The Two Penny Act was a law enacted in 1758 by the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

which affected the compensation of

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

ministers in the British

colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

. From the controversy surrounding it arose the Parson's Cause trial, which is regarded as an important event in the history of

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. The act was issued after three years of drought which produced a low-yielding tobacco crop. The one-year measure allowed Anglican ministers' salaries to be paid at a fixed rate of two pence per pound of tobacco, as tobacco was often used as currency. The market rate at the time was set at four to six pence per pound of tobacco. Once the loss of value was factored in, a clergyman was receiving about one-third of his normal, stipulated salary. The colony's councilors had approved and, with the House of Burgesses, convinced Governor Francis Fauquier to allow the act to go into effect. In doing so, Fauquier deviated from his royally mandated instructions. He defended his royal malfeasance by arguing that, in reality, he had no choice. "As the Bill," he wrote, "was a temporary Law to ease the people from a Burthen which the Country thought too great for them to bear... The country were intent upon it, and both the Council and the House of Burgesses were almost unanimous in their pressing it. And I conceived it would be a very wrong Step for me to take who was an entire Stranger to the Distresses of the Country, to set my Face against the whole colony by refusing the Bill which I had a Precedent for Passing. Whatever may be the Case now, I am persuaded that if I had refused it, I must have despaired ever gaining any Influence either in the Council or House of Burgesses." In May 1759, petitions were presented to the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

on behalf of Virginian clergymen, asking for its repeal.

Lord Halifax Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...

recommended that the act be disallowed and instructed that Fauquier "for the future strictly observe and obey" his instructions. It was disallowed by the end of August 1759 by the Board of Trade.

Anglican objection

The Anglican clergy generally objected to the act, arguing that they should benefit from the high tobacco prices on account of their agreement to accept whatever their tobacco would sell for when the price was low. But the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

back in England would have allowed the act to continue, had it not been for the persistent objections of the Reverend

John Camm John Camm (1718–1778) was an Anglican priest who served as the seventh (and last Tory) president of the College of William and Mary. He was a fierce Tory advocate of the prerogative of the Crown and the established Church. Education Born in 1 ...

of York County. A slew of pamphlets and lawsuits had availed nothing for Camm and his counterparts, so he sailed for England to present his arguments. In England, Camm contracted the help of the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

and the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. He argued that the Two Penny Act was a result of the fading of royal and Anglican authority in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and the

American colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centur ...

. However, the focus on his own list of grievances ignored the act's purpose as a financial relief measure. The King and his council dismissed the measure and its predecessors on the recommendation of the

. The Two Penny Act had expired, and repealing the law would have been open for discussion had not several clergymen sued for back pay. Two cases were rejected because the act was valid until it was disallowed by the Privy Council. One court awarded a minister double his salary in damages, but it was the case filed by Reverend

James Maury James Maury (1717–1769) was a prominent Virginia educator and Anglican cleric during the American Colonial period and the progenitor of the prominent Maury political family. The Reverend James Maury was a figure in the notable lawsuit that ...

of Louisa County that turned out to be the most well known. This was the case most commonly referred to as the Parson's Cause.

Possible conspiracy

Some historians have questioned the actual need for the Two Penny Act. There were some in Virginia who were happy to see the ministers take a financial blow, though there is very little evidence that the House of Burgesses deliberately set out to punish the clergy.

References

{{Reflist * Isaac, Rhys. ''The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982. * McCants, David A., ''The Authenticity of James Maury's Account of Patrick Henry's Speech in the Parsons' Cause''. ''Southern Speech Communication Journal'', 42 (1976). * Nettels, Curtis P., ''The Roots of American Civilization, A History of American Colonial Life''. New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 1938.

External links

Two Penny Acts (1755, 1758)
at Encyclopedia Virginia Virginia General Assembly

Anglican objection

Possible conspiracy

See also

References

External links