250 and Counting

Category: Virginia History

  • Virginia Is Open For Business–October 7, 1776

    Cover art for October 7, 1776: an 1845 engraving by Henry Howe, based on prior drawings by an unknown artist, of the second Capitol building at Williamsburg, VA.

    Before I tell you a little bit about the First Virginia General Assembly of 1776 (which I do have to differentiate with a date, so it’s not confused with the First Virginia General Assembly of 1619), I wanted to spend a moment on the show’s cover artwork.

    For some reason it was in putting today’s art together that I noticed the strong similarity between today’s artwork and yesterday’s. Perhaps it’s because they’re both buildings, even though today’s structure is much larger then yesterday’s. That, of course, is because I size it to fit the frame,

    But it had me looking back on other artwork I’ve used (and, in two cases, created somehow) in the past, and of course there’s a lot of similarity among cover art pieces, largely because so many of them are portraits, and there’s a similarity in the way that people posed, and dressed, and so on. I’m sure another part of it is that I’ve done all of them, and so it’s my aesthetic that’s going into the cover art.

    In 645 episodes to date, I’ve only repeated images a few times, and I’m rather proud of that track record. In one case it’s because there really was only one useable image available. There have been maps, and photographs, and stamps, and historical markers, and buttons, and official seals or flags, and documents, and once I used AI just for the laughs, and another time, just a few weeks ago, I did a little photoshop chicanery, again to amuse myself. Each time I tried to note the source of the artwork in the alt text, and the one time I didn’t, I was (rightly) called out for it by the guy who took the photo. He and I had a very pleasant exchange about it and I think it ended positively.

    My point (I do have one, thanks for asking) is that even though this podcast doesn’t have a gigantic following, I do put some thought into stuff like this, and I hope that the efforts that Mike and I put into the show overall are evident.

    I promised to spend some time talking about the First Virginia General Assembly of 1776, so here goes: during the episode I mentioned four big moves that they made in the relatively short period that they were convened. It’s worth noting that at least two of them were heavily influenced, or drafted by Thomas Jefferson. First was the abolition of entail. Entail was a rule that went back to the English feudal rules, which basically prevented the aristocracy from breaking up or selling off estates. Abolishing this rule helped to unravel the foundation of a landed aristocracy.

    The other big one attributed to Jefferson was the Committee of Revisors, of which Jefferson was a member. It was recognized that the old Colonial Codes were based on royal laws which were outdated (like entail), and someone had to go through the entire legal code to redraft it into something that would work for a (small-r) republican system of government. It took them several years to get the job done, but the work began right away.

    It’s possible that the assembly’s abolition of taxes for non-Anglican churches was also Jefferson’s work, and his later “Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom” was first introduced at this time, but that wasn’t enacted for several years. The other action related to freedom of religion during this period was the suspension of salaries for Anglican ministers, which did major damage to the state-based church system. (Remember, compulsory separation of church and state was still several years in the future.)

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  • Jefferson Goes Home–October 2, 1776

    Cover art for October 2, 1776: "Thomas Jefferson, 1776" by Charles Willson Peale. via Independence National Historical Park.

    Thomas Jefferson, after many months in Philadelphia, finally got to return home today.

    One of the things that puzzled me early on in this podcasting project was the relative fluidity of the membership of the Continental Congress. People came in, people went out, and nobody seemed to have a problem with it. There didn’t appear to be a set schedule to it, and there were often periods in which a colony had nine delegates and other times when it had none. (Or that time when Georgia had only one delegate, and he wouldn’t vote because his views didn’t necessarily reflect those of his constituents. Or that other time when New York’s delegates abstained from anything involving Independence because they’d been directed not to vote in favor.)

    But as time went on it began to dawn on me that these weren’t elected officials in the sense that we think of them; they were appointed by their governments to serve, and at heart they were citizens who were performing a duty, and then returned to whatever they ordinarily did. In fact, this is one of the reasons why many states today impose term limits: politics wasn’t a career for these people; they’d go in, do their thing and then go home and do something else, and let another person take their place.

    And yes, many of the members of Congress, such as Thomas Jefferson, moved on to other political positions but many others returned to their previous profession (e.g., law) but perhaps at a higher level because they’d been in Congress.

    In retrospect, it wasn’t a terrible system, nor was it a bad philosophy.

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  • When Accusation Is A Confession–July 22, 1776

    Cover art for July 22, 1776: General Lee on Horseback, Engraved by Johann Michael Probst, 1790. via Library of Congress.

    That Charles Lee turned out to be giving information to the British is one of those things that feels obvious in retrospect.

    As Mike notes during the episode, Lee was passed over for command of the Continental Army, and even though he was still in a position of importance and command, things like that can eat away at some people.

    Now, by most accounts, and through review of existing documents, Lee generally acquitted himself well in the Southern Department and in New York, although at the time of his capture there he was writing a letter to General Horatio Gates complaining that George Washington was somehow deficient.

    However, his attitude toward the Continental Army continued to deteriorate after his release in 1778. He was held partly responsible for the outcome of the Battle of Monmouth, likely because he was rather capricious with his actions. Because he behaved insubordinately afterward, Lee was court-martialed (at his demand) and found guilty, but given the very light sentence of a year’s suspension from the army. Before the year was out, however, he wrote an angry letter to Congress that resulted in his termination of service.

    It wasn’t until the 1850s that the New York Historical Society discovered a manuscript Lee had written while he was a prisoner of war. It was addressed to both Richard and William Howe, and outlined a plan by which the British could defeat the Continental Army. Whether Charles Lee is specifically guilty of treason is still debated among historians, though he’s commonly been presented as a villain in popular culture of the past 80 years or so.

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  • Battle of Gwynn’s Island–July 8, 1776

    Cover art for July 8, 1776: Historical Marker directing visitors to Gwynn's Island. The marker is located in Gloucester, VA. As you pass through, check out Los Portales Mexican restaurant.

    The Battle of Gwynn’s Island doesn’t seem to get much attention these days, which is a shame because it was rather important at the time.

    First, Lord Dunmore, the former Royal Governor of Virginia, had been there since May, having retreated there after the bombardment of Norfolk in January. The Patriots made their lives very difficult, so after a few weeks the British bailed out of Norfolk and headed to Gwynn’s Island to regroup. They were about 2000 men in all, including British army regulars and Loyalists.

    They were spotted by a lookout (the distance across the narrows at this time was only about 200 yards, after all) and the Patriots began harassing the British on the island, but the British began firing back and many militiamen decided it wasn’t worth the effort, so they deserted. The Continental Army soldiers, on the other hand, mostly just got used to it.

    Dunmore had a fort built and they settled in behind the fortifications, but 2000 people on a relatively undeveloped island of four square miles, with inadequate water supplies, meant that disease ran rampant, killing about a third of the men, most of whom were Black. When Andrew Lewis arrived with the bigger guns and began blowing the fort to bits, Dunmore realized it was time to evacuate. It was a few more weeks until he left America altogether. In the meantime, with the British entirely out of Virginia, the Continental Army was able to move north to New York to assist with George Washington’s troops there.

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  • Virginia Adopts A Constitution–June 29, 1776

    Cover art for June 29, 1776: a page from the original Virginia Constitution.

    The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, more commonly known as the Virginia Constitution, was formally adopted on this day in 1776, after months of work.

    Most of the credit for its overall structure goes to James Madison and George Mason, both of whom also worked on the US Constitution in later years. And like any good living document, it’s been through several large-scale amendments, in 1830, 1851, 1864, 1870, 1902 and 1971. Nearly all of these were in response to periods of major regional or social upheaval in Virginia. (Gee…I wonder what happened in 1864 that necessitated a Constitutional Convention?) In between, there have been minor amendments to ensure that the Virginia Constitution conforms to changes in Federal law. For instance, an amendment was passed in 2006 defining marriage as being a union “between one man and one woman” (because they didn’t learn anything from the Loving v. Virginia decision?)but was subsequently overturned by Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015.

    The Virginia Constitution is still subject to criticism that the legislature may still be too powerful, but it’s actually easier to amend the document through citizen votes than through a Constitutional Convention. Go figure.

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  • The Virginia Declaration of Rights–June 12, 1776

    Cover art for June 12, 1776: portrait of George Mason created by Dominic W. Boudet. It was an 1850 copy of a 1750 original by John Hesselius that had badly deteriorated.

    While the Virginia Declaration of Rights wasn’t adopted until today, and Thomas Jefferson only got started on writing the Declaration of Independence yesterday, it’s known that the Virginia document was one of the few references that Jefferson had with him when he first began writing.

    The other one we know about for sure is the draft of the Virginia Constitution, which Jefferson himself had written.

    The Virginia Declaration of Rights not only served as a big chunk of Jefferson’s inspiration for the Declaration of Independence, you can definitely see echoes of it in the US Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights. (In fact, if you read Section 13 of the Virginia Declaration, you’ll see the heart of the more contentious language from the Constitution’s Second Amendment.)

    The big difference between the Virginia Declaration and the Constitution is that the Constitution is the actual law, whereas George Mason’s document is more prescriptive (e.g. thus-and-such should happen, or this ought to be the situation.)

    Follow the links above and do a little compare-and-contrast. You might have fun!

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  • Letter to Virginia–April 9, 1776

    Cover art for April 9, 1776: Portrait of Francis Lightfoot Lee by Willie Arthur Pepoon, date unknown. This is generally considered to be a definitive image of Lee, even though he died long before Pepoon was born.

    We need your love! Don’t forget to share this show with your friends. Likewise, share it with your enemies; maybe they’ll become your friends as a result.

    The Lees were a very prominent family in Virginia, connected to most major events in that era of American History. So it makes sense that Francis Lightfoot Lee sees American Independence on the horizon, and that it was Richard Henry Lee who first put the question (or, as the Founding Fathers wrote it, “The Question”) before Congress.

    Incidentally, it’s worth noting that Francis and Richard were the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Indepenence.

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  • Farewell, Mother Jefferson–March 31, 1776

    Cover art for March 31, 1776: to be fair, this image has been identified as being one of several women, but Jane Randolph Jefferson comes up more often than others, so we're sticking with it.

    In discussing the life of Jane Randolph Jefferson, I mentioned during the episode that Thomas Jefferson rarely discussed her.

    This is not, however, to suggest that he lacked affection for her, or that he was somehow ashamed of her. There are family remembrances and contemporary biographies that show that Jane was a revered family member. It’s also worth noting that Thomas Jefferson, unlike Benjamin Franklin, was not in the habit of retaining correspondence, even with people important to him.

    Jane is credited by many historians as the person responsible for his love of music and for his writing abilities. And after all, he didn’t leave his family home until it burned down. Furthermore Thomas named his second daughter after his mother (his first was named after his wife).

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  • Another Washington in Uniform–February 25, 1776

    Cover art for February 25, 1776: portrait of William Augustine Washington, ca. 1795, by Rembrandt Peale. via WIkimedia.

    I mention in today’s episode that William Augustine Washington lived on a Virginia plantation he’d inherited, and that his first house burned down.

    The second house he moved to, on the same property but a mile away (yow!), was called Blenheim. Washington used some of the bricks from the original house to add on to the Blenheim house, but he also used a bunch of them to start on a house and barn on a separate property.

    What a thrifty fellow!

    For what it’s worth, Blenheim is still standing and is on the National Register of Historic Places. You may be able to see it from the street but it is privately occupied and not open to the public.

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  • Our New Man in Virginia–February 23, 1776

    Cover art for February 23, 1776: engraving of Carter Braxton by Ole Erekson, ca. 1876. via the Library of Congress.

    Carter Braxton was born into money, as his grandfather was probably the wealthiest man in Virginia. This gave him the “in” he needed to become a gentleman farmer and a public official.

    In 1761 he was elected to Virginia’s House of Burgesses, and in 1769 he was a signatory to the Virginia Resolves, which protested parliamentary interference with colony affairs. While he was a Patriot at heart, as 1776 rolled around and he replaced Peyton Randolph as one of Virginia’s delegates to the Continental Congress, he thought that independence from England was a little premature, but he did sign the Declaration of Independence when the time came. Not long after that he returned to Virginia and resumed his term in the state legislature.

    Carter Braxton had some notable progeny. His second great-grandson was William Tyler Page, composer of the Amercan’s Creed, which reads:

    I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

    I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.

    This was accepted by the US House of Representatives on April 3, 1918.

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