March 7, 1766

Richard Bland's An Inquiry Into the Rights of the British Colonies published in Williamsburg

Williamsburg printer Alexander Purdie publishes Richard Bland's pamphlet An Inquiry Into the Rights of the British Colonies, which argues that Parliament not only lacks the authority to tax the colonies, it also does not have the power to legislate for them in any way because Americans are "a distinct People from the inhabitants of Britain." Although a radical stance at the time, it would later become the foundation of patriot arguments, such as those of Thomas Jefferson.