A Candid Refutation by S. Henley Of The Heresy Imputed By Ro.c. Nicholas ... To ... S. Henley
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
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A Candid Refutation by S. Henley Of The Heresy Imputed By Ro.C. Nicholas ... To ... S. Henley
Samuel Henley, Robert Carter Nicholas
Considerations on the Present State of Virginia: Attributed to John Randolph, Attorney General; And Considerations on the Present State of Virginia Examined (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Considerations on the Present State of Virgi...)
Excerpt from Considerations on the Present State of Virginia: Attributed to John Randolph, Attorney General; And Considerations on the Present State of Virginia Examined
The two pamphlets reprinted in this volume were issued anonymously in 1774. On the title page of the first there has been written by a contemporary hand By John Randolph esq. His majes. Attorney gen. Of that colony brother to the speaker of the ho. Of assem bly who is chairman at the general congress held at Philadelphia. The only copy I have been able to find is in the New York Public Library. There is nothing in the pamphlet that discloses the author to a certainty. There is strong presumptive evidence, however, that John Randolph was the writer; for he is referred to by Nicholas in the second pamphlet as being one who was in attendance at one or more courts of the colony,1 and again2 as a member of the House of Burgesses who was present when the bill appointing a day for a fast was adopted.
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Robert Carter Nicholas was an American colonial official and Revolutionary patriot. He helped draft the resolutions of the House of Burgesses against the proposed Stamp Act in 1764.
Background
Robert Carter Nicholas was born on January 28, 1728 in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. He was the eldest son of Dr. George and Elizabeth (Carter) Burwell Nicholas. His mother was daughter to Robert, the famous "King" Carter, of Virginia, and widow of Nathaniel Burwell. His father, after having served as a surgeon in the British Navy, emigrated about 1700 from Lancashire to Williamsburg, Virginia.
Education
Robert was educated at the College of William and Mary and presently took up the practice of law, becoming in time the recognized head of the provincial bar.
Career
In 1756 he was elected to represent York County in the House of Burgesses, and for years he took an active part in the proceedings of that body.
He took a leading part in exposing the irregularities in the treasury, and on the death of Speaker John Robinson in 1766, Nicholas' friends were instrumental in inducing Governor Fauquier to consent to the separation of the speakership and the office of treasurer and the appointment of Nicholas to the latter post.
Though opposing revolutionary measures, Nicholas did not favor unconditional submission to the British Parliament.
In 1769 he helped to frame resolutions condemning the attitude of that body on the questions of taxation and the transportation of criminals for trial in England. By 1771 his other interests had become so pressing that he offered his unfinished legal business to Thomas Jefferson, but Jefferson was unable to accept it and it was turned over to Patrick Henry in 1773. When news of the closing of the port of Boston reached Williamsburg, Jefferson, Henry, and their radical friends persuaded the conservative and religious Nicholas to offer a resolution which they had drafted setting aside a day of prayer and fasting. A pamphlet criticizing this action and upholding the British policy was published anonymously, but it is believed to have been written by the attorney-general, John Randolph. Nicholas answered with another publication in which he defended the American cause and his own actions. When Dunmore seized the supply of powder at Williamsburg in 1775, Nicholas helped to prevent a clash between the Governor and the outraged colonists led by Henry. It was during this anxious time that he opposed Henry's resolutions proposing to arm the colony for defense, but the measure having passed despite his efforts, he was placed upon the committee charged with its execution.
On the organization of the new state government, Nicholas, largely through the influence of Jefferson, was defeated by George Wythe in the contest for the speakership of the House of Delegates. His duties as treasurer now came to an end, and in 1779 he was placed on the bench of the High Court of Chancery.
In 1780 he was appointed on the committee charged with the construction of public buildings which were to be erected in Richmond, but he died within the year.
At the outbreak of hostilities in 1775, Nicholas removed his family from Williamsburg to "The Retreat, " his estate in Hanover County. It was here that he died in 1780.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Politics
Nicholas opposed most of the plans of the Revolutionists, but was trusted by them to aid in carrying out the very designs against which he had argued.
In 1765 Nicholas opposed Patrick Henry's Stamp Act resolves.
Views
Alone of all the important men in the Virginia Assembly, Nicholas opposed the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, but he was a member of the committee appointed to draft a declaration of rights and a new form of government. In this capacity he opposed the assertion that "all men are by nature equally free and independent" as being the forerunner of civil convulsion. This reluctant acceptance of the changing situation classified him as a stanch conservative Patriot, and he further entrenched himself with the conservatives when he became one of the leading defenders of the established Church against the liberals who worked for religious freedom.
Personality
There was yet much of puritanical austerity in his character. He exposed fraud in high places and administered the treasury with scrupulous honesty.
Quotes from others about the person
"By nature he was benevolent and liberal. But he appeared to many who did not thoroughly understand him, to be haughty and austere; because they could not appreciate the preference of gravity for levity, when in conversation the sacredness of religion was involved in ridicule or language forgot its chastity. "
Connections
In 1751 Nicholas married Anne, daughter to Wilson and Sarah Cary of Virginia. After the invasion of Cornwallis in 1781, his widow removed her family to a tract of land which her father-in-law had purchased in the piedmont county of Albemarle.