Parson's Cause
The "Parson's Cause" was a legal and political dispute in the British colony of Virginia often viewed as an important event leading up to the American Revolution.According to legislation passed in 1748, Virginia's Anglican clergy were to be paid 16,000 pounds of tobacco per year, the colony's primary cash crop.The House of Burgesses responded by passing legislation allowing debts in tobacco to be paid in currency at a rate of two pennies per pound.The court ruled on November 5, 1763 that Maury's claim was valid, but that the amount of damages had to be determined by a jury, which was called for in December 1763.As Maury wrote on December 12, 1763 in a letter to fellow Anglican minister John Camm shortly after the trial, Henry argued "that a King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience.
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