|
Henry argues Parsons' Cause at
Hanover Court House
Ministers of the established church
and other public officials in eighteenth-century Virginia
were paid their annual salaries in tobacco -- 16,000 pounds
per a year for a clergyman. The normal price of tobacco was
about 2 cents a pound, but droughts in 1759 and 1760 drove
the price of tobacco much higher. In response, the colonial
legislature passed a Two-Penny Act declaring that all contracts
payable in tobacco should be valued according to the normal
price rather than a "windfall" rate. Many of Virginia's Anglican
clergy, who felt that their vestries paid them too little
anyway, protested the law. Eventually the parsons took their
case to colonial authorities in England, who overruled the
Virginia statute and declared it void. This action aroused
a great controversy over the nature of British authority within
the colony. In Hanover County, where the Rev. James Maury
had successfully sued the vestry for his back pay, Patrick
Henry was asked to argue the vestry's side when the jury determined
how much Maury should receive. Henry's eloquence persuaded
the jury to award Maury only one penny in back pay.
Text of Two-Penny Act
Reverend James Maury's description
of Henry's speech
|
