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Line 25: − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + − ===Gentry rule=== − Politically the planters controlled local government through their control of the Anglican parishes and county government; neither was elected. The planters also controlled elections to the the colonial legislature, the House of Burgesses. English institutions were changed into a system of democracy--most white men owned property so they could and did vote, and usually voted for their "betters". (In England, by contrast, fewer than 10% of the men could vote.) The gentry tried to emulate the life style of British gentlemen; their favorite pastimes were gambling, billiards, cards, bowling, cockfighting, and especially horse racing. The increasing social solidarity among the gentry depended horse racing. The rules, the patterns of betting, and the relations of the persons involved reflected gentry values and shows their values regarding acquisitiveness, honor, individualism, materialism, personal relationships, and symbols. Gaming among the gentry strengthened class cohesion and cultural dominance by the gentry.<ref> T. H. Breen, "Horses and Gentlemen: The Cultural Significance of Gambling among the Gentry of Virginia." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 1977 34(2): 239-257. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1925315 in JSTOR]</Ref> Line 43:
Line 54: − ===Slaves=== − Historians have disagreed as to whether slavery in colonial Virginia was made politically and psychologically acceptable by an inherent racism among white Europeans, or if slavery emerged as a result of economic factors and racism developed as a consequence of it. The consensus is that the enslavement of Africans was due to economic requirements for labor, to the inability of Africans to resist slavery, and to European beliefs that Africans were an inferior branch of humanity, suited by their characteristics and circumstances to be lifelong slaves. − A central paradox in American history is the simultaneous rise of liberty and equality and the rise of slavery. With particular attention to Jefferson's Virginia, Morgan (1972) has offered a resolution of the paradox. In keeping with general 18th-century commonwealth notions, Jefferson feared the presence of large numbers of landless and dependent poor people as antithetical to political liberty and social well-being. Yet, this is what was happening in Virginia before Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. Large numbers of young, armed, single white men had come to Virginia to seek their fortune. They worked on tobacco plantations for wages and few could expect to become planters. They became a source of peril to the established gentry. The gentry solved the problem by replacing the white men with black slaves. This reduced the need to import white servants, opened opportunities for whites who remained, and enabled Virginia to build its free political institutions upon slavery.<ref> Edmund S. Morgan, "Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox." ''Journal of American History'' 1972 59(1): 5-29 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1888384 in JSTOR]; Morgan, ''American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia'' (1975) </ref> Line 64:
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no edit summary
English adventurer Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] led an exploration party in 1584. A group of men from England invested in a Joint Stock Company called "The Virginia Company" to find gold and other treasures. King [[James I]] granted lands to company in 1606 stretching from North Carolina to New York. The name "Virginia" honors [[Queen Elizabeth I]] (known as the "Virgin Queen" as she never married). The company in 1607 sent 105 settlers who established the first permanent settlement.<ref>[http://www.historyisfun.org/jamestown/jamestown.cfm Jamestown Settlement], accessed 10 March 2007</ref>
English adventurer Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] led an exploration party in 1584. A group of men from England invested in a Joint Stock Company called "The Virginia Company" to find gold and other treasures. King [[James I]] granted lands to company in 1606 stretching from North Carolina to New York. The name "Virginia" honors [[Queen Elizabeth I]] (known as the "Virgin Queen" as she never married). The company in 1607 sent 105 settlers who established the first permanent settlement.<ref>[http://www.historyisfun.org/jamestown/jamestown.cfm Jamestown Settlement], accessed 10 March 2007</ref>
The stockade village, named "[[Jamestown]]" after King James I, was poorly sited in a grassy swamp filled with malaria-bearing mosquitos. There was a shortage of fresh water or good soil. Malaria and other diseases, "starving times" of low food supplies, low morale, poor leadership, and repeated Indian attacks left Jamestown on the verge of extinction. In 1624 the company was bankrupt and the king revoked the charter; the colony thus came under the direct administration of the crown until 1775.
The stockade village, named "[[Jamestown]]" after King James I, was poorly sited in a grassy swamp filled with malaria-bearing mosquitoes. There was a shortage of fresh water or good soil. Malaria and other diseases, "starving times" of low food supplies, low morale, poor leadership, and repeated Indian attacks left Jamestown on the verge of extinction. In 1624 the company was bankrupt and the king revoked the charter; the colony thus came under the direct administration of the crown until 1775.
The second Tidewater War of 1644-46 was a decisive struggle between a vigorous colonial society and a declining Indian civilization. After the initial Indian attack led by Opechancanough, the Virginians launched a three-pronged campaign that dealt a heavy blow to the Powhatan Indian confederation. As a result of the 1646 treaty, Indians were sent to small reservations. Most white Virginia men were willing enough to serve or support the militia and cooperated with the demands of the military system; success also came from the demographic nature of the colony. Virginia's victory was a major step toward the Anglo-American domination of the continent.
The second Tidewater War of 1644-46 was a decisive struggle between a vigorous colonial society and a declining Indian civilization. After the initial Indian attack led by Opechancanough, the Virginians launched a three-pronged campaign that dealt a heavy blow to the Powhatan Indian confederation. As a result of the 1646 treaty, Indians were sent to small reservations. Most white Virginia men were willing enough to serve or support the militia and cooperated with the demands of the military system; success also came from the demographic nature of the colony. Virginia's victory was a major step toward the Anglo-American domination of the continent.
==Colonial Era==
==Colonial Era==
The Virginia General Assembly of 1619 was called to give the anticipated large number of new settlers a voice in the government of the colony. It was the first elected government in the America, and is now one of the oldest in the world. The governor and council acted informally as an upper house of the legislature until 1680 when a formal bicameral body was established.
The royal government brought political and legal stability and largely ended the Indian threat. Prosperity came after 1660 with the realization that tobacco could be grown for a huge profit and that black slaves could do the work. Virginia developed a distinctive culture that spread from there through much of the South. Tobacco and slavery produced an economic, social, and political system dominated by a native oligarchy of rich farmers called the planter aristocracy. Poor whites operated self-sufficient farms, with a little tobacco grown for personal use and cash sales. There were no cities or even towns, as the planters shipped tobacco in barrels from small wharfs close to their plantations directly to London.
The royal government brought political and legal stability and largely ended the Indian threat. Prosperity came after 1660 with the realization that tobacco could be grown for a huge profit and that black slaves could do the work. Virginia developed a distinctive culture that spread from there through much of the South. Tobacco and slavery produced an economic, social, and political system dominated by a native oligarchy of rich farmers called the planter aristocracy. Poor whites operated self-sufficient farms, with a little tobacco grown for personal use and cash sales. There were no cities or even towns, as the planters shipped tobacco in barrels from small wharfs close to their plantations directly to London.
===Bacon's rebellion, 1676===
In 1675 the people were ripe for a rebellion. The spark came from fear of Indian attacks and the feeling that the royal governor, Sir William Berkeley (1606-1677), was not doing his job to protect the colonists. In 1676, they rallied around Nathaniel Bacon, a recent arrival from England, as their leader against the Indians who had launched bloody raids against settlements on the northern and western frontiers. Bacon demanded the right to lead volunteers against all Indians, even those living peacefully within the colony, in retaliation. Berkeley, fearing unjust dispossession and slaughter of the friendly Indians, refused. Bacon ignored the governor's restriction and led volunteers to the southern frontier in May 1676, where he slaughtered and plundered the friendly Occaneechee Indians. Berkeley was furious but the colonists hailed him a hero.
When the governor attempted to call him to account, Bacon marched to Jamestown and, at gunpoint, forced the assembly to grant him formal authority to fight the Indian war, which he then prosecuted against another friendly tribe, the Pamunkey. Berkeley now attempted to raise forces to reestablish his own authority, and Bacon turned on the governor with his volunteers. Civil war ensued. Berkeley was driven to the eastern shore of Virginia; Bacon burned Jamestown, the capital. For a few months Bacon's word was law on the mainland; he may have been thinking of independence from the Empire. Suddenly, in October 1676, Bacon died of natural causes and his rebellion disintegrated. Berkeley, having recruited volunteers, defeated the remaining rebels, and, by February 1677, reestablished his authority. Soon thereafter 1,000 troops, sent by King [[Charles II]] to suppress the rebellion, arrived, accompanied by commissioners to investigate its causes. Berkeley had revenged himself by executing defeated rebels after quick courts martial, and for that was severely censured by the commissioners. They sent him to England to justify himself but Berkeley died before seeing the king.<ref> See Wilcomb E. Washburn, ''Governor and the Rebel: A History of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia,'' (1957), by a conservative historian. </ref>
====Slavery and freedom====
A central paradox in American history is the simultaneous rise of liberty and equality and the rise of slavery. With particular attention to Virginia, Morgan (1972) has offered a resolution of the paradox. In keeping with general 18th-century commonwealth notions, Virginians feared the presence of large numbers of landless and dependent poor people as antithetical to political liberty and social well-being. Yet, this is what was happening in Virginia, leading to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. Large numbers of young, armed, single white men had come to Virginia to seek their fortune. They worked on tobacco plantations for wages and few could expect to become planters. They became a source of peril to the established gentry. Governor Berkeley had lamented that "six parts of seven at least are poor, endebted, discontented, and armed." The gentry solved the problem asfter Bacon's rebellion by replacing the white men with black slaves. This reduced the need to import white servants, opened opportunities for whites who remained, and enabled Virginia to build its free political institutions upon slavery.<ref> Edmund S. Morgan, "Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox." ''Journal of American History'' 1972 59(1): 5-29 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1888384 in JSTOR]; Morgan, ''American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia'' (1975) </ref>
===Slaves===
Historians have disagreed as to whether slavery in colonial Virginia was made politically and psychologically acceptable by an inherent racism among white Europeans, or if slavery emerged as a result of economic factors and racism developed as a consequence of it. The consensus is that the enslavement of Africans was due to economic requirements for labor, to the inability of Africans to resist slavery, and to European beliefs that Africans were an inferior branch of humanity, suited by their characteristics and circumstances to be lifelong slaves.
===Gentry rule===
Politically the planters controlled local government through their control of the Anglican parishes and county government; neither was elected. The planters also controlled elections to the the colonial legislature, the House of Burgesses. English institutions were changed into a system of democracy--most white men owned property so they could and did vote, and usually voted for their "betters". (In England, by contrast, fewer than 10% of the men could vote.) The gentry tried to emulate the life style of British gentlemen; their favorite pastimes were gambling, billiards, cards, bowling, cockfighting, and especially horse racing. The increasing social solidarity among the gentry depended horse racing. The rules, the patterns of betting, and the relations of the persons involved reflected gentry values and shows their values regarding acquisitiveness, honor, individualism, materialism, personal relationships, and symbols. Gaming among the gentry strengthened class cohesion and cultural dominance by the gentry.<ref> T. H. Breen, "Horses and Gentlemen: The Cultural Significance of Gambling among the Gentry of Virginia." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 1977 34(2): 239-257. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1925315 in JSTOR]</Ref>
===Demography===
===Demography===
Demographic conditions after 1660 were increasingly favorable. Malaria was not fatal to people born in Virginia, and the food supply was ample. Both the white and black population grew rapidly. Wars were uncommon and small-scale. Immigration comprised mostly middle class families, plus poor teenagers who came as "indentured servants" and became fully independent at age 21. Between 1718 and 1775, Britain dumped about 20,000 convicts in Virginia (after the Revolution it sent them to Australia).
Demographic conditions after 1660 were increasingly favorable. Malaria was not fatal to people born in Virginia, and the food supply was ample. Both the white and black population grew rapidly. Wars were uncommon and small-scale. Immigration comprised mostly middle class families, plus poor teenagers who came as "indentured servants" and became fully independent at age 21. Between 1718 and 1775, Britain dumped about 20,000 convicts in Virginia (after the Revolution it sent them to Australia).
===Frontier===
===Frontier===
Tobacco plantations were in the "tidewater" area close to the ocean. Plenty of good cheap land was available on the frontier. The settlers west of the Blue Ridge mountains from the 1720s to the 1740s were mostly German and Scotch-Irish Protestants, whose society contrasted sharply with tidewater Anglican colonists. Historians explaining the distinctiveness of the backcountry focus on two factors: the availability of good land at low prices and the pioneering efforts of land speculators encouraged by the colonial government.
Tobacco plantations were in the "tidewater" area close to the ocean. Plenty of good cheap land was available on the frontier. The settlers west of the Blue Ridge mountains from the 1720s to the 1740s were mostly German and Scotch-Irish Protestants, whose society contrasted sharply with tidewater Anglican colonists. Historians explaining the distinctiveness of the backcountry focus on two factors: the availability of good land at low prices and the pioneering efforts of land speculators encouraged by the colonial government.
===Religion===
===Religion===
Most Virginians were not very religious, but most also believed in a spirit world. The supernatural world of the settlers involved belief in benevolent and demonic forces, divine judgment, omens, magic, witchcraft, combat with the devil, and other ideas brought over from England. This complex supernatural world functioned to explain the unknown, sanction colonization, demonize the native population, control the colonists, and provide a defense against internal and external enemies.<ref> Edward L. Bond, "Source of Knowledge, Source of Power: The Supernatural World of English Virginia, 1607-1624." ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' 2000 108(2): 105-138. 0042-6636 </ref>
Most Virginians were not very religious, but most also believed in a spirit world. The supernatural world of the settlers involved belief in benevolent and demonic forces, divine judgment, omens, magic, witchcraft, combat with the devil, and other ideas brought over from England. This complex supernatural world functioned to explain the unknown, sanction colonization, demonize the native population, control the colonists, and provide a defense against internal and external enemies.<ref> Edward L. Bond, "Source of Knowledge, Source of Power: The Supernatural World of English Virginia, 1607-1624." ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' 2000 108(2): 105-138. 0042-6636 </ref>
==American Revolution==
==American Revolution==
Virginia's political culture of latre colonial and Revolutionary Virginia involved widespread suffrage--most white men could and did vote. This political culture was concerned with maintaining order, ensuring that justice prevailed, preserving the ideal of
- government by the virtuous and enlightened, and keeping an open society where a man might rise as high as his ability, resources, and opportunities allowed. Virginians were increasingly worried that Britain threatened this political utopia.
The Stamp Act of 1765 outraged Viginians. Their historic rights of Englishmen had been trampled because they were not consulted regarded the new tax. [[Patrick Henry]] persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses to adopt in May, 1765, the Virginia Resolves against the Stamp Act: not only did Henry deliver the famous Caesar-Brutus speech; he wrote the Resolves, planned with George Johnston the strategies for debate on the house floor, and spoke at several points in the debate which initiated colonial resistance to the Act, resistance which culminated in the Act's repeal in 1766.
The Stamp Act of 1765 outraged Viginians. Their historic rights of Englishmen had been trampled because they were not consulted regarded the new tax. [[Patrick Henry]] persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses to adopt in May, 1765, the Virginia Resolves against the Stamp Act: not only did Henry deliver the famous Caesar-Brutus speech; he wrote the Resolves, planned with George Johnston the strategies for debate on the house floor, and spoke at several points in the debate which initiated colonial resistance to the Act, resistance which culminated in the Act's repeal in 1766.