Ed Helms

Dunmore's solution?

Dissolve the House of Burgesses.

Just break it up.

Get everyone out of there.

This is a really fascinating detail.

The sort of straw that broke the camel's back with the House of Burgesses was that they wanted to commemorate the Boston Tea Party with a day of fasting or something like that.

And this was a decree that only the crown would normally have the power to decree.

And so this was seen as a sort of subtle affront to the crown.

Well, the subtlety is that it's such a genteel thing, right, to have a day of fasting and prayer in commemoration of something.

But to sort of take that mantle themselves was just a tiny little fuck you to the crown.

And so that's why they kind of forced Dunmore's hand.

He had to be like, guys, you can't do that.

You got it.

You're broken up.

So, yeah, every every last member, including Washington, the very guy he shared breakfast with just hours earlier, was basically sent home.

What message does this send to the to the people, to the to the colonists when an unelected governor can just unilaterally dissolve an elected body?

And then how long can people just like stop asking politely questions?

Oh, very cool.

I like the way that you framed that.

Despite all this political tension, Dunmore was actually strengthening his standing with many wealthy Virginians by supporting Western expansion.