The Old Capitol

At the Old Capitol, Patrick Henry first kindled the flames of revolution through his resolutions and speech against the Stamp Act on May 29-30, 1765. There, on March 12, 1773, Dabney Carr offered resolutions that the convention of Virginia unanimously adopted to appoint a committee to correspond with similar committees in the other colonies, the first step taken toward the union of the states. There, on May 15, 1776, the convention of Virginia, through resolutions drafted by Edmund Pendleton, offered by Thomas Nelson, Jr., and advocated by Patrick Henry, unanimously called on Congress to declare the colonies free and independent states. There, on June 12, 1776, the convention adopted George Mason's Declaration of Rights, and on June 29, 1776, it adopted the first written constitution of a free and independent state ever framed.

Williamsburg, Virginia · United States