, Folder 50, Item Number 17, Record Group 1, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

The 1774 Resolution Was Adopted

On May 24, 1774, the House of Burgesses adopted a resolution calling for a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer on June 1, the day the Boston Harbor would be closed to all trade in accordance with Parliament's Coercive Acts. The royal governor dissolved the General Assembly on May 26. The next day the former burgesses met and called for a general congress of the colonies that became the Continental Congress. This resolution of May 30 called the former burgesses to Williamsburg on August 1 (the Virginia Revolutionary Convention) to elect Virginia's delegates to the Congress. Among the signatures are Peyton Randolph, the first president of Congress; George Washington; and three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson, Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Thomas Nelson Jr.