Home |Swap Shop| Things To Do| Links| Communities| Real Estate | History | Video | About Us
Northern Neck News
February 6, 2010
Historical Societies reenacts Leedstown Resolution demonstrations
History will come to life along the streets of Tappahannock February 27 as the
Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society and the Essex County Museum and
Historical Society combine to present dramatic reenactments of the famous 1766
Tappahannock Demonstrations to enforce the Leedstown Resolutions, against the
wealthy and insolent Archibald Ritchie and the Scotsman Stamp Collector, Archibald
McCall, who was tarred and feathered for his refusal to comply.
Relying upon historic documents and correspondence, docents and
living history interpreters will provide visitors with reenactments of the dramatic
events leading up to America's Revolution, ten years before the Declaration
of Independence. Tours will take about 40 minutes and will commence at 1:15,
2:15 and 3:15. Light refreshments will be served at the Museum. Admission is
free.
Students of Virginia and Northern Neck history are familiar with the story of
Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee and George Washington's three brothers
who signed the Leedstown Resolutions on February 27, 1766 in defiance of the
detested British Stamp Act. In 1765, the Westmoreland Civil Court and other
courts in Virginia refused to used stamped paper. Business ground to a halt
in Virginia and the British found themselves impeded in their attempts to enforce
collection of debts against planters. By 1766, several of the colonies were
passing such resolutions in defiance of the Stamp Act. The Westmoreland resolutions
of Leedstown, authored by Richard Henry Lee, were precursors to the Declaration
of Independence a decade later - and students of history will recall that Richard
Henry Lee himself, as a member of the First Continental Congress, on June 7,
1776, proposed the motion that the colonies declare Independence from Great
Britain. (R.H. Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee were indeed the only two brothers
to sign the Declaration of Independence.)
What makes the 1766 Leedstown Resolutions different from other resolutions
in Wilmington, North Carolina, Massachusetts and elsewhere is that the signers
were prepared to resort to violence to enforce compliance--truly treasonous
behavior. And that took place along the banks of the Rappahannock River in historic
Tappahannock. This reenactment is a historic first, appropriately led by two
dynamic historical societies.
CONTACT INFO: Kat Shepherd, Executive Director NNVHS, nnvhs@live.com
Photo: Richard Henry Lee, Chief Architect and Provocateur of the Leedstown and Tappahannock Events, as portrayed by Ted Borek, NNVHS member (photo by Ronald Hilton, 2007)