300-500 Virginians. This massacre was led by the aged, famous Indian
leader, Opechancanough. It took place on Holy Thursday and the
Puritans believed that this was a direct act of God as punishment
for their previous treatment in Virginia. The settlers finally
dispersed the Indians, destroyed their villages and destroyed the
Powhatan Confederacy which had consisted of approximately fifty
tribes. Opechancanough was later shot and killed.
In the following year, the General Assembly allowed the election
of vestries by the qualified voters of each parish regardless of
their religious faith. As counties were organized in Virginia,
parishes likewise were established and vestries continued to be
elected by the qualified voters. The vestry was the governing
body of the parish, and although its membership number varied
between the parishes, the number was finally fixed at twelve. They
were self-perpetuating, and could only be removed by the General
Assembly. They had the power to select a rector as well as to carry
on regular parish duties. Under this arrangement, the Established
Church was part of the county government with the officers of a
parish having civil as well as religious duties and authority. Some
of the civil duties included levying tax rates on parish inhabitants
to raise revenue for carrying out their objectives, maintaining
roads to and from the church, keeping the vital statistics (records
of births, marriages, deaths, et cetera) and aiding the poor.
During this period, the British Parliament began feuding with King
Charles. The Virginians strongly favored the King, and after he was
beheaded, the General Assembly passed a law recognizing Charles
II, the former King's exiled son, as the lawful King of England.
In return for their loyal support upon behalf of his father and
himself, Charles II bestowed the title of "The Old Dominion" on
the Virginia Colony, the only American colony ever to receive such
an honor. Parliament tried to combat this loyalty to the King by
appointing two Virginians, William Claiborne and Richard Bennett,
as commissioners whose duty was to influence Virginia and gradually
bring it under Parliamentary control. Parliament then provided them
with an armed force. Governor Berkeley made military preparations
also, but negotiations finally ended in a peaceful settlement
without resorting to open hostilities in Virginia. Individuals who
had favored the King during the Civil War in England between the
Parliament and the King were called Cavaliers. Since Virginia had
remained loyal to the King throughout this period, many Cavaliers
had sought refuge in Virginia at this time. This action caused the
Virginia Colony to receive the nickname of the "Cavalier State."
In 1650, Mary, Margaret and Giles Brent erected homes on Aquia
Creek, Virginia. They were the first English Catholic inhabitants
of Virginia. In this same area, twenty-six years later, the first
English-speaking Catholic colony of Virginia was settled. In 1677,
a Catholic Church was erected here. After their nephew, George
Brent, and others had been successful in obtaining a Proclamation
from James II guaranteeing religious freedom on the 30,000 acres of
the Brenton Tract, many settlers came to this area. Today, a large
bronze Crucifix can be seen near the highway in Stafford County as a
reminder of the religious efforts of the Brent Family.
_The Commonwealth and the "Golden Age"_
The Virginia Colony finally received a charter of self-government
during Oliver Cromwell's rule in England and became the Commonwealth
of Virginia on March 12, 1651. The Treaty of Jamestown provided
that Virginians would be guaranteed the freedoms and privileges
of the English people in return for a recognition of the Puritan
Commonwealth of Cromwell in England. The colony prospered under
Governors Richard Bennett, Edward Digges and Samuel Matthews from
1652-1660. By 1660, the population of the Virginia Colony was
approximately 33,000 or over four times as much as in 1640. Many of
this number consisted of Cavaliers. The population which first had
centered around Jamestown, along the James River to the junction
of the James and Appomattox Rivers and along the navigable inlets,
now had broadened into the Tidewater area. As tobacco production
and the use of tobacco increased and as soil fertility became
exhausted, more land was added to the individual farms until large
plantations appeared almost common. Class society in Virginia
changed, generally, from a middle-class one to two distinct classes:
the wealthy plantation owner who could afford such personal workers
as slaves and servants and the tenant farmer who worked for a
plantation owner. In return for his services, he was usually allowed
to have a small plot of ground for his own use and a small farm
on which to live. When the Cavaliers, mostly wealthy gentlemen,
migrated to Virginia, they brought added aristocracy to the Virginia
Colony.
In the meantime, other counties had been formed in Virginia. An
area which had been settled originally in Upper Norfolk was named
Nansemond County in 1642. "Nansemond" is an Indian word meaning
"fishing point or angle." In 1648, the county of Northumberland was
formed from a large Indian district formerly known as Chickacoan
and it was named for Northumberland County, England. From this
large area, one hundred sixteen counties were later formed. Within
a twenty-five year period, seven additional counties were created:
Gloucester County (formed from York and named for the third son
of Charles I, Henry-Duke of Gloucester), New Kent County (formed
also from York and believed to have been named either for the
English Kent or for Kent Island), Lancaster County (from York and
Northumberland), Surry (from James City County), Westmoreland (from
Northumberland and later an addition from James City County),
Stafford (from Westmoreland) and Middlesex (from Lancaster)--the
latter five named in honor of English counties. The formation of
many new counties during this time illustrates the great increase in
population which took place.
When Charles II became King of England in 1660, Britain's colonial
policy changed. Previously, the colonies had been more or less
neglected, and interest in England had been chiefly centered upon
religion, intellectual achievement and local issues. After the
Civil War in England, the importance of the colonies seemed more
apparent, competition in setting up and controlling colonial empires
was greater and mercantilism became the key theory accepted by the
leading countries of Europe. Mercantilism was based upon the idea
that the colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country and
that they had specific obligations or responsibilities to fulfill,
namely: (1) to produce the articles which the mother country needs
and which are impossible for the mother country to produce; (2) to
supply the mother country with foodstuffs which she needs, (3) to
furnish a market for the mother country's manufactured goods, and
(4) to export colonial goods in mother country ships only. Earlier
in 1651, Parliament had passed a law prohibiting foreign vessels
from trading with the American colonists. This law had been aimed
primarily at the Dutch. It also stated that all products sent by the
American colonies to England or sent from one colony to another had
to be carried in either English or American ships. However, there
had not been strict enforcement of this law in Virginia.
The Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1663 were passed providing that
goods imported into the colonies had to be carried by English, Irish
or American ships. The act further stated that certain "enumerated
articles" or exports could be sent only to the British Isles or
to the English possessions: for example, tobacco, sugar, apples,
wool, indigo and dyewood. The list was increased as time passed,
and the ill feeling of the Virginia Colony as well as the other
English colonies in America toward the mother country can be fully
understood, especially since higher prices for their articles
could be obtained from foreign countries. The second Navigation
Act required that all European goods destined for the American
colonies be sent to England and then shipped to America in English
ships. Thus, England tried to maintain a monopoly of her colonial
trade. The prosperity of the Virginia Colony was affected greatly by
these acts. Virginia's economy at this time was almost completely
dependent upon its export tobacco trade which was far in excess of
the amount of tobacco which England needed. The Navigation Acts
virtually closed all the markets except England and its possessions
to Virginia tobacco. As a result, the English market was suddenly
flooded with Virginia tobacco. There was much excess tobacco in
Virginia itself, some tobacco even rotting on the farms. The price
of tobacco accordingly dropped from fourpence a pound to a halfpenny
per pound by 1667. Virginia, as well as the other American colonies,
at times violated the above regulations and sent some of its goods
directly to other European countries in order to survive these
economic blows. Thus, the Restoration Period which the Virginians
had favored had some unexpected results for them. After the
Virginians had urged Sir William Berkeley to resume the governorship
prior to the Restoration, he had gone to England to intercede for
the colonists concerning the tobacco trade and the other Navigation
Acts, but his efforts had been futile.
Another surprise was received by the Virginians at this time. While
Charles II was in exile in France in 1649, he granted more than five
million acres of land lying between the Potomac and the Rappahannock
Rivers to four Cavalier friends. This grant was called the "Northern
Neck Proprietary" of Virginia. Twenty years later, he granted a new
charter for the same territory to the surviving grantees. These
actions were unknown to the colonists, and much of this same land
had been settled under patents issued by the Colony itself. When
the colonists learned of the new charter, there was much protest,
and some of the colonists tried to buy out the grantees' interests.
However, in most cases, their efforts were in vain. This grant was
later referred to as the Fairfax Proprietary or Fairfax Grant. In
1673, the colonists found out that King Charles II had bestowed the
rest of the Colony as a gift upon the Earl of Arlington and Lord
Culpeper for thirty-one years. This eventually had no lasting ill
effects upon the colonists because Lord Culpeper later purchased the
Earl of Arlington's interest and King Charles himself bought back
the entire area from him for a six hundred pounds per year pension.
Lord Fairfax V became the owner in 1689 and the proprietary itself
was abolished by the Virginia General Assembly in 1786.
In 1671, two explorers, Thomas Batts and Robert Fallon, traveled by
horseback from Fort Henry (present Petersburg area) up the Roanoke
Valley and across the Blue Ridge Mountains until they reached the
top of the Allegheny Mountains. They proceeded to the New River
and to an area in the present town of Narrows in Giles County. In
order to claim this land for their King, Charles II of England, they
had their Indian guides peel the bark off of four trees and then
burn a symbol--the initials of King Charles, of Governor William
Berkeley and of Colonel Abraham Wood (who was responsible for this
expedition)--on each tree with a pair of marking irons. Thus, they
took possession of this land and all the area west of it in the
King's name and provided a basic claim of land in Southwest Virginia.
In this same year, a unique attitude concerning public education
was expressed by royal Governor Berkeley when he stated: "I thank
God, there are no free schools or printing presses and I hope we
shall not have them these hundred years: for learning has brought
disobedience and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has
divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us
from both."
In 1672, Parliament passed an act compelling each ship which left
the colonies for Europe to post bond that it would deliver its cargo
in England or otherwise pay the required duty. Colonial customs
collectors were to be appointed whose chief duty was to supervise
this trade. An export duty was to be paid on certain "enumerated"
articles--tobacco, indigo, sugar, apples, dyewood and later, naval
stores, molasses, lumber and hides--if such articles were sent from
one colony to another. Strict enforcement of this act would have
dire results on the Virginia colonists because their ships had been
carrying products from the West Indies and from Virginia to northern
ports and then to Europe. The colonists began to be extremely
dissatisfied with the mother country.
Governor Berkeley at this time was aggravating the home situation of
the Virginia colonists. He had limited suffrage to freeholders and
householders only, had strongly influenced the election of Assembly
members to individuals who were personal friends and who favored
the King's policies and had been keeping the Assembly technically
in session for fourteen years without any elections taking place.
The grievance about which the colonists felt the most bitter,
however, was the inadequate protection of the frontier from the
Susquehannock Indian attacks. After these Indians had attacked a
plantation owned by Nathaniel Bacon and had killed his overseer and
one of his servants, Bacon decided that the colonists themselves
should take organized action against the Indians since the Governor
had practically ignored the attacks. One possible reason for the
Governor's hesitancy in interfering in these Indian affairs was the
high profit which he was receiving from the Indian fur trading.
Many of Bacon's neighbors agreed with him, and they prepared to be
the aggressors against the Indians. Bacon asked the Governor for
permission to do so and for a military commission for himself as
the leader. Both requests were refused, and Bacon and his friends
were declared rebels by the Governor. Consequently, Bacon and his
followers decided to take matters into their own hands without the
Governor's permission. They proceeded and successfully defeated
the Indians. This action aroused Governor Berkeley who immediately
considered Bacon a traitor, and a civil war or rebellion resulted.
Bacon, in the meantime, had been elected as a member of the House of
Burgesses, and he went to Jamestown to participate in the Assembly.
Upon his arrival, he was arrested, brought to the State House and
charged with being a rebel. Governor Berkeley and the King's Council
discussed Bacon's activities, and Bacon agreed to apologize for
his actions if the Governor would grant him his commission. The
Governor agreed, but Bacon felt that the Governor had no intention
of carrying out his promise for a commission. Bacon discussed this
meeting with his neighbor friends who decided to accompany him
to Jamestown where he was to receive his commission. Bacon and
approximately four hundred planters marched to the State House at
Jamestown and demanded his commission. When none was forthcoming,
he ordered his men to aim their guns at the windows of the State
House where the House of Burgesses sat. At this drastic move, the
Burgesses quickly prepared the commission paper and persuaded
Governor Berkeley to sign it and then issued it to Bacon. Bacon
and his followers then returned home. Governor Berkeley thereupon
decided to fight Bacon and his associates. Berkeley then departed
from Jamestown and crossed the York River to Gloucester where he
called upon his friends to help him. Upon hearing that Bacon was
approaching Gloucester, Berkeley fled across the Chesapeake Bay
to Accomack. In August 1676, Bacon and his followers signed an
agreement whereby they all pledged to fight any and all soldiers
that Governor Berkeley might order from England to the colony. After
some Indians living near Richmond made new attacks upon the settlers
there, Bacon and his friends captured the Indian fort and killed or
imprisoned the remaining Indians.
While Bacon was thus engaged, Governor Berkeley with eight hundred
soldiers and eighteen ships in the James River had occupied
Jamestown. Bacon proceeded next to Jamestown and defeated Governor
Berkeley's forces there. Governor Berkeley and many of his soldiers
fled to the ships and sailed away. Bacon realized that although he
had won on land, he would have no chance of holding out an attack
from the ships. Therefore, he and his friends burned the State House
and the rest of the capital, Jamestown, to prevent Governor Berkeley
from repossessing it. Bacon had become ill with a fever and died
shortly afterwards in October at the home of a friend in Gloucester
County. Governor Berkeley had twenty-three of Bacon's followers put
to death, but the principle for which they fought remained alive:
"the people must be heard." Bacon's Rebellion is remembered in
history primarily as a revolt of the plain, common man against a
privileged few. Governor Berkeley was later recalled to England,
and, upon his return, instead of being treated as a hero by the
King, he was regarded with contempt.
In 1682, tobacco had been grown so extensively in Virginia that
the price of tobacco on the London market had declined rapidly.
When the British government refused a request from the Virginia
colonists to either restrict tobacco acreage or order a temporary
cessation of its growth, tobacco riots occurred in Virginia. During
many nights, thousands of young tobacco plants throughout the colony
were destroyed. Finally, after the execution of six tobacco plant
cutters, the riots ceased. Eventually, the customs duty on tobacco
was increased tremendously, and taxes in Virginia were increased at
the same time.
In 1682, John Buckner established the first printing press in
Virginia at Jamestown. His printer was William Nuthead who published
several papers and two sheets of the acts of the Assembly of
November 1682, supposedly without a license. The Colonial Council
issued an order prohibiting anything from being printed until the
King had given his permission as there was strong opposition against
"the liberty of a press." Consequently, in December 1683, when King
Charles II prohibited all printing in Virginia, William Nuthead
moved his printing press to St. Mary's City, Maryland.
From 1691 to 1703, seven additional counties were formed in the
Virginia Colony: Norfolk County (created from Lower Norfolk which
had become extinct and named for Norfolk County in England which
is also located on the water), King and Queen County (created from
New Kent County and named for the joint rulers of England: King
William III, Prince of Orange, and Queen Mary), Princess Anne County
(created also from Lower Norfolk and named for Princess--later
Queen--Anne of England), Essex (created from the then extinct
Rappahannock County and named either for Essex County, England or
the Earl of Essex), Richmond (created also from the then extinct
Rappahannock County and either named for territory resemblance to
Richmond, Surry County, England or in honor of an English Earl
or Duke of Richmond), King William County (created from King and
Queen County and named for William of Orange, King of England),
and Prince George County (created from one of the original eight
shires--Charles City County--and was named for Prince George of
Denmark, Queen Anne's husband).
As mentioned previously, education in the Virginia Colony was
generally thought of as a family responsibility, not as a community
one. Nevertheless, by 1690, some families decided that there should
be an educational institution for higher learning in Virginia in
order that their sons would not have to travel abroad to obtain such
an education. A conference was held in Jamestown to consider the
founding of a college in the Virginia Colony. Those present led by
Colonel John Page drew up plans for such an institution and asked
the Governor and the King's Council to explain to the rulers of
England and to Parliament the purpose and the need of a college in
Virginia and to make a request for financial contributions for such
an enterprise. Reverend James Blair, a Scotch minister in Virginia,
went to England to ask King William III and Queen Mary for their
consent. He stayed in England for two years and, upon his return,
had a royal charter and numerous contributions consisting of land,
special tax funds and personal finances which had been encouraged
and strongly supported by King William and Queen Mary. Donations
from interested colonists themselves increased the building fund
considerably. On February 8, 1693, the official charter for the
college was granted. The college was named William and Mary College
in honor of the King and Queen who had granted its charter. Out of
respect for King William who belonged to the House of Orange, the
official college colors were designated as orange and white. The
General Assembly selected Middle Plantation as the most suitable
location for the college and the plans for the original building
were drawn up by the now-famous architect, Sir Christopher Wren.
The Wren Building, named in his honor, was constructed by 1698 and
it is the oldest academic structure still in existence. William and
Mary College was the second oldest college established in America:
Harvard College, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, having been
established in 1636. The first regular faculty consisted of six
professors and Reverend Blair, who had personally raised much of the
fund for the college, became its first president.
After the burning of Jamestown during Bacon's Rebellion, the State
House was rebuilt, but it burned again in October 1698. Since the
Assembly then had no meeting place, it met in 1699 at the private
residence of Mrs. Sarah Lee and in a building of William and Mary
College. At one meeting, Governor Granci Nicholson suggested that
the capital be moved to Middle Plantation. After a successful vote,
the seat of the Virginia Colony government was officially moved
from Jamestown, the first capital, to Middle Plantation, the name
of which was changed to Williamsburg in honor of King William
III. Plans for the State House were immediately made and the main
street was named Duke of Gloucester Street, in honor of the Duke
of Gloucester who was Queen Anne's oldest son. The first official
Capitol building was constructed at one end of the main street and
the College of William and Mary had been constructed at the other
end.
In 1698, a Scotsman, Francis Makemie, a Presbyterian missionary,
migrated from Pennsylvania to Accomack County, Virginia, where he
held services in his home. He was soon arrested for not having
a license to preach, but he was so sincere in his religious
beliefs that he was later awarded a license. He is the founder of
Presbyterianism in Virginia and, near Temperanceville, one may see a
monument consisting of a stone figure of Francis Makemie attired in
his usual clerical garb.
Shortly before the beginning of the eighteenth century, the General
Assembly passed an act requiring an import tax of twenty shillings
upon each Negro imported into the Virginia Colony. England, however,
opposed such action and, as additional laws were passed by the
Virginia General Assembly levying high import taxes on slaves,
she consistently vetoed them. The number of Negroes in Virginia
increased as the production and the value of tobacco increased
until, by 1700, there were approximately 7,000 Negroes out of 72,000
inhabitants within the colony. The colonists expressed their desire
to prohibit or at least restrict the importation of Negroes in 1713,
but the mother country would not authorize the Virginia Colony to
forbid slave importation.