Virginia Vignettes » Revolution & Early Republic

What is Colonial Williamsburg?

EV — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:50:44 +0000

Colonial Williamsburg is the restored and reconstructed historic area of Williamsburg, Virginia, a small city between the York and James rivers that was founded in 1632, designated capital of the English colony in 1698, and bestowed with a royal charter in 1722. It was a center of political activity before and during the American Revolution (1775–1783)—where George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry debated taxes, slavery, and the inalienable rights of men—and has since become the site of an ambitious restoration project launched in the 1930s and funded largely by the family of John D. Rockefeller Jr. With many of its historic structures rebuilt and with interpreters reenacting eighteenth-century life, Colonial Williamsburg has become a landmark in the history of the American preservation movement. More than that, though, the project serves as a self-conscious shrine of American ideals. The history and legacy of slavery, once downplayed at Williamsburg, is now dealt with openly—interpreters are both white and African American—but the focus remains on information about democracy, freedom, and representative government.

For Additional Reading:

Greenspan, Anders. Creating Colonial Williamsburg. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.
Kopper, Philip. Colonial Williamsburg. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1986.
Rouse, Park, Jr. Remembering Williamsburg: A Sentimental Journey through Three Centuries. Richmond, Va.: Dietz Press, 1989.

Did the Father of Our Country Ever Leave Our Country?

VFHwebdev — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:55:03 +0000

In late 1751, at the age of 19, George Washington made his only lifetime trip outside of the continental colonies. He accompanied his older brother Lawrence, who sought relief for his tuberculosis in the climate of Barbados. The choice of this Caribbean island was not fortuitous.

Barbados was a major British sugar and slave colony and its capital, Bridgetown, was one of the most important port cities in British America. The island’s pleasant climate was well known, strong commercial ties had existed between Virginia and Barbados for many years, and the Washingtons had family connections on the island. During their seven week visit, the brothers had a busy social life, regularly dining with members of the planter class and the white elite.

It was at a dinner party, where smallpox was present in the host’s family, that George Washington probably contracted the disease, a regular presence in Barbados for much of the 18th century. Although he recovered and acquired lifetime immunity, Washington’s experience in Barbados left an enduring legacy, not only with the pockmarks on his face, but also his sensitivity to the dangers that smallpox posed to his vulnerable Continental army during the American Revolution.

For Further Reading:

Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. Vol. 1 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976)

John C. Fitzpatrick, The Diaries of George Washington, 1748-1799. Vol. 1 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1925)

What did Virginia women do during the Revolution?

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:00:32 +0000

The war effort and its repercussions demanded much of Virginia women. Many sent husbands off to war and assumed some if not all of the duties of running their family plantation, farm, or business. Homespun clothes became a mark of patriotism, and by 1777 Virginia women and their slaves were making much of the clothing used by families.

Women in somewhat better circumstances took more direct action to support or encourage the war effort. When Benjamin Franklin’s married daughter and other Philadelphia women formed a Ladies Association in 1780 to collect money to buy clothing for the Continental army, Martha Washington contacted Martha Jefferson, who in turn exhorted her friends to establish a similar institution in Virginia. They ran ads in the Virginia Gazette, collected money in a number of counties, and forwarded the funds to Mrs. Washington.

Finally, most women did everything in their power to encourage manly behavior on the part of their husbands, sweethearts, and lovers. All of these activities and experiences encouraged a number of white women, especially elite women, to imagine a larger public role for themselves and their daughters, but they would have to wait.

Further Reading

Cynthia Kierner, Beyond the Household: Women’s Place in the Early South, 1700-1835

Who Wrote the First American Comedies?

EV — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:25:28 +0000

His name was Robert Munford III, and while he is remembered today as a playwright, in his time he was best known as a member of the House of Burgesses and an officer who served under George Washington during the French and Indian War. Politically, Munford was an anti-tax moderate who opposed the Revolutionary War and vented some of his frustrations in the form of comedies he wrote but never produced. The Patriots (1777), the second of Munford’s two plays, addresses the serious question of wartime dissent in Virginia, which on occasion resulted in violent attacks on those not deemed to be sufficiently patriotic. Munford himself was accused of being a British sympathizer despite being on the record in favor of independence, and was therefore especially vehement in condemning those who equated loud patriotism with true patriotism. The character Meanwell, a gentleman accused of disloyalty, says, “I hope my zeal against tyranny will not be shewn by bawling against it, but by serving my country against her enemies; and never may I signalize my attachment to liberty by persecuting innocent men, only because they differ in opinion with me.”

Further Reading:

Rodney M. Blaine, Robert Munford: America’s First Comic Dramatist (1967)

Who wrote the first major treatise on American law?

EV — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:25:46 +0000

No, not Thomas Jefferson. It was St. George Tucker. Tucker was one of the most influential jurists and legal scholars in the United States during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He served as judge on three different courts in Virginia: the General Court (1788-1804), the Virginia Court of Appeals (1804-1811) and the federal district court for the eastern district of Virginia (1813-1825). In addition to his work as a jurist, Tucker was an important legal scholar and educator. From 1788 until 1804, Tucker taught law at the College of William and Mary, carrying out his teaching duties between court terms. Perhaps Tucker’s most significant contribution was his 1803 publication of a new, five-volume edition of William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England. Dubbed the “American Blackstone,” it was the first major treatise on American law and included Tucker’s law lectures, which were the first systematic effort to describe the contours of the American legal system as it had been shaped by the American Revolution, the United States Constitution and state constitutions (particularly the Virginia constitution).

Further Reading:

Charles T. Cullen, St. George Tucker and Law in Virginia, 1772-1804 (1987)

Did African Americans from Virginia serve in the Revolutionary War?

VFHwebdev — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:09:18 +0000

Saul Matthews was a slave from Norfolk County who served the patriot cause in the double capacity of a soldier in the American army and as a spy for the American commanders in the British army during the Revolutionary War. During the time when many slaves of Norfolk and Princess Anne counties followed the British in response to Dunmore’s proclamation of freedom to all who joined his army, Matthews worked as a spy, procuring valuable information for American commanders. On one occasion in 1781 during the British campaign in the Portsmouth area, Matthews risked his life and went into the British garrison to spy for the Americans. Bringing back valuable military secrets, Matthews was able to lead a successful raid against the garrison. For his services as a spy and soldier, Matthews was praised by many army officers and was awarded his freedom and a 100 acre land bounty at the end of the war.

Did African Americans from Virginia serve in the Revolutionary War?

VFHwebdev — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:10:51 +0000

William Flora (1755-1820) was one of the African Americans in the Norfolk area who distinguished himself as a soldier fighting on the American side during the Revolution and eventually found success as a business leader. Flora was a free black born in Portsmouth, Virginia who stood his ground at the Battle of Great Bridge, defending it against the British attack in December 1776. His bravery was credited with sparking an American victory that eventually forced the British to withdraw from Norfolk. At the end of the war, as a reward for his meritorious service, Flora received the standard 100 acre land bounty which allowed him to become a successful livery stable operator. So successful was Flora’s livery stable with blacks and whites, that he became one of the first free blacks to buy town property. When he died, Flora owned 2 homes and numerous horses and carriages.

For Further Reading:

The Battle of Great Bridge – Wikipedia

Who were the Loyalists in Virginia during the Revolution?

VFHwebdev — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 20:01:21 +0000

The continuous presence of British ships in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast encouraged a number of residents from the Eastern Shore and Norfolk areas to remain steadfast loyalists throughout the war. Some were merchants who had much to gain financially by trading with Britain; others were smugglers who made handsome profits by bringing in goods forbidden by the non-importation associations. Still others remained loyal to the mother country out of principle, believing that small losses in personal liberty were more than outweighed by the security provided by membership in the British Empire. Some, too, were outright monarchists who feared that republican forms of government would lead only to chaos and mob rule. The vast majority of the Virginia gentry sided with the patriots; but some notable exceptions included former attorney general John Randolph, Deputy Receiver General Richard Corbin, and a hesitant William Byrd III. Many Anglican clergy and small non-slaveholding farmers in southwest Virginia also remained loyal.

Further Reading

Adele Hast, Loyalism in Revolutionary Virginia.

Was the Declaration of Independence a revolutionary document?

VFHwebdev — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 20:07:23 +0000

The document that Thomas Jefferson wrote represented the journey that the American colonies and Virginia had taken since 1765. The center section of the Declaration lists eighteen major abuses and a number of minor ones by king and Parliament and is based primarily on the notion that the traditional rights of Englishmen had been violated. Americans were taking a conservative position by arguing that the past must be restored; Englishmen living in America must have their ancient rights back.

Only as a last resort were Americans forced to sever the ties with their mother country. Yet the introduction to the Declaration and parts of the conclusion present new, modern, radical arguments that embody the most advanced thinking of the eighteenth-century European Enlightenment: all men, not just Englishmen, are created equal and have certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken from them by any government or ruler; governments are created by the people themselves; and most importantly, all governments, including those headed by monarchs, can be overthrown and replaced when they no longer protect the life, liberty, and happiness of the people who founded them. This was, indeed, a radical revolutionary message.

Further Reading

Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.

What did Virginia women do during the Revolution?

VFHwebdev — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 20:10:33 +0000

Further Reading

Cynthia Kierner, Beyond the Household: Women’s Place in the Early South, 1700-1835