It's August 1st, 1774. American Independence is 703 days away.

In this month’s episode we are going leave Boston and travel to the colony of Virginia, where members of the dissolved Virginia House of Burgesses have gathered in Williamsburg in defiance of their Royal Governor.

The convention was a chance for some of the most prominent political minds in the colony to express their own unique grievance against King George and his Government. But what the convention would become most famous for would be thrusting into the spotlight a man who wasn’t actually in attendance – Thomas Jefferson.

In this episode we’ll take a look at the writing that Jefferson sent ahead in his absence after he fell ill on the road to Williamsburg, a text that was eventually published as a pamphlet and titled A Summary View of the Rights of British America. It’s a fascinating document, both inspiring and challenging in equal measure, that gives a unique window into the man, the colony, and the whole developing nation, as it walked ever forward down the road to revolution.

Sources:

Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty by John B. Boles

American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 by Alan Taylor

The King’s Three Faces: The Rise & Fall of Royal America, 1688-1776 by Brendan McConville

The Royalist Revolution: Monarchy and the American Founding by Eric Nelson

Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791 by Richard D. Brown

Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution by Woody Holton