The
history of Virginia began with settlement of the geographic region now known as the Commonwealth of
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
in the United States thousands of years ago by
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. Permanent European settlement began with the establishment of
JamestownJamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
in 1607, by English colonists. As
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
emerged as a profitable export, Virginia imported thousands of African laborers to cultivate it. Gradually the colony hardened the boundaries of
slaverySlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, raising insurmountable legal barriers between the black slaves and the white population, which did not extend to white males taking sexual advantage of slave women. The Virginia Colony became the wealthiest and most populated British colony in North America. Although elections were democratic, the colony was dominated by elite
plantersPlanters is an American snack food company, a division of Kraft Foods, best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentile for a 1916 contest to design the company's brand icon...
, who also controlled the local Anglican Church. Common planters, yeomen farmers and artisans in the 18th century tended to join the
BaptistBaptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
and Methodist churches after the
Great AwakeningThe term Great Awakening is used to refer to a period of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the late 19th century...
, a trend that deepened in the 19th century and led to more democracy and social equality. A quarter of the population comprised slaves, most of whom worked the labor-intensive tobacco plantations.
Virginia leaders (together with those of Massachusetts) had a major role in the road to winning independence, with
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
's writing the
Declaration of IndependenceA declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
and
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's commanding the American army. Washington captured the main British army at
Yorktown, VirginiaYorktown is a census-designated place in York County, Virginia, United States. The population was 220 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1634....
in 1781 to win the
American Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. The state produced more national leaders than any other, including four of the first five presidents: Washington, Jefferson,
James MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, and
James MonroeJames Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
. After the Revolution and with the weakening of the tobacco economy, some planters manumitted slaves, bringing the number of
free blacksA free Negro or free black is the term used prior to the abolition of slavery in the United States to describe African Americans who were not slaves. Almost all African Americans came to the United States as slaves, but from the earliest days of American slavery, slaveholders set men and women free...
in the state from a few thousand before the Revolution up to 13,000 in 1790 and 20,000 in 1800. With the invention of the cotton gin and expansion of that commodity crop in the Deep South after the Revolution, Virginia slaveholders broke up many families to sell prime slaves in the domestic slave trade.
In 1861, Virginia was a slave state but refused to join the cotton states in the new
ConfederacyThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
until Lincoln called for troops to confront the seceding states. Then it seceded and
RichmondRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
became the new Confederate capital. Because the Confederacy needed to defend Richmond in order to maintain its legitimacy as an independent nation, Virginia became the main target of Union attacks and the major theater of the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Unionists in western Virginia resisted secession in 1861, declared the state offices vacant, and elected new state officers. They were recognized by Washington as the
Restored government of VirginiaThe Restored Government of Virginia, or the Reorganized Government of Virginia, was the Unionist government of Virginia during the American Civil War. From 1861 until mid-1863 it met in Wheeling, and from 26 August 1863 until June 1865 it met in Alexandria...
. In 1863
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
became a separate state. Richmond fell in April 1865, effectively ending the Civil War. The slaves were emancipated and were aided by the new Freedman's Bureau and civil rights laws passed by Congress.
With thousands of small skirmishes and many large campaigns fought on its soil, Virginia's economy was devastated. The lucrative slave trade was ended. The Piedmont had mixed farming, but a dependence on tobacco farming kept the economy weak. The growth of the cigarette industry late in the century was the first sign of industrialization. After Reconstruction, conservative white Democrats regained power in the state government, where they passed Jim Crow laws,
segregateRacial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
d public facilities, and made blacks second-class citizens. In 1900 they passed a constitution that effectively disfranchised blacks, a situation that persisted until federal legislation of the 1960s.
The state was dominated by the "
Byrd machineThe Byrd Organization was a political machine led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. that dominated Virginia politics for much of the middle portion of the 20th century...
" of conservative rural Democrats from the 1920s to the 1960s. The long struggle by African Americans to have their rights as citizens enforced was worked through education, litigation and nonviolent activism, deep into the 1960s. The US Congress passed federal
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
legislation in 1964 and 1965 to establish equality under the law, end public segregation and protect citizens' voting rights.
After World War II, the state's economy began to thrive, with a new industrial and urban base. Since the late twentieth century, the agricultural base has lost its preeminence. The contemporary economy includes many new professional and high-tech industries, consultants and defense-related businesses employing highly educated people, especially in
Northern VirginiaNorthern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
, in association with the federal government. This change in demographic has disrupted the traditional conservative rural base, making for closely divided voting in national elections but still generally conservative state politics.
Native Americans
The portion of the New World designated Virginia had been inhabited for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples. Archaeological and historical research by anthropologist Helen Rountree and others has established 3,000 years of settlement in much of the Tidewater. Recent archaeological work at
Pocahontas IslandPocahontas Island, Virginia is a peninsula located on the north side of the Appomattox River within the limits of what is now Petersburg, Virginia. There is evidence of prehistoric Native American settlement dating from 6500 BCE. The area is more recently notable as the first predominately free...
has revealed prehistoric habitation dating to about 6500 BCE.
At the end of the 16th century,
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
s living in what is now Virginia were part of three major groups, based chiefly on language families. The largest group, known as the
AlgonquianThe Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
, numbered over 10,000 and occupied most of the coastal area up to the
fall lineA fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
. Groups to the interior were the Iroquoian (numbering 2,500) and the Siouan. Tribes included the Algonquian
ChesepianThe Chesepian or Chesapeake were a NativeAmerican tribe who inhabited the area now known as South Hampton Roads in the U.S. state of Virginia prior to their annihilation by the Powhatan Confederacy early in the 17th century. They occupied an area which is now the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake,...
,
ChickahominyThe Chickahominy are a tribe of Virginia Indians who primarily live in Charles City County midway between Richmond and Williamsburg in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This area is not far from where they lived in 1600....
,
DoegThe Doeg were a Native American tribe who lived in northern Virginia. They spoke an Algonquian language and may have been a branch of the Nanticoke tribe, historically based on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The Nanticoke considered the Algonquian Lenape as "grandfathers"...
,
MattaponiThe Mattaponi tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on reservation lands that stretch along the borders of the Mattaponi River, near West Point, Virginia.The...
,
NansemondThe Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not Federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for Federal recognition under...
,
PamunkeyThe Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...
, Pohick,
PowhatanThe Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...
, and
RappahannockThe Rappahannock are one of the eleven state-recognized Native American tribes in Virginia. They are made up of descendants of several small Algonquian-speaking tribes who merged in the 17th century.-17th century:...
; the Siouan Monacan and
SaponiSaponi is one of the eastern Siouan-language tribes, related to the Tutelo, Occaneechi, Monacan, Manahoac and other eastern Siouan peoples. Its ancestral homeland was in North Carolina and Virginia. The tribe was long believed extinct, as its members migrated north to merge with other tribes...
; and the Iroquoian-speaking
CherokeeThe Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
,
MeherrinThe Meherrin Nation is one of eight state-recognized Nations of Native Americans in North Carolina. They reside in rural northeastern North Carolina, near the river of the same name on the Virginia-North Carolina border. They received formal state recognition in 1986. The Meherrin have an...
,
NottowayThe Nottoway, in their own language Cheroenhaka, Cherohakah, Cheroohoka or Tcherohaka, are an Iroquoian-language tribe of Virginia Indians. Two Nottoway groups, the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia and the Cheroenhaka Indian Tribe, have both been recognized as tribes by the state of Virginia...
, and
TuscaroraThe Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...
.
When the first English settlers arrived at Jamestown in 1607, Algonquian tribes controlled most of Virginia east of the
fall lineA fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
. Nearly all were united in what has been historically called the Powhatan Confederacy. Researcher Rountree has noted that empire more accurately describes their political structure. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a Chief named Wahunsunacock created this powerful empire by conquering or affiliating with approximately 30 tribes whose territories covered much of eastern Virginia. Known as the
PowhatanThe Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...
, or
paramount chiefA paramount chief is the highest-level traditional chief or political leader in a regional or local polity or country typically administered politically with a chief-based system. This definition is used occasionally in anthropological and archaeological theory to refer to the rulers of multiple...
, he called this area Tenakomakah ("densely inhabited Land"). The empire was advantageous to some tribes, who were periodically threatened by other Native Americans, such as the Monacan.
The Native Americans had a different culture than the English. Despite some successful interaction, issues of ownership and control of land and other resources, and trust between the peoples, became areas of conflict. Virginia has drought conditions an average of every three years. The colonists did not understand that the natives were ill-prepared to feed them during hard times. In the years after 1612, the colonists cleared land to farm export tobacco, their crucial cash crop. As tobacco exhausted the soil, the settlers continually needed to clear more land for replacement. This reduced the wooded land which Native Americans depended on for hunting to supplement their food crops. As more colonists arrived, they wanted more land.
The tribes tried to fight the encroachment by the colonists. Major conflicts took place in the
Indian massacre of 1622The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
and the war of 1644, both under the leadership of the late Chief Powhatan's younger brother, Chief Opechancanough. By the mid-17th century, the Powhatan and allied tribes were in serious decline in population, due in large part to epidemics of newly introduced infectious diseases, such as
smallpoxSmallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and
measlesMeasles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
, to which they had no natural immunity. The European colonists had expanded territory so that they controlled virtually all the land east of the fall line on the James River. Fifty years earlier, this territory had been the empire of the mighty Powhatan Confederacy.
Surviving members of many tribes assimilated into the general population of the colony. Some retained small communities with more traditional identity and heritage. In the 21st century, the Pamunkey and
MattaponiThe Mattaponi tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on reservation lands that stretch along the borders of the Mattaponi River, near West Point, Virginia.The...
are the only two tribes to maintain reservations originally assigned under the English. As of 2010, the state has recognized eleven Virginia Indian tribes. Others have renewed interest in seeking state and Federal recognition since the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown in 2007. State celebrations gave Native American tribes prominent formal roles to showcase their contributions to the state.
Early European exploration
After their discovery of the New World in the 15th century, European states began trying to establish New World colonies. England, the
Dutch RepublicThe Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
,
FranceKingdom of France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
, Portugal, and Spain were the most active.
In 1540, a party led by two Spaniards, Juan de Villalobos and Francisco de Silvera, sent by Hernando de Soto, entered what is now
Lee CountyAccording to the census 2009 estimates, there were 25001 people, 11,587 households, and 6,852 families residing in the county. The population density was 54 people per square mile . There were 11,587 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
in search of gold. In 1567, Hernando Moyano led a group of soldiers northward from
JoaraJoara was a large Native American settlement, a regional chiefdom of the Mississippian culture, located in what is now Burke County, North Carolina. Joara is notable as a significant archaeological and historic site. It was a place of encounter in 1540 between the Mississippian people and the...
, called Fort San Juan by the Spanish, to attack and destroy the Chisca village of Maniatique near present-day
SaltvilleAs of the census of 2000, there were 2,204 people, 909 households, and 660 families residing in the town. The population density was 273.7 people per square mile . There were 1,003 housing units at an average density of 124.5 per square mile...
.
A Spanish exploration party had come to the lower
Chesapeake BayThe Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
region of Virginia in 1561 sent by
Ángel de VillafañeÁngel de Villafañe was the Spanish conquistador of Florida, Mexico, and Guatemala, and was an explorer, expedition leader, and ship captain , who worked with many 16th-century settlements and shipwrecks along the Gulf of Mexico.- Life and work :Ángel de Villafañe was born about 1504, as the son of...
. In 1570, the Jesuits planned the
Ajacán MissionThe Ajacán Mission was a failed attempt in 1570 to establish a Jesuit mission on the Virginia Peninsula. They intended to bring Christianity to the Virginia Indians. The effort to found what was to be called St...
on the lower peninsula. However, in 1571 it was destroyed by Indians, and the Spanish ended their efforts in Virginia.
In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh sent Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore what is now the
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
coast, and they returned with word of a regional "king" named Wingina, who ruled a land supposedly called Wingandacoa. The latter word was modified later that year by the Queen to "Virginia", perhaps in part noting her status as the "Virgin Queen." On the next voyage, Raleigh was to learn that, while the chief of the Secotans was indeed called Wingina, the expression wingandacoa heard by the English upon arrival actually meant "What good clothes you wear!" in Carolina Algonquian, and was not the name of the country as previously misunderstood.
Virginia is the oldest surviving English place-name in the U.S. not wholly borrowed from a Native American word, and the fourth oldest surviving English place name, though it is Latin in form.
Roanoke Island
The
Roanoke ColonyThe Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
was the first
English colonyBritish colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas...
in the New World. It was founded at
Roanoke IslandRoanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration....
in what was then Virginia, and is now part of
Dare County-National protected areas:* Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge * Cape Hatteras National Seashore * Fort Raleigh National Historic Site* Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge* Wright Brothers National Memorial-Demographics:...
in the state of
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. Between 1584 and 1587, there were two major groups of settlers sponsored by Sir
Walter RaleighSir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
who attempted to establish a permanent settlement at Roanoke Island, and each failed. The final group disappeared completely after supplies from England were delayed three years by a war with Spain. Because they disappeared, they were called "The Lost Colony."
Virginia Company of London
After the death of Queen Elizabeth I, in 1603 King
James IJames VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
assumed the throne of England. After years of war, England was strapped for funds, so he granted responsibility for England's New World colonization to the
Virginia CompanyThe Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
, which became incorporated as a
joint stock companyA joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
by a proprietary charter drawn up in 1606. There were two competing branches of the Virginia Company and each hoped to establish a colony in Virginia in order to exploit gold (which the region did not actually have), to establish a base of support for English privateering against Spanish ships, and to spread Protestantism to the New World in competition with Spain's spread of Catholicism. Within the Virginia Company, the
Plymouth CompanyThe Plymouth Company was an English joint stock company founded in 1606 by James I of England with the purpose of establishing settlements on the coast of North America.The Plymouth Company was one of two companies, along with the London Company, chartered with such...
branch was assigned a northern portion of the area known as Virginia, and the
London CompanyThe London Company was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.The territory granted to the London Company included the coast of North America from the 34th parallel ...
area to the south.
Jamestown
First landing
In December, 1606, the London Company dispatched a group of 104 colonists in three ships: the
Susan ConstantSusan Constant, captained by Christopher Newport, was the largest of three ships of the English Virginia Company on the 1606-1607 voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:Susan Constant was rated at 120 tons. Her keel length is estimated at 55.2 feet...
,
GodspeedGodspeed, under Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, was one of the three ships on the 1606-1607 voyage to the New World for the English Virginia Company of London. The journey resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:All 39 passengers and 13 sailors she carried on that...
, and
DiscoveryDiscovery was a 20-ton "fly-boat" of the British East India Company, launched before 1602.Discovery was the smallest of three ships that were led by Captain Christopher Newport on the voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia in 1607...
, under the command of Captain
Christopher NewportChristopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...
. After a long, rough voyage of 144 days, the colonists finally arrived in Virginia on April 26, 1607 at the entrance to the
Chesapeake BayThe Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
. At
Cape HenryCape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia north of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Charles...
, they went ashore, erected a cross, and did a small amount of exploring, an event which came to be called the "First Landing."
Under orders from London to seek a more inland location safe from Spanish raids, they explored the
Hampton RoadsHampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
area and sailed up the newly christened
James RiverThe James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
to the
fall lineA fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
at what would later became the cities of
RichmondRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
and
ManchesterManchester, Virginia is a former independent city in Virginia in the United States. Prior to receiving independent status, it served as the county seat of Chesterfield County, between 1870 and 1876...
.
Settlement
After weeks of exploration, the colonists selected a location and founded
JamestownJamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
on May 14, 1607. It was named in honor of King James I (as was the river). However, while the location at Jamestown Island was favorable for defense against foreign ships, the low and marshy terrain was harsh and inhospitable for a settlement. It lacked drinking water, access to game for hunting, or much space for farming. While it seemed favorable that it was not inhabited by the Native Americans, within a short time, the colonists were attacked by members of the local
PaspaheghThe Paspahegh tribe were tributaries to the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. The Paspahegh Indian tribe lived in present-day Charles City and James City counties, Virginia...
tribe.
The colonists arrived ill-prepared to become self-sufficient. They had planned on trading with the Native Americans for food, were dependent upon periodic supplies from England, and had planned to spend some of their time seeking gold. Leaving the Discovery behind for their use, Captain Newport returned to England with the Susan Constant and the Godspeed, and came back twice during 1608 with the First Supply and Second Supply missions. Trading and relations with the Native Americans was tenuous at best, and many of the colonists died from disease, starvation, and conflicts with the Natives. After several failed leaders, Captain
John SmithCaptain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
took charge of the settlement, and many credit him with sustaining the colony during its first years, as he had some success in trading for food and leading the discouraged colonists.
After Smith's return to England in August 1609, there was a long delay in the scheduled arrival of supplies. During the winter of 1609-10 and continuing into the spring and early summer, no more ships arrived. The colonists faced what became known as the
"starving time"The Starving Time at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was a period of forced starvation initiated by the Powhatan Confederacy to remove the English from Virginia. The campaign killed all but 60 of the 500 colonists during the winter of 1609–1610....
. When the new governor Sir
Thomas GatesSir Thomas Gates , followed George Percy as governor of Jamestown, the English colony of Virginia . Percy, through inept leadership, was responsible for the lives lost during the period called the Starving Time...
, finally arrived at Jamestown on May 23, 1610, along with other survivors of the wreck of the
Sea VentureThe Sea Venture was a 17th-century English sailing ship, the wrecking of which in Bermuda is widely thought to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Tempest...
that resulted in
BermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
being added to the territory of Virginia, he discovered over 80% of the 500 colonists had died; many of the survivors were sick.
Back in England, the Virginia Company was reorganized under its Second Charter, ratified on May 23, 1609, which gave most leadership authority of the colony to the governor, the newly-appointed
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La WarrThomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
. In June 1610, he arrived with 150 men and ample supplies. De La Warr began the First Anglo-Powhatan War, against the natives. Under his leadership,
Samuel ArgallSir Samuel Argall was an English adventurer and naval officer.As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English colony of Virginia, based at Jamestown, and made numerous voyages to the New World...
kidnapped
PocahontasPocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
, daughter of the Powhatan chief, and held her at
HenricusThe "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
.
The economy of the Colony was another problem. Gold had never been found, and efforts to introduce profitable industries in the colony had all failed until
John RolfeJohn Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
introduced his two foreign types of
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
: Orinoco and Sweet Scented. These produced a better crop than the local variety and with the first shipment to England in 1612, the customers enjoyed the flavor, thus making tobacco a cash crop that established Virginia's economic viability.
The First Anglo-Powhatan War ended when Rolfe married Pocahontas in 1614; peace was established.
Plantation beginnings
Statistics regarding mortality rates:
| Dates |
Population |
New arrivals |
| Easter, 1619 |
~1,000 |
|
| Easter, 1620 |
866 |
|
| 1620–1621 |
|
+1,051 |
| Easter 1621 |
843 |
|
| 1620–1624 |
|
+ ~4,000 |
| Feb. 1624 |
1,277 |
|
During this time, perhaps 5000 Virginians died of disease or were killed in the Indian massacre of 1622. |
George YeardleySir George Yeardley was a plantation owner and three time colonial Governor of the British Colony of Virginia. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ill-fated Third Supply Mission, whose flagship, the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked on Bermuda for 10 months in 1609-10, he is best remembered...
took over as
Governor of VirginiaThe governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
in 1619. He ended one-man rule and created a representative system of government with the
General AssemblyThe Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World.
Also in 1619, the Virginia Company sent 90 single women as potential wives for the male colonists to help populate the settlement. That same year the colony acquired a group of "twenty and odd" Angolans, brought by two English privateers. They were probably the first Africans in the colony. They, along with many European
indentured servantIndentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...
s helped to expand the growing tobacco industry which was already the colony's primary product. Although these black men were treated as indentured servants, this marked the beginning of
America's history of slaverySlavery in the United States was a form of slave labor which existed as a legal institution in North America for more than a century before the founding of the United States in 1776, and continued mostly in the South until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in...
. Major importation of African slaves by both African and Europeans profiteers did not take place until much later in the century.
Also in 1619, the plantations and developments were divided into four "incorporations" or "citties" (sic), as they were called. These were
Charles CittieCharles City was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor, the Virginia Company. The plantations and developments were divided into four "incorporations" or "citties" , as they were called. These were Charles City, Elizabeth City, Henrico City, and...
,
Elizabeth CittieElizabeth City was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor, the Virginia Company of London, acting in accordance with instructions issued by Sir George Yeardley, Governor.The plantations and developments were divided into four political divisions,...
,
Henrico CittieHenrico City was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 North America by the proprietor, the Virginia Company. The plantations and developments were divided into four "incorporations" or "citties", as they were called. These were Charles City, Elizabeth City, Henrico...
, and
James CittieJames City was one of four incorporations established in the Virginia Colony in 1619 by the proprietor, the Virginia Company. The plantations and developments were divided into four "incorporations" or " ", as they were called...
, which included the relatively small seat of government for the colony at
Jamestown IslandJamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
. Each of the four "citties" (sic) extended across the
James RiverThe James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
, the main conduit of transportation of the era. Elizabeth Cittie, know initially as
KecoughtanKecoughtan in Virginia was originally named Kikotan , the name of the Algonquian Native Americans living there when the English colonists arrived in the Hampton Roads area in 1607....
(a Native word with many variations in spelling by the English), also included the areas now known as
South Hampton RoadsSouth Hampton Roads is a region located in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia in the United States, and is part of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA with a population about 1.7 million....
and the
Eastern ShoreThe Eastern Shore of Virginia consists of two counties on the Atlantic coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The region is part of the Delmarva Peninsula and is separated from the rest of Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay. Its population was 45,553 as of 2010...
.
In some areas, individual rather than communal land ownership or leaseholds were established, providing families with motivation to increase production, improve standards of living, and gain wealth. Perhaps nowhere was this more progressive at than Sir
Thomas DaleSir Thomas Dale was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in Virginia, which established order and in various ways seems to have benefited the...
's ill-fated
HenricusThe "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
, a westerly-lying development located along the south bank of the James River, where natives were also to be provided an education at the Colony's first college.
About 6 miles (9.7 km) south of the falls at present-day Richmond, in Henrico Cittie the
Falling Creek IronworksFalling Creek Ironworks was the first iron production facility in North America. It was established by the Virginia Company of London in Henrico Cittie on Falling Creek near its confluence with the James River. It was short-lived due to an attack by Native Americans in 1622.The long-lost site was...
was established near the confluence of Falling Creek, using local ore deposits to make iron. It was the first in North America.
Virginians were intensely individualistic at this point, weakening the small new communities. According to Breen (1979) their horizon was limited by the present or near future. They believed that the environment could and should be forced to yield quick financial returns. Thus everyone was looking out for number one at the expense of the cooperative ventures. Farms were scattered and few villages or towns were formed. This extreme individualism led to the failure of the settlers to provide defense for themselves against the Indians, resulting in two massacres.
Conflict with natives
While the developments of 1619 and continued growth in the several following years were seen as favorable by the English, many aspects, especially the continued need for more land to grow tobacco, were the source of increasing concern to the Native Americans most affected, the Powhatan.
By this time, the remaining Powhatan Empire was led by Chief Opechancanough, chief of the
PamunkeyThe Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...
, and brother of Chief Powhatan. He had earned a reputation as a fierce warrior under his brother's chiefdom. Soon, he gave up on hopes of diplomacy, and resolved to eradicate the English colonists.
On March 22, 1622, the Powhatan killed about 400 colonists in the
Indian Massacre of 1622The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
. With coordinated attacks, they struck almost all the English settlements along the James River, on both shores, from
Newport News PointNewport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
on the east at
Hampton RoadsHampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
all the way west upriver to Falling Creek, a few miles above Henricus and John Rolfe's plantation,
Varina FarmsVarina is a former unincorporated town and current magisterial district in the easternmost portion of Henrico County, Virginia, United States....
.
At Jamestown, a warning by an Indian boy named
ChancoChanco is a name traditionally assigned to an Indian who is said to have warned a Jamestown colonist about an impending Powhatan attack in 1622. This article discusses how the Indian came to be known as Chanco...
to his employer,
Richard PaceRichard Pace was an English diplomat of the Tudor period. He was educated at Winchester College under Thomas Langton, and later at Padua, at Bologna, and probably at the University of Oxford...
, helped reduce total deaths. Pace secured his plantation, and rowed across the river during the night to alert Jamestown, which allowed colonists some defensive preparation. They had no time to warn outposts, which suffered deaths and captives at almost every location. Several entire communities were essentially wiped out, including
HenricusThe "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
and
Wolstenholme TowneWolstenholme Towne was a fortified settlement in the Virginia Colony begun with a population of about 40 settlers of the Virginia Company of London which was located about 7 miles downstream from Jamestown. Named for Sir John Wolstenholme, one of the investors, it was established about 1618 on a...
at
Martin's HundredMartin's Hundred was an early 17th century plantation located along about ten miles of the north shore of the James River in the Virginia Colony east of Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day James City County, Virginia...
. At the Falling Creek Ironworks, which had been seen as promising for the Colony, two women and three children were among the 27 killed, leaving only two colonists alive. The facilities were destroyed.
Despite the losses, two thirds of the colonists survived; after withdrawing to Jamestown, many returned to the outlying plantations, although some were abandoned. The English carried out reprisals against the Powhatan and there were skirmishes and attacks for about a year before the colonists and Powhatan struck a truce.
The colonists invited the chiefs and warriors to Jamestown, where they proposed a toast of liquor. Dr.
John PottJohn Potts was a physician and Colonial Governor of Virginia at the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia Colony in the early 17th century.-Biography:...
s and some of the Jamestown leadership had poisoned the natives' share of the liquor, which killed about 200 men. Colonists killed another 50 Indians by hand.
The period between the coup of 1622 and another Powhatan attack on English colonists along the James River (see Jamestown) in 1644 marked a turning point in the relations between the Powhatan and the English In the early period, each side believed it was operating from a position of power; by 1646, the colonists had taken the balance of power.
The colonists defined the 1644 coup as an "uprising". Chief Opechancanough expected the outcome would reflect what he considered the morally correct position: that the colonists were violating their pledges to the Powhatan. During the 1644 event, Chief Opechancanough was captured. While imprisoned, he was murdered by one of his guards. After the death of Opechancanough, and following the repeated colonial attacks in 1644 and 1645, the remaining Powhatan tribes had little alternative but to accede to the demands of the settlers.
Royal colony
In 1624, the Virginia Company's charter was revoked and the colony transferred to royal authority as a
crown colonyA Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
, but the elected representatives in Jamestown continued to exercise a fair amount of power. Under royal authority, the colony began to expand to the North and West with additional settlements. In 1630, under the governorship of
John HarveySir John Harvey was a Crown Governor of Virginia. He was elected to the position on 26 March 1628. In 1635 he was suspended and impeached by the House of Burgesses , and he returned to England. He was restored to his post by the King in 1636 and returned to Virginia the following year...
, the first settlement on the
York RiverThe York River is a navigable estuary, approximately long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from at its head to near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay. Its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north...
was founded. In 1632, the Virginia legislature voted to build a fort to link Jamestown and the York River settlement of Chiskiack and protect the colony from Indian attacks. This fort would become
Middle PlantationMiddle Plantation in the Virginia Colony, was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about half-way across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland...
and later
Williamsburg, VirginiaWilliamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
. In 1634, a palisade was built near Middle Plantation. This wall stretched across the peninsula between the York and James rivers and protected the settlements on the eastern side of the lower Peninsula from Indians. The wall also served to contain cattle.
Also in 1634, a new system of local government was created in the Virginia Colony by order of the King of England. Eight
shireA shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...
s were designated, each with its own local officers. These shires were renamed as
countiesA county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...
only a few years later. They were:
- Accomac
As of the census of 2010, there were 12,389 people, 5,321 households, and 3,543 families residing in the county. The population density was 63 people per square mile . There were 6,547 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...
(now Northampton CountyAs of the census of 2010, there were 12,389 people, 5,321 households, and 3,543 families residing in the county. The population density was 63 people per square mile . There were 6,547 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...
)
- Charles City Shire
Charles City Shire was formed in 1634 in the Virginia colony. It was named for Charles I, the then King of England, and was renamed Charles City County in 1637.-History:...
(now Charles City CountyAs of the census of 2000, there were 6,926 people, 2,670 households, and 1,975 families residing in the county. The population density was 38 people per square mile . There were 2,895 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile...
)
- Charles River Shire
Charles River Shire was one of eight shires of Virginia created in the Virginia Colony in 1634.During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, English settlers and explored and began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads...
(now York CountyYork County is a county located on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Situated on the York River and many tributaries, the county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown...
)
- Elizabeth City Shire
Elizabeth City Shire was one of eight shires created in colonial Virginia in 1634. The shire and the Elizabeth River were named for Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of King James I....
(existed as Elizabeth City County until 1952, when it was absorbed into the city of HamptonHampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...
)
- Henrico
Henrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...
(now Henrico CountyHenrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...
)
- James City Shire
James City Shire was formed in the British colony of Virginia in 1634.During the 17th century, shortly after establishment of Jamestown in 1607, English settlers and explored and began settling the areas adjacent to Hampton Roads....
(now James City CountyJames City County is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Its population was 67,009 , and it is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the...
)
- Warwick River Shire
Warwick River Shire was one of eight shires created in colonial Virginia in 1634. It was located on the Virginia Peninsula on the northern shore of the James River between Hampton Roads and the Jamestown Settlement....
(existed as Warwick County until 1952, then the city of Warwick until 1958 when it was absorbed into the city of Newport NewsNewport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
)
- Warrosquyoake Shire
Warrosquoake Shire was officially formed in 1634 in the Virginia colony, but had already been known as "Warascoyack County" before this...
(now Isle of Wight CountyAs of the census of 2010, there were 35,270 people, 11,319 households, and 8,670 families residing in the county. The population density was 94 people per square mile . There were 12,066 housing units at an average density of 38 per square mile...
)
Of these, as of 2011, five of the eight original
shires of VirginiaThe eight Shires of Virginia were formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony. These shires were based on a form of local government used in England at the time, and were redesignated as counties a few years later...
are considered still extant in essentially their same political form (county), although some boundaries have changed. Also, including the earlier names of the cities (sic) in their names resulted in the source of some confusion, as that resulted in such seemingly contradictory names as "James City County" and "Charles City County".
Governor Berkeley
The first significant attempts at exploring the Trans-Allegheny region occurred under the administration of Governor William Berkeley. Efforts to explore farther into Virginia were hampered in 1644 when about 500 colonists were killed in another Indian massacre led, once again, by Opechancanough. Berkeley is credited with efforts to develop others sources of income for the colony besides tobacco such as cultivation of
mulberryMorus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
trees for silkworms and other crops at his large
Green Spring PlantationGreen Spring Plantation in James City County about five miles west of Williamsburg, was the 17th century plantation of one of the more popular governors of Colonial Virginia in North America, Sir William Berkeley, and his second wife....
, now a largely unexplored archaeological site maintained by the
National Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
near Jamestown and Williamsburg.
Most Virginia colonists were loyal to the crown (Charles I) during the
English Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, but in 1652,
Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
sent a force to remove and replace Gov. Berkeley with Governor
Richard BennettRichard Bennett was an English Governor of the Colony of Virginia.Born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, Bennett served as governor from 30 April 1652, until 2 March 1655...
, who was loyal to the
Commonwealth of EnglandThe Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
. This governor was a moderate
PuritanThe Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
who allowed the local legislature to exercise most controlling authority, and spent much of his time directing affairs in neighboring Maryland Colony. Bennett was followed by two more "Cromwellian" governors,
Edward DiggesEdward Digges was a British barrister and colonist who served as Colonial Governor of Virginia from March 1655 to December 1656...
and
Samuel MatthewsCaptain Samuel Matthews was an English Colonial Governor of Virginia. Matthews came to Virginia Colony in 1622 and was chosen as governor by the House of Burgesses in 1656. In April 1658, mainly to signal their displeasure with Oliver Cromwell, the Burgesses ceremonially dismissed him and...
, although in fact all three of these men were not technically appointees, but were selected by the House of Burgesses, which was really in control of the colony during these years.
Many royalists fled to Virginia after their defeat in the English Civil War. Many of them established what would become the most important families in Virginia. After the
RestorationThe Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
, in recognition of Virginia's loyalty to the crown, King
Charles II of EnglandCharles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
bestowed Virginia with the nickname "The Old Dominion", which it still bears today.
Bacon's Rebellion
Governor Berkeley, who remained popular after his first administration, returned to the governorship at the end of Commonwealth rule. However, Berkeley's second administration was characterized with many problems. Disease, hurricanes, Indian hostilities, and economic difficulties all plagued Virginia at this time. Berkeley established autocratic authority over the colony. To protect this power, he refused to have new legislative elections for 14 years in order to protect a House of Burgesses that supported him. He only agreed to new elections when rebellion became a serious threat.
Berkeley finally did face a rebellion in 1676. Indians had begun attacking encroaching settlers as they expanded to the north and west. Serious fighting broke out when settlers responded to violence with a counter-attack against the wrong tribe, which further extended the violence. Berkeley did not assist the settlers in their fight. Many settlers and historians believe Berkeley's refusal to fight the Indians stemmed from his investments in the fur trade. Large scale fighting would have cut off the Indian suppliers Berkeley's investment relied on. Nathaniel Bacon organized his own militia of settlers who retaliated against the Indians. Bacon became very popular as the primary opponent of Berkeley, not only on the issue of Indians, but on other issues as well. Berkeley condemned Bacon as a rebel, but pardoned him after Bacon won a seat in the House of Burgesses and accepted it peacefully. After a lack of reform, Bacon rebelled outright, captured Jamestown, and took control of the colony for several months. The incident became known as
Bacon's RebellionBacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony in North America, led by a 29-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.About a thousand Virginians rose because they resented Virginia Governor William Berkeley's friendly policies towards the Native Americans...
. Berkeley returned himself to power with the help of the English militia. Bacon burned Jamestown before abandoning it and continued his rebellion, but died of disease. Berkeley severely crushed the remaining rebels.
In response to Berkeley's harsh repression of the rebels, the English government removed him from office. After the burning of Jamestown, the capital was temporarily moved to
Middle PlantationMiddle Plantation in the Virginia Colony, was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about half-way across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland...
, located on the high ground of the
Virginia PeninsulaThe Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name...
equidistant from the James and York Rivers.
College of William and Mary; capital relocated
Local leaders had long desired a school of higher education, for the sons of planters, and for educating the Indians. An earlier attempt to establish a permanent university at
HenricusThe "Citie of Henricus" — also known as Henricopolis or Henrico Town or Henrico — was a settlement founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia...
failed after the
Indian Massacre of 1622The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
wiped out the entire settlement. Finally, seven decades later, with encouragement from the Colony's
House of BurgessesThe House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...
and other prominent individuals,
Reverend Dr. James BlairJames Blair D.D. was a Scottish born clergyman in the Church of England. He was also a missionary and an educator, best known as the founder of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.- Youth and education :...
, the colony's top religious leader, prepared a plan. Blair went to England and in 1693, obtained a charter from King
WilliamWilliam III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
and Queen
Mary II of EnglandMary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...
. The college was named the
College of William and MaryThe College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in honor of the two monarchs.
The rebuilt statehouse in Jamestown burned again in 1698. After that fire, upon suggestion of college students, the colonial capital was permanently moved to nearby Middle Plantation again, and the town was renamed
WilliamsburgWilliamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, in honor of the king. Plans were made to construct a capitol building and plat the new city according to the survey of Theodorick Bland.
Governor Spotswood
Alexander SpotswoodAlexander Spotswood was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is noted in Virginia and American history for a number of his projects as Governor, including his exploring beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishing what was perhaps the first...
became lieutenant governor, or acting
royal governor, of Virginia 1710, a post he held until recalled in 1722.
In 1716 he led an expedition of westward exploration, later known as the
Knights of the Golden Horseshoe ExpeditionThe Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition took place in 1716 in the British Colony of Virginia. The Royal Governor and a number of prominent citizens traveled westward, across the Blue Ridge Mountains on an exploratory expedition...
. Spotswood's party reached the top ridge of the
Blue Ridge MountainsThe Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
at
Swift Run GapSwift Run Gap is a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains located in the U.S. state of Virginia.-Geography:At an elevation of , it is the site of the mountain crossing of U.S...
(elevation 2365 feet (720.9 m)). Such was the English colonials understanding of the extent of the land, that they thought they had reached the
continental divideA continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea...
. There was some expectation that, "like
BalboaVasco Núñez de Balboa was a Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World.He traveled to the New World in...
", they would be overlooking the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. Spotswood was also behind the creation of
GermannaGermanna was a German settlement in the Colony of Virginia, settled in two waves, first in 1714 and then in 1717. Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood encouraged the immigration by advertising in Germany for miners to move to Virginia and establish a mining industry in the...
, a settlement of German immigrants brought over for the purpose of iron production, in modern-day Spotsylvania County, itself named after Spotswood.
Social order
Historian
Edmund MorganEdmund Sears Morgan , an eminent authority on early American history, is Emeritus Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught from 1955 to 1986.-Life:...
(1975) argues that Virginians in the 1650s—and for the next two centuries—turned to slavery and a racial divide as an alternative to class conflict. "Racism made it possible for white Virginians to develop a devotion to the equality that English republicans had declared to be the soul of liberty." That is, white men became politically much more equal than was possible without a population of low-status slaves.
By 1700 the population reached 70,000 and continued to grow rapidly from a high birth rate, low death rate, importation of slaves from the Caribbean, and immigration from Britain and Germany, as well as from Pennsylvania. The climate was mild, the farm lands were cheap and fertile.
Historian Douglas Southall Freeman has explained the hierarchical social structure of the 1740s:
West of the fall line... the settlements fringed toward the frontier of the Blue Ridge and the Valley of the Shenandoah. Democracy was real where life was raw. In Tidewater, the flat country East of the fall line, there were no less than eight strata of society. The uppermost and the lowliest, the great proprietors and the Negro slaves, were supposed to be of immutable station. The others were small farmers, merchants, sailors, frontier folk, servants and convicts. Each of these constituted a distinct class at a given time, but individuals and families often shifted materially in station during a single generation. Titles hedged the ranks of the notables. Members of the Council of State were termed both "Colonel" and "Esquire." Large planters who did not bear arms almost always were given the courtesy title of "Gentlemen." So were Church Wardens, Vestrymen, Sheriffs and Trustees of towns. The full honors of a man of station were those of Vestryman [of the Church], Justice [lifetime member of the County Court, appointed by the legislature] and Burgess [elected member of the legislature]. Such an individual normally looked to England and especially to London and sought to live by the social standards of the mother country.
Religion in early Virginia
- Further information: Episcopal Diocese of Virginia:History
The
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
was legally established in the colony in 1619, and authorities in England sent in 22 Anglican clergyman by 1624. In practice, establishment meant that local taxes were funneled through the local parish to handle the needs of local government, such as roads and poor relief, in addition to the salary of the minister. There never was a bishop in colonial Virginia, and in practice the local vestry consisted of laymen controlled the parish.
Anglican parishes
After five very difficult years, during which the majority of the new arrivals quickly died, the colony began to grow more successfully. As in England, the parish became a unit of local importance, equal in power and practical aspects to other entities, such as the courts and even the House of Burgesses and the Governor's Council (the precursors of the
Virginia General AssemblyThe Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
). (A parish was normally led spiritually by a rector and governed by a committee of members generally respected in the community which was known as the vestry). A typical parish contained three or four churches, as the parish churches needed to be close enough for people to travel to worship services, where attendance was expected of everyone. Parishes typically had a church farm (or "
glebeGlebe Glebe Glebe (also known as Church furlong or parson's closes is an area of land within a manor and parish used to support a parish priest.-Medieval origins:...
") to help support it financially.
Expansion and subdivision of the church parishes and, after 1634, the
shiresThe eight Shires of Virginia were formed in 1634 in the Virginia Colony. These shires were based on a form of local government used in England at the time, and were redesignated as counties a few years later...
(or counties) followed population growth. The intention of the Virginia parish system was to place a church not more than six miles (10 km)-easy riding distance-from every home in the colony. The shires, soon after initial establishment in 1634 known as "counties", were planned to be not more than a day's ride from all residents, so that court and other business could be attended to in a practical manner.
In the 1740s, the established Anglican church had about 70 parish priests around the colony. There was no bishop, and indeed, there was fierce political opposition to having a bishop in the colony. The Anglican priests were supervised directly by the
Bishop of LondonThe Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
. Each county court gave tax money to the local vestry, composed of prominent layman. The vestry provided the priest a
glebeGlebe Glebe Glebe (also known as Church furlong or parson's closes is an area of land within a manor and parish used to support a parish priest.-Medieval origins:...
of 200 or 300 acres (1.2 km²), a house, and perhaps some livestock. The vestry paid him an annual salary of 16,000
pounds-of-tobaccoCommodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity out of which it is made. It is objects that have value in themselves as well as for use as money....
, plus 20 shillings for every wedding and funeral. While not poor, the priests lived modestly and their opportunities for improvement were slim.
Missionaries
Religious leaders in England felt they had a duty as
missionariesA missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to bring
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
(or more specifically, the religious practices and beliefs of the Church of England), to the
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. There was an assumption that their own "mistaken" spiritual beliefs were largely the result of a lack of education and literacy, since the Powhatan did not have a written language. Therefore, teaching them these skills would logically result in what the English saw as "enlightenment" in their religious practices, and bring them into the fold of the church, which was part of the government, and hence, a form of control.
The efforts to educate and convert the natives were minimal, though the Indian school remained open until the Revolution. Apart from the
NansemondThe Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not Federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for Federal recognition under...
tribe, which had converted in 1638, and a few isolated individuals over the years, the other Powhatan tribes as a whole did not fully convert to Christianity until 1791.
Alternatives to the established church
The colonists were typically inattentive, disinterested, and bored during church services, according to the ministers, who complained that the people were sleeping, whispering, ogling the fashionably dressed women, walking about and coming and going, or at best looking out the windows or staring blankly into space. The lack of towns means the church had to serve scattered settlements, while the acute shortage of trained ministers meant that piety was hard to practice outside the home. Some ministers solved their problems by encouraged parishioners to become devout at home, using the Book of Common Prayer for private prayer and devotion (rather than the Bible). This allowed devout Anglicans to lead an active and sincere religious life apart from the unsatisfactory formal church services. However the stress on private devotion weakened the need for a bishop or a large institutional church of the sort Blair wanted. The stress on personal piety opened the way for the
First Great AwakeningThe First Awakening was a Christian revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal...
, which pulled people away from the established church.
Especially in the back country, most families had no religious affiliation whatsoever and their low moral standards were shocking to proper Englishmen The Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and other evangelicals directly challenged these lax moral standards and refused to tolerate them in their ranks. The evangelicals identified as sinful the traditional standards of masculinity which revolved around gambling, drinking, and brawling, and arbitrary control over women, children, and slaves. The religious communities enforced new standards, creating a new male leadership role that followed Christian principles and became dominant in the 19th century. Baptists,
German LutheransGerman Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
and Presbyterians, funded their own ministers, and favored disestablishment of the Anglican church.
Presbyterians
The Presbyterians were evangelical dissenters, mostly Scots-Irish Americans who expanded in Virginia between 1740 and 1758, immediately before the Baptists. Spangler (2008) argues they were more energetic and held frequent services better atuned to the frontier conditions of the colony. Presbyterianism grew in frontier areas where the Anglicans had made little impress, especially the western areas of the Piedmont and the valley of Virginia. Uneducated whites and blacks were attracted to the emotional worship of the denomination, its emphasis on biblical simplicity, and its psalm singing. Presbyterians were a cross-section of society; they were involved in slaveholding and in patriarchal ways of household management, while the Presbyterian Church government featured few democratic elements. Some local Presbyterian churches, such as Briery in
Prince Edward CountyPrince Edward County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 23,368. Its county seat is Farmville.-Formation and County Seats:...
owned slaves. The Briery church purchased five slaves in 1766 and raised money for church expenses by hiring them out to local planters.
Baptists
Helped by the
First Great AwakeningThe First Awakening was a Christian revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal...
and numerous itinerant self-proclaimed missionaries, by the 1760s
BaptistsBaptists are the largest Protestant grouping in the United States, and the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., with 16 million members. Baptist churches exist in each of the United States today...
were drawing Virginians, especially poor white farmers, into a new, much more democratic religion. Slaves were welcome at the services and many became Baptists at this time. Baptist services were highly emotional; the only ritual was baptism, which was applied by immersion (not sprinkling like the Anglicans) only to adults. Opposed to the low moral standards prevalent in the colony, the Baptists strictly enforced their own high standards of personal morality, with special concern for sexual misconduct, heavy drinking, frivolous spending, missing services, cursing, and revelry. Church trials were held frequently and members who did not submit to disciple were expelled.
Historians have debated the implications of the religious rivalries for the American Revolution. The Baptist farmers did introduce a new egalitarian ethic that largely displaced the semi-aristocratic ethic of the Anglican planters. However, both groups supported the Revolution. There was a sharp contrast between the austerity of the plain-living Baptists and the opulence of the Anglican planters, who controlled local government. Baptist church discipline, mistaken by the gentry for radicalism, served to ameliorate disorder. As population became more dense, the county court and the Anglican Church were able to increase their authority. The Baptists protested vigorously; the resulting social disorder resulted chiefly from the ruling gentry's disregard of public need. The vitality of the religious opposition made the conflict between 'evangelical' and 'gentry' styles a bitter one. The strength of the evangelical movement's organization determined its ability to mobilize power outside the conventional authority structure. The struggle for religious toleration erupted and was played out during the American Revolution, as the Baptists, in alliance with Anglicans
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
and
James MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
worked successfully to disestablish the Anglican church.
Methodists
Methodist missionaries were also active in the late colonial period. From 1776 to 1815 Methodist Bishop
Francis AsburyBishop Francis Asbury was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, now The United Methodist Church in the United States...
made 42 trips into the western parts to visit Methodist congregations. During the war about 700 Methodist slaves went over to the British, who freed them and in 1791 helped them resettle in
Sierra LeoneSierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
in Africa. In the 1780s itinerant Methodist preachers carried copies of an anti-slavery petition in their saddlebags throughout the state, calling for an end to slavery. At the same time, counter-petitions were circulated. The petitions were presented to the Assembly; they were debated, but no legislative action was taken, and after 1800 there was less and less religious opposition to slavery.
Religious freedom and disestablishment
The Baptists and Presbyterians were subject to many legal constraints and faced growing persecution; between 1768 and 1774 about half of the Baptists ministers in Virginia were jailed for preaching. At the start of the Revolution, however, the Anglican Patriots realized that they needed dissenter support for effective wartime mobilization, so they met most of the dissenters' demands for the freedom to practice their religion in return for their support of the war effort.
After the victory at Yorktown, the Anglican establishment sought to reintroduce state support for religion. This effort failed when non-Anglicans gave their full support to Thomas Jefferson's Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which became law in 1786. With
Freedom of religionFreedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
the new watchword, the Church of England was dis-established in Virginia. Most ministers were Loyalists and returned to England. When possible, worship continued in the usual fashion, but the local vestry was no longer the recipient of tax money and no longer had local government functions such as poor relief. The
Right Reverend James MadisonJames Madison was the first bishop of the Diocese of Virginia of The Episcopal Church in the United States, one of the first bishops to be consecrated to the new church after the American Revolution...
(1749–1812), a cousin of Patriot
James MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, was appointed in 1790 as the first
Episcopal Bishop of VirginiaThe Diocese of Virginia is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing 38 counties in the northern and central parts of the state of Virginia. The diocese was organized in 1785 and is one of the Episcopal Church's nine original dioceses. However, the diocese has...
and slowly rebuilt the denomination
Antecedents
Revolutionary sentiments first began appearing in Virginia shortly after the
French and Indian WarThe French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
ended in 1763. The very same year, the British and Virginian governments clashed in the case of
Parson's CauseThe "Parson's Cause" was an important legal and political dispute in the Colony of Virginia often viewed as an important event leading up to the American Revolution...
. The Virginia legislature had passed the Two-Penny Act to stop clerical salaries from inflating. King George III vetoed the measure, and clergy sued for back salaries.
Patrick HenryPatrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
first came to prominence by arguing in the case against the veto, which he declared tyrannical.
The British government had accumulated a great deal of debt through spending on its wars. To help payoff this debt, Parliament passed the
Sugar ActThe Sugar Act, also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on April 5, 1764. The preamble to the act stated: "it is expedient that new provisions and regulations should be established for improving the...
in 1764 and the
Stamp ActA stamp act is any legislation that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents. Those that pay the tax receive an official stamp on their documents, making them legal documents. The taxes raised under a stamp act are called stamp duty. This system of taxation was first devised...
in 1765. The General Assembly opposed the passage of the Sugar Act on the grounds of
no taxation without representation"No taxation without representation" is a slogan originating during the 1750s and 1760s that summarized a primary grievance of the British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies, which was one of the major causes of the American Revolution...
. Patrick Henry opposed the Stamp Act in the Burgesses with a famous speech advising George III that "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell..." and the king "may profit by their example." The legislature passed the "
Virginia ResolvesThe Virginia Resolves were a series of resolutions passed by the Virginia General Assembly in response to the Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act had been passed by the British Parliament to help pay off some of its debt from its various wars, including the French and Indian War fought in part to...
" opposing the tax. Governor
Francis FauquierFrancis Fauquier was a Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Colony , and served as acting governor from 1758 until his death in 1768. He was married to Catherine Dalston....
responded by dismissing the Assembly.
Opposition continued after the resolves. The
Northampton CountyAs of the census of 2010, there were 12,389 people, 5,321 households, and 3,543 families residing in the county. The population density was 63 people per square mile . There were 6,547 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...
court overturned the Stamp Act February 8, 1766. Various political groups, including the
Sons of LibertyThe Sons of Liberty were a political group made up of American patriots that originated in the pre-independence North American British colonies. The group was formed to protect the rights of the colonists from the usurpations by the British government after 1766...
met and issued protests against the act. Most notably,
Richard BlandRichard Bland , sometimes referred to as Richard Bland II or Richard Bland of Jordan's Point, was an American planter and statesman from Virginia...
published a pamphlet entitled An Enquiry into the Rights of Ike British Colonies. This document would set one of the basic political principles of the Revolution by stating that Virginia was a part of the British Empire, not the Kingdom of Great Britain, so it only owed allegiance to the Crown, not Parliament.
The Stamp Act was repealed, but additional taxation from the
Revenue ActThe Revenue Act 1766 was an act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in response to objections raised to the Sugar Act 1764. The Revenue Act was passed in conjunction with the Free Port Act 1766....
and the 1769 attempt to transport Bostonian rioters to London for trial incited more protest from Virginia. The Assembly met to consider resolutions condemning on the transport of the rioters, but Governor Botetourt, while sympathetic, dissolved the legislature. The Burgesses reconvened in
Raleigh TavernRaleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia, gained some fame in the pre-American Revolutionary War Colony of Virginia as a gathering place for the Burgesses after several Royal Governors officially dissolved the House of Burgesses, the elected legislative body, when their actions did not suit the Crown...
and made an agreement to ban British imports. Britain gave up the attempt to extradite the prisoners and lifted all taxes except the tax on tea in 1770.
In 1773, because of a renewed attempt to extradite Americans to Britain,
Richard Henry LeeRichard Henry Lee was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and his famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States...
,
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
,
Patrick HenryPatrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
,
George MasonGeorge Mason IV was an American Patriot, statesman and a delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention...
, and others created a
committee of correspondenceThe Committees of Correspondence were shadow governments organized by the Patriot leaders of the Thirteen Colonies on the eve of American Revolution. They coordinated responses to Britain and shared their plans; by 1773 they had emerged as shadow governments, superseding the colonial legislature...
to deal with problems with Britain. Unlike other such committees of correspondence, this one was an official part of the legislature.
Following the closure of the port in Boston and several other offenses, the Burgesses approved June 1, 1774 as a day of "Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer" in a show of solidarity with Massachusetts. The Governor, Lord Dunmore, dismissed the legislature. The first Virginia Convention was held August 1–6 to respond to the growing crisis. The convention approved a boycott of British goods, expressed solidarity with Massachusetts, and elected delegates to the
Continental CongressThe Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
where Virginian
Peyton RandolphPeyton Randolph was a planter and public official from the Colony of Virginia. He served as speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, chairman of the Virginia Conventions, and the first President of the Continental Congress.-Early life:Randolph was born in Tazewell Hall, Williamsburg, Virginia...
was selected as president of the Congress.
War begins
On April 20, 1775, a day after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Dunmore ordered royal marines to remove the gunpowder from the Williamsburg Magazine to a British ship. Patrick Henry led a group of Virginia militia from
HanoverAs of the census of 2000, there were 86,320 people, 31,121 households, and 24,461 families residing in the county. The population density was 183 people per square mile . There were 32,196 housing units at an average density of 68 per square mile...
in response to Dunmore's order.
Carter BraxtonCarter Braxton was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, a planter, and a representative of Virginia....
negotiated a resolution to the Gunpowder Incident by transferring royal funds as payment for the powder. The incident exacerbated Dunmore's declining popularity. He fled the Governor's Palace to the British ship Fowey at Yorktown. On November 7, Dunmore issued a proclamation declaring Virginia was in a state of rebellion and that any slave fighting for the British would be freed. By this time,
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
had been appointed head of the American forces by the Continental Congress and Virginia was under the political leadership of a Committee of Safety formed by the Third Virginia Convention in the governor's absence.
On December 9, 1775, Virginia militia moved on the governor's forces at the
Battle of Great BridgeThe Battle of Great Bridge was fought December 9, 1775, in the area of Great Bridge, Virginia, early in the American Revolutionary War. The victory by Continental Army and militia forces led to the departure of Governor Lord Dunmore and any remaining vestiges of British power from the Colony of...
. The British had held a fort that guarded the land route to
NorfolkNorfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
. The British feared the militia, who had no cannon for a siege, would receive reinforcements, so they abandoned the fort and attacked. The militia won the 30 minute battle. Dunmore responded by bombarding Norfolk with his ships on January 1, 1776.
Independence
The Fifth Virginia Convention met on May 6 and declared Virginia a free and independent state on May 15, 1776. The convention instructed its delegates to introduce a resolution for independence at the Continental Congress.
Richard Henry LeeRichard Henry Lee was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and his famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States...
introduced the measure on June 7. While the Congress debated, the Virginia Convention adopted George Mason's
Bill of RightsThe Virginia Declaration of Rights is a document drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to rebel against "inadequate" government...
(June 12) and a constitution (June 29) which established an independent
commonwealthFour of the constituent states of the United States officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia....
. Congress approved Lee's proposal on July 2 and approved Jefferson's Declaration of Independence on July 4.
The constitution of the Fifth Virginia Convention created a system of government for the state that would last for 54 years. The constitution provided for a chief magistrate, a bicameral legislature with both the
House of DelegatesThe Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the...
and the Senate. The legislature elected a governor each year (picking Patrick Henry to be the first) and a council of eight for executive functions. In October, the legislature appointed Jefferson,
Edmund PendletonEdmund Pendleton was a Virginia politician, lawyer and judge, active in the American Revolutionary War. -Early years:...
, and
George WytheGeorge Wythe was an American lawyer, a judge, a prominent law professor and "Virginia's foremost classical scholar." He was a teacher and mentor of Thomas Jefferson. Wythe's signature is positioned at the head of the list of seven Virginia signatories on the United States Declaration of Independence...
to adopt the existing body of Virginia law to the new constitution.
After the Battle of Great Bridge, little military conflict took place on Virginia soil for the first part of the
American Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. Nevertheless, Virginia sent forces to help in the fighting to the North and South, including
Daniel MorganDaniel Morgan was an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War, he later commanded troops during the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion.-Early years:Most authorities believe that...
and his company of marksmen who fought in early battles in the north.
CharlottesvilleCharlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
served as a prison camp for the
Convention ArmyThe Convention Army was an army of British and allied troops captured after the Battles of Saratoga in the American Revolutionary War.-Convention of Saratoga:...
, Hessian and British soldiers captured at Saratoga. Virginia also sent forces to its frontier in the northwest, which then included much of the
Ohio CountryThe Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...
.
George Rogers ClarkGeorge Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
led forces in this area and captured the fort at
KaskaskiaThe Kaskaskia were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation or Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region...
and won the
Battle of VincennesThe Illinois campaign was a series of events in the American Revolutionary War in which a small force of Virginia militiamen led by George Rogers Clark seized control of several British posts in the Illinois country, in what is now the Midwestern United States...
, capturing the royal governor, Henry Hamilton. Clark maintained control of areas south of the
Ohio RiverThe Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
for most of the war, but was unable to make gains in the Indian-dominated territories north of the river.
War returns to Virginia
The British brought the war back to coastal Virginia in May, 1779 when Admiral
George CollierSir George Collier was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars. As commander of the frigate HMS Rainbow, he was one of the most successful British naval commanders during the opening stages of war...
landed troops at
Hampton RoadsHampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
and used Portsmouth (after destroying the naval yard) as a base of attack. The move was part of an attempted blockade of trade with the West Indies. The British abandoned the plan when reinforcements from General
Henry ClintonGeneral Sir Henry Clinton KB was a British army officer and politician, best known for his service as a general during the American War of Independence. First arriving in Boston in May 1775, from 1778 to 1782 he was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America...
failed to arrive to support Collier.
Fearing the vulnerability of Williamsburg, then-
GovernorThe governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
moved the capital farther inland to
RichmondRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
in 1780. That October, the British made another attempt at invading Virginia. British General Alexander Leslie entered the Chesapeake with 2,500 troops and used Portsmouth as a base; however, after the British defeat at the
Battle of Kings MountainThe Battle of Kings Mountain was a decisive battle between the Patriot and Loyalist militias in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...
, Leslie moved to join
General Charles CornwallisCharles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG , styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator...
farther south. In December,
Benedict ArnoldBenedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces...
, who had betrayed the Revolution and become a general for the British, attacked Richmond with 1,000 soldiers and burned part of the city before the Virginia Miltia drove his army out of the city. Arnold moved his base of operations to Portsmouth and was later joined by another 2,000 troops under General
William PhillipsWilliam Phillips was a renowned artilleryman and general officer in the British Army who served as a major-general in the American War of Independence.- Early career :...
. Phillips led an expedition that destroyed military and economic targets, against ineffectual militia resistance. The state's defenses, led by General
Friedrich Wilhelm, Baron von SteubenFriedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben , also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, was a Prussian-born military officer who served as inspector general and Major General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
, put up resistance in the April 1781 Battle of Blandford, but was forced to retreat.
George Washington sent the French
General LafayetteMarie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
to lead the defense of Virginia. Lafayette marched south to
PetersburgPetersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
, preventing Phillips from immediately taking the town. Cornwallis, frustrated in the Carolinas, moved up from North Carolina to join Phillips and Arnold, and began to pursue Lafayette's smaller force. Lafayette only had 3,200 troops to face Cornwallis's 7,200. The outnumbered Lafayette avoided direct confrontation and could do little more than annoy Cornwallis with a series of skirmishes. Lafayette retreated to
FredericksburgFredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
, met up with General
Anthony WayneAnthony Wayne was a United States Army general and statesman. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the sobriquet of Mad Anthony.-Early...
, and then marched into the southwest. Cornwallis dispatched two smaller missions: 500 soldiers under Colonel
John Graves SimcoeJohn Graves Simcoe was a British army officer and the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791–1796. Then frontier, this was modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior...
to take the arsenal at Point of Fork and 250 under Colonel
Banastre TarletonGeneral Sir Banastre Tarleton, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British soldier and politician.He is today probably best remembered for his military service during the American War of Independence. He became the focal point of a propaganda campaign claiming that he had fired upon surrendering Continental...
to march on Charlottesville and capture Gov. Jefferson and the legislature. The expedition to Point of Fork forced Steuben to retreat further while Tarleton's mission captured only seven legislators and some officers.
Jack JouettJohn "Jack" Jouett, Jr. was a politician and a hero of the American Revolution, known as the "Paul Revere of the South" for his late night ride to warn Thomas Jefferson, then the Governor of Virginia, and the Virginia legislature of coming British cavalry who had been sent to capture them...
had ridden all night ride to warn Jefferson and the legislators of Tarleton's coming.
http://www.xenophongroup.com/mcjoynt/laf_va.htm Cornwallis reunited his army in Elk Hill and marched to the
Tidewater regionThe Tidewater region of Virginia is the eastern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia formally known as Hampton Roads. The term tidewater may be correctly applied to all portions of any area, including Virginia, where the water level is affected by the tides...
. Lafayette, uniting with von Steuben, now had 5,000 troops and followed Cornwallis.
Under orders from General Clinton, Cornwallis moved down the
Virginia PeninsulaThe Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name...
towards the Chesapeake Bay were Clinton planned to extract part of the army for a siege of New York City. Cornwallis passed through Williamsburg and near Jamestown. When Cornwallis appeared to be moving to cross the
James RiverThe James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
, Lafayette saw a chance to attack Cornwallis during the crossing, and sent 800 troops under General Wayne against what they believed to be Cornwallis' rear guard. Cornwallis had set a trap, and Wayne was very nearly caught by the much larger, 5,000 soldier, main body of Cornwallis' forces at the
Battle of Green SpringThe Battle of Green Spring took place near Green Spring Plantation in James City County, Virginia during the American Revolutionary War. On July 6, 1781 United States Brigadier General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, leading the advance forces of the Marquis de Lafayette, was ambushed near the plantation by...
on July 6, 1781. Wayne ordered a charge against Cornwallis in order to feign greater strength and stop the British advance. Casualties were light with the Americans losing 140 and the British 75, but the ploy allowed the Americans to escape.
Cornwallis moved his troops across the James to Portsmouth to await Clinton's orders. Clinton decided that a position on the peninsula must be held and that
YorktownYorktown is a census-designated place in York County, Virginia, United States. The population was 220 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1634....
would be a valuable naval base. Cornwallis received orders to move his troops to Yorktown and begin construction of fortifications and a naval yard. The Americans had initially expected Cornwallis to move either to New York or the Carolinas and started to make arrangements to move from Virginia. Once they discovered the fortifications at Yorktown, the Americans began to place themselves around the city. Gen. Washington saw the opportunity for a major victory. He moved a portion of his troops, along with
RochambeauMarshal of France Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau was a French nobleman and general who participated in the American Revolutionary War as the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Force which came to help the American Continental Army...
's French troops, from New York to Virginia. The plan hinged on French reinforcements of 3,200 troops and a large naval force under the Admiral de Grasse. On September 5, Admiral de Grasse defeated a fleet of the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Virginia Capes. The defeat ensured French dominance of the waters around Yorktown, thereby preventing Cornwallis from receiving troops or supplies and removing the possibility of evacuation. Between October 6 and 17 the American forces laid
siege to YorktownThe Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
. Outgunned and completely surrounded, Cornwallis decided to surrender. Papers for surrender were officially signed on October 19. As a result of the defeat, the king lost control of Parliament and the new British government offered peace in April 1782. The
Treaty of Paris of 1783The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
officially ended the war.
Early Republic and antebellum periods
Victory in the Revolution brought peace and prosperity to the new state, as export markets in Europe reopened for its tobacco.
While the old local elites were content with the status quo, younger veterans of the war had developed a national identity. Led by George Washington and
James MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, Virginia played a major role in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia, where Madison proposed the
Virginia PlanThe Virginia Plan was a proposal by Virginia delegates, for a bicameral legislative branch. The plan was drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Constitutional Convention of 1787...
, which would give representation in Congress according to population. Virginia was the most populous state, and it was allowed to count all of its white residents and 3/5 of the black slaves for its congressional representation and its electoral vote. (Most white men owned land and could vote, but no one else.) Ratification was bitterly contested; the pro-Constitution forces prevailed only after promising to add a Bill of Rights. The
Virginia Ratifying ConventionThe Virginia Ratifying Convention was a convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, which had been drafted at the Philadelphia Convention the previous year.The Convention met and deliberated from June 2 through June 27 in Richmond...
approved the Constitution by a vote of 89-79 on June 25, 1788, becoming the tenth state to enter the Union. Madison played a central role in the new Congress, while Washington was the unanimous choice as first president. He was followed by the Virginia Dynasty, including Thomas Jefferson, Madison, and James Monroe, giving the state four of the first five presidents.
Slavery and freedmen in Antebellum Virginia
The Revolution meant change and sometimes political freedom for enslaved African Americans, too. Thousands of slaves from southern states escaped to British lines and freedom during the war. Thousands left with the British for resettlement in their colonies of Nova Scotia and Jamaica; others went to England; others disappeared into rural and frontier areas or the North. Inspired by the Revolution and evangelical preachers, numerous slaveholders in the Chesapeake region wrote wills that
manumittedManumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished most slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.-Motivations:The...
some or all of their slaves. From 1,800 in 1782, the population of free blacks in Virginia increased to 13,000 in 1790, and to 30,570 in 1810, a percentage change from less than one percent of the population to 7.2 percent. One planter,
Robert Carter IIIRobert "Councillor" Carter III was an American plantation owner, founding father and onetime British government official. After the death of his wife, Frances Ann Tasker Carter, in 1787, Carter embraced the Swedenborgian faith and freed almost 500 slaves from his Nomini Hall plantation and large...
freed more than 450 slaves in his lifetime, more than anyone else.
Many free blacks migrated from rural areas to towns such as
PetersburgPetersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
, Richmond, and Charlottesville for jobs and community; others migrated with their families to the frontier where social strictures were more relaxed. Among the oldest black Baptist congregations in the nation were two founded near Petersburg before the Revolution. Each moved into the city and built churches by the early 19th century.
Twice Virginia experienced slave rebellions--Gabriel's Rebellion in 1800, and
Nat Turner's RebellionNat Turner's Rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia during August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed anywhere from 55–65 white people, the highest number of fatalities caused by slave uprisings in the South...
in 1831. White reaction was swift and harsh, and militias killed many innocent blacks as well as people involved in the rebellions. After the second rebellion, the legislature passed laws restricting the rights of free people of color. It restricted their education as well.
Westward expansion
Beginning in the 1750s, the
Ohio Company of VirginiaThe Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country and to trade with the Indians there...
was created to survey and settle its new lands. Following the
French and Indian WarThe French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, westward settlement by Virginians was limited to more southern portions of the
American Old WestThe American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
. In 1784 Virginia relinquished its claims to the
Northwest TerritoryThe Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
, except for the
Virginia Military DistrictThe Virginia Military District was an approximately 4.2 million acre area of land in what is now the state of Ohio that was reserved by Virginia to use as payment for veterans of the American Revolutionary War....
. It was given to veterans of the Revolutionary War. In 1792, three western counties formed
KentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
.
As the new nation of the United States of America experienced growing pains and began to speak of
Manifest DestinyManifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. It was used by Democrat-Republicans in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid-19th century.Advocates of...
, Virginia, too, found its role in the young republic to be changing and challenging. Beginning with the
Louisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
, many of the Virginians whose grandparents had created the Virginia Establishment began to expand westward. Famous Virginian-born Americans affected not only the destiny of the state of Virginia, but the rapidly developing
American Old WestThe American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
. Virginians
Meriwether LewisMeriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark...
and William Clark were influential in their
famous expeditionThe Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
to explore the Missouri River and possible connections to the Pacific Ocean. Notable names such as
Stephen F. AustinStephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
,
Edwin WallerJudge Edwin Waller was an entrepreneur, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the first mayor of Austin, Texas, and the designer of its downtown grid plan....
,
Haden Harrison EdwardsHaden Edwards was a Texas settler and land speculator. Edwards County, Texas on the Edwards Plateau is named for him. In 1825, Edwards received a land grant from the Mexican government, allowing him to settle families in East Texas...
, and Dr. John Shackelford were famous Texan pioneers from Virginia. Even eventual Civil War general
Robert E. LeeRobert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
distinguished himself as a military leader in Texas during the 1846-1848 Mexican-American War.
As the western reaches of Virginia were developed in the first half of the 19th century, the vast differences in the agricultural basis, cultural, and transportation needs of the area became a major issue for the
Virginia General AssemblyThe Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
. In the older, eastern portion, slavery contributed to the economy. While planters were moving away from labor-intensive tobacco to mixed crops, they still held numerous slaves and their leasing out or sales was also part of their economic prospect. Slavery had become an economic institution upon which planters depended. Watersheds on most of this area eventually drained to the Atlantic Ocean. In the western reaches, families farmed smaller homesteads, mostly without enslaved or hired labor. Settlers were expanding the exploitation of resources: mining of minerals and harvesting of timber. The land drained into the
Ohio River ValleyThe Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, and trade followed the rivers.
Representation in the state legislature was heavily skewed in favor of the more populous eastern areas and the historic planter elite. This was compounded by the partial allowance for slaves when counting population; as neither the slaves nor women had the vote, this gave more power to white men. The legislature's efforts to mediate the disparities ended without meaningful resolution, although the state held a constitutional convention on representation issues. Thus, at the outset of the American Civil War, Virginia was caught not only in national crisis, but in a long-standing controversy within its own boundaries. While other border states had similar regional differences, Virginia had a long history of east-west tensions which finally came to a head; it was the only state to divide into two separate states during the War.
Infrastructure and Industrial Revolution
After the Revolution, various infrastructure projects began to be developed, including the
Dismal Swamp CanalThe Dismal Swamp Canal is located along the eastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina in the United States. It is the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States, opened in 1805...
, the
James River and Kanawha CanalThe James River and Kanawha Canal was a canal in Virginia, which was built to facilitate shipments of passengers and freight by water between the western counties of Virginia and the coast....
, and various turnpikes. Virginia was home to the first of all Federal infrastructure projects under the new Constitution, the Cape Henry Light of 1792, located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Following the War of 1812, several Federal national defense projects were undertaken in Virginia.
Drydock Number OneDrydock Number One, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, also known as Drydock No. 1,is the site where the USS Merrimack was modified to be the Confederate Navy ironclad CSS Virginia. It is now included within the Norfolk Naval Shipyard...
was constructed in Portsmouth in the 1827. Across the James River,
Fort MonroeFort Monroe was a military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula...
was built to defend Hampton Roads, completed in 1834.
In the 1830s, railroads began to be built in Virginia. In 1831, the
Chesterfield RailroadThe Chesterfield Railroad was located in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It was a 13-mile long mule-and-gravity powered line that connected the Midlothian coal mines with wharves that were located at the head of navigation on the James River just below the fall line at Manchester...
began hauling coal from the mines in
MidlothianMidlothian is an unincorporated community in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. Founded over 300 years ago as a coal mining village, it is now a suburban community located in the Southside of Richmond well beyond the city limits of Richmond in the Richmond–Petersburg region.It was named...
to docks at Manchester (near Richmond), powered by gravity and draft animals. The first railroad in Virginia to be powered by locomotives was the
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac RailroadThe Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. It is now a portion of the CSX Transportation system....
, chartered in 1834, with the intent to connect with steamboat lines at Aquia Landing running to Washington, D.C.. Soon after, others (with equally descriptive names) followed: the
Richmond and Petersburg RailroadRichmond and Petersburg Railroad was a regional railroad serving east-central Virginia. It was strategically important to the Confederacy during the American Civil War, when it provided a vital supply and transportation route in late 1864 and early 1865 for Robert E...
and Louisa Railroad in 1836, the
Richmond and Danville RailroadThe Richmond and Danville Railroad was chartered in Virginia in the United States in 1847. The portion between Richmond and Danville, Virginia was completed in 1856...
in 1847, the
Orange and Alexandria RailroadThe Orange and Alexandria Railroad was an intrastate railroad in Virginia, United States. It extended from Alexandria to Gordonsville, with another section from Charlottesville to Lynchburg...
in 1848, and the
Richmond and York River RailroadRichmond and York River Railroad was completed between Richmond, Virginia and West Point, Virginia in 1861. The western terminus was adjacent to Richmond's Tobacco Row...
. In 1849, the
Virginia Board of Public WorksThe Virginia Board of Public Works was a governmental agency which oversaw and helped finance the development of Virginia's internal transportation improvements during the 19th century. In that era, it was customary to invest public funds in private companies, which were the forerunners of the...
established the Blue Ridge Railroad. Under Engineer
Claudius CrozetBenoit Claudius Crozet was an educator and civil engineer.Crozet was born in France. After serving in the French military, in 1816, he immigrated to the United States. He taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and helped found the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington,...
, the railroad successfully crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains via the
Blue Ridge TunnelThe Blue Ridge Tunnel, also known as the Crozet Tunnel, was the longest of four tunnels built on the Blue Ridge Railroad to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap near Afton Mountain in central Virginia...
at Afton Mountain.
Iron industry
With extensive iron deposits, especially in the western counties, Virginia was a pioneer in the iron industry. The first ironworks in the new world was established at
Falling CreekFalling Creek Ironworks was the first iron production facility in North America. It was established by the Virginia Company of London in Henrico Cittie on Falling Creek near its confluence with the James River. It was short-lived due to an attack by Native Americans in 1622.The long-lost site was...
in 1619, though it was destroyed in 1622. There would eventually grow to be 80 ironworks, charcoal furnaces and forges with 7,000 hands at any one time, about 70 percent of them slaves. Ironmasters hired slaves from local slave owners because they were cheaper than white workers, easier to control, and could not switch to a better employer. But the work ethic was weak, because the wages went to the owner, not to the workers, who were forced to work hard, were poorly fed and clothed, and were separated from their families. Virginia's industry increasingly fell behind Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio, which relied on free labor. Bradford (1959) recounts the many complaints about slave laborers and argues the over-reliance upon slaves contributed to the failure of the ironmasters to adopt improved methods of production for fear the slaves would sabotage them. Most of the blacks were unskilled manual laborers, although Lewis (1977) reports that some were in skilled positions.
Civil War
Virginia began a convention about secession on February 13, 1861 after six states seceded to form the
Confederate States of AmericaThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
on February 4. Unionist members blocked secession but, on April 15 Lincoln called for troops from all states still in the Union in response to the firing on Fort Sumter. That meant Federal troops crossing Virginia on the way south to subdue South Carolina. On April 17, 1861 the convention voted to secede. The Confederacy rewarded the state by moving the national capital from
Montgomery, AlabamaMontgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
to Richmond in late May—a decision that exposed the Confederate capital to unrelenting attacks and made Virginia a continuous battleground. Virginians ratified the articles of secession on May 23. The following day, the
Union armyThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
moved into northern Virginia and captured
AlexandriaAlexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
without a fight, and controlled it for the remainder of the war.
The first major battle of the Civil War occurred on July 21, 1861. Union forces attempted to take control of the railroad junction at
ManassasThe City of Manassas is an independent city surrounded by Prince William County and the independent city of Manassas Park in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Its population was 37,821 as of 2010. Manassas also surrounds the county seat for Prince William County but that county...
, but the Confederate Army had moved its forces by train to meet the Union. The Confederates won the First Battle of Manassas (known as "Bull Run" in Northern naming convention). Both sides mobilized for war; the year went on without another major fight.
Men from all economic and social levels, both slaveholders and nonslaveholders, as well as former Unionists, enlisted in great numbers. The only areas that sent few or no men to fight for the Confederacy had few slaves, a high percentage of poor families, and a history of opposition to secession, were located on the border with the North, and were sometimes under Union control.
Richmond and war industry
After Virginia joined in secession, the capital of the Confederate States of American was relocated from Montgomery, Alabama, to
RichmondRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. The White House of the Confederacy, located a few blocks north of the State Capital, was home to the family of Confederate President
Jefferson DavisJefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
. A major center of iron production during the civil war was located in Richmond at
Tredegar Iron WorksThe Tredegar Iron Works was a historic iron foundry in Richmond, Virginia, United States of America, opened in 1837. During the American Civil War, the works served as the primary iron and artillery production facility of the Confederate States of America...
. Tredegar was run partially by slave labor, and it produced most of the artillery for the war, making Richmond an important point to defend.
PetersburgPetersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
became a manufacturing center, as well as a city where free black artisans and craftsmen could make a living. In 1860 half its population was black and of that, one-third were free blacks, the largest such population in the state. Richmond and Petersburg were linked by railroad before the Civil War, and the latter was an important shipping point for goods.
SaltvilleAs of the census of 2000, there were 2,204 people, 909 households, and 660 families residing in the town. The population density was 273.7 people per square mile . There were 1,003 housing units at an average density of 124.5 per square mile...
was a primary source of Confederate salt (critical for food preservation and thus feeding the military) during the war, leading to the two Battles of Saltville. The most industrialized area of Virginia, around Wheeling, stayed loyal to the Union.
West Virginia breaks away
The western counties could not tolerate the Confederacy. Breaking away, they first formed the Union state of Virginia (recognized by Washington); it is called the
Restored government of VirginiaThe Restored Government of Virginia, or the Reorganized Government of Virginia, was the Unionist government of Virginia during the American Civil War. From 1861 until mid-1863 it met in Wheeling, and from 26 August 1863 until June 1865 it met in Alexandria...
. The Restored government did little except give its permission for Congress to form the new state of West Virginia in 1862.
At the Richmond secession convention on April 17, 1861, the delegates from western counties were 17 in favor and 30 against secession.
From May to August 1861, a series of Unionist conventions met in
WheelingWheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...
; the Second Wheeling Convention constituted itself as a legislative body called the
Restored Government of VirginiaThe Restored Government of Virginia, or the Reorganized Government of Virginia, was the Unionist government of Virginia during the American Civil War. From 1861 until mid-1863 it met in Wheeling, and from 26 August 1863 until June 1865 it met in Alexandria...
. It declared Virginia was still in the Union but that the state offices were vacant and elected a new governor, Francis H. Pierpont; this body gained formal recognition by the Lincoln administration on July 4. On August 20 the Wheeling body passed an ordinance for the creation; it was put to public vote on Oct. 24. The vote was in favor of a new state—West Virginia—which was distinct from the Pierpont government, which persisted until the end of the war. Congress and Lincoln approved, and, after providing for gradual emancipation of slaves in the new state constitution, West Virginia became the 35th state on June 20, 1863.
During the War, West Virginia contributed about 32,000 soldiers to the Union Army and about 10,000 to the Confederate cause. The government in Richmond did not recognize the new state, and Confederates did not vote there. Everyone realized the decision would be made on the battlefield, and the government in Richmond sent in
Robert E. LeeRobert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
. But Lee found little local support and was defeated by Union forces from Ohio. Union victories in 1861 drove the Confederate forces out of the Monongahela and Kanawha valleys, and throughout the remainder of the war the Union held the region west of the Alleghenies and controlled the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the north. The new state was not subject to Reconstruction.
Later War Years
For the remainder of the war, battles were fought across Virginia, including the
Seven Days BattlesThe Seven Days Battles was a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, away from...
, the
Battle of FredericksburgThe Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside...
, the
Battle of ChancellorsvilleThe Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on...
, the
Battle of Brandy StationThe Battle of Brandy Station, also called the Battle of Fleetwood Hill, was the largest predominantly cavalry engagement of the American Civil War, as well as the largest to take place ever on American soil. It was fought at the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign by the Union cavalry under Maj....
, the
Overland CampaignThe Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the...
and the
Battle of the WildernessThe Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by...
, culminating in the
Siege of PetersburgThe Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...
. In April 1865, Richmond was burned by a retreating Confederate Army and was returned to Union control. The Confederate government fled southwest to
DanvilleDanville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
, with the Army of Northern Virginia following. Days later, the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered at
AppomattoxAppomattox is a town in Appomattox County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,761 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Appomattox County.Appomattox is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
.
Reconstruction
Virginia had been devastated by the war, with the infrastructure (such as railroads) in ruins; many plantations burned out; and large numbers of refugees without jobs, food or supplies beyond rations provided by the Union Army, especially its Freedman's Bureau.
There were three phases in Virginia's Reconstruction era: wartime, presidential, and congressional. Immediately after the war President
Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
recognized the Pierpont government as legitimate; it restored local government; passed Black Codes that gave the Freedman a higher status than slaves but they were not citizens, could not vote, and had only limited rights. It ratified the 13th amendment to abolish slavery (which had already disappeared), and revoked the 1861 ordnance of secession. That was enough for Johnson who said Reconstruction was complete. It was not adequate for the Radical Republicans in Congress who refused to seat the newly elected state delegation; the Radicals wanted proof that slavery was really dead (and not to be revived as some kind of serfdom), and that Virginia had truly renounced Confederate nationalism. After winning large majorities in the 1866 election, the Radical Republicans took full charge. They closed down the state's civilian government and put Virginia (and nine other ex-Confederate states) under military rule. Virginia was administered as the "
First Military DistrictThe First Military District existed in the American South during the Reconstruction era that followed the American Civil War included Virginia. The district was commanded by General John Schofield....
" in 1867-69 under General
John SchofieldJohn McAllister Schofield was an American soldier who held major commands during the American Civil War. He later served as U.S. Secretary of War and Commanding General of the United States Army.-Early life:...
Meanwhile the Freedmen became politically active by forming their own political organizations, holding conventions, and demanding universal male suffrage and equal treatment under the law, as well as demanding disfranchisement of ex-Confederates and the seizure of their plantations.
In 1867 James Hunnicutt (1814–1880), a white editor and
ScalawagIn United States history, scalawag was a derogatory nickname for southern whites who supported Reconstruction following the Civil War.-History:...
(white Virginian) mobilized the black Republican vote with promises of confiscating the large plantations and turning them over to the Freedmen. The moderate Republicans, including led by former Whigs, businessmen and planters, while supportive of black suffrage, drew the line at confiscation. Hunnicutt's coalition took control of the Republican Party, and began to demand the permanent disfranchisement of all whites who had supported the Confederacy. The Virginia Republican party was now permanently split, and many moderates switched to the opposition "Conservatives". The Radicals won the 1867 election for delegates to a constitutional convention.
The 1868 constitutional convention included 33 white Conservatives, and 72 Radicals (of whom 24 were Blacks, 23 Scalawag, and 21 Carpetbaggers Called the "Underwood Constitution" after the presiding officer, the main accomplishment was to reform the tax system, and create, for the first time in Virginia, a system of public schools After furious debates over disfranchising Confederates, the new Constitution made it impossible for an ex-Confederate to hold office, but he could vote.
General Schofield, under pressure from national Republicans to be more moderate, still controlled the state through the Army. He appointed a personal friend,
Henry H. WellsHenry Horatio Wells , was a Union Army general in the American Civil War and a carpetbagger who served as the appointed provisional Governor of Virginia from 1868 to 1869 during Reconstruction. He was defeated for election in 1869.-Early life:Henry Wells was born in Rochester, New York and grew up...
as provisional governor. Wells was a
CarpetbaggerCarpetbaggers was a pejorative term Southerners gave to Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877....
and a former Union general. Using the Freedman's Bureau, to control the black element in the Republican Party, Schofield and Wells fought and defeated Hunnicutt and the Scalawag Republicans and ruined Hunnicutt's newspaper financially by taking away state printing. The national government ordered elections in 1869 that included a vote on the new Underwood constitution, a separate one on its two disfranchisement clauses that would have permanently stripped the vote from most former rebels, and a separate vote for state officials. The Army enrolled the Freedmen (ex-slaves) as voters but would not allow some 20,000 prominent whites to vote or hold office. The Republicans nominated Wells for governor, as Hunnicutt and most Scalawags went over to the opposition.
The leader of the moderate Republicans, calling themselves "True Republicans" was
William MahoneWilliam Mahone was a civil engineer, teacher, soldier, railroad executive, and a member of the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. Congress. Small of stature, he was nicknamed "Little Billy"....
(1826–1895), a railroad president and former Confederate general who formed a coalition of white Scalawag Republicans, some blacks, and the ex-Democrats who formed the Conservative Party. Mahone said it was time for a
New DepartureThe New Departure refers to the political strategy used by the Democratic Party in the United States after 1865 to distance itself from its pro-slavery and Copperhead history in an effort to broaden its political base, and focus on issues where it had more of an advantage, especially economic...
for Virginia: whites had to accept the results of the war, including civil rights and the vote for Freedmen. Mahone convinced the Conservative Party to drop its own candidate and endorse Mahone's candidate for governor Gilbert C. Walker, while Mahone's people would endorse Conservatives for the legislative races. Mahone's plan worked, as the voters in 1869 elected Walker and defeated as well the proposed disfranchisement of ex-Confederates. When the new legislature ratified the 14th and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Congress seated its delegation and Virginia Reconstruction came to an end in January 1870. The Radical Republicans, although in power 1867-69 during Army rule, were thus ousted in a fair, non-violent election. Indeed, Virginia was thus the only southern state not to have a civilian Radical government. Nevertheless white Virginians generally came to share the bitterness so typical of the southern attitudes.
Railroad and industrial growth
In addition to those that were rebuilt, new railroads developed after the Civil War. In 1868, under railroad baron
Collis P. HuntingtonCollis Potter Huntington was one of the Big Four of western railroading who built the Central Pacific Railroad as part of the first U.S. transcontinental railroad...
, the Virginia Central Railroad was merged and transformed into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. In 1870, several railroads were merged to form the
Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio RailroadAtlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad was formed in 1870 in Virginia from 3 east-west railroads which traversed across the southern portion of the state. Organized and led by former Confederate general William Mahone , the 428-mile line linked Norfolk with Bristol, Virginia by way of Suffolk,...
, later renamed Norfolk & Western. In 1880, the towpath of the now-defunct James River & Kanawha canal was transformed into the
Richmond and Allegheny RailroadThe Richmond and Alleghany Railroad was built along the James River along the route of the James River and Kanawha Canal from Richmond on the fall line at the head of navigation to a point west of Lynchburg near Buchanan, Virginia, and combined with the Buchanan and Clifton Forge Railway Company to...
, which within a decade would merge into the Chesapeake & Ohio. Others would include the Southern Railroad, the Seaboard Air Line, and the
Atlantic Coast LineThe Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
; still others would eventually reach into Virginia, including the Baltimore & Ohio and the
Pennsylvania RailroadThe Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
. The rebuilt Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad eventually was linked to Washington, D.C..
In the 1880s, the
Pocahontas CoalfieldPocahontas Coalfield, which is also known as the Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield, is located in Mercer County/McDowell County, West Virginia and Tazewell County, Virginia. The coal seams—Pocahontas No. 3, No. 4, No. 6, and No...
opened up in far southwest Virginia, with others to follow, in turn providing more demand for railroads transportation. In 1909, the
Virginian RailwayThe Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
opened, built for the express purpose of hauling coal from the mountains of West Virginia to the ports at Hampton Roads. The growth of railroads resulted in the creation of new towns and rapid growth of others, including
Clifton ForgeClifton Forge is a town in Alleghany County, Virginia, United States which is part of the Roanoke Region. The population was 3,884 at the 2010 census. The Jackson River flows through the town, which as a result was once known as Jackson's River Station....
,
RoanokeRoanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
,
CreweCrewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
and
VictoriaVictoria is an incorporated town in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,821 at the 2000 census.- History :Lunenburg County in the Southside region was established on May 1, 1746 in Great Britain's Virginia Colony from Brunswick County...
. The railroad boom was not without incident: the
Wreck of the Old 97Old 97 was a Southern Railway train officially known as the Fast Mail. It ran from Washington DC to Atlanta, Georgia. On September 27, 1903 while en route from Monroe, Virginia, to Spencer, North Carolina, the train derailed at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia...
occurred en route from Danville to North Carolina in 1903, later immortalized by a popular ballad.
With the invention of the
cigaretteA cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
rolling machine, and the great increase in smoking in the early twentieth century, cigarettes and other tobacco products became a major industry in Richmond and Petersburg. Tobacco magnates such as
Lewis GinterMajor Lewis Ginter was a prominent businessman, army officer, and philanthropist in Richmond, VirginiaOf Dutch ancestry, he was born Lewis Guenther in New York City, New York, and moved to Richmond, Virginia, in 1842. Ginter had a number of careers, arguably making and losing a fortune three times...
funded a number of public institutions.
Readjustment, public education, segregation
A division among Virginia politicians occurred in the 1870s, when those who supported a reduction of Virginia's pre-war debt ("Readjusters") opposed those who felt Virginia should repay its entire debt plus interest ("Funders"). Virginia's pre-war debt was primarily for infrastructure improvements overseen by the
Virginia Board of Public WorksThe Virginia Board of Public Works was a governmental agency which oversaw and helped finance the development of Virginia's internal transportation improvements during the 19th century. In that era, it was customary to invest public funds in private companies, which were the forerunners of the...
, much of which were destroyed during the war or in the new State of West Virginia.
After his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1877, former confederate General and railroad executive
William MahoneWilliam Mahone was a civil engineer, teacher, soldier, railroad executive, and a member of the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. Congress. Small of stature, he was nicknamed "Little Billy"....
became the leader of the "Readjusters", forming a coalition of conservative Democrats and white and black Republicans. The so-called Readjusters aspired "to break the power of wealth and established privilege" and to promote public education. The party promised to "readjust" the state debt in order to protect funding for newly-established public education, and allocate a fair share to the new State of West Virginia. Its proposal to repeal the
poll taxA poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
and increase funding for schools and other public facilities attracted biracial and cross-party support.
The Readjuster Party was successful in electing its candidate,
William E. Cameron as governor, and he served from 1882 to 1886. Mahone served as a Senator in the U.S. Congress from 1881 to 1887, as well as fellow Readjustor
Harrison H. RiddlebergerHarrison Holt Riddleberger was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, and politician from Woodstock, Virginia. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates and State Senate, and was U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1883 to 1889....
, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1883 to 1889. Readjusters' effective control of Virginia politics lasted until 1883, when they lost majority control in the state legislature, followed by the election of Democrat
Fitzhugh LeeFitzhugh Lee , nephew of Robert E. Lee, was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish-American War.-Early life:...
as governor in 1885. The Virginia legislature replaced both Mahone and Riddleberger in the U.S. Senate with Democrats.
In 1888 the exception to Readjustor and Democratic control was
John Mercer LangstonJohn Mercer Langston was an American abolitionist, attorney, educator, and political activist. He was the first dean of the law school at Howard University and helped create the department. He was the first president of what is now Virginia State University. In 1888 he was the first African...
, who was elected to Congress from the Petersburg area on the Republican ticket. He was the first black elected to Congress from the state, and the last for nearly a century. He served one term. A talented and vigorous politician, he was an
Oberlin CollegeOberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
graduate. He had long been active in the abolitionist cause in Ohio before the Civil War, had been president of the
National Equal Rights LeagueThe National Equal Rights League is the oldest nationwide human rights organization dedicated to the liberation of black people in the United States...
from 1864 to 1868, and had headed and created the law department at
Howard UniversityHoward University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
, and acted as president of the college. When elected, he was president of what became
Virginia State UniversityVirginia State University is a historically black and land-grant university located north of the Appomattox River in Chesterfield, in the Richmond area. Founded on , Virginia State was the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of higher learning for black Americans...
.
While the Readjustor Party faded, the goal of public education remained strong, with institutions established for the education of schoolteachers. In 1884, the state acquired a bankrupt
women's college at FarmvilleLongwood University is a four-year public, liberal-arts university located in Farmville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 and became a university on July 1, 2002...
and opened it as a
normal schoolA normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
. Growth of public education led to the need for additional teachers. In 1908, two additional normal schools were established,
one at FredericksburgThe University of Mary Washington is a public, coeducational liberal arts college located in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA. Founded in 1908 by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a normal school, during much of the twentieth century it was part of the University of Virginia, until...
and
one at HarrisonburgJames Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...
, and in 1910,
one at RadfordRadford University is one of Virginia's eight doctoral-degree granting public universities. Originally founded in 1910, Radford offers comprehensive curricula for undergraduates in more than 100 fields, and graduate programs including the M.F.A., M.B.A...
.
After the Readjuster Party disappeared, Virginia Democrats rapidly passed legislation and constitutional amendments that effectively disfranchised African Americans and many poor whites, through the use of poll taxes and
literacy testA literacy test, in the context of United States political history, refers to the government practice of testing the literacy of potential citizens at the federal level, and potential voters at the state level. The federal government first employed literacy tests as part of the immigration process...
s. They created white, one-party rule under the Democratic Party for the next 80 years. White state legislators passed statutes that restored
white supremacyWhite supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
through imposition of Jim Crow segregation. In 1902 Virginia passed a new constitution that reduced voter registration.
Progressive Era
The
Progressive EraThe Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
after 1900 brought numerous reforms, designed to modernize the state, increase efficiency, apply scientific methods, promote education and eliminate waste and corruption.
A key leader was Governor Claude Swanson (1906–10), a Democrat who left machine politics behind to win office using the new primary law. Swanson's coalition of reformers in the legislature, built schools and highways, raised teacher salaries and standards, promoted the state's public health programs, and increased funding for prisons. Swanson fought against child labor, lowered railroad rates and raised corporate taxes, while systematizing state services and introducing modern management techniques. The state funded a growing network of roads, with much of the work done by black convicts in chain gangs. After Swanson moved to the U.S. Senate in 1910 he promoted Progressivism at the national level as a supporter of President
Woodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, who had been born in Virginia and was considered a native son. Swanson, as a power on naval affairs, promoted the Norfolk Navy Yard and Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Corporation. Swanson's statewide organization evolved in to the "Byrd Organization."
The
State Corporation CommissionThe State Corporation Commission, or SCC, is a Virginia regulatory agency whose authority encompasses utilities, insurance, state-chartered financial institutions, securities, retail franchising, and railroads...
(SCC) was formed as part of the 1902 Constitution, over the opposition of the railroads, to regulate railroad policies and rates. The SCC was independent of parties, courts, and big businesses, and was designed to maximize the public interest. It became an effective agency, which especially pleased local merchants by keeping rates low.
Virginia has a long history of agricultural reformers, and the Progressive Era stimulated their efforts. Rural areas suffered persistent problems, such as declining populations, widespread illiteracy, poor farming techniques, and debilitating diseases among both farm animals and farm families. Reformers emphasized the need to upgrade the quality of elementary education. With federal help, in they set up a county agent system (today the
Virginia Cooperative ExtensionVirginia Cooperative Extension provides resources and educational outreach to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s more than seven million residents in the areas of agriculture and natural resources, family and consumer sciences, community viability, and 4-H youth development...
) that taught farmers the latest scientific methods for dealing with tobacco and other crops, and farm house wives how to maximize their efficiency in the kitchen and nursery.
Some upper-class women, typified by Lila Meade Valentine of Richmond, promoted numerous Progressive reforms, including kindergartens, teacher education, visiting nurses programs, and vocational education for both races. Middle-class white women were especially active in the Prohibition movement. The woman suffrage movement became entangled in racial issues—whites were reluctant to allow black women the vote—and was unable to broaden its base beyond middle-class whites. Virginia women got the vote in 1920, the result of a national constitutional amendment.
In higher education, the key leader was Edwin A. Alderman, president of the
University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, 1904-31. His goal was the transformation of the southern university into a force for state service and intellectual leadership. and educational utility. Alderman successfully professionalized and modernized the state's system of higher education. He promoted international standards of scholarship, and a statewide network of extension services. Joined by other college presidents, he promoted the Virginia Education Commission, created in 1910. Alderman's crusade encountered some resistance from traditionalists, and never challenged the Jim Crow system of segregated schooling.
While the progressives were modernizers, there was also a surge of interest in Virginia traditions and heritage, especially among the aristocratic
First Families of VirginiaFirst Families of Virginia were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They originated with colonists from England who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and along the James River and other navigable waters...
(FFV). The
Association for the Preservation of Virginia AntiquitiesFounded in 1889, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group. In 2003 the organization adopted the new name APVA Preservation Virginia to reflect a broader focus on statewide Preservation and in 2009 it shortened...
(APVA), founded in Williamsburg in 1889, emphasized patriotism in the name of Virginia's 18th-century Founding Fathers. In 1907, the
Jamestown ExpositionThe Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century...
was held near Norfolk to celebrate the tricentennial of the arrival of the first English colonists and the founding of Jamestown.
Attended by numerous federal dignitaries, and serving as the launch point for the
Great White FleetThe Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with...
, the Jamestown Exposition also spurred interest in the military potential of the area. The site of the exposition would later become, in 1917, the location of the Norfolk Naval Station. The proximity to Washington, D.C., the moderate climate, and strategic location of a large harbor at the center of the Atlantic seaboard made Virginia a key location during World War I for new military installations. These included
Fort StoryFormerly a sub-installation of Fort Eustis, Fort Story is a sub-installation of the United States Navy and Little Creek Amphibious Base...
, the
Army Signal CorpsThe Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the military aviation service of the United States Army from 1914 to 1918, and a direct ancestor of the United States Air Force. It replaced and absorbed the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, and was succeeded briefly by the Division of Military...
station at Langley, Quantico Marine Base in Prince William County,
Fort BelvoirFort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Originally, it was the site of the Belvoir plantation. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations...
in Fairfax County, Fort Lee near Petersburg and Fort Eustis, in Warwick County (now Newport News). At the same time, heavy shipping traffic made the area a target for
U-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s, and a number of merchant vessels were attacked or sunk off the Virginia coast.
Interwar
Temperance became an issue in the early 20th century. In 1916, a statewide referendum passed to outlaw the consumption of alcohol. This was overturned in 1933.
After 1930, tourism began to grow with the development of
Colonial WilliamsburgColonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
.
Shenandoah National ParkShenandoah National Park encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the U.S. state of Virginia. This national park is long and narrow, with the broad Shenandoah River and valley on the west side, and the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont on the east...
was constructed from newly gathered land, as well as the
Blue Ridge ParkwayThe Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles , mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains...
and
Skyline DriveSkyline Drive is a 105-mile road that runs the entire length of the National Park Service's Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, generally along the ridge of the mountains. The scenic drive is particularly popular in the fall when the leaves are changing colors...
. The
Civilian Conservation CorpsThe Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
played a major role in developing that National Park, as well as
Pocahontas State ParkPocahontas State Park is a state park located in Chesterfield, Virginia, USA, not far from the state capitol of Richmond. The park was laid out by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and at was, at its creation, Virginia's largest state park....
. By 1940 new highway bridges crossed the lower Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James Rivers, bringing to an end the long-distance
steamboatA steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
service which had long served as primary transportation throughout the Chesapeake Bay area. Ferryboats remain today in only a few places.
Byrd machine
Blacks comprised a third of the population but lost nearly all their political power. The electorate was so small that from 1905 to 1948 government employees and officeholders cast a third of the votes in state elections. This small, controllable electorate facilitated the formation of a powerful statewide political machine by
Harry ByrdHarry Flood Byrd, Sr. of Berryville in Clarke County, Virginia, was an American newspaper publisher, farmer and politician. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia...
(1887–1966), which dominated from the 1920s to the 1960s. Most of the blacks who remained politically active supported the Byrd organization, which in turn protected their right to vote, making Virginia's race relations the most harmonious in the South before the 1950s, according to V.O. Key. Not until Federal civil rights legislation was passed in 1964 and 1965 did African Americans recover the power to vote and the protection of other basic constitutional
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
.
WWII and Modern era
The economic stimulus of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
brought full employment for workers, high wages, and high profits for farmers. It brought in many thousands of soldiers and sailors for training. Virginia sent 300,000 men and 4,000 women to the services. The buildup for the war greatly increased the state's naval and industrial economic base, as did the growth of federal government jobs in Northern Virginia and adjacent Washington, DC.
The PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
was built in Arlington as the largest office building in the world. Additional installations were added: in 1941,
Fort A.P. HillFort A.P. Hill, Virginia, is an active duty installation of the United States Army, located near the town of Bowling Green, Virginia.Named for Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill, Fort A.P...
and
Fort PickettFort Pickett, Virginia, is a Virginia Army National Guard installation, located near the town of Blackstone, Virginia. It is named for the United States Army officer and Confederate General George Pickett.- Beginnings :...
opened, and Fort Lee was reactivated. The Newport News shipyard expanded its labor force from 17,000 to 70,000 in 1943, while the Radford Arsenal had 22,000 workers making explosives. Turnoverr was very high—in one three month period the Newport News shipyard hired 8400 new workers as 8,300 others quit.
Cold War and Space Age
In addition to general postwar growth, the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
resulted in further growth in both Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. With the Pentagon already established in Arlington, the newly formed
Central Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
located its headquarters further afield at
LangleyLangley is an unincorporated community in the census-designated place of McLean in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.The community was essentially absorbed into McLean many years ago, although there is still a Langley High School...
(unrelated to the Air Force Base). In the early 1960s, the new Dulles International Airport was built, straddling the Fairfax County-Loudoun County border. Other sites in Northern Virginia included the listening station at
Vint HillVint Hill Farms Station was a United States Army facility located in Fauquier County, Virginia. It was used primarily mainly for eavesdropping on military and diplomatic communications from European and Soviet nations, also domestic signals of anti-war/anti-government activists broadcasting...
. Due to the presence of the
U.S. Atlantic FleetThe United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...
in Norfolk, in 1952 the
Allied Command AtlanticThe Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic was one of two supreme commanders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation , the other being the Supreme Allied Commander Europe . The SACLANT led Allied Command Atlantic, based at Norfolk, Virginia...
of
NATO was headquartered there, where it remained for the duration of the Cold War. Later in the 1950s and across the river, Newport News Shipbuilding would begin construction of the
USS EnterpriseUSS Enterprise , formerly CVA-65, is the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth US naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed the "Big E". At , she is the longest naval vessel in the world...
--the world's first nuclear-powered
aircraft carrierAn aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
-- and the subsequent atomic carrier fleet.
Virginia also witnessed American efforts in the
Space RaceThe Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
. When the
National Advisory Committee for AeronauticsThe National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958 the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and...
was transformed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958, the resulting
Space Task GroupThe Space Task Group was a working group of NASA engineers created in 1958, tasked with superintending America's manned spaceflight programs. It was headed by Robert Gilruth andbased at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. After President John F...
headquartered at the laboratories of
Langley Research CenterLangley Research Center is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base...
. From there, it would initiate
Project MercuryIn January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
, and would remain the headquarters of the U.S. manned spaceflight program until its
transfer to HoustonThe Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for human spaceflight training, research and flight control. The center consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres in Houston, Texas, USA...
in 1962. On the Eastern Shore, near Chincoteague,
Wallops Flight FacilityWallops Flight Facility , located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, is operated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, primarily as a rocket launch site to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other U.S. government agencies...
served as a rocket launch site, including the launch of
Little Joe 2The Little Joe 2 was a test of the Mercury space capsule. It was the first American animal spaceflight, carrying the Rhesus monkey Sam close to the edge of space. He was sent to test the space equipment and the adverse effects of space on humans.The flight was launched December 4, 1959, at 11:15...
on December 4, 1959, which sent a Rhesus monkey, Sam, into suborbital spaceflight. Langley later oversaw the
Viking programThe Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts, an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface...
to Mars.
The new U.S. Interstate highway system begun in the 1950s and the new
Hampton Roads Bridge-TunnelThe Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel is the -long Hampton Roads crossing for Interstate 64 and U.S. Route 60. It is a four-lane facility comprising bridges, trestles, man-made islands, and tunnels under the main shipping channels for Hampton Roads harbor in the southeastern portion of Virginia in the...
in 1958 helped transform
Virginia BeachVirginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
from a tiny resort town into one of the state's largest cities by 1963, and spurring the growth of the
Hampton RoadsHampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
region linked by the
Hampton Roads BeltwayThe Hampton Roads Beltway is a loop of Interstate 64 and Interstate 664, which links the communities of the Virginia Peninsula and South Hampton Roads which surround the body of water known as Hampton Roads and comprise much of the region of the same name in the southeastern portion of Virginia in...
. In the western portion of the state, completion of north-south
Interstate 81Interstate 81 is an long highway. In the U.S. state of Virginia, I-81 runs for , making it longer in Virginia than in any other state. It stretches from the Tennessee state line near Bristol to the West Virginia state line near Winchester. U.S...
brought better access and new businesses to dozens of counties over a distance of 300 miles (482.8 km) as well as facilitating travel by students at the many Shenandoah area colleges and universities. The creation of
Smith Mountain LakeSmith Mountain Lake is a large reservoir in the Roanoke Region of Virginia, located southeast of the City of Roanoke and southwest of Lynchburg. The lake was created in 1963 by the Smith Mountain Dam impounding the Roanoke River. The majority of the south shore of the lake lies in Franklin County...
,
Lake AnnaLake Anna is one of the largest freshwater inland lakes in Virginia, covering an area of 13,000 acres , and located 72 miles south of Washington, D.C. in Louisa and Spotsylvania counties...
,
Claytor LakeClaytor Lake in Pulaski County, Virginia, is a 4,500 acre , 21 mile long reservoir on the New River created for a hydroelectric project of Appalachian Power Company. It is named for W...
,
Lake GastonLake Gaston is a hydroelectric reservoir in east United States of America. Part of the lake is in the North Carolina counties of Halifax, Northampton, and Warren. The part extending into Virginia lies in Brunswick and Mecklenburg counties...
, and Buggs Island Lake, by damming rivers, attracted many retirees and vacationers to those rural areas. As the century drew to a close, Virginia tobacco growing gradually declined due to health concerns, although not at steeply as in
Southern MarylandSouthern Maryland in popular usage is composed of the state's southernmost counties on the "Western Shore" of the Chesapeake Bay. This region includes all of Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties and sometimes the southern portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties.- History...
. A state
community collegeA community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
system brought affordable higher education within commuting distance of most Virginians, including those in remote, underserved localities. Other new institutions were founded, most notably
George Mason UniversityGeorge Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
and
Liberty UniversityLiberty University is a private Christian university located in Lynchburg, Virginia. Liberty's annual enrollment is around 72,000 students, 12,000 of whom are residential students and 60,000+ studying through Liberty University Online...
. Localities such as
DanvilleDanville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
and
MartinsvilleMartinsville is an independent city which is surrounded by Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 13,821 in 2010. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Martinsville with Henry County for statistical purposes...
suffered greatly as their manufacturing industries closed.
Massive resistance and Civil Rights
The state government orchestrated systematic resistance to federal court orders requiring the end of segregation. The state legislature even enacted a package of laws, known as the
Stanley planThe Stanley plan was a package of 13 statutes adopted in September 1956 by the U.S. state of Virginia designed to ensure racial segregation in that state's public schools despite the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 347 U.S. 483 ....
, to try to evade racial integration in public schools. Prince Edward County even closed all its public schools in an attempt to avoid racial integration, but relented in the face of U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The first black students attended the
University of Virginia School of LawThe University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The law school maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students in its initial degree program...
in 1950, and Virginia Tech in 1953. In 2008, various actions of the Civil Rights Movement were commemorated by the
Virginia Civil Rights MemorialThe Virginia Civil Rights Memorial is a monument in Richmond, Virginia commemorating protests which helped bring about school desegregation in the state. The memorial was opened in July 2008, and is located on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol...
in Richmond.
Postmodern commonwealth
By the 1980s,
Northern VirginiaNorthern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
and the
Hampton RoadsHampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
region had achieved the greatest growth and prosperity, chiefly because of employment related to Federal government agencies and defense, as well as an increase in technology in Northern Virginia. Shipping through the Port of Hampton Roads began expansion which continued into the early 21st century as new container facilities were opened.
Coal pierA coal pier is a transloading facility designed for the transfer of coal between rail and ship.The typical facility for loading ships consists of a holding area and a system of conveyors for transferring the coal to dockside and loading it into the ship's cargo holds...
s in Newport News and Norfolk had recorded major gains in export shipments by August, 2008. The recent expansion of government programs in the areas near Washington has profoundly affected the economy of
Northern VirginiaNorthern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
whose population has experienced large growth and great ethnic/ cultural diversification, exemplified by communities such as Tysons Corner,
RestonReston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 58,404, at the 2010 Census and 56,407 at the 2000 census...
and dense, urban
ArlingtonArlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal capital district. On February 27, 1801, the United States Congress organized the area as a subdivision of...
. The subsequent growth of defense projects has also generated a local
information technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
industry. In recent years, intolerably heavy commuter traffic and the urgent need for both road and rail transportation improvements have been a major issue in Northern Virginia. The
Hampton RoadsHampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
region has also experienced much growth, as have the western suburbs of
RichmondRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
in both
HenricoHenrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...
and
ChesterfieldChesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
Counties.
On January 13, 1990,
Douglas WilderLawrence Douglas "Doug" Wilder is an American politician, the first African American to be elected as governor of Virginia, and the second to serve as governor of a U.S. state. Wilder served as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. When earlier elected as Lieutenant Governor, he was...
became the first African American to be elected as Governor of a US state since Reconstruction when he was elected Governor of Virginia.
Virginia served as a major center for information technology during the early days of the
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and network communication. Internet and other communications companies clustered in the
Dulles CorridorLocated in Northern Virginia near Washington Dulles International Airport, the Dulles Technology Corridor, dubbed the "Netplex" in 1993 by Fortune magazine, contains the "vital electronic pathways that carry more than half of all traffic on the Internet...
. By 1993, the Washington area had the largest amount of Internet backbone and the highest concentration of Internet service providers. In 2000, more than half of all Internet traffic flowed along the Dulles Toll Road.
Bill von MeisterWilliam F. von Meister was an American entrepreneur who founded and participated in a number of startup ventures in the Washington, D.C., area...
founded two Virginia companies that played major roles in the commercialization of the Internet:
McLean, VirginiaMcLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
based The Source and Control Video Corporation, forerunner of America Online. While short-lived, The Source was one of the first
online service providerAn online service provider can for example be an internet service provider, email provider, news provider , entertainment provider , search, e-shopping site , e-finance or e-banking site, e-health site, e-government site, Wikipedia, Usenet...
s along side
CompuServeCompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
. On hand for the launch of The Source,
Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
remarked "This is the beginning of the information age." The Source helped pave the way for future online service providers including another Virginia company founded by von Meister, America Online (AOL). AOL became the largest provider of Internet access during the Dial-up era of Internet access. AOL maintained a Virginia headquarters until the then-struggling company moved in 2007.
In 2006 former
Governor of VirginiaThe governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
Mark WarnerMark Robert Warner is an American politician and businessman, currently serving in the United States Senate as the junior senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Warner was the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and is the honorary chairman of...
gave a speech and interview in the
massively multiplayer online gameA massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
Second LifeSecond Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
, becoming the first
politicianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
to appear in a video game. In 2007 Virginia speedily passed the nation's first
spaceflightSpaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
act by a vote of 99-0 in the
House of DelegatesThe Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the...
. Northern Virginia company
Space AdventuresSpace Adventures, Ltd. is a Virginia, USA-based space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. , offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights , and other spaceflight-related experiences including cosmonaut training, spacewalk training, and launch tours...
is currently the only company in the world offering
space tourismSpace Tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry...
. In 2008 Virginia became the first state to pass legislation on
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
safety, with mandatory educational courses for 11- to 16-year-olds.
Virginia was targeted in the
September 11, 2001 attacksThe September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, as
American Airlines Flight 77American Airlines Flight 77 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Washington Dulles International Airport, in Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
was hijacked and crashed into
the PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
in
Arlington CountyArlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal capital district. On February 27, 1801, the United States Congress organized the area as a subdivision of...
.
See also
- Colony of Virginia
The Colony of Virginia was the English colony in North America that existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution...
- History of Richmond, Virginia
The history of Richmond, Virginia, as a modern city, dates to the early 17th century, and is crucial to the development of the colony of Virginia, the United States Revolutionary War, and the Civil War...
, the current state capital
- History of the East Coast of the United States
- History of the Southern United States
The history of the Southern United States reaches back hundreds of years and includes the Mississippian people, well known for their mound building. European history in the region began in the very earliest days of the exploration and colonization of North America...
- Lost counties, cities and towns of Virginia
- List of newspapers in Virginia in the 18th-century
Surveys
- Dabney, Virginius. Virginia: The New Dominion (1971)
- Heinemann, Ronald L., John G. Kolp, Anthony S. Parent Jr., and William G. Shade, Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607-2007 (2007). ISBN 978-0-8139-2609-4.
- Rubin, Louis D. Virginia: A Bicentennial History. States and the Nation Series. (1977), popular
- Salmon, Emily J., and Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr., eds. The Hornbook of Virginia history: A Ready-Reference Guide to the Old Dominion's People, Places, and Past 4th edition. (1994)
- Wallenstein, Peter. Cradle of America: Four Centuries of Virginia History (2007). ISBN 978-0-7006-1507-0.
- WPA. Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion (1940) famous guide to every locality; strong on society, economy and culture online edition
- Younger, Edward, and James Tice Moore, eds. The Governors of Virginia, 1860–1978 (1982)
Historiography
- Tarter, Brent, "Making History in Virginia," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Volume: 115. Issue: 1. 2007. pp 3+. online edition
Colonial
- Ambler, Charles H. Sectionalism in Virginia from 1776 to 1861 (1910) full text online
- Billings, Warren M., John E. Selby, and Thad W, Tate. Colonial Virginia: A History (1986)
- Bond, Edward L. Damned Souls in the Tobacco Colony: Religion in Seventeenth-Century Virginia (2000),
- Breen T. H. Puritans and Adventurers: Change and Persistence in Early America (1980). 4 chapters on colonial social history online edition
- Breen, T. H. Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution (1985)
- Breen, T. H., and Stephen D. Innes. "Myne Owne Ground": Race and Freedom on Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676 (1980)
- Brown, Kathleen M. Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia (1996) excerpt and text search
- Byrd, William. The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1709-1712 (1941) ed by Louis B. Wright and Marion Tinling online edition; famous primary source; very candid about his priivate life
- Bruce, Philip Alexander. Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century: An Inquiry into the Religious, Moral, Educational, Legal, Military, and Political Condition of the People, Based on Original and Contemporaneous Records (1910) online edition
- Freeman, Douglas Southall; George Washington: A Biography Volume: 1-7. (1948). Pulitzer Prize. vol 1 online
- Gleach; Frederic W. Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia: A Conflict of Cultures (1997).
- Isaac, Rhys. Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom: Revolution and Rebellion on a Virginia Plantation (2004)]
- Isaac, Rhys. The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 (1982, 1999)] Pulitzer Prize winner, dealing with religion and morality online review
- Kolp, John Gilman. Gentlemen and Freeholders: Electoral Politics in Colonial Virginia (Johns Hopkins U.P. 1998)
- Menard, Russell R. "The Tobacco Industry in the Chesapeake Colonies, 1617-1730: An Interpretation." Research In Economic History 1980 5: 109-177. 0363-3268 the standard scholarly study
- Morgan, Edmund S. Virginians at Home: Family Life in the Eighteenth Century (1952). online edition
- Morgan, Edmund S. "Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox." Journal of American History 1972 59(1): 5-29 in JSTOR
- Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (1975) online edition highly influential study
- Nelson, John A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776 (2001)
- Rasmussen, William M.S. and Robert S. Tilton. Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal (2003)]
- Roeber, A. G. Faithful Magistrates and Republican Lawyers: Creators of Virginia Legal Culture, 1680-1810 (1981)
- Rutman, Darrett B., and Anita H. Rutman. A Place in Time: Middlesex County, Virginia, 1650-1750 (1984), new social history
- Wertenbaker, Thomas J. The Shaping of Colonial Virginia, comprising Patrician and Plebeian in Virginia (1910) full text online; Virginia under the Stuarts (1914) full text online; and The Planters of Colonial Virginia (1922) full text online; well written but outdated
- Wright, Louis B. The First Gentlemen of Virginia: Intellectual Qualities of the Early Colonial Ruling Class (1964)
1776 to 1850
- Adams, Sean Patrick. Old Dominion, Industrial Commonwealth: Coal, Politics, and Economy in Antebellum America (2004)
- Ambler, Charles H. Sectionalism in Virginia from 1776 to 1861 (1910) full text online
- Beeman, Richard R. The Old Dominion and the New Nation, 1788-1801 (1972)
- Dill, Alonzo Thomas. "Sectional Conflict in Colonial Virginia," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 87 (1979): 300-315.
- Lebsock, Suzanne D. A Share of Honor: Virginia Women, 1600-1945 (1984)
- Link, William A. Roots of Secession: Slavery and Politics in Antebellum Virginia (2007) excerpt and text search
- Majewski, John D. A House Dividing: Economic Development in Pennsylvania and Virginia Before the Civil War (2006) excerpt and text search
- Risjord, Norman K. Chesapeake Politics, 1781-1800 (1978). in-depth coverage of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina online edition
- Selby, John E. The Revolution in Virginia, 1775-1783 (1988)
- Shade, William G. Democratizing the Old Dominion: Virginia and the Second Party System 1824-1861 (1996)
- Tillson, Jr. Albert H. Gentry and Common Folk: Political Culture on a Virginia Frontier, 1740-1789 (1991),
- Varon; Elizabeth R. We Mean to Be Counted: White Women and Politics in Antebellum Virginia (1998)
- Virginia State Dept. of Education. The Road to Independence: Virginia 1763-1783 online edition; 80pp; with student projects
1850-1870
- Blair, William. Virginia's Private War: Feeding Body and Soul in the Confederacy, 1861-1865 (1998) online edition
- Crofts, Daniel W. Reluctant Confederates: Upper South Unionists in the Secession Crisis (1989)
- Eckenrode, Hamilton James. The political history of Virginia during the Reconstruction, (1904) online edition
- Kerr-Ritchie, Jeffrey R. Freedpeople in the Tobacco South: Virginia, 1860-1900 (1999)
- Lankford, Nelson. Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital (2002)
- Lebsock, Suzanne D. "A Share of Honor": Virginia Women, 1600-1945 (1984)
- Lowe, Richard. Republicans and Reconstruction in Virginia, 1856-70 (1991)
- Maddex, Jr., Jack P. The Virginia Conservatives, 1867-1879: A Study in Reconstruction Politics (1970).
- Majewski, John. A House Dividing: Economic Development in Pennsylvania and Virginia before the Civil War (2000)
- Noe, Kenneth W. Southwest Virginia's Railroad: Modernization and the Sectional Crisis (1994)
- Robertson, James I. Civil War Virginia: Battleground for a Nation (1993) 197 pages; excerpt and text search
- Shanks, Henry T. The Secession Movement in Virginia, 1847-1861 (1934) online edition
- Sheehan-Dean, Aaron Charles. Why Confederates fought: family and nation in Civil War Virginia (2007) 291 pages excerpt and text search
- Simpson, Craig M. A Good Southerner: The Life of Henry A. Wise of Virginia (1985), wide-ranging political history
- Wallenstein, Peter, and Bertram Wyatt-Brown, eds. Virginia's Civil War (2008) excerpt and text search
- Wills, Brian Steel. The war hits home: the Civil War in southeastern Virginia (2001) 345 pages; excerpt and text search
Since 1870
- Brundage, W. Fitzhugh. Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880–1930 (1993)
- Buni, Andrew. The Negro in Virginia Politics, 1902–1965 (1967)
- Crofts, Daniel W. Reluctant Confederates: Upper South Unionists in the Secession Crisis (1989)]
- Ferrell, Henry C., Jr. Claude A. Swanson of Virginia: A Political Biography (1985) early 20th century
- Gilliam, George H. "Making Virginia Progressive: Courts and Parties, Railroads and Regulators, 1890–1910." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 107 (Spring 1999): 189–222.
- Heinemann, Ronald L. Depression and the New Deal in Virginia: The Enduring Dominion (1983)
- Heinemann, Ronald L. Harry Byrd of Virginia (1996)
- Heinemann, Ronald L. "Virginia in the Twentieth Century: Recent Interpretations." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 94 (April 1986): 131–60.
- Johnson, Charles. "V for Virginia: The Commonwealth Goes to War," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 100 (1992): 365–398 in JSTOR
- Kerr-Ritchie, Jeffrey R. Freedpeople in the Tobacco South: Virginia, 1860-1900 (1999)
- Key, V. O., Jr. Southern Politics in State and Nation (1949), important chapter on Virginia in 1940s
- Lassiter, Matthew D., and Andrew B. Lewis, eds. The Moderates’ Dilemma: Massive Resistance to School Desegregation in Virginia (1998)
- Lebsock, Suzanne D. "A Share of Honor": Virginia Women, 1600-1945 (1984)
- Link, William A. A Hard Country and a Lonely Place: Schooling, Society, and Reform in Rural Virginia, 1870-1920 (1986)
- Martin-Perdue, Nancy J., and Charles L. Perdue Jr., eds. Talk about Trouble: A New Deal Portrait of Virginians in the Great Depression (1996)
- Moger, Allen W. Virginia: Bourbonism to Byrd, 1870-1925 (1968)
- Muse, Benjamin. Virginia's Massive Resistance (1961)
- Pulley, Raymond H. Old Virginia Restored: An Interpretation of the Progressive Impulse, 1870-1930 (1968)
- Shiftlett, Crandall. Patronage and Poverty in the Tobacco South: Louisa County, Virginia, 1860-1900 (1982), new social history
- Smith, J. Douglas. Managing White Supremacy: Race, Politics, and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virginia (2002)
- Sweeney, James R. "Rum, Romanism, and Virginia Democrats: The Party Leaders and the Campaign of 1928" Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 90 (October 1982): 403–31.
- Wilkinson, J. Harvie, III. Harry Byrd and the Changing Face of Virginia Politics, 1945–1966 (1968)
- Wynes, Charles E. Race Relations in Virginia, 1870-1902 (1961)
Environment, geography, locales
- Adams, Stephen. The Best and Worst Country in the World: Perspectives on the Early Virginia Landscape (2002) excerpt and text search
- Gottmann, Jean. Virginia at mid-century (1955), by a leading geographer
- Gottmann, Jean. Virginia in Our Century (1969)
- Kirby, Jack Temple. "Virginia'S Environmental History: A Prospectus," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 1991, Vol. 99 Issue 4, pp 449–488
- *Parramore, Thomas C., with Peter C. Stewart and Tommy L. Bogger. Norfolk: The First Four Centuries (1994)
- Terwilliger, Karen. Virginia's Endangered Species (2001), esp. ch 1
- Sawyer, Roy T. America's Wetland: An Environmental and Cultural History of Tidewater Virginia and North Carolina (University of Virginia Press; 2010) 248 pages; traces the human impact on the ecosystem of the Tidewater region.
Primary sources
External links