Part 4

The Virginia Colony finally received a charter of self-government during Oliver Cromwell's rule in England and became the Commonwealth of Virginia on March 12, 1651. The Treaty of Jamestown provided that Virginians would be guaranteed the freedoms and privileges of the English people in return for a recognition of the Puritan Commonwealth of Cromwell in England. The colony prospered under Governors Richard Bennett, Edward Digges and Samuel Matthews from 1652-1660. By 1660, the population of the Virginia Colony was approximately 33,000 or over four times as much as in 1640. Many of this number consisted of Cavaliers. The population which first had centered around Jamestown, along the James River to the junction of the James and Appomattox Rivers and along the navigable inlets, now had broadened into the Tidewater area. As tobacco production and the use of tobacco increased and as soil fertility became exhausted, more land was added to the individual farms until large plantations appeared almost common. Class society in Virginia changed, generally, from a middle-class one to two distinct classes: the wealthy plantation owner who could afford such personal workers as slaves and servants and the tenant farmer who worked for a plantation owner. In return for his services, he was usually allowed to have a small plot of ground for his own use and a small farm on which to live. When the Cavaliers, mostly wealthy gentlemen, migrated to Virginia, they brought added aristocracy to the Virginia Colony.

In the meantime, other counties had been formed in Virginia. An area which had been settled originally in Upper Norfolk was named Nansemond County in 1642. "Nansemond" is an Indian word meaning "fishing point or angle." In 1648, the county of Northumberland was formed from a large Indian district formerly known as Chickacoan and it was named for Northumberland County, England. From this large area, one hundred sixteen counties were later formed. Within a twenty-five year period, seven additional counties were created: Gloucester County (formed from York and named for the third son of Charles I, Henry-Duke of Gloucester), New Kent County (formed also from York and believed to have been named either for the English Kent or for Kent Island), Lancaster County (from York and Northumberland), Surry (from James City County), Westmoreland (from Northumberland and later an addition from James City County), Stafford (from Westmoreland) and Middlesex (from Lancaster)--the latter five named in honor of English counties. The formation of many new counties during this time illustrates the great increase in population which took place.

When Charles II became King of England in 1660, Britain's colonial policy changed. Previously, the colonies had been more or less neglected, and interest in England had been chiefly centered upon religion, intellectual achievement and local issues. After the Civil War in England, the importance of the colonies seemed more apparent, competition in setting up and controlling colonial empires was greater and mercantilism became the key theory accepted by the leading countries of Europe. Mercantilism was based upon the idea that the colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country and that they had specific obligations or responsibilities to fulfill, namely: (1) to produce the articles which the mother country needs and which are impossible for the mother country to produce; (2) to supply the mother country with foodstuffs which she needs, (3) to furnish a market for the mother country's manufactured goods, and (4) to export colonial goods in mother country ships only. Earlier in 1651, Parliament had passed a law prohibiting foreign vessels from trading with the American colonists. This law had been aimed primarily at the Dutch. It also stated that all products sent by the American colonies to England or sent from one colony to another had to be carried in either English or American ships. However, there had not been strict enforcement of this law in Virginia.

The Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1663 were passed providing that goods imported into the colonies had to be carried by English, Irish or American ships. The act further stated that certain "enumerated articles" or exports could be sent only to the British Isles or to the English possessions: for example, tobacco, sugar, apples, wool, indigo and dyewood. The list was increased as time passed, and the ill feeling of the Virginia Colony as well as the other English colonies in America toward the mother country can be fully understood, especially since higher prices for their articles could be obtained from foreign countries. The second Navigation Act required that all European goods destined for the American colonies be sent to England and then shipped to America in English ships. Thus, England tried to maintain a monopoly of her colonial trade. The prosperity of the Virginia Colony was affected greatly by these acts. Virginia's economy at this time was almost completely dependent upon its export tobacco trade which was far in excess of the amount of tobacco which England needed. The Navigation Acts virtually closed all the markets except England and its possessions to Virginia tobacco. As a result, the English market was suddenly flooded with Virginia tobacco. There was much excess tobacco in Virginia itself, some tobacco even rotting on the farms. The price of tobacco accordingly dropped from fourpence a pound to a halfpenny per pound by 1667. Virginia, as well as the other American colonies, at times violated the above regulations and sent some of its goods directly to other European countries in order to survive these economic blows. Thus, the Restoration Period which the Virginians had favored had some unexpected results for them. After the Virginians had urged Sir William Berkeley to resume the governorship prior to the Restoration, he had gone to England to intercede for the colonists concerning the tobacco trade and the other Navigation Acts, but his efforts had been futile.

Another surprise was received by the Virginians at this time. While Charles II was in exile in France in 1649, he granted more than five million acres of land lying between the Potomac and the Rappahannock Rivers to four Cavalier friends. This grant was called the "Northern Neck Proprietary" of Virginia. Twenty years later, he granted a new charter for the same territory to the surviving grantees. These

## actions were unknown to the colonists, and much of this same land

had been settled under patents issued by the Colony itself. When the colonists learned of the new charter, there was much protest, and some of the colonists tried to buy out the grantees' interests. However, in most cases, their efforts were in vain. This grant was later referred to as the Fairfax Proprietary or Fairfax Grant. In 1673, the colonists found out that King Charles II had bestowed the rest of the Colony as a gift upon the Earl of Arlington and Lord Culpeper for thirty-one years. This eventually had no lasting ill effects upon the colonists because Lord Culpeper later purchased the Earl of Arlington's interest and King Charles himself bought back the entire area from him for a six hundred pounds per year pension. Lord Fairfax V became the owner in 1689 and the proprietary itself was abolished by the Virginia General Assembly in 1786.

In 1671, two explorers, Thomas Batts and Robert Fallon, traveled by horseback from Fort Henry (present Petersburg area) up the Roanoke Valley and across the Blue Ridge Mountains until they reached the top of the Allegheny Mountains. They proceeded to the New River and to an area in the present town of Narrows in Giles County. In order to claim this land for their King, Charles II of England, they had their Indian guides peel the bark off of four trees and then burn a symbol--the initials of King Charles, of Governor William Berkeley and of Colonel Abraham Wood (who was responsible for this expedition)--on each tree with a pair of marking irons. Thus, they took possession of this land and all the area west of it in the King's name and provided a basic claim of land in Southwest Virginia.

In this same year, a unique attitude concerning public education was expressed by royal Governor Berkeley when he stated: "I thank God, there are no free schools or printing presses and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years: for learning has brought disobedience and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both."

In 1672, Parliament passed an act compelling each ship which left the colonies for Europe to post bond that it would deliver its cargo in England or otherwise pay the required duty. Colonial customs collectors were to be appointed whose chief duty was to supervise this trade. An export duty was to be paid on certain "enumerated" articles--tobacco, indigo, sugar, apples, dyewood and later, naval stores, molasses, lumber and hides--if such articles were sent from one colony to another. Strict enforcement of this act would have dire results on the Virginia colonists because their ships had been carrying products from the West Indies and from Virginia to northern ports and then to Europe. The colonists began to be extremely dissatisfied with the mother country.

Governor Berkeley at this time was aggravating the home situation of the Virginia colonists. He had limited suffrage to freeholders and householders only, had strongly influenced the election of Assembly members to individuals who were personal friends and who favored the King's policies and had been keeping the Assembly technically in session for fourteen years without any elections taking place. The grievance about which the colonists felt the most bitter, however, was the inadequate protection of the frontier from the Susquehannock Indian attacks. After these Indians had attacked a plantation owned by Nathaniel Bacon and had killed his overseer and one of his servants, Bacon decided that the colonists themselves should take organized action against the Indians since the Governor had practically ignored the attacks. One possible reason for the Governor's hesitancy in interfering in these Indian affairs was the high profit which he was receiving from the Indian fur trading. Many of Bacon's neighbors agreed with him, and they prepared to be the aggressors against the Indians. Bacon asked the Governor for permission to do so and for a military commission for himself as the leader. Both requests were refused, and Bacon and his friends were declared rebels by the Governor. Consequently, Bacon and his followers decided to take matters into their own hands without the Governor's permission. They proceeded and successfully defeated the Indians. This action aroused Governor Berkeley who immediately considered Bacon a traitor, and a civil war or rebellion resulted.

Bacon, in the meantime, had been elected as a member of the House of Burgesses, and he went to Jamestown to participate in the Assembly. Upon his arrival, he was arrested, brought to the State House and charged with being a rebel. Governor Berkeley and the King's Council discussed Bacon's activities, and Bacon agreed to apologize for his actions if the Governor would grant him his commission. The Governor agreed, but Bacon felt that the Governor had no intention of carrying out his promise for a commission. Bacon discussed this meeting with his neighbor friends who decided to accompany him to Jamestown where he was to receive his commission. Bacon and approximately four hundred planters marched to the State House at Jamestown and demanded his commission. When none was forthcoming, he ordered his men to aim their guns at the windows of the State House where the House of Burgesses sat. At this drastic move, the Burgesses quickly prepared the commission paper and persuaded Governor Berkeley to sign it and then issued it to Bacon. Bacon and his followers then returned home. Governor Berkeley thereupon decided to fight Bacon and his associates. Berkeley then departed from Jamestown and crossed the York River to Gloucester where he called upon his friends to help him. Upon hearing that Bacon was approaching Gloucester, Berkeley fled across the Chesapeake Bay to Accomack. In August 1676, Bacon and his followers signed an agreement whereby they all pledged to fight any and all soldiers that Governor Berkeley might order from England to the colony. After some Indians living near Richmond made new attacks upon the settlers there, Bacon and his friends captured the Indian fort and killed or imprisoned the remaining Indians.

While Bacon was thus engaged, Governor Berkeley with eight hundred soldiers and eighteen ships in the James River had occupied Jamestown. Bacon proceeded next to Jamestown and defeated Governor Berkeley's forces there. Governor Berkeley and many of his soldiers fled to the ships and sailed away. Bacon realized that although he had won on land, he would have no chance of holding out an attack from the ships. Therefore, he and his friends burned the State House and the rest of the capital, Jamestown, to prevent Governor Berkeley from repossessing it. Bacon had become ill with a fever and died shortly afterwards in October at the home of a friend in Gloucester County. Governor Berkeley had twenty-three of Bacon's followers put to death, but the principle for which they fought remained alive: "the people must be heard." Bacon's Rebellion is remembered in history primarily as a revolt of the plain, common man against a privileged few. Governor Berkeley was later recalled to England, and, upon his return, instead of being treated as a hero by the King, he was regarded with contempt.

In 1682, tobacco had been grown so extensively in Virginia that the price of tobacco on the London market had declined rapidly. When the British government refused a request from the Virginia colonists to either restrict tobacco acreage or order a temporary cessation of its growth, tobacco riots occurred in Virginia. During many nights, thousands of young tobacco plants throughout the colony were destroyed. Finally, after the execution of six tobacco plant cutters, the riots ceased. Eventually, the customs duty on tobacco was increased tremendously, and taxes in Virginia were increased at the same time.

In 1682, John Buckner established the first printing press in Virginia at Jamestown. His printer was William Nuthead who published several papers and two sheets of the acts of the Assembly of November 1682, supposedly without a license. The Colonial Council issued an order prohibiting anything from being printed until the King had given his permission as there was strong opposition against "the liberty of a press." Consequently, in December 1683, when King Charles II prohibited all printing in Virginia, William Nuthead moved his printing press to St. Mary's City, Maryland.

From 1691 to 1703, seven additional counties were formed in the Virginia Colony: Norfolk County (created from Lower Norfolk which had become extinct and named for Norfolk County in England which is also located on the water), King and Queen County (created from New Kent County and named for the joint rulers of England: King William III, Prince of Orange, and Queen Mary), Princess Anne County (created also from Lower Norfolk and named for Princess--later Queen--Anne of England), Essex (created from the then extinct Rappahannock County and named either for Essex County, England or the Earl of Essex), Richmond (created also from the then extinct Rappahannock County and either named for territory resemblance to Richmond, Surry County, England or in honor of an English Earl or Duke of Richmond), King William County (created from King and Queen County and named for William of Orange, King of England), and Prince George County (created from one of the original eight shires--Charles City County--and was named for Prince George of Denmark, Queen Anne's husband).

As mentioned previously, education in the Virginia Colony was generally thought of as a family responsibility, not as a community one. Nevertheless, by 1690, some families decided that there should be an educational institution for higher learning in Virginia in order that their sons would not have to travel abroad to obtain such an education. A conference was held in Jamestown to consider the founding of a college in the Virginia Colony. Those present led by Colonel John Page drew up plans for such an institution and asked the Governor and the King's Council to explain to the rulers of England and to Parliament the purpose and the need of a college in Virginia and to make a request for financial contributions for such an enterprise. Reverend James Blair, a Scotch minister in Virginia, went to England to ask King William III and Queen Mary for their consent. He stayed in England for two years and, upon his return, had a royal charter and numerous contributions consisting of land, special tax funds and personal finances which had been encouraged and strongly supported by King William and Queen Mary. Donations from interested colonists themselves increased the building fund considerably. On February 8, 1693, the official charter for the college was granted. The college was named William and Mary College in honor of the King and Queen who had granted its charter. Out of respect for King William who belonged to the House of Orange, the official college colors were designated as orange and white. The General Assembly selected Middle Plantation as the most suitable location for the college and the plans for the original building were drawn up by the now-famous architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The Wren Building, named in his honor, was constructed by 1698 and it is the oldest academic structure still in existence. William and Mary College was the second oldest college established in America: Harvard College, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, having been established in 1636. The first regular faculty consisted of six professors and Reverend Blair, who had personally raised much of the fund for the college, became its first president.

After the burning of Jamestown during Bacon's Rebellion, the State House was rebuilt, but it burned again in October 1698. Since the Assembly then had no meeting place, it met in 1699 at the private residence of Mrs. Sarah Lee and in a building of William and Mary College. At one meeting, Governor Granci Nicholson suggested that the capital be moved to Middle Plantation. After a successful vote, the seat of the Virginia Colony government was officially moved from Jamestown, the first capital, to Middle Plantation, the name of which was changed to Williamsburg in honor of King William III. Plans for the State House were immediately made and the main street was named Duke of Gloucester Street, in honor of the Duke of Gloucester who was Queen Anne's oldest son. The first official Capitol building was constructed at one end of the main street and the College of William and Mary had been constructed at the other end.

In 1698, a Scotsman, Francis Makemie, a Presbyterian missionary, migrated from Pennsylvania to Accomack County, Virginia, where he held services in his home. He was soon arrested for not having a license to preach, but he was so sincere in his religious beliefs that he was later awarded a license. He is the founder of Presbyterianism in Virginia and, near Temperanceville, one may see a monument consisting of a stone figure of Francis Makemie attired in his usual clerical garb.

Shortly before the beginning of the eighteenth century, the General Assembly passed an act requiring an import tax of twenty shillings upon each Negro imported into the Virginia Colony. England, however, opposed such action and, as additional laws were passed by the Virginia General Assembly levying high import taxes on slaves, she consistently vetoed them. The number of Negroes in Virginia increased as the production and the value of tobacco increased until, by 1700, there were approximately 7,000 Negroes out of 72,000 inhabitants within the colony. The colonists expressed their desire to prohibit or at least restrict the importation of Negroes in 1713, but the mother country would not authorize the Virginia Colony to forbid slave importation.

Another law passed at this time provided that any settler could buy an unlimited area of land from the colony itself at the cost of five shillings per fifty acres. This action was referred to as a "Treasury Right." Therefore, the "Head-Right" system was no longer the most common method of acquiring land settlements in the Virginia Colony. The population of the Virginia Colony was predominantly English and all types of social classes were now represented here: from the aristocratic nobles to the uncouth convicts. With the influx of the Cavaliers and with the reputation of the prosperity of the Virginia Colony, the number of middle class and upper class residents increased considerably during the Eighteenth Century until such residents soon made up a majority of the inhabitants. By 1700, the population of Virginia was approximately 70,000 including about 5,500 Negroes.

By 1710, the practice had been established of allowing the Governor of a British Colony to remain in England and to appoint deputies to live in the colony and actually to rule the colony. At this time, Alexander Spotswood arrived in Virginia as a royal Governor, technically the Deputy to Lord George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, the official Lieutenant and Governor-General of the Virginia Colony. He was the first royal Governor to live in the new Governor's Palace at Williamsburg. Governor Spotswood remained in this position for twelve years and was responsible for many improvements and much progress in the Virginia Colony. He encouraged and helped carry out the beautifying of Williamsburg, the new capital city. Ravines were filled, streets leveled, some college buildings, a public magazine (a storehouse for arms and ammunition) and a church were erected primarily due to his influence. Since he believed in developing the natural resources of Virginia, he had iron foundries established along the Rapidan River, near Fredericksburg. As a result, the first mining village in Virginia, Germanna, located near the Blue Ridge Mountains, came into existence. This village was named in honor of the German miners who came to Virginia to work the iron mines and in honor of the German ruler, Queen Anne.