When GW arrived in Alexandria he first attended a meeting wherein “the Resolutions [were] revised, alterd, & corrected in the Committee” (GW to Bryan Fairfax, 20 July 1774, ViHi). Then the whole committee went “into a general Meeting in the Court House,” where GW found an almost “perfect satisfaction, & acquiescence to the measures propos’d,” though his friend Bryan Fairfax thought otherwise (see Fairfax to GW, 5 Aug. 1774, DLC:GW). These resolutions, approved on this day by the “General Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the County of Fairfax, at the Court House,” thereafter were commonly known as the Fairfax Resolves (VAN SCHREEVEN description begins William J. Van Schreeven et al., eds. Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence. A Documentary Record. 7 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1973–83. description ends , 1:127–33).

The meeting also chose a 25–man committee, headed by GW, which would “have power to call a General Meeting, and to Concert and Adopt such Measures as may be thought most expedient and Necessary” (VAN SCHREEVEN description begins William J. Van Schreeven et al., eds. Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence. A Documentary Record. 7 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1973–83. description ends , 1:133; and see MASON [2] description begins Robert A. Rutland, ed. The Papers of George Mason, 1725–1792. 3 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1970. description ends , 1:201–10). This committee subsequently absorbed the role of the Alexandria committee of correspondence that had been formed the preceding May (PURVIANCE description begins Robert Purviance. A Narrative of Events Which Occurred in Baltimore Town during the Revolutionary War. Baltimore, 1849. description ends , 126–28).

There were meetings similar to this Fairfax County meeting in almost every county in Virginia during this summer, all of which passed resolutions and chose delegates (usually their burgesses) for the upcoming August convention (VAN SCHREEVEN description begins William J. Van Schreeven et al., eds. Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence. A Documentary Record. 7 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1973–83. description ends , 1:105–168). Only a few of the preconvention meetings, however (including those of Fairfax, Dunmore, Frederick, and Stafford counties), formed county committees before the convention even met. While Dunmore and Frederick counties each chose committes of 6, Stafford County chose a 69–man committee, 5 of whom were cousins of GW (VAN SCHREEVEN description begins William J. Van Schreeven et al., eds. Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence. A Documentary Record. 7 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1973–83. description ends , 1:161).