In September 1632, under Governor Harvey's direction, the first revisal
of Virginia's laws was made. Twenty-five years of experience under
varying forms of government lay behind the revisal. All previous laws
were examined and brought into conformity with existing conditions. Most
of the legislation concerned the Church, tobacco, and the Indians, good
indications of what most concerned the early settlers. Highways were
also authorized to be laid out in convenient places, the first sign that
settlement was spreading from the rivers--the traditional highways of
Virginia--into the interior. Virginia was becoming more than a military
outpost. It was becoming a "home."
The success of Harvey's attempt to stabilize and diversify agricultural
production is confirmed in the account of Captain Thomas Young of his
voyage to Virginia and Delaware Bay in 1634. Sailing up the James River
he noticed that "the cuntry aboundeth with very great plentie of milk,
cheese, butter and corne, which latter almost every planter in the
country hath." The grim threat of starvation that had in former times
hung over the colony had been dispelled. Although there had been a rapid
increase in population, the food supply more than kept up with the
increase, and thousands of bushels of corn were even transported and
sold to the New England colonists.
The year 1634 also marked the establishment of the county form of local
government in Virginia. The scattered plantations and settlements,
rapidly expanding and hence more difficult to govern from James City,
were now organized into eight counties. For each a monthly court was
established by commission from the Governor and Council. Provision for
separate courts in outlying areas had been made as early as 1618. Now
the shift to decentralized government was formalized.
[Illustration: Map 2]