George Mason: Letter to the Committee of Merchants in London

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

In January 1766 a group of London merchants petitioned the British Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act because American colonists, to protest the act, were boycotting British goods. The act was repealed in March. In May 1766 the Virginia Gazette published a letter to America from a committee of London merchants, written the previous February. The committee urged the merchants in New York not to gloat over the repeal of the Stamp Act and to comply with Parliament's legislation.

In response, Mason wrote a letter of his own, signing it simply “A Virginia Planter.” He felt that the letter from the London merchants, though nominally addressed to New Yorkers, was in reality addressed to American colonists in general and was condescending to them. In response, Mason sought to assert the colonists' rights as British subjects. He first quotes extensively from the letter from the London merchants, who wrote an extended analogy comparing the colonists to errant schoolboys, or children whose proper role in life was to follow the dictates of their parents, in this case the British Parliament. Mason characterizes this comparison as “a little ridiculous” and asserts that the millions of men and women now living in the colonies want nothing more than their “Birth-right” as “loyal & useful Subjects” of Great Britain.

Mason goes on to acknowledge “the supreme Authority of Great Britain over her Colonys.” He points out that the American colonists object to Great Britain's imposition of “arbitrary” law courts in place of the right of trial by jury and notes that if such a step can be taken in the colonies, nothing would prevent a similar step being taken in the home country. He then emphasizes the close connections that exist between Britain and the colonies, pointing out that the American colonists are in large part British by birth, outlook, and “Dispositions.” Indeed, writes Mason, “We are still the same People with them, in every Respect.”

Mason touches on the subject of trade. Earlier in his response, he notes that Britain prohibits the American colonies from conducting trade with other countries, forcing American to import British goods “upon extravagant terms”—that is, goods that are expensive. He picks this theme up later in his letter by noting the fruitfulness of the colonies, with their varied climate, rich soil, and a population doubling every twenty years. The result of this fruitfulness and Americans' industry was the ability to produce a surplus of goods that could be traded. If Britain were to open the channels of trade rather than suppressing them, the result would be greater wealth that Americans could use to buy more British products. The alternative, Mason asserts, is “Oppression,” a return to the tyranny of the Stamp Act or similar measures, and the potential for “a general Revolt in America.”

Mason then cites the historical example of the Low Countries, consisting roughly of modern Belgium and the Netherlands. In the early decades of the sixteenth century, the Low Countries were under the authority of Spain. Like the American colonies with regard to Britain, the Low Countries paid taxes to the Spanish throne, and the Spanish monarch treated the Low Countries in a generally heavy-handed manner. In the mid-sixteenth century, the Low Countries revolted, leading to the Eighty Years' War, which spanned the years 1569 to 1648. And like the American colonies, the Low Countries issued a declaration of independence from Spain, in this case, in 1581. When Mason refers to “the Part that England herself then acted,” it is difficult to know exactly to what he refers, but possibly he had in mind the aid that England's queen Elizabeth gave to Dutch rebels.

Mason then returns to the theme of the close connections that have always existed between Britain and the American colonies. He acknowledges “Dependence” on Britain and asserts, “We claim Nothing but the Liberty & Privileges of Englishmen.” He goes on to asserts that “our Laws, our Language, our Principles of Government, our Inter-marriages, & other Connections, our constant Intercourse, and above all our Interest, are so many Bands which hold us to Great Britain, not to be broken, but by Tyranny and Oppression.” Mason then emphasizes the colonies' loyalty to Britain by affirming the Act of Settlement, a measure Parliament passed in 1701 to settle succession to the British throne on the Protestant Hanoverian line and its heirs; at the same time he rejects “Jacobiteism,” a reference to the rebellious movement whose goal was to return the heirs of the Catholic Stuart family to the throne. The name came from Jacobus, the Latin version of James, referring to King James II, who was deposed as king of England in 1688. For decades thereafter, James's supporters launched uprisings to restore the Stuart line.