THE YEARS OF REBUILDING: 1865-1903
With the end of the war the formidable tasks of rebuilding both state
and local governments were begun. President Abraham Lincoln's view of
reconstruction had been that the government which took Virginia out of
the Union should be the one to bring her back into the Union,[101] and
President Andrew Johnson generally sought to follow this principle.
Others, mainly the Radical Republican leaders, argued that Virginia
had forfeited her sovereignty by rebellion, and so could not return to
the Union except on new terms.[102] In this respect, President Johnson
found that the presence of Governor Pierpont in Richmond--purporting
to govern under the constitution which his government had drafted and
ratified in Alexandria in 1864--was a complicating factor. Not only
was the legitimacy of this constitution questioned, but all evidence
pointed to the conclusion that the state's leaders who had served the
Confederacy could not and would not accept it.
An unsuccessful attempt to improve the constitution was made in the
summer of 1865, and thereafter a series of confusing elections and
administrations followed as the Radical Republican leaders in Congress
overrode President Johnson's reconstruction program.[103] In March
1867, the territory of nine former Confederate states was divided into
five military districts, in which army commanders were authorized to
oversee the civil administrations of the states. In Virginia's
military district, the army commander, General John Schofield,
interfered very little with the administration of Francis Pierpont,
who served as Provisional Governor. Pierpont provided a measure of
needed stability compared to what had preceded it, and as a result
slow but steady progress was made toward reconstituting some of the
essential elements of local government in the state.[104]
The prospect of restoration of full political power to the states
appeared briefly in March 1867 when Congress provided that the
Confederate states would be readmitted to the Union and their
delegations would be seated in Congress when they adopted
constitutions which conformed to the Constitution of the United States
with the new Fourteenth Amendment. A convention, dominated largely by
Republican reconstructionists, met in December 1867 and brought forth
the so-called "Underwood Constitution," named for Judge John Underwood
who presided at the convention.
The proposed new constitution contained the main features which were
needed to secure reinstatement of Virginia's sovereignty. In addition,
however, it contained a controversial provision which, in effect,
disenfranchised thousands who had served the Confederacy. Thus, the
choice offered in the impending ratification referendum was difficult
for most Virginians. So controversial was this matter that the army
commander was moved to intervene and postpone the referendum
indefinitely.[105] Stalemate followed during 1868 and 1869. Francis
Pierpont was replaced in the office of Provisional Governor by Henry
Horatio Wells, a New Yorker who was favored by the Radical
Republicans. Progress toward reconstitution of local government lost
momentum as state leadership lapsed.
Intervention by President Grant finally brought action on the
Underwood Constitution by proposing that Virginians vote on the
controversial disenfranchisement clauses separate from the main
features of the document. In July 1869, the vote was taken, with the
expected result that the "test oath" provision was defeated while the
constitution was approved. In the General Assembly elected under this
constitution, the Conservative Party enjoyed a working majority over
the Republicans, who had been badly split by the referendum
controversy. Henry Wells resigned, and was replaced by Gilbert Walker,
who served first by appointment of the army commander and later by
virtue of election to a constitutional four-year term. In January
1870, legislators from Virginia resumed their seats in the Congress,
and the last Federal occupation troops left the State.
The Underwood Constitution introduced major changes into the structure
of local government.[106] It adopted the Northern system of dividing
counties into townships,[107] with a justice of the peace exercising
his authority only within his township. Other elective offices
introduced at this time were county supervisors, a county clerk,
collector, assessor, overseer of the poor, and overseer of roads. All
these officials--some serving the township and others the county--were
salaried, and greatly increased the size of the governmental apparatus
formerly centered in the county court. The Board of county supervisors
was the general governing body of the county, comprised of members
elected from each township.
Although this expansion of the structure of county government came in
response to recognition that problems of the 1870's could not be
solved with government geared to the 1770's, the impact of these
problems plus Virginians' conservative political tradition led to
dissatisfaction with the township system from its inception. As soon
as the original force of the reconstruction movement was spent,
therefore, this system was modified to bring it more into line with
Virginia's historic governmental institutions. In 1875 and 1884 the
number of separate elective offices was decreased, the independent
powers of the townships were reduced, and the townships were converted
into "magisterial districts."[108] Gradually the power to appoint all
county officers except those with constitutional status was given to
the board of county supervisors and the county's Circuit Court judge.
[Illustration: Map of Fairfax Court House from G. M. Hopkins, _Atlas
of Fifteen Miles Around Washington_, 1879.]
The last quarter of the nineteenth century saw the appearance and
disappearance of a number of public offices now only dimly remembered.
For example, the county office of commissioner of roads dated from
1831, but the constitution of 1869 created township overseers of roads
who, with the commissioner of roads, formed the county road board.
When the townships were abolished, the duties of these boards were
transferred to the commissioner of roads and road surveyor. By 1900
this highly decentralized system had resulted in enactment of several
hundred local road laws by the states and led to a confused situation
that was not cured until the state highway system and highway
department were established in 1919.[109]
From the time of the disestablishment of the Church of England, care
of the County's poor and orphans had been the responsibility of the
County's overseer of the poor. Public health measures to suppress
smallpox also were carried on by this officer. The constitution of
1869 created a superintendent of the poor for each county, elected by
popular vote, and the overseers of the poor became township officers.
With the abolition of the townships, the superintendent of the poor
also disappeared and the overseers became officers of the magisterial
districts.[110]
In the early days of the nineteenth century, the justices of the
County Court had been responsible for the County's militia. This
system was changed in 1833 when the militia were reorganized to form
divisions, brigades and regiments on a state-wide basis. Officers were
appointed by the governor on recommendation of the county court. This
system continued until the Civil War, and when the militia was
established after the war it was managed entirely from the state
level.[111]
In the changes that followed the shift of governing power to the board
of county supervisors, one of the chief losers was the county sheriff.
He ceased to have any control of elections or revenue matters, and his
other powers and prerogatives connected with administrative functions
of county government were lost to others. He became exclusively a
peace officer and custodian of the county jail, and these are the
duties of his office today.
As the nineteenth century ended, Virginia moved toward another
constitutional convention--its fifth since 1776--with the hope of
modernizing the machinery of government. As matters turned out,
however, the resulting constitution of 1902 was not a forward-looking
document, and its chief results were to formalize changes which had
already occurred in practice. Thus, much debate was spent on how
voting qualifications should be regulated, and whether the old county
court should be abolished or not. Fairfax County's representatives in
the convention voted for retaining the county court, arguing that the
monthly sessions had significant social values--an "heirloom of great
psychological importance." Ultimately, however, the vote went against
retention of the county court and it was abolished. Its judicial
functions were assigned to the circuit court, and its legislative and
administrative functions were performed by the board of
supervisors.[112]
The disappearance of this political institution which had been the
focal point of Virginia's local government for almost 300 years,
marked the end of an era which reflected the tradition that public
affairs were best managed by the county's gentlemen freeholders. But
it did not immediately usher in as its successor an era of
professionalism and responsiveness to the wishes of the public.
Progress in these latter respects was postponed by slowness in
widening the suffrage and the opportunity to hold public office. In
this respect the Constitution of 1902 perpetuated the restrictive
system which had prevailed since 1875 by retaining the capitation tax
and the requirements of literacy and/or the ability to explain any
part of the constitution.
The beginning of the twentieth century also marked the end of the
rebuilding years which had followed the Civil War. The simple struggle
for subsistence, which had been the foremost theme when scarcities
existed in all types of goods and the sources of capital were meager,
no longer was the overriding consideration. A measure of normalcy had,
by 1902, returned to life in Northern Virginia. And if the pace of
this style of life was not as vigorous or spectacular as in some other
areas of the nation at that time, it offered, at least, the
substantial attractions of a comfortable and secure rural setting with
ready access to the centers of commerce and culture in nearby
Washington, Alexandria, and Georgetown.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER V
[101] Hemphill, et al., _Cavalier Commonwealth_, p. 346.
[102] Samuel E. Morison and Henry S. Commager, _The Growth of the
American Republic_, (New York: Oxford, 1937), II, 37-41.
[103] Porter, _County Government_, p. 241.
[104] Walter L. Fleming, _The Sequel of Appomatox_, (New Haven: Yale
University, 1921), pp. 146-147.
[105] Explaining his action to General Grant, then supreme commander
of all the military districts, General Schofield stated that the
members of the Underwood Convention "could only hope to obtain office
by disqualifying everybody in the State who is capable of discharging
official duties, and all else to them was of comparatively slight
importance. Even the question of whether their constitution will be
ratified or rejected they treat with indifference. Congress, they say,
will make it all right anyway." Hemphill, et al., _Cavalier
Commonwealth_, p. 352.
[106] See Porter, _County Government_, pp. 243-246, 258-259, 293.
[107] The introduction of the township was probably due to the fact
that a number of New Yorkers participated in the convention. Townships
had never been part of the tradition of Virginia's local government.
[108] Virginia, Laws of 1874-75, c. 270.
[109] Porter, _County Government_, pp. 249, 271; _Code of Virginia_
(1950 Edn.) Title 33, c. 1.
[110] Porter, _County Government_, pp. 258-59, 289.
[111] _Ibid._, p. 177.
[112] Ralph McDanel, _The Virginia Constitutional Convention of
1891-92_, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1928), p. 103,
reports that R. Walton Moore was one of Fairfax County's delegation to
the convention, and that he argued strongly for the social values of
retaining the court. The motion to retain the monthly county court was
defeated, however, by a vote of 41 to 19.
[Illustration: The dedication of the Marr Monument in 1904. Copy by
Lee Hubbard.]