On April 6, 1773, English justice arrived west of the Allegheny Mountains at Hanna's Town, the seat of the new county of Westmoreland, where court symbolized a stable system of law and order on the ever-changing 18th century frontier. From 1773-1786, people from across southwestern Pennsylvania gathered there for court, trade, socializing, and legal business; some went into Hanna's Tavern to settle a debt or acquire a license, while others faced public trials for disputes, theft, treason, and capital crimes. Court sessions drew accused criminals, witnesses, lawyers, jurors, and curious spectators, making justice there a source of both authority and entertainment. The settlers of Westmoreland County, living in a remote corner of the British Empire, believed they were entitled to the same liberties and privileges as those in Great Britain, but actions by the British Parliament soon threatened those rights. After English soldiers fired on American militia in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, in April 1775, the people of Westmoreland County saw this as a betrayal of their rights as English citizens and gathered to draft the Hanna's Town Resolves, a message to British Parliament declaring that every American had a duty to oppose tyranny and oppression with their lives and fortunes. Declaring themselves both loyal English subjects and Americans obligated to resist British oppression, they formed a county militia to defend their rights and the Pennsylvania frontier, and by challenging British injustice, the Hanna's Town Resolves were among the documents that paved the way for the Declaration of Independence.
