In December 1763, Hanover Courthouse was the site of the Parsons’ Cause, an opening salvo of the American Revolution. The case arose after drought in the 1750s tripled the market price of tobacco, which colonial Virginians routinely used to pay Anglican clergymen, leading Virginia’s legislature to pass short-term laws allowing vestries and county courts to pay salaries in money instead. Virginia clergymen protested, royal officials declared the laws void, and the dispute raised the question of whether British officials could overrule local laws passed by the General Assembly of Virginia and signed by the royal governor. In his first prominent case as an attorney, Patrick Henry defended Sheriff Thomas Johnson of Louisa County against a lawsuit for back pay brought by the Reverend James Maury in the name of the vestry of Fredericksville Parish. After justices had ruled in Maury’s favor in November 1763, the December hearing addressed only the amount owed. Henry argued that a king who interfered with laws passed by the elected representatives of the people of Virginia behaved as a tyrant and sacrificed his claim of obedience from his subjects. Swayed by Henry’s eloquence, the jury awarded damages of one penny. The case established Henry’s reputation, and he was soon elected to his first term in the House of Burgesses.
