The resolves expressed support for Congress' resistance to the Intolerable Acts, issued in 1774 by the British Parliament, and a commitment to risk 'lives and fortune' in preservation of natural rights.
The burgesses reconvened at the Raleigh Tavern on May 27 and called for Virginia's counties to elect delegates to a special convention to meet in August.
[2] On February 22, 1775, the six authors of the Augusta Resolves met in Staunton, Virginia, where they drafted a statement that asserted their commitment "to enjoy the free exercise of conscience, and of human nature.
[3] Historian Jim Glanville states that the resolutions of Virginia's four western counties (Augusta, Botetourt, Fincastle, and Pittsylvania) are best viewed as a whole and are "by far the most significant statements in support of American liberty" of those from the second wave,[4] and were precursors to the Declaration of Independence issued by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
"Strip me of the dejected and suffering remnants of my army; take from me all that I have left; leave me but a banner; give me but the means to plant it upon the mountains of West Augusta, and I will yet draw around me the men who will lift up their bleeding country from the dust and set her free.