| And so here we are, fellow Americans, nervously sweating out the dog days of summer. There’s pandemonium in politics, folks are taking sides, nobody knows what’s gonna happen next, and resolution seems a long way off. July 2024? Yes certainly. But it bears a strong resemblance to the situation 250 years ago this month, in the wake of the Sons of Liberty having recently destroyed three shiploads of tea in Boston Harbor, the Empire responding by locking down the city, and imposing the Intolerable Acts across the continent. As the news spread down the coast, every colony and every person had to decide for themselves how they felt about these new taxes, and what they might do about it going forward. When the news had arrived in New Jersey, in January 1774, a handful of students at what is now Princeton University broke into the school stores, pulled out all the tea, and burned it in front of Nassau Hall, the largest building in the colony. But after that, things had gone eerily…quiet. But then we come to July, 1774. In New Brunswick, the central “Hub City” of New Jersey, a group of 71 men representing 11 of the states’ then-existing 13 counties come together to discuss the situation, and decide what the colony should do. Over a 3-day period, they meet and argue and thumb-wrestle, and ultimately craft a document that history remembers as “the Brunswick Resolves.” This rather short document codifies New Jersey’s stance, offers a few resolves, and sets a path for moving forward: 1. “We are unshaken in loyalty to his Majesty George the Third…and detest all thoughts of independence from Great Britain.” 2. However, “British Parliament…imposing taxes for the purpose of raising a revenue in America is unconstitutional and oppressive, and we think ourselves bound in duty to ourselves and our posterity, by all constitutional means in our power.” 3. The Intolerable Acts are “repugnant to the common principles of humanity and justice.” 4. “We do earnestly recommend a general non-importation and non-consumption agreement” on British goods in the colonies. 5. We shall provide “some immediate relief to the many suffering inhabitants of the town of Boston.” 6. And resolve that “James Kinsey, William Livington, John DeHart, Stephen Crane, and Richard Smith…represent this province in the General Continental Congress, to be held at the City of Philadelphia, on or about the first day of September next.” With this document, New Jersey has declared itself. Other colonies are going through the same process. And in about six weeks, they will all come together with their respective colonial positions. They will meet and argue and thumb-wrestle and perhaps craft some new agreements…in the First Continental Congress. | 
