The Fincastle Resolutions
Welcome back to “Our History Matters”. Today, I would like to discuss the Fincastle Resolutions. What were they, and why are they important? In 1775, our part of Virginia was in the County of Fincastle. It stretched from the New River west to the Mississippi River. It included Southwest Virginia, Southern West Virginia, and all of Kentucky. It was a huge area but was sparsely settled.
The people living in this land were strong and independent settlers. Families that had cut farms out of the wilderness using saws and axes to create farms and new homes. They defended themselves against the Native Americans who already lived here. No redcoat English soldiers were on the frontier to protect them. They did everything by themselves, with the only help coming from their neighbors.
Even though they were isolated, they were still aware of what was happening in the other colonies. The problems were created by the English Parliament, practically destroying the colonial economy through various laws restricting trade and new forms of taxation. They supported and sympathized with the protests and rebellion against the crown by the colonists in New England and along the coast.
On January 15, 1775, the Committee of Safety for Fincastle County met in what is today’s Wythe County, either at McGavock’s Tavern in Fort Chiswell or at the Courthouse near the Lead Mines. The 15 men wrote an address to the Virginia representatives to the First Continental Congress. They pledged their support for the American ideas of Liberty and freedom. They were showing that the people in the western wilderness, living far away from the cities and towns along the coast, were also ready to stand up for their rights.
The address stated that they still held loyalty to King George III, but they were willing to risk their lives if their English rights were violated. They were not ready to call for complete independence, but they were willing to fight to protect their rights.
The last section of the resolution states:
“We by no means desire to shake off our duty or allegiance to our lawful sovereign, but on the contrary shall ever glory in being loyal subjects of a Protestant prince, descended from such illustrious progenitors, so long as we can enjoy the free exercise of our religion, as Protestants, and our liberties and properties, as British subjects.
But if no pacifick (“pacific” refers to peaceful or non-violent) measures shall be proposed or adopted by Great Britain, and our enemies will attempt to dragoon us out of these inestimable privileges which we are entitled to as subjects, and to reduce us to a state of slavery, we declare, that we are deliberately and resolutely determined never to surrender them to any power upon earth, but at the expense of our lives.
These are our real, though unpolished sentiments, of liberty and loyalty, and in them we are resolved to live and die.”
They were willing to fight and die for their rights. They supported the changes in the attitudes of the colonists, the turning against Parliament and England, and the slow move toward independence
To learn more about the Fincastle Resolutions and our history before the Declaration of Independence, please attend a showing of the Local PBS and Local Museum Movie: “Resolved to Live and Die, The Revolutionary Roots of Southwest Virginia.” You can find showings and a list of events on the Wilderness Road Regional Museum’s Website and Facebook Page. The next showing is Friday, March 27th, 6:00 pm at the Historic Pulaski Theatre. Check it out. Because our History Matters!
