USA > Virginia > City of Fredericksburg > City of Fredericksburg > The history of the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia > Part 26
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common law and equity jurisprudence, which had received the sanc- tion of ages, should be abrogated-a new institute, after the model of Justinian or Bracton, should be reported, thus giving us what is called, in this day, a code law, which would have been set afloat, without a precedent to guide it, and to construe which, would have taken our courts from that time to this.
"After this committee had agreed on measures and propositions, and the general outline of the system to be pursued, Mason and Lee, having given the other members the benefit of their advice, retired from further participation in its labors, because they were · not lawyers, and left the work to be done by the other three mem- bers, who then divided it, and completed the arduous task in 1779.
"There were four measures proposed by Jefferson before the full committee, then sitting in Fredericksburg, which were his especial pride, and these were the repeal of the laws of entail, the abolition of primogeniture, the establishment of a system of public education, and the act for the establishment of religious freedom. These four bills, he himself afterwards said, he 'considered as forming a sys- tem by which every fibre would be eradicated of ancient, or future, aristocracy, and a foundation laid for a government truly repub- lican.'
"To use his own language again, 'the repeal of the laws of entail would prevent the accumulation and perpetuation of wealth in select families and preserve the soil of the country from being more and more absorbed in mortmain.'
"Not only was the abolition of the laws of entail resisted by some of the best talent in Virginia, but when Jefferson proposed to abolish also the law of primogeniture-a relic of feudalism-there was strong opposition from the same sources-men who had risked fortunes and lives in the struggle for independence, but who were unwilling to join Jefferson in his attack upon institutions whose very age commanded veneration. One of the chief opponents of Jefferson was Edmund Pendleton, his friend, whose candor, great ability and benevolence in all these struggles won his admiration.
"It was Pendleton, who, when he found the old law could not prevail, suggested that the Hebrew principle be adopted, by which
RIT.KNOX & BRO
The Old Planters' Hotel. The stone in front was used as a "stand" for slaves when hired or sold at public "outcry." (See page 165)
OPERA HOUSE.
The Opera House. It occupies the ground of the bank and other buildings burnt at the bombardment, December 11, 1862. (See page 269)
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the eldest son should inherit double the amount of real estate which would descend to the heirs of the ancestor. The reply of Jefferson was characteristic and terse-'I observed,' he says, 'that if the eldest son could eat twice as much and do double work, it. might · be a natural evidence of his right to a double portion; but being on a par, in his powers and wants, with his brothers and sisters, he should be on a par also in the partition of the patrimony.'
"The statute of descents in Virginia was drawn by him-a statute which has justice and 'natural right' in every line, and so clear and perspicuous is it, that in all these years only one serious ques- tion has been raised regarding it, calling for a decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals.
"Jefferson gave an impetus to public education which is felt at this time. He proposed to the General Assembly of Virginia three bills : the first, establishing elementary free schools for all children ; the second, for colleges; and the third, for the highest grade of sciences. Only the first of these was passed by the Assembly, and before this was done it was so amended that it could not be opera- tive unless the county courts so decided. Now, as the justices who presided over these courts, while among the most honorable and talented men in Virginia, were generally of a class who did not care to bear the taxes necessarily entailed upon them by the adoption of the system, no free schools were established in any county within the Commonwealth under this act, with possibly the exception of one county.
"It was a fact that our ancestors, especially when under the English system of government, did not favor education at public expense, and the royal Governors, as a rule, threw the weight of their influence against it. But after the Revolutionary war had closed, and the government of the States was made a government by the people, Virginians, like Jefferson, proceeded on the theory that to have a good government, the people-the sovereigns-must be educated, so that they would take, not only a deeper interest in the affairs of State, but would do so with intelligence-the more know- ledge disseminated the better would be the government, and the less danger there would be of its falling into the hands of a favored and exclusive class.
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"The principle of free education, however, so earnestly forced to the front by Jefferson, eventually bore fruit, though the ripening was slow. It was gradually adopted by the people of Virginia, until now a system, backed by a sound public sentiment, is estab- lished in every county and city in the State, and the doors of the colleges are open to those who have not been favored with fortune. It may be safely predicted that when the State shall have fully recovered from the wreck and havoc of the Civil war, that a com- plete and thorough system will be established, such as that which was first proposed by Jefferson, and the people of the State will re- joice to see it done.
"No more important measure was proposed to the committee which met in Fredericksburg, on the 13th of January, 1777, than that of Jefferson's for the establishment of religious freedom, just as it now appears, with slight modifications in the preamble, in the statute books to-day. The fact that this act was written in Fredericksburg, we have never heard questioned; and the people of this city have the same right to claim that this 'second declaration' had its birth here, that the people of Philadelphia have to claim that city as the birth-place of the first. It was, however, a long time before its advocates were able to secure its passage by the Legislature. Having been written in 1777, it did not become the law of the land until 1785.
"In making his fight for religious freedom, the courage, the persistence and the power of this statesman shone in all their splendor. We consider this as his most difficult task, but it is his crowning glory. He had arrayed against him the advocates of a long cherished policy, sustained by law; one around which tradi- tion had woven a peculiar sanctity, and he who would lift his hand against it was deemed guilty of sacrilege. There, too, were the clergy, strong in resistance, backed, as they were, by a wealthy and powerful class, Jefferson himself belonging to a family whose mem- bers, though loyal in exacting faithful obedience to changes in existing conditions, loved this church and worshipped in its sacred, but State protected walls ; yet, in spite of all of this, believing that freedom of conscience was one of the 'inalienable and natural
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rights,' with a boldness, which all must commend; with a persis- tence, which all must admire, he headed the forces which took the last citadels of monarchial institutions and leveled them to the ground, thus forever separating church and State and eliminating the combination of political policy and religion, so that henceforth no man could be 'compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry, but all men shall be free to profess, and by argument maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or effect their civil capacity.'
"In justice to those who were adherents to the established church, it must be said that some supported Jefferson, and after the change came, none were more devoted in maintaining the statute, and all others of kindred import; many being in positions charged with their proper enforcement, gave them sound judicial interpreta- tion in exact conformity to all theories of the newly formed gov- ernment.
"This act for the establishment of religious freedom is not only a monument to him, as a liberator of men, but its elegant diction, its easy and smoothly flowing style, show his genius as a writer. It is worthy of note, its preamble contains over five hundred words, yet it is but one sentence ; only finished in the body of the act itself, where the first period appears ; and, although he says this preamble was somewhat mutilated by others, there is nothing doubtful or uncertain as to its meaning, purpose and scope.
"To do full justice to the subject in hand would require a volume, but we must content ourselves with what has been written to show in part the wonderful and rapid changes then made in old and settled conditions, and the powerful influence this section had in moulding a government based on 'natural rights and justice,' and in shaping its destinies."
WASHINGTON GAINS INDEPENDENCE.
It was George Washington, a native of Westmoreland county, raised in Fredericskburg, who led the American armies in the Revolutionary war and gained American independence. He was
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called the "Great and Good Washington." He was truly great. He was great in the eyes of Americans ; he was great in the eyes of his opposing enemies ; he was great in the eyes of the world. He was an uncrowned king, because he refused to be crowned. We cannot properly appreciate his greatness, because he was so great we have no one to compare him with.
It is said a famous scholar has written a long essay in which he argued that the "traditional Washington" must give place to the new Washington. Referring to this, Senator Lodge says: "This is true in one sense. A new idea of Washington comes up in the mind of each generation, as it learns the story of the father of this country ; but in another sense, the idea of a new Washington is wrong. He cannot be discovered anew, because there never was but one Washington."
As to the esteem in which Washington is held all over the world, Senator Lodge says : "Even Englishmen, the most unsparing critics of us, have done homage to Washington from the time of Byron and Fox to the present day. France has always revered his name. In distant lands, people who have hardly heard of the United States know the name of Washington. Nothing could better show the regard of the world for this great giver of liberty to the people than the way in which contributions came from all nations to his monument in Washington. There are stones from Greece, frag- ments of the Parthenon. There are stones from Brazil, Turkey, Japan, Switzerland, Siam and India. In sending her tribute, China said: 'In devising plans, Washington was more decided than Ching Shing or Woo Kwang; in winning a country, he was braver than Tsau Tsau or Ling Po. Wielding his four-footed falchion, he extended the frontiers, and refused to accept the royal dignity. The sentiments of the three dynasties have reappeared in him. Can any man of ancient or modern times fail to pronounce Washington peerless?' These comparisons, which are so strange to our ears, and which sound stranger still when used in comparison with Washington, show that his name has reached further than we can comprehend."
Speaking of the Declaration of Independence, Maury says :
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"From beginning to end it was the work of Virginia. A Virginia planter (Mason) conceived it; a Virginia lawyer (Jefferson) drafted it; and a Virginia soldier (Washington) defended it and made it a living reality."
FIRST FLAG RAISED BY JOHN PAUL JONES.
It was John Paul Jones, a Fredericksburg man, who raised the first flag over our infant navy, and the first to throw our National flag-the Stars and Stripes-to the breeze of heaven. The Na- tional Portrait Gallery, volume 1, giving a short sketch of Jones's life, says : "On the organization of the infant navy of the United States, in 1775, John Paul Jones received the appointment of first of the first lieutenants in the service, in which, in his station on the flag-ship Alfred, he claimed the honor of being the foremost on the approach of the Commander-in-Chief, Commodore Hopkins, to raise the new American flag. This was the old device of a rattle- snake coiled on a yellow ground, with the motto, 'Don't tread on me,' which is yet partially retained in the seal of the war-office. By the resolution of June 14, 1777, he was appointed to the Ranger, newly built at Portsmouth-a second instance of the kind-had the honor of hoisting for the first time the new flag of the Stars and Stripes."
HEADS OF THE ARMY AND NAVY.
It was Fredericksburg that gave to the country the head of the . armies of the United States in the great war for independence, in the person of the peerless Washington, and also furnished the great- est naval commander of that war in the person of the dauntless John Paul Jones. In addition to Washington, the small town of Fredericksburg sent to the field during the great Revolution five other generals-Gen. Hugh Mercer, Gen. George Weedon, Gen. Wm. Woodford, Gen. Thomas Posey and Gen. Gustavus B. Wal- lace, besides many officers of the line of high rank.
MADISON THE FATHER OF THE CONSTITUTION.
It was James Madison, of Orange county, a Virginian, born a few miles below Fredericksburg, at Port Conway, in King George
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county, who gave that wonderful instrument, the Constitution of the United States, to the country, that has been described as the "grand palladium of our liberty, the golden chain of our union, the broad banner of freemen, a terror to tyrants and a shining light to patriots."
Hon. James D. Richardson, of Tennessee, in his great work of compiling the messages and papers of the Presidents, with short biographical sketches of each, after recounting the labors, works and achievements of Mr. Madison, says: "It was not for these things or any of them his fame is to endure. His act and policy in the framing of the marvellous instrument, the constitution of our country, his matchless advocacy of it with his voice and pen, and his adherence to its provisions at all times and in all exigencies, obtained for him the proudest title ever bestowed upon a man, the title of the 'Father of the Constitution.' It is for this 'act and policy' he will be remembered by posterity."
JUDGE WALLACE ON THE CONSTITUTION.
Hon. A. Wellington Wallace, at one time Judge of the Corpora- tion Court of Fredericksburg, contributes for this work the follow- ing paper on the Constitution of the United States :
"No historical sketch of Fredericksburg and its locality would be complete without at least an epitome of the constitu- tional form of government of the United States; for within a radius of seventy-five miles from Fredericksburg were reared the leading men who inspired the Federal Constitution. There are few, if any, similar areas in magnitude that can furnish, in one epoch of time, such a splendid galaxy of names. George Washing- ton, Richard Henry Lee, James Madison, Patrick Henry, John Blair, George Wythe, Edmund Randolph, and George Mason, the deputies appointed by Virginia to frame the Federal Constitution, were natives of this territory.
"The inspiration given to the men of the age when our constitu- . tion was framed, was a wonder to the world. No nation had ever at- tempted by a written paper to provide a fundamental basis for government to last for all time and to provide for every emergency
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which might arise. The British Constitution, which had been the maternal chart of government before the Revolution, was a collective name for the principles of public policy on which the government of the United Kingdom was based. It was not formu- lated in any document, but the gradual development of the poli- tical intelligence of the English people, resulting from concessions from the Crown, successive revolutions, numerous enactments of Parliament and from the established principles of the common law. But here in this new country, by young men, born in the territory around Fredericksburg, was inaugurated a departure from the traditions of our ancestors to govern by a written fundamental law, a nation, whose progress thereunder has been phenomenal and has been, and will ever be, a continuing cause of astonishment to the civilized world.
"As has been stated in this chapter, the Constitution of Vir- ginia, of 1777, drawn by George Mason, was the first written constitution. Subsequently, the several colonies that revolted against Great Britain, entered into written articles of confederation for the common defense and for government in time of war, but when the independence of the United States had been recognized by Great Britain, these articles of confederation were found totally inadequate for the powers of government.
"The power of making war, peace and treaties, of levying money and regulating commerce and the corresponding judicial and exe- cutive authorities, were not fully and effectually vested in the Federal Union ; so it became necessary that the freed colonies should either become weak, independent sovereignties, or should be bound together by stronger obligations, and, that for the general welfare, the separate sovereignties should surrender certain rights and pow- ers to central control. With a view to this object, on the 21st day of January, 1786, a resolution passed the Legislature of Virginia for the appointment of five commissioners, any three of whom might act, to meet similar commissioners from other States of the Union; and, under this resolution, the commissioners appointed fixed the first meeting in September following as the time, and the city of Annapolis, Maryland, as the place of meeting.
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"Edmund Randolph, James Madison and Saint George Tucker attended, representing Virginia, and, as a result of this conference a convention was called of all the States, to be held in Philadelphia, on the 25th day of May, 1787, and to that convention Virginia sent the deputies mentioned before in this paper, and, of these deputies, George Washington was chosen president of the assembled body. An extended account of the proceedings of that convention would be inappropriate in this brief narration. It is sufficient to state that the convention adjourned, having completed its work on the 17th day of September, following its meeting, and that while all the Virginia delegates assisted in the work of the convention, only three of the delegates, George Washington, James Madison and James Blair, signed the Constitution.
"The Constitution went into effect on the 4th day of March, 1789, although George Washington, the first President of the United States under it, was not inaugurated until the 13th day of April- eleven of the thirteen States having ratified it, the others, North Carolina and Rhode Island, not ratifying, the former until Novem- ber 21, 1789, and the latter until May 29, 1790.
"The Constitution is a document comprised in seven original articles and fifteen amendments. Of the original articles the first deals with the legislative body, prescribing the mode of election to the House of Representatives and the Senate, the qualifications of members, the method by which bills shall be passed, and those sub- jects on which Congress shall be qualified to act. The second re- lates to the Executive Department, prescribing the method of elec- tion and qualifications and duties of the President. The third re- lates to the Judicial Department, providing for the Supreme Court and such other inferior courts as Congress may think necessary. The fourth deals with the relations of the Federal Government and the separate States, and provides for the admission of new States. The fifth relates to the power and method of amendments to the Constitution; the sixth to the National Supremacy, and the seventh to the establishment of the government upon the ratifica- tion of the Constitution by nine of the States.
"The amendments, according to one of the methods provided,
Shiloh Baptist Church, New Site ( colored. ) (See page 215)
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The Church of God and Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ (colored.) (See page 216)
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were proposed by Congress and ratified by the States. The first twelve were submitted under acts passed in 1789, 1790, 1793 and 1803, and the last three after the Civil war, under acts of 1865, 1868 and 1870. The most important of the amendments are the twelfth, which changed the method of electing the President and Vice-President to the existing method; the thirteenth, which abolishes slavery ; the fourteenth, which disqualifies any one who has been engaged in rebellion against the government from holding office, unless his disqualification has been removed by Congress, and prevents the assumption and payment of any debt incurred in aid of rebellion; and the fifteenth, which prohibits the denial to any one the right to vote because of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
"This is an epitome of the Constitution of the United States, by virtue of which the government has been maintained to the present time; and the principles laid down therein were, to a very large extent, the suggestions of the men we have mentioned from the locality of Fredericksburg. The Republic based upon this Consti- tution was an experiment, but it has, for more than a century, withstood the most terrific shocks of the most troublous times. It has waged foreign wars successfully ; wild party spirit has always been foiled in efforts to undermine it; the bloodiest internecine strife in the world's history, sustained on both sides by unsurpassed valor, has but cemented its strength and prosperity at home and its power and prestige abroad; from thirteen small, feeble colonies, it has become a great nation of nearly eighty millions of people, its domain not only spreading from ocean to ocean, but extending far over the seas, and the protecting ægis of the Constitution, and the laws passed thereunder, guarding every race from every clime.
"No more splendid apostrophe to the Constitution could be added than the tribute of Mr. Gladstone, of England, the ablest advocate of human rights the century just closed has produced, when he said, in substance, that it was the grandest and greatest compendium of principles that had ever emanated from the brain, or been writ- ten down by the pen, of man."
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CHAPTER XXI
The First Proclamation for Public Thanksgiving-Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion-John Marshall and the Supreme Court- Religious Liberty-The Monroe Doctrine-Seven Presidents- Clarke Saves the Great Northwest-The Northwest Explored- Louisiana Purchase-Texas Acquired-Mexico Adds to Our Territory-The Oceans Measured, Sounded and Mapped- The Ladies' Memorial Association-The Mary Washington Monument, &c.
This chapter is taken up with a continuation and conclusion of the subjects of the last two chapters-that is, a brief reference to what has been accomplished for the country by the giant minds, and through the dangerous and daring exploits of the men who lived in Fredericksburg and within a radius of seventy-five miles of Fred- ericksburg; therefore no farther introduction to the chapter is necessary.
FIRST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION.
It was Richard Henry Lee, of Westmoreland county, a Virginian, styled the Cicero of America, who wrote the first proclamation for public thanksgiving in this country. Congress, with the govern- ment, had moved from Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, where it had gone for safety, to York, in the same State, then containing about 1,500 inhabitants. At that time the chief cities in the country were in the hands of the enemy, except Richmond and Savannah, and the American army-again defeated at Germantown-retreat- ing before a victorious enemy. Congress had been in session for nine months in York in the years 1777 and 1778, and while there heard the news of the surrender of Burgoyne, adopted the Articles of Confederation, received the news from Benjamin Franklin at Paris of the decision of the French government to aid the Ameri- cans in their struggle for liberty, and issued the first national thanksgiving proclamation.
The President of Congress appointed Richard Henry Lee, of 306 ]
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Virginia, with Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, and Gen. Rober- deau, of Pennsylvania, to draft the proclamation. It was written by Mr. Lee, and for its beauty and comprehensiveness, and being the first paper of the kind ever prepared and issued by authority in this country, it will, we are sure, be regarded with interest and veneration. It is as follows :
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