Summer of Uncertainty: Adaptations to Revolutionary Pressure in Virginia's County Courts, 1774

Abstract: The nineteenth Fairfax County Resolve proposed that if the upcoming American provincial Congress of 1774 approved a non-exportation plan, then "no Judgment should be rendered by the Courts in the said Colonies, for any Debt." This scheme to suspend legal processes for debt collection ultimately was not endorsed by the Virginia Convention of 1774, but earlier rumors of widespread court closures across Virginia helped stampede the Council of Virginia into urging the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, to order fresh elections. Those elections in turn fueled local political mobilization ahead of the August 1 Virginia Convention, and the fresh vote enhanced the convention's credibility as a representative body. Previous historians have erroneously characterized Virginia courts as shutting down in the summer of 1774, ahead of the Virginia Convention. However, by consulting every surviving manuscript court minute book and order book, it is possible to discern a much different historical reality. During the summer of 1774, Virginia's local courts responded creatively to repeated changes in the political situation, signaling in a variety of ways to nervous Virginia merchants that if merchants would support Revolutionary non-importation and non-exportation policies, then courts across the colony would find ways to sustain credit contracts by enforcing debts.