VIRGINIA, one of the more N. of the S.E.
Atlantic states
of
the
United States of
America, lying between latitudes 36° 30' and
39° 30' N., and
longitude 75° 15' and 83° 40' W. It is
bounded on the N.W. by
Kentucky and
West Virginia, the irregular boundary
line following mountain ridges for a part of its course; on the
N.E. by
Maryland, from
which it is separated by the Potomac river; on the S. by
North Carolina
and
Tennessee, the
boundary line being nominally a parallel of
latitude, but actually a more irregular line.
Virginia has an area of 42,627 sq. m., of which 2365 sq. m. are
water surface, including land-locked bays and harbours, rivers and
Lake Drummond. The state has a length of about 440 m. E. and W.,
measured along its S. boundary; and an extreme breadth N. and S. of
about 200 m.
Physical Features
Virginia is crossed from N. to S. or N.E. to S.W. by four
distinct physiographic provinces. The easternmost is the Coastal
Plain Province, and forms a part of the great Coastal Plain
bordering the S.E. United States from
New York Harbour to the
Rio Grande. This province occupies about
11,000 sq. m. of the state, and is known as "Tidewater Virginia."
After the plain had been raised above sea-level to a higher
elevation than it now occupies, it was much dissected by streams
and then depressed, allowing the sea to invade the stream valleys.
Such is the origin of the branching bays or "drowned river
valleys," among which may be noted the lower Potomac, Rappahannock,
York and James rivers. Chesapeake
Bay itself is the drowned lower course of the Susquehanna river, to
which the other streams mentioned were 1 The mechanism is described
under
Pianoforte and
Spinet.
tributary previous to the depression which transformed them into
bays. The land between the drowned valleys is relatively flat, and
varies in height from sea-level on the E. to 150-300 ft. on the W.
border. Passing westward across the "
fall-line," the next province is the
Piedmont, a part of the
extensive Piedmont
Belt reaching
from
Pennsylvania
to
Alabama. This is the most
extensive of the subdivisions of Virginia, comprising 18,000 sq. m.
of its area, and varying in elevation from 150-300 ft. on the E. to
700-1200 ft. along the foot of the Blue Ridge at the W. The sloping
surface is gently rolling, and has resulted from the uplift and
dissection of a nearly
level plain of erosion developed on folded, crystalline rocks.
Occasional hard rock ridges rise to a moderate elevation above the
general level, while areas of unusually weak
Triassic
sandstones have been worn down to form lowlands. W. of the
Piedmont, and like it consisting of crystalline rocks, is the Blue
Ridge, a mountain belt from 3 to 20 M. in breadth, narrowing toward
the N., where it passes into Maryland, and broadening southward
toward its great expansion in W. North Carolina and E. Tennessee,
where it is transformed into massive mountain groups. In elevation
the Blue Ridge of Virginia varies from 1460 ft. at
Harper's Ferry,
where the Potomac river breaks through it in a splendid
water-gap, to 5719 ft. in Mt.
Rogers, Grayson county. About 2500 sq. m. of the state are
comprised in this province.
W. of the Blue Ridge is the Newer Appalachian or Great Valley
Province, characterized by parallel ridges and valleys developed by
erosion on folded beds of
sandstone,
limestone and shales, and comprising an area
of about 10,400 sq. m. in Virginia. The belts of non-resistant rock
have been worn away, leaving longitudinal valleys separated by hard
rock ridges. A portion of this province in which weak rocks
predominate gives an unusually broad valley region, known as the
Valley of Virginia, drained by the
Shenandoah river, and the headwaters of the
James,
Roanoke, New, and
Holston rivers, which dissect the broad valley floor into gently
rolling low hills. At the N., near the mouth of the Shenandoah, the
valley is about 250 ft. above sea-level, but rises south-westward
to an elevation of more than 1600 ft. at the S. boundary of the
state.
The rivers of the state flow in general from N.W. to S.E.,
across the Blue Ridge, the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain,
following courses which were established before erosion had
produced much of the present
topography. But in the Newer Appalachians
the streams more often follow the trend of the structure until they
empty into one of the larger, transverse streams. Thus the
Shenandoah flows N.E. to the Potomac, the Holston S.W. toward the
Tennessee. A part of this same province, in the S.W. part of the
state, is drained by the New river, which flows N.W. across the
ridges to the Kanawha and
Ohio rivers in the Appalachian
Plateau. In the limestone regions caverns and natural
bridges occur, among which
Luray Cavern and the
Natural Bridge
are well known. The drowned lower courses of the S.E. flowing
streams are navigable, and afford many excellent harbours.
Chesapeake Bay covers much land that might otherwise be
agriculturally valuable, but repays this loss, in part at least, by
its excellent
fisheries,
including those for oysters. In the S.E., where the low, flat
Coastal Plain is poorly drained, is the Great
Dismal Swamp, a fresh-water
marsh covering 700 sq. m., in the midst of which
is Lake Drummond, 2 m. or more in diameter. Along the shores of
Chesapeake Bay and the
Atlantic Ocean are low, sandy beaches,
often enclosing lagoons or
salt
marshes.
Till about the middle of the 18th century the bison and the
elk roamed the W. part of the state.
The Virginia
deer is common in the
bottomlands; a few
beaver still frequent the
remoter streams; in the higher portions are still a few black bears
and pumas, besides the
lynx, the
Virginia varying
hare, the
woodchuck, the red and the
fox squirrel and flying squirrels. The grey
squirrel is plentiful in wooded districts. On the Coastal Plain are
the
musk-rat, the eastern
cotton-tail, chipmunk, grey
fox, common
mole and Virginia
opossum. In colonial times the
Atlantic right-
whale was killed
in some numbers off the coast.
Many species of water and shore birds migrate along the coast,
where also others breed, as the royal, common and least terns and
black
skimmer; practically
all the ducks are migrant species, though the wood-
duck breeds.
Swan, geese and brant winter on the coast. The
yellow-crowned night-
heron and
the little blue heron
nest rarely.
The
turkey-
buzzard and the barn-
owl are resident. Red-headed and red-bellied
woodpeckers,
orchard
orioles, yellowwinged sparrows, the
cardinal, the blue
grosbeak, the Carolina
wren and the
mocking-bird are characteristic of the
lower elevations. The ruffed
grouse and wild turkey are found in the wooded
mountainous districts, while the
quail (here called "partridge") is a game
bird of the open stubble fields.
Of
reptiles, the
rattlesnake and
copperhead are the only poisonous species, but numerous harmless
varieties are common. In the salt marshes of the coast occurs the
diamond-backed terrapin.
Trout
abound in
the
mountain streams, and black
bass in the rivers of the
interior. The
cat-fish
grows to a large size in the sluggish rivers. On the coast, the
striped bass, sea-bass,
drum,
sheepshead, weakfish,
bluefish and Spanish
mackerel are important as food fishes. There
are valuable
oyster fisheries
in Chesapeake Bay.
The Coastal Plain of Virginia is covered with
pine forests which merge westward with the hard
woods of the Piedmont Belt, where oaks formerly prevailed, but
where a second growth of pine now constitutes part of the forest.
Even on the Coastal Plain the
Jersey and oldfield pines of
to-day replace more valuable species of the original growth. The
Blue Ridge and Newer Appalachian regions are covered with pine,
hemlock, white
oak,
cherry
and yellow
poplar; while that
portion of these provinces lying in the S.W. part of the state
still contains valuable forests of
hickory and
walnut, besides oak and cherry. On the Coastal
Plain the
cypress grows in
the Dismal Swamp, river
birch
along the streams, and sweet
gum and
black gum in swampy woods. Other characteristic plants of the
Coastal Plain are the
cranberry, wild
rice, wild
yam,
wax myrtle, wistaria,
trumpet flower, passion flower,
holly and white
alder. Many of these species spread into the
Piedmont Belt.
Rhododendron, mountain
laurel and azaleas are common in the mountains.
The
blackberry, black
raspberry,
huckleberry, blueberry,
wild
ginger and
ginseng are widely
distributed.
Climate
The climate of Virginia is generally free from extremes of heat
and cold. In the Coastal Plain region the temperature is quite
stable from day to day, as a
result of the equalizing effect of the numerous bays which indent
this province. The mean winter temperature is 39.8°, the mean
summer temperature 77.2', with a mean annual of 58.6°. Killing
frosts do not occur before the middle of October, nor later than
the last part of April. In the Piedmont Province temperature
conditions are naturally less stable, owing to the distance from
the sea and to the greater inequality of surface topography. In
autumn and winter sudden temperature changes are experienced,
though not frequently. The mean winter temperature of this province
is 35.8°; mean summer temperature, 75°; mean annual, 55.9°. Killing
frosts may occur as early as the first of October and as late as
the last of May. The greatest variability in temperature conditions
in the state occurs in the Blue Ridge, Newer Appalachian Provinces,
where the most rugged and variable topography is likewise found.
The mean winter temperature for this section is 33.8°; mean summer
temperature, 71.3°; mean annual, 53.2°.
Soil
Marshy soils are found along the lowest portions of the Coastal
Plain, and are exceedingly productive wherever reclaimed by
draining, as in portions of the Dismal Swamp. Other portions of the
Coastal Plain afford more valuable soils, sandy loams overlying
sandy clays. On the higher elevations the soil is light and sandy,
and such areas remain relatively unproductive. The crystalline
rocks of the Piedmont area are covered with residual soils of
variable composition and moderate fertility. Passing the high and
rugged Blue Ridge, which is infertile except in the intervening
valleys of its S.W. expansion, we reach the Newer Appalachians,
where fertile limestone soils cover the valley floors. The Valley
of Virginia is the most productive part of the state.
Forests
The woodland area of Virginia was estimated in 1900 at 23,400
sq. m., or 58% of the area of the state. The
timber area originally comprised three
divisions: the mountain regions growing pine and hard woods and
hemlock; the Piedmont region producing chiefly oaks with some pine;
and the lands below the "Fall Line," which were forested with
yellow pine. Most of the pine of the mountain region has been cut,
and the yellow pine and hard woods have also largely disappeared.
The production of timber has, however, steadily increased. In 1900
the value of the product was $12,137,177, representing chiefly
yellow pine.
Fisheries
Oysters are by far the most valuable of the fisheries products,
but, of the 400,000 acres of waters within the state suitable for
oyster culture, in 1909 only about one-third was used for that
purpose. Next in importance were the catches of
menhaden,
shad, clams, squeteague and alewives; while minor
catches were made of crabs, croaker, bluefish, butterfish, catfish,
perch and spotted and striped
bass.
Tobacco was an important
crop in the earlier history of the
colony, and Virginia continued
to be the leading tobacco-producing state of the Union (reporting
in 1850 28.4% of the total crop) until after the Civil War, which,
with the division of the state, caused it to fall into second
place, Kentucky taking the
lead; and in 1900 the crop of
North Carolina also was larger. The state's production of tobacco
in 1909 was 120,125,000 lb, valued at $10,210,625.
The production of Indian
corn
in 1909 was 47,328,000 bus., valued at $35,023,000; of
wheat, 8,848,000 bus., valued at
$10,175,000; of oats, 3,800,000 bus., valued at $2,052,000; of
rye, 184,000 bus., valued at $155,000;
of
buckwheat, 378,000
bus., valued at $287,000; the
hay crop was valued at $8,060,000
(606,000 tons). The amount of the cotton crop in 1909 was 10,000
50o-lb bales.
The value of horses in 1910 was $34,561,000 (323,000 head); of
mules, $7,020,000 (54,000 head); of neat
cattle, $20,034,000 (875,000 head); of
swine, $5,031,000 (774,000 head);
of
sheep, $2,036,000 (522,000
head).
Minerals
The value of all mineral products in 1908 was $ 1 3, 12 7,395.
By far the most valuable single product was bituminous
coal ($3, 868 ,5 2 4; 4, 2 59, 0 4 2
tons). The existence of this mineral in the vicinity of
Richmond was known as early
as 1770, and the
mining of it
there began in 1775, but it was practically discontinued about the
middle of the 19th century. The most important coalfields of the
state lie in the Appalachian regions in the S.W. part of the state,
though there are also rich deposits in the counties of Henrico,
Chesterfield and
Goochland, and in parts of Powhatan and Amelia counties. In the
S.E. portion of the Kanawha basin, including Tazewell,
Russell,
Scott, Buchanan, Wise and
Lee
counties, occur rich deposits of coal, which are of great value
because of their proximity to vast deposits of
iron ores. In Tazewell county is
the famous Pocahontas
bed, which produces one of the
most valuable grades of coking and
steam coal to be found in the United States.
There are remarkably rich deposits of iron ore in the Alleghanies,
and the W. foothills of the Blue Ridge, from which most of the iron
ore of the state is procured, are lined with brown hematite.
Iron-mining - perhaps the first in the New World - was begun in
Virginia in 1608, when the Virginia Company shipped a quantity of
ore to
England; and in 1619
the Company established on Falling
Creek, a tributary of the James river, a colony
of about 150 ironworkers from
Warwickshire,
Staffordshire and
Sussex, who had established
there several ore-reducing plants under the general management of
John
Berkeley of
Gloucester, England, when on the
22nd of March 1622 the entire colony, excepting a girl and a boy,
were massacred by the Indians. The first blast-
furnace in the colony seems to have been owned
by Governor Spotswood, and was built and operated at the head of
the Rappahannock river about 1715 by a colony of German
Protestants. Immediately after the War of Independence Virginia
became an important iron-producing state. The industry waned
rapidly toward the middle of the 19th century, but was renewed upon
the discovery of the high-grade ores in the S.V. part of the state
and the development of
railway facilities. The product of iron ore in
1908 was 692,223 long tons, valued at $1,465,691. The product of
pig-iron in 1908 was 320,458 long tons,
valued at $4,578,000.
Manganese ore-mining
began in Virginia in 1857 in the
Shenandoah Valley, and the
product increased from about 100 tons in that year to about 5000
tons (mined near
Warminster, Nelson county) in 1868 and 1869.
Thereafter Virginia and
Georgia supplied most of this
mineral produced in the United States, and the greater part of it
has been shipped to England. Between 1885 and 1891 the average
annual production was about 15,000 tons, the greatest output20,567
tons - being mined in 1886. After 1891 the product declined
rapidly, amounting in 1907 to Boo tons valued at $4800.
In the production of pyrite, which is found in Louisa county and
is used for the manufacture of
sulphuric acid employed in the treatment
of wood pulp for paper-making and in the manufacture of
superphosphates from phosphate rock, Virginia took first rank in
1902 with an output valued at $501,642, or 64.7% of the total yield
of this mineral in the United States; and this rank was maintained
in 1908, when the product was 116,340 long tons, valued at
$435,522. Limestone is found in the region west of the Blue Ridge,
and has been quarried extensively, the product, used chiefly for
flux, being valued in 1908 at
$645,385.
Virginia was by far the most important state in 1908 in the
production of soapstone, nearly the whole product being taken from
a long narrow belt running north-east from Nelson county into
Albemarle county; more than 90% of the output was sawed into slabs
for
laundry and laboratory
appliances. The product of
talc
and soapstone in 1908 was 19,616 short tons, valued at
$458,252.
The value of
mineral waters produced in 1908 was
$207,115. The state has many mineral springs occurring in connexion
with faults in the Appalachian chain of mountains; in 1908, 46 were
reported, making the state third among the states of the United
States in number of springs, and of these several have been in high
medical repute. At 18 of these resorts are situated, some of which
have at times had considerable social vogue. White
Sulphur Springs, in Greenbrier
county, impregnated with sulphur, with therapeutic application in
jaundice,
dyspepsia, &c.;
Alleghany Springs, in
Montgomery (disambiguation)|Montgomery county, calcareous and
earthy, purgative and diuretic; Rawley Springs in Rockingham
county, Sweet Chalybeate Springs in Alleghany county, and
Rockbridge
Alum Springs in
Rockbridge county, classed as iron springs and reputed of value as
tonics, and the thermal springs, Healing Springs (88° F.) and
Hot Springs (Iio F.),
both in Bath (disambiguation)|Bath county are noted medicinal
springs.
The value of metals produced in 1908 was as follows:
gold (which is found in a belt that
extends from the Potomac river to Halifax (disambiguation)|Halifax
county and varies from 15 to 25 in. in width), $3600 (174 fine oz.
troy);
copper, $33 12 (25,087
/b); and lead, $1092 (13 short tons). Minerals produced in small
quantities include
gypsum,
millstones, salt and sandstone, and among those found but not
produced (in 1902) in commercial quantities may be mentioned
allanite, alum,
arsenic,
bismuth, carbonite,
felspar,
kaolin,
marble,
plumbago,
quartz,
serpentine and
tin.
Asbestos was formerly mined in the western and
south-western parts of the state.
Barytes is mined near
Lynchburg; the value of the output in 1907
was $32,833, since which date the output has decreased.
Manufactures
Virginia's
manufacturing establishments increased very
rapidly in number and in the value of their products during the
last two decades of the 19th century. The number of all
establishments increased from 5710 in 1880 to 8248 in 190o; the
capital invested from $26,968,990 to $103,670,988, the average
number of wage-earners from 40,184 to 72,702, the total wages from $7,425,261 to
$22,445,720, and the value of products from $51,770, 992 to
$132,172,910. The number of factories' increased from 3186 in 1900
to 3187 in 1905, the capital invested from $92,299,589 to $ 1 47,9
8 9, 182, the average number of wage-earners from 66,223 to 80,285,
the total wages from $20,269,026 to $ 2 7,943, 0 5 8, and the value
of products from $108,644,150 to $148,856,525. The manufacture of
all forms of tobacco is the most important industry; the value of
its products in 1905 was $16,768,204. Since 1880 there has been a
rapid development in textile manufacture, for which the water power
of the Piedmont region is used. A peculiar industry is the grading,
roasting, cleaning and shelling of peanuts.Transportation and Commerce
Four large railway systems practically originate in the state
and radiate to the S. and W.: the Southern railway, with its main
line traversing the state in the direction of its greatest length
leaving
Washington to run
south-west through
Alexandria,
Charlottesville, Lynchburg and
Danville to the North
Carolina line, with connexions to Richmond and a line to
Norfolk on the east; the
Atlantic Coast line with its main lines running S. from Richmond
and Norfolk; the Seaboard
Air line,
having its main lines also running to the S. from Richmond and
Norfolk; the Norfolk & Western crossing the state from east to
west in the southern part with Norfolk its eastern
terminus, passing through
Lynchburg and leaving the state at the south-western corner at
Bristol, and the Chesapeake
& Ohio crossing the state from east to west farther north than
the Norfolk & Western from
Newport News on the coast through Richmond
to the West Virginia line. Of more recent construction is the
Virginian railway, a project of H. H. Rogers, opened for traffic in
1909, which connects the coal region of West Virginia with Norfolk,
crossing the southern part of the state from E. to W., and is
designed chiefly for heavy
freight traffic. The N. W. part of the state is
entered by the
Baltimore
& Ohio, which has a line down the Shenandoah Valley to
Lexington. Connexion
between Richmond and Washington is by a union line (Richmond,
Fredericksburg
& Potomac and Washington Southern railways) operated jointly by
the Southern, Atlantic Coast line, Seaboard Air line, Chesapeake
& Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore & Ohio railways. In
1850 there were 384 m. of railway in Virginia; in 1880, 1839 m.,
and in 1890 it had nearly doubled, having increased to 3,359.54 m.,
a gain coincident with the newly awakened industrial activity of
the Southern States and an era of railway building throughout this
section. The railway mileage in 1900 was 3,789.58, and in January
1909 it was 4,348.53.
Hampton Roads
at the mouth of the James river, which forms the harbour for the
leading ports of the state, Norfolk and Newport News, affords one
of the best anchorages of the Atlantic coast. It gives shelter not
only to vessels plying to its adjoining ports but serves as a
harbour of refuge for
shipping bound up or down the Atlantic coast,
and is fre q uently used for the assembling of naval fleets. There
is a large foreign trade and a regular steamship service to
Boston,
Providence, New York,
Philadelphia and
Savannah from Norfolk, and there is a considerable traffic on
Chesapeake Bay, the Rappahannock, York, James and Elizabeth rivers.
Fredericksburg at the head of navigation on the Rappahannock and
West Point on the York
have traffic of commercial importance in
lumber and timber, oysters and
farm produce, cotton and tobacco especially being
shipped in coastwise vessels from West Point.
Petersburg and Richmond on the James are
connected with regular
steamship lines with Norfolk,
Richmond's water trade being chiefly in coal, oil, logs and
fertilizer. Steamboats plying on Chesapeake Bay connect Alexandria
with Norfolk. From the Elizabeth river on which Norfolk is situated
lead the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal and the Dismal Swamp
Canal, which connect with the waters of Albemarle
Sound. Traffic through these
canals consists chiefly of forest products, logs, lumber and
shingles.
Population
The population of Virginia in 1890 was 1,655,980; in 1900,
1,854,184; and in 1910, 2,061,612.2 Of the total population in
1900, 1,173,787 were native whites, 19,461 were foreign-born,
660,722 (or 35.7% of the total population) were negroes, 354 were
Indians, 243 were Chinese and 10 were Japanese. The state was fifth
among the states and Territories in the number of negro
inhabitants, but showed a marked decrease in the ratio of negroes
to the total population in the decade from 1890 to 1900, the
percentage of the total population in 1890 having been 38.4.
Of the inhabitants born in the United States 53,235 were natives
of North Carolina, 12,504 were natives of Maryland, and 10,273 were
natives of Pennsylvania. Of the foreign-born 4504 were '
Statistics for 1890
represent the value of all manufactures; those for 1900 (from this
point) and 1905 show values under the factory system, excluding
neighbourhood industries and hand trades.
2 According to previous censuses the population was as follows:
(1790), 747, 610; (1800), 880,200; (1810), 974,600; (1820),
1,065,366; (1830), 1,211,405; (1840), 1,239,797 (1850), 1,421,661;
(1860), 1,596,318; (1870), 1,225,163; (1880), 1,512,565.
Germans, 3534 were natives of
Ireland and 3425 of England. Of the total
population 52,264 were of foreign parentage (i.e. either one or
both parents were foreign-born) and 9769 were of German, 8235 of
Irish and 4792 of English parentage, both on the father's and on
the mother's side. Out of the total of 793,546 members of religious
denominations in 1906, more than half, 415,987, were
Baptists; the Methodists
numbered 200,771; and there were 39,6 2 8 Presbyterians, 28,700
Roman Catholics, 28,487
Protestant Episcopalians, 26,248
Disciples
of Christ, and 15,010
Lutherans. Virginia in 1900 had 46.2
inhabitants to the square mile. The principal cities of the state
are: Richmond (the capital), Norfolk, Petersburg, Roanoke, Newport
News, Lynchburg,
Portsmouth and Danville.
Government
Virginia has had six state constitutions: the first was adopted
in 1776, the second in 1830, the third in 1851, the fourth in 1864,
the fifth in 1869, and the sixth, the present, in 1902. Amendments
to the present constitution may be proposed in either house of the
General Assembly, and if they pass both houses of that and the
succeeding General Assembly by a majority of the members elected to
each house and are subsequently approved by a majority of the
people who vote on the question at the next general election they
become a part of the constitution. A majority of the members in
each house of the General Assembly may at any time propose a
convention to revise the constitution and, if at the next
succeeding election a majority of the people voting on the question
approve, the General Assembly must provide for the election of
delegates. To be entitled to vote one must be a male
citizen of the United States
and twenty-one years of age; have been a resident of the state for
two years, of the county, city, or town for one year, and of the
election
precinct for
thirty days next preceding the election; have paid, at least six
months before the election, all state
poll taxes assessed against him for three years
next preceding the election, unless he is a
veteran of the Civil War; and have registered
after the adoption of the constitution (1902). For
registration prior to
1904 one of four additional qualifications was required: service in
the army or
navy of the United
States, of the
Confederate States, or of
some state of the United States or of the Confederate States;
direct descent from one who so served; ownership of property upon
which state taxes amounting to at least one
dollar were paid in the preceding year; or
ability to read the constitution or at least to show an
understanding of it. And to qualify for registration after 1904 one
must have paid all state poll taxes assessed against him for the
three years immediately preceding his application, unless he is a
veteran of the Civil War; and unless physically unable he must
"make application in his own
handwriting, without aid, suggestion or
memorandum, in the presence of the registration officers, stating
therein his name, age, date and place of birth, residence and
occupation at the time and for two years next preceding, whether he
has previously voted, and, if so, the state, county and precinct in
which he voted last"; and must answer questions relating to his
qualifications.
Executive
The governor, lieutenant-governor,
attorney-general, secretary of the
commonwealth,
treasurer,
superintendent of public instruction and
commissioner of agriculture are elected for a term of four y ears,
every fourth year from 1905, and each new administration begins on
the 1st of February. The governor must be at least
thirty
years of age, a resident of the state for five years next
preceding his election; and, if of foreign birth, a citizen of the
United States for ten years. He appoints numerous officers with the
concurrence of the
Senate, has
the usual power of vetoing legislative bills, and has authority to
inspect the records of officers, or to employ
accountants to do so,
and to suspend, during a
recess of the General Assembly, any executive
officer at the seat of government except the lieutenant-governor;
he must, however, report to the General Assembly at its next
session the cause of any
suspension and that body determines whether the suspended officer
shall be restored or removed.
Legislature
The General Assembly consists of a Senate and a House of
Delegates. The Constitution provides that the number of senators
shall not be more than forty nor less than thirty-three, and that
the number of delegates shall not be more than one hundred nor less
than ninety. Senators and delegates are elected by single districts
(into which the state is apportioned once every ten years,
according to population), the senators for a term of four years,
the delegates for a term of two years. The only qualifications for
senators and delegates are those required of an elector and
residence in their districts; there are, however, a few
disqualifications, such as holding certain offices in the state or
a salaried Federal office. The General Assembly meets regularly at
Richmond on the second Wednesday in January of each even-numbered
year, and the governor must call an extra session on the
application of two-thirds of the members of both houses, and may
call one whenever he thinks the interests of the state require it.
The length of a regular session. is limited to sixty days unless
three-fifths of the members of each house concur in extending it,
and no extension may exceed thirty days. Senators and delegates are
paid $500 each for each regular session and $250 for each extra
session. Any bill may originate in either house, but a bill of
special, private or local interest must be referred to a standing
committee of five members appointed by the Senate and seven members
appointed by the House of Delegates, before it is referred to the
committee of the house in which it originated. The governor's
veto power extends to items in
appropriation
bills, and to overcome his veto, whether of a whole bill or an
item of an appropriation bill, a
two-thirds vote in each house of the members* present is required,
and such two-thirds must include in each house a majority of the
members elected to that house. Whenever the governor approves of
the general purpose of a bill, but disapproves of some portion or
portions, he may return the bill with his recommendations for
amendment, and when it
comes back to him, he may, whether his recommendations have been
adopted or not, treat it as if it were before him for the first
time.
Judiciary
The administration of justice is vested principally in a
supreme court of appeals,
circuit courts, city courts
and courts of a
justice of the peace. The supreme
court of appeals consists of five judges, but any three of them may
hold a court. They are chosen for a term of twelve years by a joint
vote of the Senate and the House of Delegates. The court sits at
Richmond,
Staunton and
Wytheville. The concurrence of at least three judges is necessary
to the decision of a case involving the constitutionality of a law.
Whenever the
docket of this
court is crowded, or there is a case upon it in which it is
improper for a majority of the judges to sit, the General Assembly
may provide for a special court of appeals, to be composed of not
more than five nor less than three judges of the circuit courts and
city courts, in cities having a population of 10,000 or more. The
state is divided into thirty judicial circuits and in each of these
a circuit
judge is chosen for a
term of eight years by a joint vote of the Senate and the House of
Delegates. The jurisdiction of the circuit courts was extended by
the present Constitution to include that which, under the preceding
Constituticn, was vested in county courts, and the principal
restriction is that they shall not have original jurisdiction in
civil cases for the recovery of
personal property amounting to less
than $20. Similar to the circuit court is the corporation court in
each city having a population of to,000 or more; the judge of each
of these corporation courts is chosen for a term of eight years by
a joint vote of the Senate and the House of Delegates, and he may
hold a circuit as well as a corporation court. Circuit courts and
corporation courts appoint the commissioners in
chancery. Three justices of the peace are
elected in each magisterial district for a term of four years.
There are also justices of the peace (elected) and
police justices (appointed) in
cities, and in various minor cases a justice's court has original
jurisdiction, either exclusive or concurrent, with the circuit and
corporation courts. In each city having a population of 70,000 or
more a special justice of the peace, known as a civil justice, is
elected by a joint vote of the Senate and the House of Delegates
for a term of four years.
Each county is divided into magisterial districts, varying in
number from three to eleven. Each district elects a supervisor for
a term of four years, and the district supervisors constitute a
county board of supervisors, which represents the county as a
corporation, manages the county property and county business,
levies the county taxes, audits the accounts of the county, and
recommends for appointment by the circuit court a county surveyor
and a county superintendent of the poor. Each county also elects a
treasurer, a
sheriff, an
attorney and one or more
commissioners of the revenue, each for a term of four years, and a
clerk, who is clerk of the circuit court, for a term of eight
years. The
coroner is
appointed by the circuit court for a term of two years. Each
magisterial district elects, besides a supervisor and justices of
the peace, a
constable
and an overseer of the poor, each for a term of four years. The
Constitution provides that all "communities" with a population less
than 5000, incorporated after its adoption, shall be known as
towns, and that those with a population of 5000 or more shall be
known as cities. In each city incorporated after its adoption, the
Constitution requires the election in each of a
mayor, a treasurer and a sergeant, each fora term
of four years, and the election or appointment of a commissioner of
the revenue for an equal term; that in cities having a population
of 10,000 or more the council shall be composed of two branches;
that the mayor shall have a veto on all acts of the council and on
items of appropriation, ordinances or resolutions, which can be
overridden only by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members
elected to each branch; and that no city shall incur a bonded
indebtedness exceeding 18% of the assessed value of its real
estate.
Miscellaneous Laws
A married woman may
manage
her separate property as if she were single, except that she cannot
by her sole act deprive her husband of his
courtesy in her real estate. A widow is
entitled to a
dower in one-third
of the real estate of which her husband was seized at any time
during
coverture. If the
husband dies intestate, leaving no descendants and no paternal or
maternal kindred, the whole of his estate goes to his widow
absolutely. If the husband dies intestate, leaving a widow and
issue, either by her or by a former marriage, the widow is entitled
to at least one-third of his personal estate; if he leaves no issue
by her, she is entitled to so much of his personal estate as was
acquired by him by virtue of his marriage with. her prior to the
4th of April 1877; if he leaves no issue whatever, she is entitled
to one-half of his personal estate. A widower is entitled by
courtesy to a life interest in all his wife's real estate; if she
dies intestate, he is entitled to all her personal estate; if she
dies intestate, leaving no descendants and no paternal or maternal
kindred, he is entitled to her whole estate absolutely. The causes
for an absolute
divorce are
adultery; impotency;
desertion for three years;
a sentence to confinement in the
penitentiary; a conviction of an infamous
offence before marriage unknown to the other; or, if one of the
parties is charged with an offence punishable with death or
confinement in the penitentiary, and has been a fugitive from
justice for two years; pregnancy of the wife before marriage
unknown to the husband, or the wife's being a prostitute before
marriage unknown to the husband. One party must be a resident of
the state for one year preceding the commencement of a suit for a
divorce. When a divorce is obtained because of adultery, permission
of the guilty party to marry again is in the discretion of the
court. Marriages between whites and negroes and bigamous marriages
are void. The
homestead
of a householder or head of a family to the value of $2000 and
properly recorded is exempt from
levy, seizure, garnishment or forced sale, except
for purchase money, for services of a labouring person or mechanic,
for liabilities incurred by a public officer,
fiduciary or attorney for money collected,
for taxes, for
rent or for legal
fees of a public officer. If the owner is a married man his
homestead cannot be sold except by the joint
deed of himself and his wife; neither can it be
mortgaged without his wife's consent except for purchase money or
for the erection or repair of buildings upon it. The exemption
continues after his death so long as there is an unmarried widow or
an unmarried minor child. The family library, family pictures,
school books, a seat or
pew in a
house of worship, a lot in a
burial ground, necessary wearing
apparel, a limited amount of
furniture and household utensils, some of a farmer's domestic
animals and agricultural implements, and the wages of a labouring
man who is a householder are exempt from levy or
distress. A law enacted in
1908 forbids the employment of children under fourteen years of age
in any factory, workshop,
mercantile establishment, or mine within the
state, except that orphans or other children dependent upon their
own labour for support or upon whom invalid parents are dependent
may be so employed after they are twelve years of age, and that a
parent may work his or her own children in his or her own factory,
workshop, mercantile establishment or mine.
Charitable and Penal Institutions.--Virginia has four
hospitals for the insane: the Eastern State
Hospital (1773), at
Williamsburg; the South-Western State
Hospital (1887), at Marion; the Western State Hospital (1828), with
an epileptic colony, at Staunton; and the Central State Hospital
(1870; for negroes), at Petersburg. For the care of the
deaf and blind
there is the Virginia School for Deaf and Blind (1839), at
Staunton, and the Virginia School for Coloured Deaf and Blind
Children (1908), at Newport News. The State Penitentiary is at
Richmond. The
Prison
Association of Virginia with an
Industrial School (1890) at Laurel
Station, the Negro Reformatory Association of Virginia with a
Manual Labour School (1897) at Broadneck Farm,
Hanover, and the Virginia Home and Industrial
School for white girls (1910) at Bon Air take care of
juvenile
offenders; these are all owned and controlled by
self-perpetuating boards of trustees, but are supported by the
state, receiving an
allowance per capita. For each state
hospital for the insane there is a special board of
directors consisting of
three members appointed by the governor with the concurrence of the
Senate, one every two years, and over them all is the commissioner
of state hospitals for the insane, who is appointed by the governor
with the concurrence of the Senate for a term of four years. The
members of the special boards under the chairmanship of the
commissioner constitute a general board for all the hospitals, and
the superintendent of each hospital is appointed by the general
board. Each school for the deaf and blind is managed by a board of
visitors appointed by the governor with the concurrence of the
Senate. About five-sixths of the convicts are negroes. Some of them
are employed on a state farm at Lassiter, Goochland county, on
which there is a
tuberculosis hospital, and some of them on
the public roads; in 1909 there were 350 men at the state farm, 14
road camps with about 630 men, and 1273 men and 96 women in the
penitentiary at Richmond. When a prisoner has served onehalf of his
term and his conduct has been good for two years (if he has been
confined for that period) the board of directors may
parole him for the remainder of
his term, provided there is satisfactory assurance that he will not
be dependent on public
charity. The Prison Association
of Virginia, the Negro Reformatory Association of Virginia and the
Virginia Home and Industrial School for girls are each under a
board of trustees appointed by the General Assembly, and each is
authorized to establish houses of correction, reformatories and
industrial schools. A general supervision of all state, county,
municipal and private charities and corrections is vested by a law
enacted in 1908 in a board of charities and corrections consisting
of five members appointed by the governor with the concurrence of
the Senate.
Education
The public free school system is administered by a state board
of education, a superintendent of public instruction, division
superintendents, and district and county school boards. The state
board of education consists of the governor; the attorneygeneral;
the superintendent of public instruction, who is
ex
officio its president; three experienced educators chosen
quadrennially by the Senate from members of the faculties of the
University of Virginia, the
Virginia Military Institute, the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute, the State Female
Normal School at Farmville, the School for the Deaf and Blind, and
the College of William and
Mary;
and two division superintendents, one from a county and one from a
city, chosen biennially by the other members of the board. This
board prescribes the duties of the superintendent of public
instruction and decides appeals from his decisions; keeps the state
divided into school divisions, comprising not less than one county
or city each; appoints quadrennially, with the concurrence of the
Senate, one superintendent for each school division and prescribes
his powers and duties; selects textbooks; provides for examination
of teachers; and appoints school inspectors. In each county an
electoral board, consisting of the attorney for the Commonwealth,
the division superintendent and one member appointed by the judge
of the circuit court, appoints a board of three school trustees for
each district, one each year. The division superintendent and the
school trustees of the several districts constitute a county school
board. The elementary schools are maintained from the proceeds of
the state school funds, consisting of interest on the literary
fund, a portion of the state
poll tax, a property tax not less than one
mill nor more than five mills on the
dollar, and special appropriations; county funds, consisting
principally of a property tax; and district funds, consisting
principally of a property tax and a
dog tax. A law enacted in 1908 encourages the
establishment of departments of agriculture, domestic economy and
manual training in at least one high school in each congressional
district. A law enacted in 1910 provides a fund for special aid
from the state to rural graded schools with at least two rooms.
With state aid normal training departments are maintained in
several of the high schools in counties which adopt the provisions
of the statute. All children between the ages of eight and twelve
years are required to attend a public school at least twelve weeks
in a year (six weeks consecutively) unless excused on account of
weakness of mind or body, unless the child can read and write and
is attending a private school, or unless the child lives more than
two miles from the nearest school and more than one mile from an
established public school
wagon
route. The State Female Normal School, at Farmville, is governed by
a board consisting of the state superintendent and thirteen
trustees appointed by the governor with the concurrence of the
Senate for a term of four years. The Virginia Normal and Industrial
Institute, at Petersburg, is governed by a board of visitors
consisting of the superintendent of public instruction and four
other members appointed by the governor with the concurrence of the
Senate for four years. In 1908 the General Assembly made an
appropriation for establishing two state normal and industrial
schools for women, one at Harrisonburg and the other at
Fredericksburg, both under a board of trustees consisting of the
superintendent of public instruction and ten other members
appointed by the governor with the concurrence of the Senate. The
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic
Institute, at Blacksburg, is governed by a board consisting of the
state superintendent and eight visitors appointed by the governor
with the concurrence of the Senate. The Virginia Military
Institute, at Lexington, is governed by a board of visitors
consisting of the
adjutant general,-the superintendent
of public instruction and nine other members appointed by the
governor with the concurrence of the Senate. The University of
Virginia (q.v.), at Charlottesville, was founded in 1817 and opened
in 1825. The College of William and Mary (1693), at Williamsburg,
became a state institution in 1906 and is likewise governed under a
board appointed by the governor. Other institutions of higher
learning which are not under state control are: Washington and Lee
University (nonsectarian, 1749), at Lexington;
Hampden-Sidney
College (Presbyterian, 1776), at Hampden-Sidney; Richmond College
(Baptist, 1832), at Richmond; Randolph-
Macon College (Methodist Episcopal, 1832), at
Ashland; Emory and
Henry College (Methodist
Episcopal, 1838), at Emory; Roanoke College (Lutheran, 1853), at
Salem; Bridgewater College (German Baptist, 1879), at Bridgewater;
Fredericksburg College (Presbyterian, 1893), at Fredericksburg;
Virginia Union University (Baptist, 1899), at Richmond; and
Virginia Christian College (Christian, 1903), at Lynchburg.
Revenue for state, county and municipal purposes is derived
principally from taxes on real estate, tangible personal property,
incomes in excess of $1000, wills and administrations, deeds,
seals, lawsuits,
banks,
trust and
security companies,
insurance companies, express companies,
railway and canal corporations, sleeping-
car, parlour-car and dining-car companies,
telegraph and
telephone companies,
franchise taxes, poll
taxes, an
inheritance tax and taxes on various
business and professional licences. The tax laws require that
property shall be assessed at its full value by commissioners of
the revenue elected by counties and cities. The revenue is
collected by county and city treasurers, clerks of courts, and the
state corporation commission, consisting of three members appointed
by the governor with the concurrence of the General Assembly in
joint session. The total receipts in the fiscal
year1908-1909amounted to $5,536,510 and the total disbursements to
$51796,980. By the 1st of January 1861 Virginia had incurred a debt
amounting to nearly $39,000,000, principally in aid of internal
improvements. She was unable to pay the interest on this during the
Civil War, and in March 1871 the principal together with the
overdue interest amounted to about $47,000,000. The General
Assembly passed an act at that time for refunding two-thirds of it,
claiming that the other third should be paid by West Virginia. But
the advocates of a "forcible readjustment" of the debt carried the
election in 1879 with the aid of the negro vote, and after
prolonged negotiations in 1892 a settlement was effected under
which a debt amounting to about $28,000,000 was again refunded. In
1908 this had been reduced to about $24,000,000. The sinking fund
consists of
damages
recovered against defaulting revenue collectors, railway stock and
appropriations from time to time by the legislature.
History
Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in
North America. From
1583 to 1588 attempts had been made by
Sir Walter
Raleigh and others to establish colonies on the coast of what
is now North Carolina. The only result was the naming of the
country Virginia in honour of Queen Elizabeth. But glowing accounts
were brought back by the early adventurers, and in 1606 an
expedition was sent out by the
London Company, which was chartered with rights
of trade and settlement between 34° and 41° N. lat. It landed, at a
place which was called
Jamestown, on the 13th of May 1607, and
resulted in the establishment of many plantations along the James
river. The purpose of the company was to build up a profitable
commercial and agricultural community; but the hostility of the
natives, unfavourable climatic conditions and the character of the
colonists delayed the growth of the new community.
John Smith became the
head of the government in September 1608, compelled the colonists
to submit to law and order, built a church and prepared for more
extensive agricultural and fishing operations. In 1609 the London
Company was reorganized, other colonists were sent out and the
boundaries of the new country were fixed, according to which
Virginia was to extend from a point 200 m. south of
Old Point
Comfort, at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, to another point 200
m. north, "west and northwest to the
South Sea." The government of the
country was in the hands of the London Company, which in turn
committed administrative and local affairs to a governor and
council who were to reside in the colony. Before the arrival of the
"government" and their shiploads of settlers the original colony
was reduced to the direst straits. Captain Christopher
Newport (d. 1618), Sir Thomas
Gates and Sir George Somers, the new authorities, reached
Jamestowri at last with 150 men, but finding things in such a
deplorable state all agreed (June ro, 1610) to give up the effort
to found a colony on the James and set
sail for
Newfoundland. At the mouth of the river
they met Lord
Delaware, however, who
brought other colonists and plentiful supplies; and they returned,
set up a trading post at what is now Hampton and undertook to bring
the hostile natives to subjection. In 1611, 650 additional
colonists landed, the James and Appomattox rivers were explored and
"plantations" were established at Henrico and New Bermuda. In 1617
Virginia fell into the hands of a rigid Puritan, Captain
Samuel Argall. The colonists were
compelled on pain of death to accept the doctrine of the trinity,
respect the authority of the
Bible and attend church. This rigid regime was
superseded in 1 619 by a milder system under Sir George Yeardley
(d. 1627). Twelve hundred new colonists arrived in 1619. At the
same time negro slaves and many "indentured" servants were imported
as labourers.
At the beginning Virginia colonists had held their land and
improvements in common. But in 1616 the land was parcelled out and
the settlers were scattered along the shores of the James and
Appomattox rivers many miles inland. Twenty thousand pounds of
tobacco were exported in. 1619. The community had now become
self-supporting, and the year that witnessed these changes
witnessed also the first representative assembly in North America,
the Virginia House of Burgesses, a meeting of planters sent from
the plantations to assist the governor in reforming and remaking
the laws of the colony. In 1621 a constitution was granted whereby
the London Company appointed the governor and a council, and the
people were to choose annually from their counties, towns, hundreds
and plantations delegates to the House of Burgesses. The popular
assembly, like the English House of Commons, granted supplies and
originated laws, and the governor and Council enjoyed the right of
revision and veto as did the king and the House of Lords at home.
The Council sat also as a supreme court to review the county
courts. This system remained unchanged until the revolution of
1776. But in 1624 the king took the place and exercised the
authority of the London Company.
Before 1622 there was a population of more than 4000 in
Virginia, and the many tribes of Indians who were still the
proprietors of the soil over a greater portion of the country
naturally became jealous, and on the 22nd of March of that year
fell upon the whites and slew 350 persons. Sickness and
famine once again visited the
colony, and the population was reduced by nearly one-half. These
losses were repaired, however; the tobacco industry grew in
importance, and the settlers built their cabins far in the interior
of
lowland Virginia. This
rapid growth was scarcely retarded by a second Indian attack, in
April 1641, which resulted in the death of about 350 settlers. By
1648 the population had increased to 15,000.
Virginia was neither
cavalier nor
roundhead, but both.
Sir
William Berkeley had been the governor since 1641, and though
he was loyal enough to the
crown, it was without difficulty
that his authority was overthrown in March 1652 and that of
Cromwell proclaimed in its stead. Richard Bennett, a Puritan from
Maryland, now ruled the province. Bennett and his Puritan
successors, Edward Digges and Samuel Mathews, made no serious
change in the administration of the colony except to extend greatly
the elective franchise. But this policy was reversed in 1660, when
Berkeley was restored to power. The return of Berkeley was the
beginning of a reaction which concentrated authority, both in the
House of Burgesses and in the Council, in the hands of the older
families, and thus created a privileged class. The governor,
supported by the great families, retained the same House of
Burgesses for sixteen years lest a new one might not be submissive.
The increasing mass of the population dwelt along the western
border or on the less fertile ridges which make up the major part
of the land even in
tide-water
Virginia. These poorer people - who were not, however, "poor
whites" - developed an abiding hostility towards the
oligarchy. They desired a
freer land-grant system, protection against the inroads of the
Indians along the border, and frequent sessions of an assembly to
be chosen by all the freeholders. But a new code of laws outlawed
many of these people as dissenters, and in 1676 a burdensome tax
was laid by the unrepresentative assembly. The Indians had again
attacked the border farmers, and the governor had refused
assistance, being willing, it was generally believed, that the
border population should suffer while he and his adherents enjoyed
a lucrative
fur trade with the
Indians. Under these circumstances, Nathaniel
Bacon (1647-1676), whose grandfather was a cousin
of
Francis
Bacon, took up the cause of the borderers and severely punished
the Indians at the battle of Bloody Run. But Berkeley meanwhile had
outlawed Bacon, whose forces now marched on the capital demanding
recognition as the authorized army of defence. This was refused,
and civil war began, in which the governor was defeated and
Jamestown was burned. But Bacon fell a victim to
malaria and died in October in Gloucester
county. Berkeley closed the conflict with wholesale executions and
confiscations. Censured by the king, he sailed to England to make
his defence, but died in London in 1677 without having seen
Charles. Virginia remained in
the hands of the reactionary party and was governed by men whose
primary purpose was to "make their fortunes" at the expense of the
colonials. Even the accession of William and Mary scarcely affected
the fortunes of the "fifth kingdom," though Middle
Plantation, a
hamlet not far from Jamestown,
became Williamsburg and the capital of the province in 1691, and
the clergy received a head, though not a
bishop, in the person of
James Blair (1656-1743), an able Scottish
churchman, who as
commissary of the bishop of London became a
counterpoise to the arbitrary governors, and who as founder and
head of the College of William and Mary (established at
Williamsburg in 1693) did valiant service for Virginia. Under the
stimulus of Blair's activity religion and education prospered as
never before. The powers and duties of the
vestry were defined, the position of the parish
priest was fixed and his
salary was regularly provided for
at the public expense, and pedagogues were brought over from
Scotland.
By 1700 the population of Virginia had reached 70,000, of whom
20,000 were negro slaves. The great majority of whites were small
farmers whose condition was anything but desirable and who
constantly encroached upon the Indian lands in the Rappahannock
region or penetrated the forests south of the James, several
thousand having reached North Carolina. Between 1707 and 1740 many
Scottish immigrants, traders, teachers and tobacco-growers settled
along the upper Rappahannock, and, uniting with the borderers in
general, they offered strong resistance to the older planters on
the James and the York.
Tobacco-growing was the one vocation of Virginia, and many of
the planters were able to spend their winters in London or
Glasgow and to send their sons
and daughters to the
finishing schools of the mother country.
Negro
slavery grew so
rapidly during the first half of the eighteenth century that the
blacks outnumbered the whites in 1740. The master of slaves set the
fashion. Handsome houses were built along the banks of the sluggish
rivers, and numerous slaves were employed. There was as great a
social distance between the planters and their families on the one
side and the masses of people in Virginia on the other as that
which separated the nobles from the
yeomanry in
Europe; and there was still another chasm
between the small farmers and the negroes.
In 1716 an expedition of Governor
Alexander Spotswood over the
mountains advertised to the world the rich backcountry, now known
as the Valley of Virginia; a
migration thither from
Pennsylvania and from Europe followed which revolutionized the
province. The majority of blacks over whites soon gave way before
the influx of white immigrants, and in 1756 there was a population
of 292,000, of whom only 120,000 were negroes, and the small farmer
class had grown so rapidly that the old tide-water
aristocracy was in
danger of being overwhelmed. The "West" had now appeared in
American history. This first West, made up of the older small
farmers, of the Scottish settlers, of the Germans from the
Palatinate and the
Scottish-Irish, far outnumbering the people of the old counties,
demanded the creation of new counties and proportionate
representation in the Burgesses. They did not at first succeed, but
when the
Seven Years' War came on they proved
their worth by fighting the battles of the community against the
Indians and the French. When the war was over the
prestige of the up-country
had been greatly enhanced, and its people soon found eastern
leaders in the persons of
Richard Henry Lee and
Patrick Henry.
In1763-1765an investigation of the finances of the colony, forced
by the up-country party, showed widespread corruption, and resulted
in the collapse of the tide-water oligarchy, which had been in
power since 1660. In the meantime the Presbyterians, who had been
officially recognized in Virginia under the
Toleration Act in 1699, and had been
guaranteed religious
autonomy in the Valley by Governor Gooch in
1738, had sent missionaries into the border counties of eastern
Virginia. The Baptists about the same time entered the colony both
from the north and the south and established scores of churches.
The new denominations vigorously attacked the methods and
immunities of the established church, whose clergy had grown
lukewarm in zeal and lax in morals. When the clergy, refusing to
acknowledge the authority of the Burgesses in reducing their
stipends, and, appealing to the king against the Assembly, entered
the courts to recover damages from the vestries, Patrick Henry at
Hanover court in 1763 easily convinced the
jury and the people that the old church was
wellnigh worthless. From this time the old order was doomed, for
the up-country, the dissenters and the reformers had combined
against it. But the passage of the
Stamp Act hastened the
catastrophe and gave the leaders of the new
combination, notably Henry, an opportunity to humiliate the British
ministry, whom not even the tide-water party could defend. The
repeal of the Stamp Act, followed
as it was by the Townshend scheme of indirect
taxation, displeased Virginia quite as much as
had the former more direct system of taxation. When the Burgesses
undertook in May 1769 to declare in vigorous resolutions that the
right and power of taxation, direct and indirect, rested with the
local assembly, the governor hastily dissolved them, but only to
find the same men assembling in the
Raleigh tavern in Williamsburg and issuing forth their
resolutions in
defiance of
executive authority. Patrick Henry and Richard
Henry Lee, with
Thomas Jefferson, a new up-country
leader of great ability, were the leaders.
In 1774 Lord
Dunmore, the
governor, led an army to the
Ohio river to break an Indian
coalition which had been
formed to check the rapid expansion of Virginia over what is now
Kentucky and West Virginia. The up-country again furnished the
troops and did the fighting at
Point Pleasant, where on the 10th of
October the power of the Indians was completely broken. But the
struggle with England had reached a crisis, and Virginia supported
with zeal the revolutionary movement and took the lead in the
Continental Congresses which directed the succeeding war (see
United
States). In 1 775 Patrick Henry organized a regiment of
militia and compelled the
governor to seek safety on board an English man-of-war in
Chesapeake Bay. The war now assumed continental proportions, and
the Virginia leaders decided in May 1776 that a
declaration of independence
was necessary to secure foreign assistance. When the Continental
Congress issued the famous Declaration Virginia had already
assembled in convention to draft a new Constitution. Although
Henry, Lee and Jefferson exercised great power, they were unable to
secure a Constitution which embodied the demands of their party:
universal
suffrage,
proportional representation and religious freedom. A draft for such
a Constitution was submitted by Jefferson, but the Conservatives
rejected it. The system which was adopted allowed the older
counties, which must be conciliated, a large majority of the
representatives in the new Assembly, on the theory that the
preponderance of property (slavery) in that section required this
as security against the rising
democracy. In place of the former governor,
there was to be an executive chosen annually by the Assembly; the
old Council was to be followed by a similar body elected by the
Assembly; and the judges were likewise to be the creatures of the
legislature. The Assembly was divided into two bodies, a Senate and
a House of Delegates. The legislature would be all-powerful, and
yet representation was so distributed that about one-third of the
voters living in the tide-water region would return nearly
two-thirds of the members of the legislature. The franchise, though
not universal, was generously bestowed; it was a very liberal
freehold system.
The recruiting ground for the American army in Virginia was the
up-country among the Scottish-Irish and the Germans who had long
fought the older section of the colony. In 1779 Norfolk was again
attacked, and great damage was also done to the neighbouring towns.
In January 1781
Benedict Arnold captured Richmond and
compelled governor and legislature to flee beyond the Blue Ridge
mountains, where one session of the Assembly was held. The last
campaign of the war closed at
Yorktown on the 19th of October 1781.
Virginia leaders, including Henry, were the first to urge the
formation of a national government with adequate powers supersede
the lame confederacy. In 1787, under the
presidency of Washington,
the
National Convention sat in Philadelphia, with the result that
the present Federal Constitution was submitted to the states for
ratification during 1787-1789. In Virginia the tide-water leaders
urged adoption, while the upcountry men, following Henry, opposed;
but after a long and a bitter struggle, in the summer of 1788 the
new instrument was accepted, the low-country winning by a majority
of ten votes, partly through the influence of
James Madison. Thus
the eastern men, who had reluctantly supported the War of
Independence, now became the sponsors for the national government,
and Washington was compelled to rely on the party of slavery, not
only in Virginia but in the whole South, in order to administer the
affairs of the nation.
In 1784, Virginia, after some hesitation, ceded to the
Federal
government the north-west territory, which it held under the
charter of 1609; in 1792 another large
strip of the territory of Virginia became an
independent state under the name of Kentucky. But the people of
these cessions, especially of Kentucky, were closely allied to the
great up-country party of Virginia, and altogether they formed the
basis of the Jeffersonian democracy, which from 1794 opposed the
chief measures of the Washington administration, and which on the
passage of the
Alien and
Sedition laws in 1798
precipitated the first great constitutional crisis in Federal
politics by the adoption in the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures
of the resolutions, known by the names of those states, strongly
asserting the right and duty of the states to
arrest the course of the national government
whenever in their opinions that course had become unconstitutional.
Jefferson was the author of the Kentucky resolutions, and his
friend
Madison prepared
those passed by the Virginia Assembly. But these leaders restrained
their followers sharply whenever the suggestion of
secession was made, and the
question of what was meant by arresting the course of Federal
legislation was left in doubt. The election of 1800 rendered
unnecessary all further agitation by putting Jefferson in the
President's chair. The up-country party in Virginia, with their
allies along the frontiers of the other states, was now in power,
and the radical of 1776 shaped the policy of the nation during the
next twenty-five years. Virginia held the position of leadership in
Congress, controlled the cabinet and supplied many justices of the
Supreme Court.
Virginia played a leading role in the War of 1812, and up to
1835 her influence in the new Western and North-Western states was
overwhelming. But the steady growth of slavery in the East and of a
virile democracy in the West neutralized this influence and
compelled the assembling of the constitutional convention of 1829,
whose purpose was to revise the fundamental law in such a way as to
give the more populous counties of the West their legitimate weight
in the legislature. The result was failure, for the democracy of
small farmers which would have taxed slavery out of existence was
denied proportionate representation. The slave insurrection under
Nat Turner in 1831 led
to a second abortive effort, this time by the legislature, to do
away with the fateful institution. The failure of these popular
movements led to a sharp reaction in Virginia, as in the whole
South, in favour of slavery. From 1835 to 1861 many leading
Virginians defended slavery as a blessing and as part of a divinely
established order.
In 1850 a third Convention undertook to amend the Constitution,
and now that the West yielded its bitter hostility to slavery,
representation was so arranged that the more populous section was
enabled to control the House while the East still held the Senate;
the election of judges was confided to the people; and the suffrage
was broadened. Although the West was not pleased, the leaders of
the slave-holding counties threatened secession.
In the national elections of 1860 Virginia returned a majority
of unionist
electors as
against the secession candidates, Breckinridge and Lane, many of
the large planters voting for the continuance of the Union, and
many of the smaller slave-owners supporting the secessionists. The
governor called an extra session of the legislature soon after the
Federal election, and this in turn called a Convention to meet on
the 13th of February 1861. The majority of this body consisted of
Unionists, but the Convention passed the
ordinance of secession when the Federal
government (April 17) called upon the state to supply its
quota of armed men to suppress
"insurrection" in the lower Southern states. An
alliance was made with the provisional
government of the Confederate States, on April 25, without waiting
for the vote of the people on the ordinance. The Convention called
out Io,000 troops and appointed
Colonel Robert E. Lee of
the United States army as commander-in-chief. On the 23rd of May
the people of the eastern counties almost unanimously voted
approval of the acts of the Convention, and the western counties
took steps to form the state of West Virginia (q.v.). Richmond soon
became the capital of the Confederacy.
The Civil War was already begun, and Virginia was of necessity
the battle-ground. Of the six great impacts made upon the
Confederacy, four were upon Virginian soil: the first
Manassas campaign (1861), the
Peninsular battles (1862), second Manassas (1862), Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville (1862-63) and the
great
Wilderness-Petersburg series of attacks
(1864-65). About 50,000 men were killed in Virginia, and probably
ioo,000 died of wounds and disease. The principal battles were: the
first Manassas, or
Bull
Run (July 21, 1861); those around Richmond (June 26-July 2,
1862); second Manassas (August 29-30); Fredericksburg (December 12,
1862); Mechanicsville (May 2 and 3, 186 3); the Wilderness (May 5
and 6);
Spottsylvania (May 8); North Anna and
Bethesda church (May 29-30);
Cold Harbor
(June 3); the battles around Petersburg (June 15, July 30 and
November 1, 1864); and Five Forks (April 1) and Appomattox (April
8-9, 1865).
With the surrender of the Confederate army under General Lee to
Grant at Appomattox the task of reconstruction began. President
Lincoln offered a very liberal
plan of re-establishing the civil authority over the counties east
of the Alleghany mountains, and Governor
Francis H. Pierpont set up in
Richmond a government, based upon the Lincoln plan and supported by
President Johnson, which continued till the 2nd of March 1867, when
the famous reconstruction order converting the state into Military
District No. I was issued. General John M. Schofield was put in
charge, and under his authority a constitutional Convention was
summoned which bestowed the suffrage upon the former slaves, who,
led by a small group of whites, who had come into the state with
the invading armies, ratified the 14th and 15th amendments to the
Federal Constitution and governed the community until 1869. Then
the secessionists and Union men of 1861 united and regained
control. Virginia was readmitted to the Union on the 26th of
January 1870. The Constitution of the reconstruction years was
unchanged until 1902, when the present fundamental law was
adopted.
In national elections the state has supported the
Democratic
party, except in 1860, when its vote was cast for
John Bell, the candidate of
the Constitutional Union party.
|
Under the Crown
|
|
|
Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor.
|
1624-1626
|
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Sir George Yeardley, „
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1626-1627
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Francis West (elected by Council).
|
1627-1628
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|
John Pott „
|
1628-1629
|
|
|
1629-1635
|
|
John West (elected by Council) .
|
1635-1636
|
|
Sir John Harvey, Governor. .
|
1636-1639
|
|
Sir Francis Wyatt, „
|
1639-1641
|
|
Sir William Berkeley, „
|
1641-1644
|
|
Richard Kemp (elected by Council)
|
1644-1645
|
|
Sir William Berkeley, Governor .
|
1645-1652
|
Governors Of Virginia
Under the Company Edward Maria Wingfield,
President of the Council
1607 (April to Sept.) John Ratcliffe, President of the Council
1607-1608 John Smith, „ „ „1608-1609George
Percy, 1609
-16101610 Thomas West, Lord Delaware, "Governor and Captain
General".1610-1618George Percy, Deputy Governor 161 I (March to
flay)
Sir Thomas
Dale, "High Marshal" and Deputy Governor 1611 (May to Aug.) Sir
Thomas Gates, Acting Governor 1611-1612 Sir Thomas Dale, „
„.1612-1616George Yeardley, Lieutenant or Deputy Governor..
...1616-1617Samuel Argall,Lieutenant or Deputy
Governor1617-1619Nathaniel Powell, Acting Governor 1619(April 9 to
19) Sir George Yeardley, Governor..1619-1621Sir Francis
Wyatt,.1621-1624George
Hamilton Douglas, Earl of
Orkney, Governor-in-Chief. .
Edward Nott, Lieutenant Governor. Edmund Jenings, President of
the Council .
Robert Hunter,
Lieutenant Governor'. Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant Governor
.
Hugh Drysdale, „ .
Robert Carter, President of the Council .
William Gooch, Lieutenant Governor.. William Anne Keppel, Earl
of Albemarle, Governor-in-Chief'. .
James Blair, President of the Council. .
Sir William Gooch, Governor .
Thomas Lee, Lewis Burwell,„ „ .
|
General of the American Colonies' .
John Blair, President of the Council .
Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor .
John Blair, President of the Council .
Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt,
Governor-in-Chief. .
William Nelson, President of the Council .
John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, Governor-
in-Chief .
State
Patrick Henry.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Nelson, jun. .
Patrick Henry
Edmund Randolph
Beverley Randolph
Henry Lee .
Robert Brooke. .
James Wood, Democratic-Republican
James Monroe,
William H. Cabell, „ „
James Monroe,„
George Wm. Smith (acting), Democratic Re-
publican. .
Peyton Randolph (acting). .
James Barbour, Anti-Democrat .
James Patton Preston,
Thomas Mann Randolph, „
James Pleasants, jun.,
William Branch Giles, Democrat .
|
1756-1763
1758 (Jan. to June)
1758-1768
1763-1768
1768 (March to Oct.)
1768-1770
1770-1771
1771-1775
1 77 6-1779
1779-1781
17
178181-1784
1784-1786
1786-1788
1788-1 79 1
17 9 1-1794
1794-1796
1196-1799
1 799 -1802
1802-1805
1805-1808
1808 -1811
1811
1811
1811 -1812
1812-1814
1814-1816
1816-1819
1819-1822
1822-1825
1825-1827
1827-1830
|
Wyndham Robertson (acting), Democrat .
'Thomas W. Gilmer, Whig. .
John M. Patton (acting), „ .
John Letcher, .
William Smith, „ Francis H. Pierpont (provisional), Republican
Henry Horatio
Wells, „ „ Gilbert
Carlton Walker, „ James Lawson Kemper, Conservative.. Frederick Wm.
Mackey Holliday, ” Debt Paying ”. .
Philip W. McKinney, Democrat
.
Charles Triplett O'Ferrall, Democrat James Hoge Tyler, „
Andrew Jackson
Montague, „ Claude Augustus Swanson, „ William Hodges Mann, „
Bibliography. -FOr
physical description see Henry Gannett,
Gazetteer of Virginia (Washington, 1904), U.S. Geological
Survey Bulletin 232; W. B. Rogers,
Geology of the Virginias (New York, 1884);
N. H. Darton and M. L. Fuller in
Water Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 114 (Washington,
1905) of the U.S. Geological Survey; G. T. Surface, "Physiography
of Virginia," pp. 741-53, vol. 38 (1906),
Bulletin, Am. Geog.
Soc., and "
Geography of Virginia," pp. 1-60, vol. 5
(1907),
Bulletin, Philadelphia Geog. Soc.; T. L. Watson
et all., Mineral Resources of Virginia (Lynchburg, 1907).
On
fisheries see the
Report of the Commission of
Fisheries, 1908-9 (Richmond, 1909). For
administration see J. G. Pollard (ed.),
Code of
Virginia (2 vols., St
Paul, 1904);; and on
finance, W. L. Royall,
History of the Virginia Debt
Controversy (Richmond, 1897). History. - General histories
are: Robert
Beverley,
History of Virginia in Four Parts (Richmond, 1855); R. R.
Howison,
History of Virginia (2 vols., ibid., 1849); S.
Kercheval,
History of the Valley of Virginia (Woodstock,
Va., 1850); and J. E.
Cook,
Virginia: a History of the People (Boston, 1900). On the
earlier period see W. A. Clayton Torrence, "A Trial Bibliography of
Colonial Virginia" (Richmond, 1910), in the
Report of the
Virginia State Librarian; L. G. Tyler (ed.),
Narratives of
Early Virginia, 1606-25 (New York, 19,07); W. Stith,
History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia
(ibid., 1865); Susan M. Kingsbury (ed.),
Records of the
Virginia Company of London (2 vols., Washington. 1906);
Alexander Brown,
The First Republic in America (Boston,
1898); idem (ed.),
Genesis of the United States (2 vols.,
ibid., 1890); J. S. Bassett,
The Writings of Colonel William Byrd of
Westover (New York, 1901);
John Fiske,
Old Virginia and her
Neighbors (ibid., 1897); P. A.
Bruce,
Economic History of Virginia in the
Seventeenth Century (2 vols., New York, 1895); J. P.
Kennedy and H. R. Mcllwaine,
Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1742-76 (Richmond,
1905-7); Charles Campbell,
History of the Colony and Ancient
Dominion of Virginia (Philadelphia, 1859); E. I. Miller,
Legislature of the Province of Virginia (New York, 1908);
and, for religious and social conditions, Rt. Rev. W. Meade,
Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia (ibid.,
1857); and H. J. Eckenrode, "Separation of Church and State in
Virginia" (Richmond, 1909) in the
5th Report of the Virginia
State Librarian. For the more recent period see Chas. H.
Ambler,
Sectionalism in Virginia 1770-1861 (Chicago,
1910), a valuable study; P. L. Ford,
Writings of Thomas
Jefferson (to vols., New York, 1892-99); W. C. Ford,
Writings of George Washington (14 vols.,
ibid., 1889-93); W. W. Henry,
Life, Correspondence and Speeches
of Patrick Henry (3 vols., ibid., 1891); J. Elliott,
Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the
Federal Constitution (Philadelphia, 1861); T. R.
Dew,
Review of the Debate in the
Virginia Legislature, 1831-32 (Richmond, 1832), important for
a comprehension of the slavery issue; J. C. Ballagh,
A History
of Slavery in Virginia (Baltimore, 1902); B. B. Munford,
Virginia's Attitude toward Slavery (New York, 1909); and
the
Debates of the Virginia Conventions, 1776, 1829, 1850,
which are very important, especially for 1829. See also R. A. Brock
(ed.),
Virginia Historical Collections (i i vols.,
Richmond, 1882-92); P. A. Bruce and W. G. Stanard,
Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography (ibid., 1893 sqq.); W. W.
Hening,
The Statutes at Large (13 vols. ibid., 1819-23);
and W. P.
Palmer,
Calendar of Virginia State
Papers (11 vols., ibid., 1874).
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Misc
i /vərˈdʒɪnjə/) 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" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which are home to much of its flora and fauna. .The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision.^ 
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