Appendix
A Chronology of Selected Events in Virginia1763-178347
May 10, 1763.After the news of the signing of the Peace of Paris on February 10, 1763, came to Virginia, the Virginia regiment was disbanded.
May 28, 1763.The defeat of the French in America introduced new stresses and strains in the British Empire. Differences between the colonies and Mother Country began to appear immediately and with increasing frequency and intensity. The Bland Report of 1763 made to the House of Burgesses revealed one point of conflict between the two. Virginia had in part financed her contribution to the recent war by issuing paper money backed by taxation. The British merchants, creditors of the colonial planters, feared inflation and were bitterly attacking the policy of printing paper money in the colonies. Defending Virginia's actions, the Bland Report presented the American argument for paper money. The British merchants carried the day to their own hurt by securing an Act of Parliament in 1764 forbidding the future issue of paper currency in the colonies.
October 7, 1763.Another cause for colonial resentment at war's end was the King's proclamation closing the trans-Allegheny west to settlement.
December, 1763.One consequence of the Parsons' Causes was the sudden emergence of young Patrick Henry on the political scene. When the court of Hanover county decided in favor of Reverend James Maury, the defendants called on Henry to plead their cause before the jury which was to fix the amount of damages. By appealing to the anti-clerical and even lawless instincts of the jury and by doing it with unmatched oratorical skill, Patrick Henry won the jury to his side and made himself a popular hero in upcountry Virginia.
October 30, 1764.Many Burgesses arrived early for the October December session of the General Assembly "in a flame" over the Act of Parliament proposing a Stamp tax on the American colonists. The committee of correspondence had been busy during the summer communicating with the agent in London, and the Burgesses were ready to take action against the proposed tax.
December 17, 1764.The House of Burgesses and the Council agreed upon an address to the Crown and upon memorials to the House of Commons and to the House of Lords. The three petitions stressed the sufferings such a tax would cause war-weary Virginians and also opposed the levy on constitutional grounds. They argued that the colonial charters and long usage gave the Virginia House of Burgesses the sole right to tax Virginians and that the fundamental constitution of Britain protected a man from being taxed without his consent. These arguments, elaborated and refined, were to be the heart of the colonial contentions in the turbulent days ahead.
May 29, 1765.The arguments of the Virginia Assembly went unheeded. On February 27, 1765, Parliament decreed that the stamp tax should go into effect on November 1. The General Assembly was in session when news of the passage of the Stamp Act came to Virginia, and on May 29 the House went into the committee of the whole to consider what steps it should take. Burgess Patrick Henry presented his famous resolutions which fixed at the outset the tenor of colonial opposition to the stamp tax. The House adopted by a close vote on the 30th five of Henry's seven resolutions, and all seven were given wide circulation throughout the colonies.
October 30, 1765.On the day before the stamp tax was to go into effect, George Mercer, the collector, arrived in Williamsburg with the stamps. Williamsburg was filled with people in town for the meeting of the General Court, and Governor Fauquier had to intervene to protect Mercer from the insults of the mob. On November 1, the courts ceased to function and all public business came to a virtual halt.
February 8, 1766.Foreshadowing the judicial review of a later day, the Northampton county court declared the Stamp Act unconstitutional and consequently of no effect.
March 13, 1766.A number of the inhabitants of the town and environs of Norfolk assembled at the court house and formed the Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty usually appeared hereafter at the forefront of any anti-British agitation in the colonies.
1766. Richard Bland published his famousAn Inquiry into the Rights of the British Coloniesin which he took a rather advanced constitutional position in opposition to parliamentary taxation of the American colonies.
May 11, 1766.At the height of the Stamp Act crisis, the dominant group in the House of Burgesses was shaken by a scandal involving the long-time Speaker and Treasurer of the Colony, John Robinson, who died on this day leaving his accounts short by some 100,000 pounds.
June 9, 1766.Governor Fauquier announced by public proclamation the repeal of the Stamp Act (March 18, 1766). Although repeal brought a wave of reaction against the agitation of the past months and a strong upsurge of loyalty to Great Britain, the leaders of Virginia, and of the other colonies, had consciously or not moved to a new position in their view of the proper relationship between the Colony and the Mother Country. The failure of the rulers of Britain to appreciate and assess properly the changed temper of the colonists lost for them the American empire.
November 6, 1766.The General Assembly of 1766-1768 met: November 6-December 16, 1766 and adjourned to March 12-April 11, 1767, and then met in a final session, March 31-April 16, 1768.
January, 1768.The Virginia Gazettebegan to publish John Dickenson's letters from a "Pennsylvania Farmer." These letters did a great deal to clarify, in the minds of many, the American position with regard to the Parliamentary claim of the right of taxation in the colonies.
March 3, 1768.Governor Fauquier died.
March 31, 1768.News of the passage of the Townshend Acts and of the suspension of the New York legislature was already causing a wave of indignation in Virginia when the General Assembly met in March. Having taken under consideration the circular letter of the Massachusetts legislature opposing the Townshend Acts and various petitions to the same effect, the House of Burgesses prepared petitions to the Crown and to both Houses of Parliament, and on April 14 adopted all three unanimously. The House then sent word to the other colonial Assemblies of its action and congratulated the Massachusetts House "for their attention to American liberty."
August 12, 1768.In a move to strengthen the hand of the Virginia Governor and at the same time to conciliate the Colony, the King made Fauquier's replacement, Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, Governor of Virginia in the place of Jeffrey Amherst. Not since the time of Governor Nicholson had the Governor himself come out to Virginia.
October 26, 1768.Lord Botetourt arrived in Williamsburg.
May 8, 1769.The Governor, Lord Botetourt, opened the first and only session of the General Assembly of 1769 (May 8-17) with a conciliatory speech; but, obviously unmoved, the House of Burgesses set about with remarkable unanimity to restate their position with regard to Parliamentary supremacy. The House also denounced the reported plan for transporting colonists accused of treason to England for trial. On May 16, the House adopted resolutions to this effect and then on the next day unanimously approved an address to the Crown.
May 17, 1769.The House resolutions of the 16th caused Lord Botetourt to dissolve the General Assembly. Dissolution blocked the planned adoption of George Mason's proposal for forming an association with the other colonies for the purpose of suspending the importation of British goods. But the Burgesses got around this by meeting in their private capacity at the house of Anthony Hays. This was a momentous step. The meeting made Speaker Peyton Randolph the moderator and appointed a committee to present a plan for association.
May 18, 1769.The Burgesses adopted the report of the committee calling for a boycott on English goods to force the repeal of the Townshend Acts and invited the other colonies to join the association.
November 7, 1769.The General Assembly of 1769-1771 met November 7-December 21, 1769, and adjourned to May 21-June 28, 1770; and then it met in a final session July 11-20, 1771.
In his speech to the Assembly on the first day of its meeting, Lord Botetourt pacified the Virginians momentarily with information from Lord Hillsborough that His Majesty's administration contemplated no new taxes in America and in fact intended the repeal of the Townshend Acts.
June 22, 1770.During the May-June session of the General Assembly, the gentlemen of the House of Burgesses joined with a large group of merchants to take action against the duty on tea retained when the Townshend Acts were repealed. The Burgesses and merchants formed a new association to replace the ineffective one of 1769. This time, committees in each county were to take proper steps to see that the terms of the association were abided by.
June 27, 1770.The members of the House of Burgesses agreed unanimously to a new petition to the King asking for his interposition to prevent Parliament levying taxes in America.
October 15, 1770.Lord Botetourt of necessity had often opposed the colonists in their quarrel with the British Parliament, but he had done so without losing their affection and respect. On October 15, 1770, he died. William Nelson, president of the Council, then acted as Governor until the fall of 1771 when Governor Dunmore arrived.
October 12, 1771.John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, dissolved the General Assembly of 1769-1771 after coming to Virginia on September 25, 1771. Dunmore, Virginia's last British Governor, was an unperceptive and timorous man, a man who could do nothing to still the coming storm that rent an Empire.
February 10, 1772.The General Assembly of 1772-1774 met February 10-April 11, 1772; March 4-15, 1773; and May 5-26, 1774, when it was dissolved. Meeting in an interlude of relative peace between Britain and her colonies (1770-1773), the Assembly in its spring session of 1772 proceeded in a routine fashion and the Burgesses found no occasion to try the mettle of the new Governor.
March 4, 1773.Governor Dunmore for the first time found reason to complain of the General Assembly in its March meeting of 1773. He was miffed by an implied rebuke of the House of Burgesses for his handling of counterfeiters; but he had better reason to be disturbed by another development. On March 12, the House revived its committee of correspondence and extended its functions. As proposed by a self-constituted meeting at the Raleigh Tavern and headed by Richard Henry Lee, the House instructed its new committee of correspondence to inquire into theGaspéeaffair, to keep in touch with the legislatures of the other colonies, and to correspond with the London agent. A key factor in the transfer of power which was to come shortly, the plan of a committee of correspondence was quickly adopted in the other colonies. Before proroguing the Assembly on March 15, Governor Dunmore signed the last Acts assented to by the royal Governor of Virginia.
May 24, 1774.The May meeting of the Assembly was uneventful until the news of the Boston Port Acts stirred up a hornets' nest in the House of Burgesses. The House expressed alarm and promptly declared June 1, the day the Acts were to go into effect, a day of fasting and prayer. Two days later, May 26, Governor Dunmore dissolved the General Assembly of 1772-1774. One consequence of interrupting the Assembly before any legislation had been completed was to put an end to civil actions in the courts for the lack of a fee bill, which pleased many a debt-ridden colonist.
May 27, 1774.On May 25, the day after the news of the Boston Port Acts, Richard Henry Lee had ready his proposals for calling a Continental Congress, but when he delayed presenting them to the House so as not to invoke dissolution, he lost the opportunity of having the House of Burgesses act upon them. The day after Dunmore had dissolved the Assembly, the members of the House met in the Apollo room of the Raleigh Tavern. After denouncing the "intolerable" Acts, they instructed the committee of correspondence to write to the other colonies and propose a Continental Congress.
May 30, 1774.Twenty-five Burgesses who were still in town met to consider a packet of letters fresh from Boston. Massachusetts proposed that all of the colonies suspend all trade with Britain. The Burgesses agreed to send out notices to the members of the "late House" for a meeting on August 1, 1774. During the next two months, the inhabitants in the various counties met to elect delegates to the August Convention and to prepare resolutions condemning the Boston Port Acts. Feeling was running high and sympathy for Boston took the form of an outpouring of gifts for the unfortunate city. Jefferson'sSummary Viewpublished at this time was intended as a guide for the August Convention, but it was too advanced for the moment in its outright denial of all Parliamentary authority in America.
August 1, 1774.With the meeting of the August Convention, Virginia took a big step toward revolution and began to build an extra-legal framework which would take over the functions of government when British authority collapsed. The Convention agreed to import no more from Britain after November 1 and to export no more after August 10, 1775. It chose as delegates to the Continental Congress Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton. The Convention instructed each county to appoint a committee of correspondence. The amazing effectiveness with which the committees organized the counties helps to explain Virginia's smooth transition from colony to commonwealth.
1775. With an estimated population of 550,000, Virginia had 61 counties on the eve of the Revolution. Ten of these were formed since the departure of Governor Dinwiddie in 1758: Fauquier in 1759; Amherst and Buckingham in 1761; Charlotte and Mecklenburg in 1765; Pittsylvania in 1767; Botetourt in 1770; and Berkeley, Dunmore, and Fincastle in 1772.
March 20, 1775.Peyton Randolph, moderator of the August Convention, called for a meeting at Richmond in March. The March convention, dominated by members of the House of Burgesses, approved the work of the Continental Congress, but foremost in the minds of the delegates was the problem of defense. After Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, the delegates made provisions for developing a military establishment. What they in fact did was to undermine the regular militia through the formation of "Independent Companies" in the counties. The revolutionary government which was evolving became a little more clearly defined when the Convention instructed each county to elect two delegates to sit in future Conventions.
April 20, 1775.Lord Dunmore watched the events of 1774-1775 with helpless alarm. Particularly frightening for him was the formation of the "Independent Companies" in the spring of 1775. On the night of April 20 he took the precaution of having the small store of arms and ammunition in the magazine at Williamsburg removed and placed on H.M.S.Foweyin the York River. On the morning of the 21st, the people of Williamsburg learned what the Governor had done during the night and were vastly excited. An incredible wave of fury spread through the Colony and everywhere men took up arms. All the pent up passion of the past months was turned against the unfortunate Governor.
April 28, 1775.At the height of the excitement over the powder magazine affair, news came from the northward that colonials had engaged British regulars at Concord and Lexington.
May 3, 1775.Thoroughly frightened, Lord Dunmore made a public proclamation on May 3 in which he attempted to justify his actions of April 20 and to pacify the people. Beyond being pacified, the people cheered Patrick Henry who marched upon Williamsburg with the Hanover Independent Company and stopped short of the town only because Governor Dunmore sent him 300 pounds to pay for the powder taken from the public magazine.
June 1, 1775.Fortified with Lord North's conciliatory proposals, Dunmore made his last bid to regain control of the colony by recalling the General Assembly to Williamsburg on June 1, 1775. The Burgesses refused to re-open the courts as Dunmore asked; they approved the proceedings of the Continental Congress and the colonial Conventions without a dissenting vote; and then they allowed Jefferson to reply to North's proposal in terms of hisSummary Viewof the year before.
June 8, 1775.Lord Dunmore wrote the Assembly that he considered Williamsburg no longer safe for him and his family and that he had taken up residence in theFoweyin the York River. When the General Assembly refused to do business with him there and proceeded to operate independently of the Governor, royal government in Virginia was virtually at an end. The General Assembly adjourned itself on June 24 to October 12, 1775, and then to March 7, 1776, and finally to May 16, 1776, but a quorum never appeared.
July 17, 1775.The July Convention completed the transfer of power from the royal government to the revolutionists. It sought to legalize its control by providing for the proper election of its members. The Convention became the successor of the colonial General Assembly. When the rumor went about on August 16 that Dunmore was going to attack Williamsburg, the Convention appointed a Committee of Public Safety of 11 members. This Committee acted as the executive of the Colony until after the adoption of the constitution in 1776. The Convention also set up the basic structure for the defense establishment and for taxation.
November 7, 1775.The main threat to the revolutionary regime in 1775 came from Lord Dunmore who remained at Norfolk with his small fleet and a detachment of British regulars. Despite the "chicken stealing" raids of the ships in the late summer and fall, the Committee of Public Safety made no move against Dunmore until after he had declared martial law on November 7 and it had become apparent that disaffection was growing in Norfolk.
December 1, 1775.The December Convention acted as the legislative body for the government of Virginia.
1776. Hampden-Sydney, a school for men, was founded under the auspices of the Hanover Presbytery.
January 1, 1776.The provincial forces skirmished with Dunmore's at Great Bridge on December 9 and took Norfolk on December 14. The guns of Dunmore's ships set Norfolk afire on January 1, 1776, and colonial troops, with connivance of officers, added to the conflagration by setting fire to the houses not hit by the ships. Lord Dunmore finally sailed away in May, 1776.
May 6, 1776.The revolutionary Convention met for the last time in May and June of 1776. It proceeded to draw up a constitution for Virginia, which it adopted on June 28. It incorporated in the constitution George Mason's famous Bill of Rights and provided that the legislature should dominate the new government.
May 15, 1776.The Convention adopted Richard Henry Lee's resolution instructing the delegates to the Continental Congress to urge the Congress "to declare the United Colonies free and independent States."
June 29, 1776.The Convention chose Patrick Henry to be the first Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. A skilled agitator, a great orator, and a radical-turning-conservative, Henry made but an indifferent Governor.
July 8-9, 1776.At the battle of Gwynn's Island, Dunmore's fleet was so severely damaged that he soon left the coast of Virginia, never to return.
1776.During the Revolution, nineteen counties were formed: Monongalia, Ohio, and Yohogania in 1776; Henry, Kentucky, Montgomery, Washington, Fluvanna, and Powhatan in 1777; Greenbrier, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Illinois in 1778; Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln in 1780; Greensville in 1781; and Campbell in 1782.
October 7, 1776.The first session of the new legislature was dominated by Thomas Jefferson, who replaced Henry as the leader of the more radical elements in Virginia. Jefferson began a needed revision of the laws. In the next two decades, the colonial codes and laws were adapted to the needs of an independent state. In this same session, he also secured the abolition of primogeniture and entail, humanized the criminal code, and began his attack upon the church establishment.
July 4, 1778.George Rogers Clark captured Kaskaskia. On the strength of this victory, the Virginia legislature created Illinois county, thus providing the first American administrative control in the Northwest Territory.
February 25, 1779.The dramatic capture of Vincennes by George Rogers Clark on this date secured the Northwest Territory from British control.
May 9, 1779.For the first three years of the Revolutionary War, Virginia was spared invasion because the British were concentrating their efforts in the northern colonies; but on May 9, 1779, Admiral Sir George Collier anchored in Hampton Roads with a British fleet. After capturing Portsmouth with little trouble, he sent out raiding parties and then departed. Naval stores in large quantity and thousands of barrels of pork were destroyed.
June 1, 1779.Thomas Jefferson was elected Governor to replace Patrick Henry. Weakened by a conservative shift in opinion and unable to cope with invasion which came in 1780, Governor Jefferson left office with a tarnished reputation, June 12, 1781. He was replaced by Thomas Nelson who served only until November 30, 1781. Benjamin Harrison was the last of the war Governors.
April, 1780.The capital was moved from Williamsburg up to Richmond.
October, 1780.The British recaptured Portsmouth, this time primarily for the purpose of establishing communication with General Cornwallis in South Carolina. General Leslie remained in Portsmouth with his 3000 men for one month.
January 5, 1781.The third and most serious British attack upon Virginia was carried out by General Benedict Arnold who sailed through the Capes on December 30, 1780. Instead of stopping at Portsmouth, he continued on up the James to capture Richmond, the new capital, on January 5, 1781. After Arnold had set up his headquarters at Portsmouth, two attempts to launch a sea and land attack against him failed to materialize. Cornwallis marched into Virginia in late spring and in May crossed the James and entered Richmond. During the summer of 1781, the main achievement of Lafayette and the continental forces in Virginia was to avoid destruction.
July 25, 1781.Cornwallis, marching from Richmond, reached Williamsburg on June 25. He remained there until July 5, when he moved toward the James River where transports awaited to take him to the Surry side. Before he was able to make the crossing, he was attacked by Lafayette, at Green Spring. After successfully repelling the American forces, he crossed the river and pushed on to Portsmouth. In August he crossed Hampton Roads and marched to Yorktown, which he fortified.
August 30, 1781.The stage was being set for the destruction of Cornwallis's army when the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse sailed through the Virginia Capes on August 30, 1781. General Washington was hurrying with his army from New York and Lafayette was bringing up his troops preparatory to bottling up Cornwallis on the Yorktown peninsula where he had encamped with his army.
September 5, 1781.One avenue of escape for Cornwallis's army was shut off when De Grasse assured French control of the river and bay by repulsing the British fleet commanded by Admiral Graves.
September 28, 1781.The surrender of Cornwallis became only a matter of time when Washington brought his army up to reenforce the besieging forces of Lafayette.
October 19, 1781.General Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown. With the aid of the French, General Washington had won for the colonies their independence. The independence of America became official with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783.
October 20, 1783.Virginia, agreeing to the terms of Congress, ceded her claims to territory north of the Ohio, and the deed passed March 1, 1784. Virginia was shrunken to the limits contained in the present States of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
Declaration of Independence
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this let facts be submitted to a candid world:
He has refused to assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them by a mock trial from punishment, for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses.
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws and altering fundamentally, the powers of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the work of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts made by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war—in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Suggested Questions for Exploring Virginia'sRole in the Winning of Independence
Questions may serve to identify a problem or topic, and also serve as a means to dissect and analyze the topic. The narrative section of this publication entitled, THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: VIRGINIA, 1763-1783, deals withselected aspectsof questions contained in this section. However, in order to expand the scope and understanding of Virginia's role in the winning of independence, as well as to provide an improved perspective for students to see new meaning in familiar events, the following questions have been prepared for the classroom teacher.
1. How did the "Intellectual Awakening" in Europe reflect the changing image of man in relation to economic organization, religious reforms, political activities, and social changes? How did this intellectual ferment influence the American Revolution and the "American Experience"?
2. How will a study of the following topics establish a framework for an inquiry into the Colonial Period?
(a) Historical forces which gave rise to exploration and which were influencing European civilization centuries before Columbus' journey.
(b) Various reasons for colonization and objectives and methods of colonization for different nations.
3. What contributions will ananalysisof the emergence of capitalism (with its wage system, market economy, banking structure, and corporate organization) and the impetus which capitalism provided for colonization make to the development of insights into the nature of European society and the Colonial Period?
4. How did capitalism influence the American Revolution and how was capitalism influenced and/or changed by the American Revolution?
5. Was there a discrepancy between the objectives of the European colonizers and the growth and development of the Virginia colony? In what ways can a study of Virginia illustrate the beginnings of the "American Experience"?
6. How will a study of the acceptance, rejection, or modification of European ideas and institutions by the colonies establish aframeworkfor analyzing theuniquenature of the "American Experience"? How "American" were the colonies? How "American" was the Revolution?
7. What environmental factors influenced colonial settlements? How will a study of these factors help to explain the differences which developed in the thirteen colonies? (Example: economic differences) What was the influence of environment in the colony of Virginia? How would these differences influence the nature of the participation of the thirteen colonies in the Revolution?
8. How did the Colonial Period provide a foundation for the "American Experience" by the development of a system of free enterprise and a constitutional democracy?
9. From an analysis of the "Colonial Mind", how can insights be gained and relationships established for patterns of national character, cultural institutions, religious thought, and educational practices?
10. How did the first representative assembly at Jamestown reflect the needs of a group of people for government? What factors were involved in the formation of this representative assembly? In what ways will a study of the formation of this government serve as a basis for comparing and contrasting other efforts at establishing governments at a later date?
11. What distinctive political, intellectual, and economic modes of life began to develop in the different colonies? How will a study of the similarities and differences help to explain the character of the American Revolution and the "American Experience"? What was the nature of these developments in Virginia and why?
12. What early experiences did the colonies have which led them to formulate the type of state constitutions which they adopted? What foundations were being established which would be reflected in the years ahead? What was the nature of Virginia's first state constitution?
13. In an analysis of the art, music, architecture, literary works, and other means of expression in the Colonial Period, how can an awareness and perspective be developed which will allow for an involvement with a "people and their times"? How do man's varied forms of expression reflect "the spirit of an era"? What is the role of primary sources in developing empathy for a period?
14. In what ways did the "European Enlightenment" influence American thought after 1700? What were the significant contributions of American writers to colonial thought and political maturity?
15. What impact did writers have on the American Revolution?
16. How will an analysis of the factors which produced the movement for the American Revolution illustrate the idea that historical causation is complex and multiple? What was the nature of the movement in Virginia?
17. What was significant about colonial cooperation in resisting British measures? In what areas was there cohesiveness and what were the factors which contributed to the development of this situation? What was the nature of the movement in Virginia?
18. By what means can the concept of liberty be studied so as to develop an understanding of the "seeds of revolution which were inherent in the Colonial Period" and to develop an insight into liberty as a force which would permeate all periods of United States history? How can this theme of liberty be integrated so as to serve to link all facets of the "American Experience" to a common chain? What role do ideas play in a study of history?
19. How will a study of the ideas and institutions of the Colonial Period, the Declaration of Independence, and the American Revolution establish a framework for inquiring into the natural rights philosophy, the justification of the Revolution, and the principal components of our modern day social, political, and economic system? How can Virginia serve as one illustrative study of these factors?
20. In what ways did the colonial rebellion become an avenue for nationalism?
21. How will a study of the American Revolution illustrate self-interest versus concern for principle?
22. Can the American Revolution be termed a social movement? What were the effects on the institutions of society?
23. How did the Founding Fathers exemplify the young nation's aspiration?
24. In what ways can one account for the impact of the Declaration of Independence on modern day political thought?
25. Why is it that the state constitutions are often considered one of the most important developments in the aftermath of the Revolution? How did these constitutions reflect the "spirit of the American Revolution" and the foundations of the Colonial Period? How could a case study of Virginia during this period illustrate these developments?
26. How can the Colonial Period serve as a foundation for developing those threads which are inherent in a study of Virginia and United States history? How can the following themes be used to coordinate various aspects of the American Revolution and the "American Experience"?
a. Nature and influence of geographyb. Economic themesc. Intellectual themesd. Nature and composition of societye. Manifestation of political ideas
Suggested Student Activities
Student activities and other learning experiences are dependent upon the objectives selected by the teacher, the abilities and needs of the students, materials and resources available, and the organizational pattern of the course. The suggested student activities in this publication have been prepared to serve as a catalyst for developing appropriate programs and learning experiences in exploring Virginia's role in the winning of independence. Suggested activities include:
... Select one word concepts, such as liberty, freedom, power, justice, that may be derived from great documents of the period and write an essay on what the term meant when the document was written and what it means today.
... Through research have students write an essay describing the personalities of great Virginians such as Washington, Jefferson, and others, and compare them with their contemporaries.
... Role-play Virginians who made outstanding contributions to the development of America.
... Compare the American Revolution with other revolutions in the world so as to ascertain similarities and differences.
... Given the Proclamation of 1763, students could draw the western boundary of Virginia on a current topographic map. What have been the different boundaries of Virginia? Why?
... From copies of selected estate assessments and wills from local courthouses, a number of activities could be developed.
A confirmation or refuting of hypotheses of what artifacts or personal property would be found in homes and on farms during this historical period may be suggested. Occupations can be suggested by the list of personal property. e.g. What percent of the people were self-sufficient on the frontier?
Early industries and occupations can be compared with current industries and occupations for the same area. e.g. What public demands are reflected in continuing industries?
Students may draw interior scenes of homes showing artifacts listed in the inventories. e.g. Do articles listed together say something about the use of a room?
Scenes may be painted of homesteads, depicting personal property listed in estate assessments and the inventory may be listed beside the painting. e.g. What do "Folk Art" paintings and other art forms tell us about the period?
Religious commitment can be inferred from wills. e.g. What role did religion play in the life of a person during this time?
How do wills reflect the status of humans in a household. e.g. How were males, females, indentured servants, and slaves treated in wills?
Photos and slides of restored rooms can be compared with selected inventories. e.g. Are restorations in agreement with the written records?
... Students could assume a role and write a seven-day diary describing a week in each season.
... Write lyrics portraying the spirit and events of the times and put the lyrics to music using a melody of the period.
... Using primary sources, have students research information on various accounts of what happened at Lexington. The research may include:
An account of a member of the British force
Report of the captain of the Lexington Minutemen
Letter(s) of the British expedition leaders
... Have student research information on Indian tribes, their location, and their impact of life in Virginia.
... Select a date between the period 1763-1783, and have students find out the following about their town, city, or county.
What was the town, city, or county like then?
Where did the first settlers of your town come from?
What are the most famous streets in town? Who are those named for?
What, if any, battles were fought in or near your town?
What is the town's most famous landmark?
... Prepare a cross word puzzle using such words as:
... Research styles of dress worn during the period 1763-1783. Contrast functions of dress, costumes, and the like with today's living and style of dress.
... Have the students prepare a research paper of changes in the culture of the country then and now and their impact on families and individuals.
... Have students develop a colonialAlmanacto include such items as information about the tides, the weather, changes of the moon, anniversaries of historical events, recipes, folk tales, jokes, health hints, and advice in the form of proverbs. (A review of the most popularAlmanacof this time,Poor Richard's Almanac, may assist students with this project.)
... Students may prepare a film depicting an historical event which occurred in or near the town, city, or county in which they live.
... Have students construct a painting depicting a famous scene or event of the Revolutionary period.
... Students may collect artifacts of the period for display and discussion of colonial life styles.
... Have students develop an architectural blueprint for restoring an 18th Century home, including grounds of the gentry, planter, or frontiersman.
... Research the role of black churches in Virginia between 1763-1783. This should be followed by classroom discussion.
... Research the role of contributions of the "common" man in the making of Colonial America.
Students may choose to review the roles and contributions of such groups as the farmer, shopkeeper, cabinet maker, and others.
Have students identify the contributions of other social groups in the making of Colonial America.
... Compare the customs and mores of blacks in Virginia from 1763 through 1783 and 1953 through 1973.
... Construct a bulletin board listing the colonies vertically and significant events under specific years horizontally.
Footnotes