“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
In 1765, after the British passed the Stamp Act, a 29-year-old freshman legislator in Virginia named Patrick Henry pushed back – hard. His Virginia Resolves didn’t just protest a tax; they rejected Parliament’s power outright and called for resistance. “If this...
On his 29th birthday – May 29, 1765 – Patrick Henry introduced a series of resolutions against the Stamp Act. In a speech the following day to encourage passage of the resolutions, Henry made his famous “If this be treason…” statement. A...
TAC memberships help us produce more educational tools like this. Members can download this video and read the full transcript at this link. Resolutions drafted by Patrick Henry were the first nail in the coffin of the Stamp Act – and foreshadowed nullification....