"
The next day, in the absence of the mighty orator, the timid Assembly
expunged the fifth resolution and modified the others. The Governor,
however, dissolved the House for daring to pass at all the resolutions.
But he could not dissolve the spirit of Henry nor the magical effect
of the resolutions which had been offered. By his intrepid action Henry
took the leadership of the Assembly out of the hands which hitherto had
controlled it.
The resolutions as originally passed were sent to Philadelphia. There
they were printed, and from that center of energetic action were widely
circulated throughout the Colonies. The heart of Samuel Adams and the
Boston patriots were filled with an unspeakable joy as they read them.
The drooping spirits of the people were revived and the doom of the
Stamp Act was sealed.
WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON.
Dr. James Schouler says: "That Jefferson did not enter into the
rhapsodies of his times which magnified the first President into a
demigod infallible, is very certain; and that, sincerely or insincerely,
he had written from his distant retreat to private friends in Congress
with less veneration for Washington's good judgment on some points of
policy than for his personal virtues and honesty, is susceptible of
proof by more positive testimony than the once celebrated Mazzei letter.
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