Inspired by the courthouse at Williamsburg, Virginia, built in 1770, this colonial courthouse served as the site where the County Court heard petty crimes and civil cases, including debtors’ disputes with creditors and complaints against abusive masters, while serious capital offenses were heard in the General Court. Elections and public announcements were also held there. Benjamin Waller read the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the Williamsburg courthouse, and the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolution was proclaimed and celebrated there. In colonial America, punishment after conviction was swift and public in the square: minor crimes brought time in the stocks, with only the feet restrained, while more serious non-capital crimes led to the pillory, where offenders stood with head and hands locked. The humiliation usually lasted a few hours in all weather, and the pillory was more dangerous because the hands were not free for self-defense. Onlookers often pelted offenders with eggs, rotten vegetables, and stones, or beat them, sometimes causing permanent injury or death. Caning and a whipping post were also sometimes used, and signs often identified the crime. These punishments were inflicted on people ranging from merchants who cheated customers to runaway slaves.