Virginia’s Beginnings: State Government from 1606 – the Present

 Jamestown, VA Jamestown was the first permanent English colony in North America. Roanoke Island had failed some twenty years before this attempt was made. When Jamestown was constructed, the Powhatan tribe could easily have wiped the colony from the map. Chief Powhatan believed that the colony would be useful to him as a trading partner, though, so he allowed them to survive.

 The Virginia Company of London The Virginia Company of London was, quite simply, a money-making initiative. Unlike the Puritans in New England, few of the investors at Jamestown wanted to make this a permanent home. They wanted to discover resources in Virginia, excavate them, and win wealth and fame. Many died during the “Starving Time…”

 Tobacco John Rolfe introduced a sweeter variety of tobacco – imported from the Caribbean – in the year Tobacco proved to be a profitable crop for Jamestown, and insured the survival of the colony. Virginia could now become self-sufficient. The addictive product is still a powerful lobbying group in Richmond – four hundred years later.

 The House of Burgesses Only property owning, white men could vote for the House of Burgesses, and there were just two men elected from each settlement in Virginia. The elections were infrequent, and most of the power still resided with the governor; nevertheless, this was the first elected representative government in the English Colonies of North America when it was established in 1619.

 Salutary Neglect Historians call the period between the foundation of the American colonies and the French and Indian War a period of “salutary neglect.” In other words, it was a period when the colonies were unsupervised by English authorities, and seemed to thrive in spite of it. England was content to establish trade with her American colonies then, and did not collect taxes or place unnecessary regulations on the colonists.

 Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676  Nathaniel Bacon aspired to lead the colony of Virginia, and led a mysterious rebellion in 1676 to gain power.  He was originally provoked because colonial frontiersmen were not receiving protection from the governor from Indian attacks on the periphery of the colony.  What started as an undeclared war against the Indians soon morphed into rebellion against the government, too.  Nathaniel Bacon died – suddenly and mysteriously – ending the rebellion.

 George Washington  Washington was born into plantation wealth in  He was well-educated and drawn into military life at a young age.  He rose to prominence during the French and Indian War, serving for England as a member of the Virginia militia.

 Patrick Henry Patrick Henry was a young and somewhat reckless member of the House of Burgesses in 1765, when he delivered a speech which bordered on treason against the English government. Henry objected to the notion of taxation without representation; that is, the collection of taxes by a Parliament – in England - in which Virginians were not represented.

 Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson took pride in three accomplishments – so much so that they are the only markers of his greatness on his tombstone: the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, and the founding of the University of Virginia. He was a Renaissance man, though, in many ways!

 George Washington and Thomas Jefferson - Slaveholders It is perhaps the most ironic point in American history that many of the founding fathers, and especially Virginians– from Washington to George Mason and including Thomas Jefferson, were slaveholders.

 The Virginia House of Burgesses, 1776  In 1772, the House of Burgesses set up a Committee of Correspondence which helped all of the colonies to be apprised when the British committed certain transgressions against the colonists.  Virginians encouraged each of the states to create the First Continental Congress.  During the Second Continental Congress, Virginians encouraged and then actually wrote the Declaration of Independence.

  In addition to the contributions made by Virginians during the Revolutionary War, there were major accomplishments made for the governance of the new state:  The Virginia Declaration of Rights was passes.  The First Constitution of the State of Virginia was created in 1776, placing strong limits on the power of government. Virginia in the Revolution

George Mason Although his strong opposition to the Constitution – he thought it was not worthy of ratification without a Bill of Rights – lost him some of the fame and recognition of other Founding Fathers, the rights and liberties we enjoy as Virginians were derived largely from George Mason’s philosophies. Ironically, although he owned slaves his entire life, Mason spoke out against the institution of slavery and called it “a slow poison.” He didn’t hate the institution enough to give up his own slaves, though.

A Republican Form of Government for Virginians The first Constitution of Virginia would be amended and replaced repeatedly over the years. But from the start, it laid the framework for a representative democracy. Over the years that democracy would expand suffrage to more and more people, and include more members of the population as full fledged citizens. It would take a long, long, time though!