 During the 1770s , Wodrow established and expanded what became a thriving import business in Fredericksburg . Following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War , he abandoned his business rather than import and sell goods from the Kingdom of Great Britain . He placed his entire inventory of British goods up for public auction in January 1775 and contributed the resulting profits totaling 19 pounds and 14 shillings to the American Revolutionary patriot cause in Boston . Wodrow became affiliated with the King George Association of 1770 , which called on " every freeholder " in King George County , Virginia to carry the revolution through to its fullest extent . 
