ill in town met to
consider a packet of letters fresh from Boston. Massachusetts proposed
that all of the colonies suspend all trade with Britain. The Burgesses
agreed to send out notices to the members of the "late House" for a
meeting on August 1, 1774. During the next two months, the inhabitants in
the various counties met to elect delegates to the August Convention and
to prepare resolutions condemning the Boston Port Acts. Feeling was
running high and sympathy for Boston took the form of an outpouring of
gifts for the unfortunate city. Jefferson's Summary View published
at this time was intended as a guide for the August Convention, but it
was too advanced for the moment in its outright denial of all
Parliamentary authority in America.

August 1, 1774. With the meeting of the August Convention,
Virginia took a big step toward revolution and began to build an
extra-legal framework which would take over the functions of government
when British authority collapsed. The Convention agreed to import no more
from Britain after November 1 and to export no more after August 10,
1775. It chose as delegates to the Continental Congress Peyton Randolph,
Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland,
Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton. The Convention instructed each
county to appoint a committee of correspondence. The amazing
effectiveness with which the committees organized the counties helps to
explain Virginia's smooth transition from colony to commonwealth.

1775. With an estimated population of 550,000, Virginia had 61 counties
on the eve of the Revolution. Ten of these were formed since the
departure of Governor Dinwiddie in 1758: Fauquier in 1759; Amherst and
Buckingham in 1761; Charlotte and Mecklenburg in 1765; Pittsylvania in
1767; Botetourt in 1770; and Berkeley, Dunmore, and Fincastle in 1772.

March 20, 1775. Peyton Randolph, moderator of the August
Convention, called for a meeting at Richmond in March. The March
convention, dominated by members of the House of Burgesses, approved the
work of the Continental Congress, but foremost in the minds of the
delegates was the problem of defense. After Henry's "Give me liberty or
give me death" speech, the delegates made provisions for developing a
military establishment. What they in fact did was to undermine the
regular militia through the formation of "Independent Companies" in the
counties. The revolutionary government which was evolving becam