Part 7

Continued growth in the number of counties reflected increases in population and a trend toward the rising importance of community life. From 1750 to 1775, several additional counties were formed: Halifax (formed from Lunenburg and named for George Montagu Dunk, Second Earl of Halifax and the first Lord of the Board of Trade), Dinwiddie (formed from Prince George County and named for Lord Dinwiddie, acting Lieutenant Governor of the Virginia Colony from 1751-1758), Prince Edward (formed from Amelia County and named for Edward Augustus, Prince of Wales), Bedford (formed from Lunenburg and part of Albemarle County and named for John Russell, Fourth Duke of Bedford, Secretary of State in Great Britain from 1748-1757), Sussex (formed from Surry County and named for Sussex County, England), Loudoun (formed from Fairfax County and named for John Campbell, Fourth Earl of Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces during the latter part of the French and Indian War and Governor-General of the American Colonies from 1756 to 1763), Fauquier (formed from Prince William County and named after Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor from 1758 to 1768), Buckingham (formed from Albemarle County and named probably for the Duke of Buckingham), Charlotte (formed from Lunenburg and named for Princess Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg, George III's queen), Mecklenburg (formed from Lunenburg and named in honor of the same queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz), Pittsylvania (formed from Halifax County and named for Sir William Pitt, a famous English statesman who was pro-American toward the British Colonies in America), Botetourt (formed from Augusta County and part of Rockbridge County and named for Norborne Berkeley, Lord Botetourt, Governor of Virginia from 1768 to 1770) and Amherst County (formed from Albemarle County "and certain islands in the Fluvanna River" and named for Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Governor-General of Virginia, 1759-1768).

S U M M A R Y

The historical Life of Virginia from 1584 to 1775 illustrates the "trial and error" method of learning to live cooperatively, comfortably and profitably in the New World. The inhabitants of the "Cradle of American Civilization" were faced with severe personal handicaps, problems of government (many of which had to be solved in an original fashion), explorations into untrodden and often uncivilized areas, the task of establishing a land economy, rebellions of the common man against the privileged few and the establishment of a culture and way of life adapted to the type of environment and peoples living in the area. The efforts of such leaders as John Smith, John Rolfe, Edwin Sandys, George Yeardley, Benjamin Syms, Thomas Eaton, James Blair, Alexander Spotswood, Thomas Lee, Robert Dinwiddie, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Peyton Randolph and Andrew Lewis helped unite the colonists in Virginia in their development of democratic living.

During this period, the first representative legislative assembly in America was held, the first group of Negro slaves were imported to America, the first group of unmarried women arrived in the colonies, the first royal colony of England was organized, a county system of local government was established, the Commonwealth of Virginia was created, the second oldest college in America was founded, the first theater in America was built, many of the most beautiful plantation houses were constructed, the British became the dominant colonists in America, slavery became an accepted characteristic of plantation life, fifty-four counties were formed and strong opposition of the colonists in Virginia to political and economic control by the British King and Parliament was becoming very apparent. The first special Virginia Convention held in Williamsburg to determine the extent of Virginia's boycott of British goods and to choose delegates to a Continental Congress and the York River Tea Party at Yorktown exemplified mounting opposition. The stage of life in Virginia seemed naturally set for specific action against strict foreign regulation and control.

3

Historical Life: 1775-1860

_The Revolutionary War Era_

A second Virginia Convention was held from March 20 to March 27, 1775 at St. John's Church, Richmond. Peyton Randolph was again chosen president of the convention. The members of this convention soon were divided into distinct groups: (1) the conservative group, led by Peyton Randolph, which deplored radical thinking and actions and still favored reconciliation with the mother country, England, and (2) the aggressive group, led by Patrick Henry, which believed conciliation and compromise were no longer possible or feasible and advocated military preparedness within the colony.

On the first day, March 20, Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech, the most significant and oft-repeated section stating: "Gentlemen may cry: Peace! Peace! but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!... Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but, as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" This fiery speech combined with his others earned for Patrick Henry the title, "The Tongue of the Revolution" or "The Mouthpiece of the Revolution." The first three days passed without either group committing itself. On the fourth day, however, a resolution was adopted bestowing thanks upon the Assembly of Jamaica for its petition to the King on behalf of the American colonies and stating an ardent desire for peace. Patrick Henry then proposed an unusual resolution to follow the preceding one, namely: the establishment of "a well-regulated militia, composed of gentlemen and yeomen." His brilliant oratorical powers of persuasion caused the resolution to be carried, and the military resources of the colony were immediately directed to be organized and made efficient. The convention also appealed to all the people for contributions for the relief of the Bostonians because they were "suffering in the common cause of American freedom." Later at this convention, delegates to the Second Continental Congress were elected: Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph and George Wythe.

On April 21, 1775, Governor Dunmore, who had unsuccessfully tried to prevent the Richmond convention from taking place in order that delegates could not be elected to attend the Second Continental Congress, became very much aroused over the bitter feeling of the colonists toward Great Britain. He decided that he could break down some of the colonial assuredness and resistance against the King and against his personal orders if he could remove from the powder magazine at Williamsburg the munition powder which belonged to the colony. Therefore, he ordered twenty sailors from a British ship anchored at Williamsburg to obtain this powder. They hid in the Governor's Palace; during the night, they visited the magazine, removed all the powder which they could fit into the Governor's wagon and took it to their armed ship, the "Fowey," in the harbor for safekeeping. When the colonists learned the next morning of this activity, a company of Hanover volunteers, led by Patrick Henry, marched upon Williamsburg and forced the King's sailors to compensate by giving bills for the value of the powder taken from the magazine. Governor Dunmore was then beseeched to pay for the cost of the powder, at least in sterling. He finally paid this amount because of the persistence of Patrick Henry. Only strenuous efforts on the part of Patrick Henry's personal friends kept him and the local militia from imprisoning the Governor himself for such

## action. Patrick Henry was declared an outlaw by Governor Dunmore.

Anti-British feeling rapidly increased on the part of the colonists after this incident.

Approximately a week after this unpleasant incident, John Paul Jones, a Scottish-Virginian who was a resident of Fredericksburg, recommended that the colonies should have an official navy. He was a former British seaman, and he offered his services to the colonies at this time in an attempt to raise a naval force. The Second Continental Congress later appointed a Naval Committee whose chief duty was to organize a naval force. At its invitation, John Paul Jones explained to the Committee the great strength of the British Navy and the futility of the colonists to try to compete with it. He stated, however, that, if the colonists had fifteen ships armed with guns, these could be successfully utilized to annoy British ships. His suggestion was accepted, and thirteen frigates plus two brigs made up the first American Navy. John Paul Jones received the first naval commission at Independence Hall on December 22, 1775. Therefore, he is often referred to as "The Father of the American Navy."

Before the Second Continental Congress was due to meet, the Battle of Lexington and Concord (near Boston) had taken place on April 19, 1775. After this "shot heard 'round the world," the Americans were most sympathetic toward their fellow-colonists of Massachusetts. On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress began in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Although there was a majority of the members who now believed a revolution was inevitable, there were also many conservatives who preferred compromise of any type rather than war. This congress proceeded to take necessary steps for organizing and equipping an American army. On June 16, 1775, it assumed control of the colonial forces already formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after the Battle of Lexington and Concord. It appointed George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of this American Continental Army and assumed complete responsibility for the salaries and supplies of the servicemen.

On June 1, 1775 Governor Dunmore called the Virginia House of Burgesses together for the purpose of discussing some British proposals originated by Lord North. The members did not favor these, however, and proceeded to suggest the levying of a tax of five pounds per head on each imported slave as an attempt to raise revenue for payment of the recent Lord Dunmore War with the Indians. In order to protect the slave trade benefits for England, the Governor vetoed this proposal. This action was his last veto in the Colony of Virginia. Later that month, Lord Dunmore, sensing the sincerity of the Americans in this revolution, feared for his royal governorship life. Consequently, on June 8, he fled from Williamsburg to a British man-of-war ship, the "Fowey," in the Yorktown harbor. His flight practically dissolved the royal government in Virginia. The Virginia Assembly asked Governor Dunmore to return under its protection but he refused to do so. His refusal to return after an official petition had been issued was considered by the Virginians as abdication on his part from office. Thus, when it adjourned on June 20, 1775, the last Virginia colonial General Assembly ended.

On July 3, 1775, Washington took official command of the American Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his first military objective was to drive the British away from Boston. After he had been there a few weeks, he visited some troops for inspection. Upon inquiring about the place of origin of one company, he was surprised and delighted to hear the answer, "General, from the Banks of the Potomac." The speaker was Daniel Morgan, who had accompanied his corps of riflemen from Winchester, Virginia to Boston, 600 miles distance in twenty-one days without a single death. Morgan had fought with Washington during the French and Indian War and had

## participated in the war against the Indians in the Ohio Valley

campaign. Washington was so happy to see these fellow-Virginians that he took time from his busy schedule to shake hands personally with each member of the corps. After Morgan and his troops had

## participated successfully in the Massachusetts Campaign, he

later sent them to Canada for the Quebec campaign. This campaign unfortunately resulted in a defeat for the Americans, and Morgan was taken prisoner. Although Morgan was offered a commission in the British army while he was imprisoned, he violently rejected the offer. Although he remained a prisoner for a long time, he rejoined the American Army as soon as he was free to do so. The famous American victory at the Battle of Saratoga is now accredited to the military strategy and tactics of General Daniel Morgan. Another important later victory for which he was directly responsible was the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina. He is one of the many great military men furnished by the colony and by the state of Virginia.

From July 17 to August 26, 1775, the Third Virginia Convention was held. The meeting place was Richmond, and Peyton Randolph was elected president of the convention. George Mason had been appointed to succeed George Washington at this convention because Washington was busily engaged as Commander-in-Chief of the American Army. Since Governor Dunmore had already fled from the colony, the royal government had been theoretically dissolved and Virginia gained the status of an independent state. Therefore, the members of this convention believed that they had to assume responsibility for governing Virginia under the circumstances. Consequently, the one hundred and fifteen delegates present proposed acts and passed them as laws called ordinances. Ordinances passed contained the following provisions: (1) the organization of military forces for the defense of Virginia into two regiments; (2) the creation of an executive body called the Committee of Safety to act as the government while the convention was in recess; (3) a plan for adequate revenue for the provisional government and for the Army of Virginia; (4) the establishment of executive county committees; (5) the regulation of the election of delegates to future conventions; (6) the election of new representatives to a future Continental Congress, and (7) the division of Virginia into sixteen military districts.

On August 17, 1775, the first Committee of Safety for Virginia was appointed by the Virginia Convention of July 1775. It consisted of eleven members, namely, Richard Bland, Carter Braxton, William Cabell, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, Thomas Ludwell Lee, George Mason, James Mercer, John Page, Edmund Pendleton and John Tabb. Edmund Pendleton was the chairman of this committee. Various members of the Committee of Safety actually ruled Virginia from the time it ceased to be a British colony until it officially became an independent state.

On December 1, 1775 the Fourth Virginia Convention was held at Richmond, but soon after the convention had become organized, it moved to Williamsburg. Edmund Pendleton was elected president of the convention. The chief problem of this convention was military protection and security for Virginia in the face of war. The army was increased from two regiments to nine regiments with an enlistment requiring two years of military service. The chief measures passed during the Fourth Virginia Convention of December 1775-January 1776 included the appointment of a commission of five men in each county to try cases of those individuals believed to be enemies of America, the creation of an admiralty court to hear cases involving maritime or naval affairs, the granting of permission for county courts to elect a sheriff for a one-year term and the issuing of special instructions to the Virginia delegates to the next Continental Congress to encourage the opening of American ports to the commerce of all foreign nations except Great Britain and the British West Indies. It was also decided at this convention to allow the Virginia troops to be merged or absorbed into the Continental Army and to have future military officers commissioned by the Continental Congress rather than by individual state or colonial legislatures. Another Committee of Safety for Virginia was named: nine members were re-appointed and two new members were substituted. Edmund Pendleton was still the chairman and the other committee members were Richard Bland, William Cabell, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, Joseph Jones, Thomas Ludwell Lee, James Mercer, John Page, John Tabb and Thomas Walker. On January 20, 1776, the convention adjourned.

During the convention, another Lord Dunmore episode took place. Lord Dunmore had become a real threat to the Virginians because, after he had fled from Williamsburg and from Yorktown, he armed many Negroes and persuaded them to fight for the King in return for their future freedom. He commanded a force which at this time was in possession of Norfolk and its adjacent areas. Eight days after the convention began, Lord Dunmore dispatched a few of his British regulars to attack some of the Virginian troops under Colonel William Woodford. These Virginians had constructed a breastwork along the southern branch of the Elizabeth River, approximately twelve miles from Norfolk. Colonel Woodford's Virginia troops killed almost all the British regulars, much to the surprise of Lord Dunmore, who quickly retreated to a part of the British fleet docked in Norfolk harbor. Later, while the convention was still in session, on January 1, 1776, Lord Dunmore with a small land and sea force bombarded and burned Norfolk itself which consisted of about 6,000 residents at the time. Many houses were completely burned and others badly damaged. St. Paul's Church was the only building to survive this bombardment and embedded cannon balls in the south wall of the church may still be seen which were fired from the ships in the harbor. Dunmore and his forces finally sailed up the Chesapeake Bay and stationed themselves off Gwynn's Island, near the present Mathews County mainland. From this area, Dunmore and his friends made repeated plunder attacks along the coast of Virginia until summer.

During the same month of January, a dramatic episode occurred at Woodstock. John Peter Gabriel Mühlenberg, an ex-German soldier who had migrated to Virginia and had become a minister, was very strongly pro-Virginia and very strongly anti-British King. He had received a military commission as a colonel from General George Washington due to his past military experience. His duty was to form a regiment of Germans living in the valley. On this particular Sunday, he ascended the pulpit and began to preach concerning the theme, "There is a time to every purpose ... a time to war and a time to peace!" He proceeded to describe the unjust treatment which the American colonies had received from the British King and the Parliament. At the conclusion of his sermon, he stated: "There is a time for all things--a time to preach and a time to pray; but there is a time to fight, and that time has come now." With these surprising words, he threw back his minister's attire and stood fully clothed in the blue and buff uniform of a Continental Colonel with the official sword at his side. He immediately descended from the pulpit and, in a very short time, had enlisted three hundred citizens within this small community in the Eighth Virginia Regiment. Thus, Mühlenberg earned for himself the title of the "Fighting Parson" and with his regiment marched directly to help the South Carolina Army. The regiment was later referred to as the German Regiment because it was made up solely of German Americans. It served with great honor during the Revolutionary War. Mühlenberg himself had the distinction of being with General Washington when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.

The Fifth Virginia Convention, now called the Virginia Constitutional Convention, began on May 6, 1776 at Williamsburg. By this time, the British had been driven out of Boston and out of the New England area in general. The American attempt to invade Canada had been unsuccessful, but the British had been defeated in North and South Carolina. Public opinion in Virginia which had been only "lukewarm" to complete separation from England at the early stages of the war now became very strongly in favor of it--particularly after the bombardment and burning of Norfolk. Most of the delegates had been instructed before coming to the convention to work toward two specific objectives: American independence and a representative government for Virginia. There were one hundred and thirty-one delegates present at this convention, representing sixty-six counties and corporations. Some of the outstanding members at this convention were James Madison, Edmund Randolph and Archibald Cary.

The various sections of Virginia were represented at the Fifth Convention. The type of clothing worn at the convention made the sections easily recognizable: there was an outstanding contrast between the homespun, practical clothing of the frontiersmen and the fancy British-made clothing of the wealthy traders and plantation owners. The convention members elected delegates to the Continental Congress and instructed them to propose American independence from England. The delegates chosen were George Washington, John Blair, James Madison, George Mason, James McClurg, Edmund Randolph and George Wythe. On May 15, a resolution was introduced by Archibald Cary and passed which declared the colony of Virginia a free and independent State. Immediately the British flag was lowered from the Capitol at Williamsburg and the colonial colors were raised instead. At this same convention, on May 27, Archibald Cary presented to the members the "Declaration of Rights" prepared by George Mason for this convention. This document stated the fundamental rights of English colonists as well as of Englishmen.

On June 12, 1776 Mason's "Declaration of Rights" was unanimously adopted. Its principles were considered so important that they were later the basis of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution and eventually were used as the background for state constitution Bills of Rights. The Virginia Bill of Rights is often referred to as the "Magna Charta of Virginia." George Mason also recommended the original motto of the official seal of the State of Virginia at this convention: "Sic Semper Tyrannis"--"Thus Always (or ever) to Tyrants."

In the same session, James Madison actively participated in a discussion concerning religious liberty and tolerance. He proposed a clause in the Virginia Bill of Rights to allow the "free exercise of religion" because he strongly believed that the state should have no coercive power over religious thought. This clause was adopted, and James Madison for the first time attracted state-wide attention to his thinking and philosophy.

Once the idea of independence from England was formally expressed and a specific objective was established, the Virginians at this convention proceeded to write a state constitution for Virginia. This constitution, the first written state constitution, was officially adopted on June 29, 1776, making this the birth date of the State of Virginia. Since George Mason was primarily responsible for the actual wording of the constitution, he is called the "Father of the Virginia Constitution." Virginia was organized as the Commonwealth of Virginia, the name believed patterned after the Commonwealth of England, the title acquired by the government of England after its Civil War. The first constitution for Virginia provided for a bicameral (two-house) legislature: the Senate and the House of Delegates. Membership in these groups was to be by election by the qualified voters. Each county was to choose two delegates annually to represent them and one-fourth of the Senate was to be elected annually. The combined balloting of the House and the Senate was to determine the election of the Governor (whose term was to be one year with a maximum three years possible), an eight-man Council of State and members of the Congress of the United States. A general system of courts was created. Patrick Henry was elected the first Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia and he served from 1776 to 1779. The Commonwealth of Virginia was now ready to function, and the new government went into effect immediately. The Williamsburg Convention which began May 6, 1776 adjourned on July 5, 1776.