Soon thereafter, Franklin, as agent of Pennsylvania, maintained the same principles in England. But the ministry, hurried on by fatal folly leading to destruction, persevered in their pretension. The Stamp Act was passed, and for the first time in our history papers bore stamps, to swell the revenue of the Crown. Massachusetts remonstrated in formal resolutions, “particularly considered,” wherein it is declared, “That there are certain essential rights of the British Constitution of Government, which are founded in the law of God and Nature, and are the common rights of mankind,--therefore, … that no man can justly take the property of another without his consent,-- … that all acts made by any power whatever, other than the General Assembly of this Province, imposing taxes on the inhabitants, are infringements of our inherent and unalienable rights as men and British subjects, and render void the most valuable declarations of our Charter.”[106] In an address to the Royal Governor, the Legislature, after setting forth the injustice of the Stamp Act, proceeded to say, “We must beg your Excellency to excuse us from doing anything to assist in the execution of it.”[107] The people in town-meetings took up the strain, and all united against the Act. But Massachusetts was not alone.
Virginia, by positive statute, as early as 1655-6 recognized the just principle, as we have already seen;[108] and now a writer of that State, catching the spirit of Otis, declared, in an elaborate pamphlet, that it was “an essential principle of the English Constitution that the subject shall not be taxed _without his consent_”; and then again, quoting the words of another, “All men have natural, and freemen legal rights, which they may justly maintain, and no legislative authority can deprive them of.”[109] The Legislature of Virginia, even before Massachusetts, adopted resolutions kindred in spirit, which were moved by Patrick Henry, and heroically carried by his eloquent voice, even against the menacing cry of “Treason.” Thus spoke Virginia, exposing the true issue, and insisting on the inseparability of taxation and representation:--
“_Resolved_, That the taxation of the people by themselves, or _by persons chosen by themselves to represent them_, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, or the easiest method of raising them, and must themselves be affected by every tax laid on the people, _is the only security against a burdensome taxation_ and the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, without which the ancient Constitution cannot exist.”[110]