and settlers of that dominion equal franchises with the people of Great Britain; that royal charters had declared that equality; that taxation by themselves or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them was the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom; that the people of that most ancient Colony had uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of being thus governed by their own laws respecting their internal policy and taxation; that this right had never been forfeited or in any other way given up, but had been constantly recognized by the King and people of Great Britain; that the General Assembly of the whole Colony had the sole right and power to lay taxes on the inhabitants of the Colony; that any attempt to vest such power in any other person whatever tended to destroy British as well as American freedom; that the people of Virginia were not bound to give obedience to any law designed to impose taxation upon them other than the laws of their own General Assembly; and that any one who should, either by speaking or writing, maintain the contrary should be deemed an enemy to the Colony.
In the maintenance of these resolutions
