Independent New Hampshire Journalism · Northfield, NHThe Stamp Act Congress adopted its declaration of rights and grievances on October 19, 1765. The same date holds the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and a 1973 White House plan to let one senator check the Watergate tapes in place of a judge.
Audio edition (8:48): a synthetic voice reads the article. The images, fact check and sources are on this page.
October 19 is a date about who gets to decide. Who may tax a colony, who sits as the nation’s chief judge, who hears a president’s recordings, and who stands ready to supply liquidity when the market breaks. Seven entries, from a congress in New York in 1765 to a stock market crash in 1987.
October 19, 1765
Nine Colonies Put the Taxing Power in Writing
On the morning of Saturday, October 19, 1765, delegates meeting in New York agreed to a declaration of the rights and grievances of the colonists, according to the congress’s journal entry for that day as reprinted by the American Battlefield Trust. The meeting answered Parliament’s new stamp duties. Massachusetts had issued the invitation that June, asking every colony to send delegates.
Not every colony came. The Trust’s editor’s note says representatives from only nine colonies appeared, and it names four that were not represented: Virginia, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Georgia. The note gives no reason for New Hampshire’s absence. The Massachusetts Historical Society counts 27 delegates and fourteen resolutions.
The text opens with loyalty. The first resolution pledges allegiance to the crown and “all due subordination” to Parliament, by the Trust’s transcription. Then the claims begin. The third says a free people may be taxed only with their consent, given in person or through representatives. The fourth says the colonists are not, and cannot be, represented in the House of Commons. The fifth closes the loop: no taxes can be constitutionally imposed on them except by their own legislatures.
The declaration also defended the courtroom. It called trial by jury an inherent right and charged that the stamp law, along with acts stretching the reach of the admiralty courts, tended to subvert colonial rights. It also called payment of the duties under several recent acts impracticable, given the scarcity of hard money in the colonies.
The congress also petitioned the king and Parliament. The Trust’s note says only six colonies’ delegates signed that petition, because some delegates carried credentials that let them consult but not act. The Massachusetts Historical Society holds a copy of the resolutions as printed in The Massachusetts Gazette on March 20, 1766, after they had been published in London. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School carries the same text under the heading “Resolutions of the Continental Congress,” though the body was the Stamp Act Congress.
October 19, 1781
Cornwallis Surrendered at Yorktown
In the fall of 1781, George Washington’s allied American and French forces besieged the British army of Charles, Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. On October 19, Cornwallis surrendered. The National Park Service, which manages the battlefield as part of Colonial National Historical Park, says the surrender effectively ended the war and ensured independence. The park’s own description calls Yorktown the last major battle of the Revolutionary War. The park identifies the Moore House as the place where the terms of surrender were negotiated.
October 19, 1789
John Jay Took the Oath as Chief Justice
George Washington nominated John Jay on September 24, 1789, to a new seat authorized by 1 Stat. 73. The Senate confirmed him on September 26, and his commission issued the same day, according to the Federal Judicial Center. Jay took his Supreme Court oath on October 19, 1789. His is the first name on the Supreme Court’s list of chief justices.
The oath document shown in the Columbia University Libraries exhibition on Jay was attested by Richard Morris, chief justice of the New York Supreme Court. The job came with travel. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789, the justices also rode circuit, and the exhibition records that for the spring 1792 term Jay attended court sessions in New York City, New Haven, Boston, Portsmouth, Newport and Bennington. That route ran 913 miles across six states in 87 days. Jay resigned on June 29, 1795, after his election as governor of New York.
October 19, 1864
Confederate Raiders Robbed Three Banks in St. Albans, Vermont
Twenty Confederate soldiers attacked the village of St. Albans, Vermont, on October 19, 1864. The Vermont Historical Society says they robbed three banks of more than $200,000, killed one citizen, wounded two others, took horses and tried and failed to burn the town. The society lists three aims: revenge for attacks on Southern cities, money for the Confederacy and panic along the northern border.
The raiders escaped across the Canadian border with Vermonters in close pursuit. Several were captured and arrested by Canadians. The society says they were first freed on a legal technicality, sent the stolen money south and were then rearrested. Canadian courts refused to extradite them and eventually released them, which strained relations between the United States and Britain further.
October 19, 1960
Washington Barred U.S. Exports to Cuba, With Exceptions for Food and Medicine
On October 19, 1960, the State Department announced that the United States was prohibiting American exports to Cuba, with exceptions for nonsubsidized foodstuffs, medicines and medical supplies. That description comes from a footnote to a White House conference memorandum in the State Department’s Foreign Relations of the United States series, which points readers to the announcement’s full text in the Department of State Bulletin of November 7, 1960, pages 715 and 716.
October 19, 1973
Nixon Offered a Senator in Place of a Judge for the Watergate Tapes
On October 19, 1973, President Richard Nixon issued a written statement on the subpoenaed White House tape recordings, preserved by The American Presidency Project. He wrote that in this one instance he must “permit a breach in the confidentiality” of the presidency, then set narrow terms for it. By his account, Attorney General Elliot Richardson had spent the week in discussions with Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and made the proposal.
Nixon would personally prepare a statement of everything on the subpoenaed tapes that bore on Watergate and submit it to Judge Sirica. Senator John Stennis would listen to every requested tape and verify that the statement was full and accurate. Nixon wrote that Sam Ervin and Howard Baker, chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee, had agreed to the procedure. In exchange, the Special Prosecutor would make no further attempt to subpoena tapes or similar presidential papers.
The statement says Cox rejected the proposal. Nixon wrote that he would not hand the tapes to the court for private inspection because one judge’s access would set a precedent for 400 district judges, and that he had told White House counsel not to seek Supreme Court review of the appeals court ruling.
October 19, 1987
Black Monday: The Dow Fell 22.6 Percent in One Session
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22.6 percent on October 19, 1987, a day known as Black Monday. The Federal Reserve History essay on the crash calls it the largest one-day decline in stock market history.
The central bank answered the next day. On October 20, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan affirmed the Federal Reserve’s “readiness to serve as a source of liquidity” for the economic and financial system, the essay says. The Fed also encouraged banks to keep lending on their usual terms. Exchanges later built provisions to pause trading during rapid sell-offs, and the essay notes that the losses were not followed by a recession or a banking crisis.
Most of these October 19 answers were written down: a declaration, an oath, an export announcement, a president’s statement, a central bank’s promise. The records are linked below. Read them before you read anyone’s summary of them, including this one.
Your Turn
Tell us: Which of these October 19 records would you want to read in full, and why? Reply in the comments or write to granitestatereport@gmail.com.
Fact check
| # | Claim | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Stamp Act Congress agreed to its declaration of rights and grievances on Saturday, October 19, 1765. | VERIFIED | Congress journal entry reprinted by the American Battlefield Trust; Massachusetts Historical Society item 293 |
| 2 | Massachusetts sent the June 1765 circular inviting the colonies to a congress at New York. | ATTRIBUTED | American Battlefield Trust editor’s note |
| 3 | Nine colonies were represented; Virginia, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Georgia were not. | ATTRIBUTED | American Battlefield Trust editor’s note; MHS item 293 (nine colonies) |
| 4 | 27 delegates adopted fourteen resolutions. | ATTRIBUTED | Massachusetts Historical Society item 293 |
| 5 | The resolutions on allegiance, consent to taxes, representation, legislatures, jury trial, admiralty courts and scarcity of specie read as described. | VERIFIED | Declaration text, American Battlefield Trust; Avalon Project, Yale Law School |
| 6 | Only six colonies’ delegates signed the petition, because some credentials allowed consultation only. | ATTRIBUTED | American Battlefield Trust editor’s note |
| 7 | The resolutions appeared in The Massachusetts Gazette on March 20, 1766, after publication in London. | VERIFIED | Massachusetts Historical Society item 293 |
| 8 | Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, after a siege by allied American and French forces. | VERIFIED | National Park Service, Yorktown Battlefield |
| 9 | The surrender terms were negotiated at the Moore House. | VERIFIED | National Park Service, Yorktown Battlefield |
| 10 | Jay was nominated Sept. 24, confirmed and commissioned Sept. 26, and took the Supreme Court oath Oct. 19, 1789; seat authorized by 1 Stat. 73; resigned June 29, 1795. | VERIFIED | Federal Judicial Center; Supreme Court of the United States, Justices 1789 to Present |
| 11 | Jay’s oath was attested by Richard Morris; his spring 1792 circuit included Portsmouth, 913 miles, six states, 87 days. | ATTRIBUTED | Columbia University Libraries exhibition, In Service to the New Nation |
| 12 | Twenty Confederate soldiers raided St. Albans on Oct. 19, 1864, robbing three banks of more than $200,000, killing one citizen and wounding two. | ATTRIBUTED | Vermont Historical Society |
| 13 | Canadian courts refused extradition and eventually released the raiders. | ATTRIBUTED | Vermont Historical Society |
| 14 | The State Department announced on Oct. 19, 1960, a prohibition on U.S. exports to Cuba except nonsubsidized foodstuffs, medicines and medical supplies. | VERIFIED | Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Vol. VI, footnote to Doc. 593 (memorandum of conference, Oct. 17, 1960); Department of State Bulletin, Nov. 7, 1960, pp. 715–716 |
| 15 | Nixon’s Oct. 19, 1973, statement proposed a Stennis-verified statement of the tapes, reported Ervin and Baker’s agreement and Cox’s rejection, and declined Supreme Court review. | VERIFIED | The American Presidency Project, Statement Announcing Procedures for Providing Information From Presidential Tape Recordings |
| 16 | The Dow fell 22.6 percent on Oct. 19, 1987; Greenspan’s Oct. 20 statement affirmed readiness to provide liquidity. | VERIFIED | Federal Reserve History, Stock Market Crash of 1987 |
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Related GSR coverage: October 18 in New Hampshire History: the province asks Congress for advice on administering justice, 1775; October 17 in U.S. History: Saratoga and habeas corpus; October 18 in U.S. History: the Clean Water Act veto override.
Editor’s note. This edition draws on the Stamp Act Congress declaration as reprinted by the American Battlefield Trust and the Avalon Project at Yale Law School, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the National Park Service, the Federal Judicial Center, the Supreme Court of the United States, Columbia University Libraries, the Vermont Historical Society, the State Department’s Foreign Relations of the United States series, The American Presidency Project and the Federal Reserve History essay on the 1987 crash. The Avalon Project titles the 1765 text “Resolutions of the Continental Congress”; the American Battlefield Trust and the Massachusetts Historical Society identify the body as the Stamp Act Congress, and this edition follows them. Delegate and colony counts come from the Trust’s editor’s note and the Historical Society’s catalog description. Images are from the Library of Congress.
Corrections: Granite State Report corrects verified errors promptly and appends a dated note identifying what changed and when. The corrections policy and the corrections register are public, and correction notes are never removed.
