On January 20, 1775, a Committee of Safety (which included Rev. Charles Cummings) in Fincastle County, Virginia adopted the “Fincastle Resolutions,” which were presented to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania a week later. This was one of the early calls for resistance to British tyranny.

The Fincastle Resolutions state in part:

“We by no means desire to shake off our duty or our allegiance to our lawful sovereign, but, on the contrary, shall ever glory in being the loyal subjects of a Protestant Prince, descended from such illustrious progenitors as long as we can enjoy the free exercise of our Religion as Protestants, and our Liberties and Properties as British subjects.

But if no pacific measures shall be proposed or adopted by Great Britain, and our enemies shall attempt to dragoon us out of these inestimable privileges which we are entitled to as subjects, and to reduce us to a state of slavery, we declare that we are deliberately and resolutely determined never to surrender them to any power upon earth, but at the expense of our lives.

These are our real, though unpolished, sentiments of liberty and loyalty, and in them we are resolved to live and die.”