Williamsburg's 5th Virginia Convention Anniversary | The Flame of Revolution

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Colonial Williamsburg presents Flame of Revolution.

[00:00:06]>> Citizens of Williamsburg, I give you my thanks for inviting me here today. The history of this city and the educational mission as promised by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation that the future may learn from the past has shown me the power of this place as the center of what makes us American.

[00:00:30]And there is no better place in all of America to preserve than Williamsburg, Virginia.

[00:00:37]For if it was not for the events that happened right here on this street, there would be no July 4th, there would be no Yorktown, no Constitution, and no United States. This is the most historic avenue in America.

[00:00:53]>> [cheering] >> Let us meet the ghosts of the past >> [music] >> and explore together as we see how Williamsburg played a part in the founding of this country.

[00:01:06]>> There he is, it's Mercer. Stop him. We will know your mind, Mercer. Will you distribute the stamps or will you resign as tax collector?

[00:01:12]>> Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen, I must consult my family. The day after tomorrow you shall have my answer.

[00:01:19]>> The day after tomorrow? You know [screaming] well the act goes into effect the day after tomorrow.

[00:01:24]>> Time that we call for a congress of all the colonies.

[00:01:31]>> Our actions may appear feeble now, but if we can avert a civil war by exhibiting one moment of patience, history will thank us for it.

[00:01:44]If we call for a general congress now, we will surely forswear Dunmore to dissolve the house immediately. And how does that serve Virginia?

[00:01:53]>> I hold in my hand a paper ordered published by your house, which makes it necessary for me to dissolve them, and you are dissolved accordingly.

[00:02:10]>> He just dissolved the house!

[00:02:12]>> Now is the time. A Congress is met.

[00:02:15]>> Yes!

[00:02:16]>> [screaming] >> Good people of Virginia, let us look forward to tomorrow as a day of opportunity. Let us meet at the Raleigh Tavern tomorrow, there not as members of the House of Burgesses, not chained to the dictates of the royal governor, but as representatives of Virginia.

[00:02:38]>> What is this fuss all about?

[00:02:40]>> He's done it right under our noses.

[00:02:42]>> What are you talking about?

[00:02:44]>> it's been broken into.

[00:02:46]>> appear to be unlocked.

[00:02:47]>> And who had the key?

[00:02:48]>> Oh, God's teeth.

[00:02:48]>> Exactly.

[00:02:49]>> A foolish man will commit cowardly action.

[00:02:53]>> He already took >> Fight!

[00:02:56]>> [screaming] >> Come on, boys!

[00:02:59]>> Are you all so eager to cast yourselves into war?

[00:03:04]>> Let us have three cheers for Speaker Peyton Randolph.

[00:03:07]>> Hip, hip!

[00:03:09]Hip, hip!

[00:03:10]Hip, hip!

[00:03:11]>> [screaming] >> These men, British, American, loyalists, patriots, in the end, they still wrap their shells around us, >> Yes!

[00:03:23]>> constrain us, detain us, confine us, and define us.

[00:03:28]>> I have a right to my own body, my own mind. I am tired of the shackles that these men have placed upon me. I am tired of being used for everyone else's gain.

[00:03:39]>> They could kill you.

[00:03:40]>> taken my life.

[00:03:42]>> Fear is not the final step.

[00:03:45]It's the first.

[00:03:47]>> On the morning of May 6th, 1776, a few members of the House of Burgesses met there for the last time.

[00:03:54]>> [music] >> They wrote the final word ever recorded as a royal governing body.

[00:03:59]Fini.

[00:04:00]That one word [music] shifted the perspective of every man in the room.

[00:04:04]They were British no longer.

[00:04:06]It was right here in Williamsburg [music] where the world was changed forever due to the actions and responses on this street. On this street [music] walked the minds and hearts of men, women, black, white, and indigenous [music] who shaped the fabric of the country that we now commemorate. It was the events that happened right here on this street that spurred our country into finding its voice and reason. From the reaction to the Stamp Act in 1765, the dissolution of the house in '74, the theft [music] of the gunpowder in '75, and the vote for independence at the Fifth Virginia Convention in '76, Williamsburg became the cradle of liberty. It is now in a restored Williamsburg where we can continue to learn about our past, our present, [music] and our future. That the future may learn from the past is a high and mighty ideal, and I for one am utterly convinced that this place should forever be preserved for future generations.

[00:05:04]This truly [music] is the most historic avenue in America.

[00:05:10]>> Hip, hip, >> [cheering] >> Hip, hip,