USA > Virginia > A history of Virginia : from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time. Vol. II > Part 8
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ª Virginia Gazette; Girardin, 174. b Girardin, 175.
118
DUNMORE LEAVES AMERICA.
[CHAP. II.
Bay, dismissed some of his ships to St. Augustine, some to the Bermudas, and some to the West In- dies. He himself joined the naval force at New York, and towards the close of the year, sailed in the Fowey for England. He never returned to Virginia. Of all her royal governors, the last may be truly said to have been the worst. He had the rapacity of Culpeper, without his polished bearing -the cruel temper of Argal, without his courage- and the revengeful spirit of Berkeley, with none of his high sense of honour. It was meet that in the person of such a man, kingly authority should ex- pire in the " Old Dominion."
The measures of Dunmore, and other English agents, used to rouse the Indian tribes to hostility against the Colonists, were not without effect. On the borders of the two Carolinas, and of Virginia, the Creeks and Cherokees commenced incursions, and left traces of their course in havoc and blood- shed. A general combination was formed against them, and Colonel Christian, of Virginia, marched at the head of a select body of rangers, and attacked the Cherokees in their fastnesses. They were pro- tected by mountain passes, rugged paths through their forests, by swamps and rivers, and they had carried their cruelty so far as to burn at the stake a white prisoner who had fallen into their hands. But Christian overcame all obstacles, and fell sud- denly upon their towns, four of which were re- duced to ashes. The Cherokee chief, Oucanastota, sued for peace, which was granted, on condition that the savages should deliver up the prisoners,
119
TREATY WITH INDIANS.
1776.]
cattle, and other prey they had taken, and should also surrender fifteen hostages, who were to be an- nually exchanged for such others as the State of Virginia might require.ª Having concluded this important treaty, Colonel Christian and his brave army returned to the east (October).
And now we may consider Virginia as fully in- volved in the war of the Revolution. Her course was no longer vacillating. She had sought to avoid a position of direct hostility to the King of Great Britain, and had asserted her loyalty even when the sound of arms had been heard, and her sons were preparing for the conflict. But now she took the very front rank in the struggle, which was to establish the independence of America. Blood had already been shed upon her soil. Her armies had marched to give battle to the enemy, and had achieved victory upon several well-fought fields. Her principal town had been desolated, and her ex- posed places pillaged by the King's forces, under the King's Governor, and she no longer held out even the semblance of submission. But while she was resisting with her soldiers the assaults made from without, her statesmen were working a mighty change within, which was destined to affect her fate through all succeeding generations. Battles may be fought, and victories won, without real benefit to the nation for whom they are gained. Macedonia was cursed by the triumph of her con- quering kings, and Rome was never in so much danger of slavery, as when the leaders of her le-
a Girardin, 178.
120
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. [CHAP. II.
gions were always victorious. It is when success in arms is accompanied by wisdom and virtue in the conduct of her civil interests, that a nation may esteem her prosperity as founded on a rock.
There are two possessions without which no people can have that amount of happiness to which they are entitled by their natural rights : these are a free civil constitution, and perfect religious liberty. The mind that will review, without prejudice or passion, the past history of the world, will be pained to find how rarely either of these blessings has been enjoyed by any nation, and how much more rarely they have been found united. It may be asserted, without hazard, that until the changes wrought by the American Revolution, no country ever did pos- sess them in union, and hence the powerful effect which this event produced, and is still working among the older governments of earth. Even among the boasted republics of antiquity, freedom was rather nominal than real. The citizen of Rome might to-day riot in the full enjoyment of his sup- posed franchises, and might to-morrow be of the number shut up to a bloody death under the de- cree of a Marius or Sylla. The strongest arm made right for the time, and the constitution of the country was the sport of the favourites of fortune. And though in those days religion was but a show, it was not always an idle or bloodless one. Idolatry may be as tyrannous as false Christianity : if Athens willingly received the gods of other nations, and added them to her own thirty thousand, she yet resented every attempt to break the shackles of
121
SELDOM ENJOYED.
1776.]
her superstition ; and had religious freedom been known in Greece, Socrates would never have been condemned to drink the juice of hemlock. To find liberty, in any just sense, among the people of the fifteen centuries succeeding the Christian era, would be a hopeless task. Asia never knew it, and Europe did not learn it until reflected light came to her from America. Villeins cultivated the soil, and even to this day, in some parts of Austria and Russia, they are transferred from father to son like beasts of the field; knights and barons contended for the mastery, and sovereigns often tottered on their thrones, but the freedom then enjoyed was only that gained by the heaviest gauntlet, or the deepest castle-moat. And the purest of religions had been perverted into the most revolting of tyrants, who pronounced decrees as by divine authority, and enforced them with the sword and the fagot. At the time of the American Re- volution, the harsher traits of European govern- ments were beginning to disappear, but enough was left to remind men that they were not free. Even in England, although her civil constitution had become the subject of eulogy both at home and abroad, reforms were needed which have not yet been ended, and the unhallowed connexion be- tween Church and State deprived, and does still deprive, man of his highest right-the free exer- cise of his preferences in religion.
When Virginia was startled into action by the tyranny of the mother country, her eye immediately fell upon these two blessings, which she had never
122
VIRGINIA BEFORE
[CHAP. II.
fully enjoyed, and with intuitive eagerness she seized the time and the means for securing them. Upon these two points her whole subsequent his- tory will turn, and it will not be an immoderate boast to declare that her conduct in gaining them has entitled her to the gratitude of the civilized world. Beyond doubt, her example has affected, not merely each individual state of the American Union, but the Union itself, in its federal cha- racter ; and once more it shall be written that she was the cradle in which was rocked the infant of human freedom. She contains but sixty-six thou- sand square miles of land, a small territory, hardly to be discerned on the face of the terrestrial globe ; but her principles are wide as the world, and pow- erful as destiny. In order that we may clearly mark each influence which was employed in con- ducting her to these two great ends, we must re- trace, for a time, the course of her fortunes.
Under the rule of a despotic monarch, Virginia had obtained her General Assembly ; but she owed this to the democracy of the London Company, and not to the favour of the sovereign.ª And though the Burgesses were elected by the people, their action was completely controlled by the Governor, who held an unlimited veto power. This officer was the creature of the King, was appointed by him, and removed at his pleasure, and few were the cases in which the Governor preferred the in- terest of his people to the arbitrary will of his sove- reign. During the few years of the English Com-
a See vol. i. 211, 212.
123
THE REVOLUTION.
1776.]
monwealth, Virginia had more internal liberty than at any other part of the colonial period. She elected her own governors; removed them when they were refractory; made her own laws, and levied her own taxes. This was a halcyon time, which was not long to endure.
Not long after Charles the Second gained the throne, the real effect of her dependence on the mother country was made manifest in the Colony, in a form of stern oppression. The Navigation Laws have been already explained, and the course of the Governor drove the people of Virginia into premature rebellion. No relaxation of the policy of England succeeded this unhappy outburst; the grievances of the people continued unredressed until the fatal line was passed, beyond which sub- mission was impossible. Yet, even after the Stamp Act, few of the leading men of the Colony con- templated independence ; the prevalent feeling was a desire for redress and reconciliation. It was hard to drive Virginia from her loyalty ; but, hard as it was, her mother effected it, and the very moment the thought of independence entered her mind, it expanded into a vigour which swept every obstacle before it.
The resolutions of Patrick Henry, adopted by Virginia in 1765, were the earliest authorized ex- pression of American Independence. They did not, indeed, declare a design to throw off the yoke of England; but they stated principles which in- evitably tended to this result. To say that the Colony would not submit to a claim advanced by
124
APPROACH TO INDEPENDENCE. [CHAP. II.
the Parliament and King, and enforced by laws, was virtually to declare her freedom. Hence the wondrous effect wrought by these resolutions; the enthusiasm with which they were received by the friends of liberty throughout all the Colonies, and the strenuous opposition of Virginia statesmen, who still loved the rule of the mother country. From the time when these resolutions passed, there never was the same feeling towards England which had before prevailed. The charm was dissolved; the mask had been torn away, and men who, one year before, had shuddered with horror at the thought of severing the ties which had so long united the two countries, now contemplated such a result with much greater complacency. Yet the approach to open independence was gradual, and it is not easy to trace the line beyond which both parties passed before reconciliation was impossible. It is certain, that early in the year 1775, no voice in Virginia had openly proclaimed a wish to cast off all control of the mother country. During that year we note, from time to time, in the public prints, expressions of correspondents which betray a growing feeling of desire for a free government.ª We have already mentioned the remarkable sentiments of the mili- tary convention at Fredericksburg, on the 29th April, which breathe a spirit of freedom that could not have been long suppressed.
Virginia will not suffer an unworthy emotion of pride to urge her to deny the merits of a beloved sister state. She will rather rejoice in the event
a See note in Girardin, 134; Jefferson's Notes, 125.
125
MECKLENBURGH DECLARATION.
1776.]
which has placed North Carolina upon an honoured eminence, as the leader in the band of Colonies which proclaimed for themselves a free government in America. It is fit that " The Old North State," should be thus honoured, for in the Revolutionary War, few members of the Union contributed more to the common cause, in proportion to their means, or bore with more heroic courage the ravages of an insolent enemy. Beyond rational doubt, the first written Declaration of Independence was made in the County of Mecklenburgh, in North Carolina, on the 20th day of May, 1775. Colonel Thomas Polk called together the people, who, with simple manners and Puritan principles, had brave hearts, and a love of freedom, which rose superior to the shackles of habit. They adopted a declaration pro- nouncing their country independent of Great Britain, and using terms so nearly similar to those after- wards introduced into the celebrated instrument of July 4, 1776, that some have suspected Mr. Jeffer- son of having borrowed from the thoughts of the Carolina patriots.ª But surely it is not necessary to detract from the glory of either author of either instrument. The language of liberty has often been the same, though coming from men who had
* For a very interesting review of almost to madness. His zeal drowns the Mecklenburgh Declaration, in both his prudence and his good tem- all its phases, see Southern L. Mess. per. He entertains himself with iv. 209, 210, and post, 481-486; see, divers assaults upon Virginia, and also, Foote's Sketches of North Ca- winds up one of his chapters with " the fiendish falsehoods of the infidel of Monticello," page 66. rolina, chapter i .; and J. Seawell Jones' Memorials of North Carolina, 26-33. Mr. Jones loves his state
126
COMMON SENSE.
[CHAP. II.
never communed with each other, and at least three expressions in the Mecklenburgh paper may be found, not merely in Mr. Jefferson's declaration, but in other state papers, prepared during the years 1775 and '76.ª The idea of independence had gained strength in all minds, and words were not wanting to express it.
In December of 1775, the Virginia Gazette con- tained a letter from "a soldier," in which may be found clear intimations of a design to assert inde- pendence. " Our cruel enemies have forced us to pass the Rubicon ; we have begun the noble work, and there is no retreating. The King of England has proclaimed us rebels. The sword is drawn : the scabbard must be thrown away : there is no medium between a glorious defence and the most abject slavery."b While such sentiments were openly avowed, it will be apparent that the minds of many were intent upon a complete rupture of the ties which had bound them to Britain. While the whole country was in a ferment of agitation and united in few things, save in the design to oppose even unto death the measures of England, a pamphlet was published which produced a powerful effect. This was the celebrated " Com- mon Sense," of Thomas Paine, in which, with great strength of reasoning and pungency of ap- peal, the Americans are exhorted to assert their natural rights, and declare themselves a free and independent people. Had Paine never written
a See Southern L. Mess., iv. 209, 210, April, 1838.
b Va. Gazette, 30th December ; Girardin, note, 134.
127
REVOLUTIONARY CONVENTION.
1776.]
any thing more objectionable than this work, his name would not now be connected with all that is odious in vice and irreligion. His pamphlet ap- peared in Virginia, in February, 1776, and gave an additional impetus to the cause of freedom. Few could resist it longer : cherished prejudices gave way : the dominion of Britain became hate- ful, and the very thought of liberty was so deli- cious that all were prone to encourage it. On the 19th of April, the Gazette contained a communica- tion which was rather the embodiment of popular sentiment than the appeal of a single writer.ª It reviewed the late acts of Virginia ; her assumption of the law-making power ; her war against the Governor, and her military preparations, and then in a tone of warm exhortation urged her to delay no longer the call for independence. This appeal was soon followed by decisive action.
Under these circumstances, the people of Vir- ginia were called upon to elect members to a Con- vention, which, as they foresaw, was to be the most important in its influence of any that had ever assembled. The election was held during the month of April, and at a time when the public prints, and the speeches of public men, were alike laden with the great theme of independence. The very paper which contained the appeal just men- tioned, presented also the names of delegates from
a This paper will be found in the For "Common Sense," see Paine's Virginia Gazette for April 19, 1776, Polit. Works, i. 19-64, particularly under the head of "Queries for the on pages 41, 47, 59.
Freeholders and People of Virginia."
128
REVOLUTIONARY CONVENTION. [CHAP. II.
some of the counties and boroughs of the Colony,a and others had not yet been reported. It would be unreasonable to suppose that the people were not fully apprised of the state of their public affairs, or that they did not elect their delegates to "take such steps as the crisis demanded.` The old government had fallen in ruins ; the Governor was driven in disgrace from his palace ; the Burgesses. had no longer any power, real or nominal; and every convention that had assembled, had acted not under the colonial constitution, but by the paramount authority of the people. In fact, each one of these bodies was revolutionary in its cha- racter ; the people finding their former government intolerable, threw off its shackles, and chose mem- bers of conventions, who made laws and adopted other measures for the safety of the public.c And if all prior conventions had been distinct from and paramount to the ordinary legislature, much more must we so regard this body now con- stituted by the people when they were upon the eve of erecting a new government on the ruins of the old system. Let these facts be borne in mind, as they apply with power to a question soon to be considered.
On Monday the 6th of May, the Convention
a See Virginia Gazette, April 19, large."-Notes on Virginia, 125. 1776.
But the contrary has been proved by many circumstances ; and see Tucker's Blackstone, i. Part 1, Ap- pendix, page 85, in note.
c See Tucker's Blackstone, vol. i.
b Mr. Jefferson, in support of his well-known opinion as to the Consti- tution of 1776, says " Independence and the establishment of a new form of government, were not even Part 1, Appen., 86-88. yet the objects of the people at
1776.]
REVOLUTIONARY CONVENTION. 129
assembled at- Williamsburg. It contained many
brave hearts and bright minds. Some of the counties in the west were represented by members whose strong common sense was an ample substi- tute for deep culture, but the eastern counties had selected their greatest ornaments of wisdom and patriotism, to meet the demands of the time.ª Ed- mund Pendleton was elected President, and in his opening speech reminded them of the critical state of their affairs : of the suspension of all the powers of government, and of their duty to provide for this emergency. Then the members turned with serious eagerness to the questions before them, and in nine days they prepared, approved, and sent forth to the country a paper, which showed with what subject their thoughts were chiefly occupied.
(May 15.) Their declaration recites that they had used all proper efforts to obtain a peaceful re- dress of their grievances, and to effect reunion and reconciliation with England, on just and liberal terms; that their efforts had produced nothing but increased insult; that by a late Act of Parliament the Colonies had been declared to be in rebellion, and out of the protection of the British Crown ;b that their property had been confiscated; their people forced to join in the murder of their own friends and relatives ; and that the King's Governor was even then waging an inhuman warfare on their coasts. Therefore, making a solemn appeal to the
a Many of the names will be
b This act was remarkable ; see found in the Va. Gazette for April Girardin, 139, in notc. 19, 1776.
VOL. II. 9
.
130
INDEPENDENCE.
[CHAP. II.
Searcher of hearts for their sincerity, they resolve that their representatives in Congress be instructed to propose to that body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, and to give their assent to any measures for forming a Con- federation of the Colonies for the defence and wel- fare of the whole.ª
Their next resolution was even more important. By a unanimous vote they provided that a com- mittee should be appointed to prepare a declaration of rights, and "Such a plan of government as will be most likely to maintain peace and order in this Colony, and secure substantial and equal liberty to the people." Thus the Convention entered upon the work, chiefly for which they believed them- selves to have been appointed, and if any proof had been needed that the people sanctioned their course, it might have been found in the enthusiasm with which the resolutions were received. Every where through the state joy manifested itself in open fes- tivities. In Williamsburg, military parades, the firing of artillery, and illuminated houses, betoken- ed a national triumph. The "Flag of America," floated over the Capitol, and when it was first un- folded, it was received with shouts by a crowd of citizens drawn together by the interest of the occa- sion.b From the sea-coast to the extreme west, Virginia seemed moved by a feeling of gratitude for the present, and hope for the future.
Twenty-eight members formed the important
a Virginia Gazette, May 17, 1776;
143. b Girardin, 140; Wirt's Henry, Girardin, 140.
131
BILL OF RIGHTS.
1776.]
committee raised under the resolution of the 15th May. We find in this body the ablest men in the Colony selected, and charged with a delicate duty, upon which depended the happiness of Virginia for generations to come.a On the 12th of June the " Bill of Rights" was reported to the Convention, and after a brief debate, was unanimously adopted. This well-known declaration still adorns the statute- book of our state, and has the force of the highest law.b In simple and perspicuous language, it an- nounces principles which, if steadily acted upon, will secure rational liberty to any country. The natural rights of man are first declared : all power is said to be vested in the people, and magistrates and rulers are merely their responsible trustees. Hereditary emoluments and privileges are con- demned; the several branches of government are distinguished ; and it is said that law-makers and law-enforcers should descend, from time to time, among the common mass of society, that they may feel their burdens, and sympathize in their calami- ties. Trial by jury, in criminal cases, is guaran- tied; excessive bail cannot be required, nor exces- sive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punish- ments inflicted; the freedom of the press is guard- ed from restraint; standing armies in time of peace are declared dangerous, and the militia system is commended for public defence; uniform govern-
2 The names are in Wirt's F. seen the original draft of the Bill of Henry, 143, 144.
Rights, as it came from the pen of b Revised Code, i. 31, 32. In the George Mason. The last clause was State Library at Richmond, may be slightly altered before it was adopted.
+
132
CONSTITUTION. .
[CHAP. II.
ment is provided, and it is said that no government separate from and independent of that of Virginia, ought to be established within her limits.a The final clause declares that religion can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or vio- lence, and, therefore, all men are entitled to its free exercise, according to the dictates of conscience.
After viewing this bold expression of free princi- ples, we are prepared for the system of government that followed. Men, whose minds had opened to take in the teachings of the " Bill of Rights," would not hesitate to sever the last tie which bound them to England, and to establish independent rule. The CONSTITUTION intended for Virginia had been drawn by George Mason, a member of the com- mittee, famed for his sound learning, his expanded mental powers, his great strength in argument. He was not a graceful orator, but he impressed his hearers by his earnestness, and often entertained them by his keen sarcasm.b Mr. Jefferson was in Congress, but, looking with interest upon the pro- gress of his native state, he sent a draught of a form of government, prepared by himself, which he thought suited to the wants of Virginia. Mr. Wythe received this draught after most of the fea- tures of George Mason's plan had been approved ; but Mr. Jefferson's preamble did so forcibly com- mend itself by its review of the grievances of Ame-
a This judicious clause was doubt- ating dominion of the Popish church. less intended to exclude, for ever, the Cl. 14, R. C. i. 32. "imperium in imperio," the insinu-
b See Tucker's Jefferson, i. 91, in note.
1
133
CONSTITUTION.
1776.]
rica, that it was adopted, and prefixed to the plan finally received.ª This preamble is nearly similar in its enumeration of wrongs to that found in the Declaration of Independence, and it would be diffi- cult to read the two without being convinced that they were from the same pen.
On the 29th day of June, the New Constitution was submitted to a final vote, and was unanimously adopted by the Convention. Under this instru- ment Virginia was governed for more than half a century, and to detail with minuteness all its pro- visions, would be an unnecessary task.b The seve- ral branches of government are first declared to be separate and distinct, and then each is constituted. The Legislature was composed of two parts : the House of Delegates, consisting of two members from each county, and one representative for each city or borough; and the Senate, containing twenty-four members, sent from the same number of districts over the state. Rotation was provided for the senators, by dividing them into four classes, so that six members must be displaced at the end of each year. The members of both Houses were required to be freeholders, and they were to be elected by voters qualified according to the laws then in existence on this subject. This law of suffrage, as we have heretofore seen, had been often changed, according to the spirit of the age ; but it was now regarded as fixed, and the right was con-
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