“The die is cast!” raged King George III as he opened parliament in late 1774, guaranteeing that 10 Virginians and 50 American planters, merchants, and thinkers from all the American colonies will convene the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in May 1775.
Tensions are high. Fighting breaks out in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775, at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and Gov. Dunmore seizes the gunpowder at the Williamsburg powder magazine on April 21. Among these shocking events, Congress convenes and resolves to prepare for war — but continues to seek reconciliation with the king.
Unwilling to completely abandon their hope for peace, the Congress pens a last petition, approved in early July 1775. William Penn carries the document to London, but the king refuses to see him. Instead, the king issues a proclamation on August 23 declaring America to be in a state of “open and avowed rebellion.”
It looks like it’s going to be war, not reconciliation.
And so the stage is set in Philadelphia for two well-known Founding Fathers from Virginia – Thomas Jefferson and George Wythe – to play key roles in taking charge of the war effort and begin to govern the newly-formed nation.
After a flurry of activity in June and July, Congress adjourns for a brief respite on Aug. 2, 1775, and the 10-man Virginia delegation, including Jefferson and Wythe, headed home for a respite until Sept. 13.
Two hundred and fifty years later, one can hear what happened in that fateful summer of 1775 through the voices of Colonial Williamsburg interpreters Kurt Benjamin Smith and Robert Weathers, bringing to life Thomas Jefferson and George Wythe, respectively. Jefferson and Wythe have much to report.
Come to Urbanna Baptist Church at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2, and hear all the news our fellow Virginians will relate.
Lively reports might include raising the Continental Army and the appointment of George Washington as commander-in-chief, writing and passing the Olive Branch Petition and the Declaration of the “Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms,” issuing paper money to finance the war effort, and appointing commissioners to create peace treaties with Indian tribes.
At the same time, Congress began investigating the possibility for foreign aid and formulating rules for a Navy to counter British ships and to authorize privateering.
So much to do, and so much is at stake.
And yet the personal story of Jefferson’s relationship with Wythe – a generation apart — is compelling in itself — as Wythe was a teacher and mentor to Jefferson from Jefferson’s mid-teens, leading him to the man he would become, or as Jefferson later writes of Wythe, “my second father.”
Two patriots, two perspectives. A time of war. Be sure to be there.
