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THE CONSTITUTION.
union ; and the latter policy was strongly urged by Vir- ginia. It is necessary to state this fact ; the " States- right," record of the Commonwealth has produced the impression that the sentiment of union was not strong in the people. The contrary is the fact. From the ยท first, the Virginians were the foremost advocates of union, and made every sacrifice to effect it.
To bring it about, Virginia began by surrendering a principality. The entire region beyond the Ohio, now the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, was a part of her domain under her charter. Her right to it rested upon as firm a basis as the right of any other Common- wealth to her own domain, and if there was any ques- tion of the Virginia title by charter, she could assert her right by conquest. The region had been wrested from the British by a Virginian commanding Virginia troops ; the people had taken "the oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia ; " and her title to the en- tire territory was thus indisputable. Nevertheless it was called in question. It was said that the American Union - before there was any union - had succeeded to all the rights of the Crown. But the reply to this was fatal. The Crown had ruled as of sovereign right ; had appointed governors, privy councilors, magistrates, and military officials ; and had vetoed the legislation of the Colonies at its will. The true theory was unassailable. The country north of the Ohio River was a part of Vir- ginia under her original charter ; remained a portion of her domain when, in May 1776, she declared herself an independent Commonwealth, before there was any union ; and she herself succeeded to all the rights of the Crown.
These rights she now abandoned ; and her action was
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the result of an enlarged patriotism and devotion to the 1 cause of union. The Articles of Confederation had not been adopted by all the Colonies ; some of them still held back. They were unwilling to recognize the Vir- ginia title, but would " accede to the Confederation pro- vided Congress would fix the western limits of the States claiming to extend to the Mississippi, or the South Sea." The issue was thus distinctly presented ; the surrender of the territory and union, or its retention and disunion. Virginia decided for union, and (January, 1781), agreed to cede the country to the Federal government ; in 1783 Congress accepted her terms ; and in 1787 passed an ordinance for the government of the territory.
This stumbling-block had thus been removed by the magnanimity of Virginia, and the Colonies holding back had signed the Articles of Confederation. These were now, however, seen to be wholly inadequate to the gov- ernment of the country ; and in January, 1786, Virginia recommended a General Convention to make such altera- tions in the old articles as were necessary for " the exi- gencies of the Union." The rest of the States acquiesced, and (May 25, 1787), all but Rhode Island met in con- sultation at Philadelphia. Washington was elected President of the Convention, and it at once proceeded to the great business before it. The discussion of the terms of the proposed Union lasted from spring to au- tumn, and was conducted with great excitement, and often with bitterness. The smaller States were under the apprehension that they were to be sacrificed to the larger, but these fears were at length overcome, and (Septem- ber 17, 1787), a Constitution was agreed upon which was to be submitted to conventions of the people of the several States, to be by them adopted or rejected.
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A passionate agitation followed in Virginia. The peo- ple were divided into two great parties, and the Consti- tution was supported or denounced in discussions of unheard of bitterness. Nothing else was spoken of. Speakers traveled over the State addressing the people of every county. In town and country the only topic was the " new plan of government."
The Virginia Convention met at Richmond, now the seat of government (June 2, 1788), and consisted of one hundred and sixty-eight members. Edmund Pendleton was elected President, and the struggle at once began. To conceive an idea of its vehemence it is necessary to read the old volume containing a report of the debates. It was a bitter and prolonged conflict, and the first men of the Commonwealth were arrayed against each other. Patrick Henry was passionately opposed to the new Constitution. He said that he " saw poison under its wings ; " and that it " squinted toward monarchy ; " that it was naked consolidation ; surrendered the rights of the States ; and evil was certain to arise from it. Per- sonal attacks were made on the motives and consistency of members. Henry and his old friend Edmund Ran- dolph had a sharp passage-of-arms, and Henry ex- claimed : " If our friendship must fall, let it fall like Lucifer, never to rise again !" He was supported in his opposition by George Mason and James Monroe. Mason had set his face against the instrument in Phila- delphia, and now again denounced it. It was a national not a federal government, he declared ; the power con- ferred on the President was overwhelming ; the Supreme Court, which was to judge of the law and the fact, would destroy the liberties of the people. He and Madison, like Henry and Randolph, came nearly to personal col-
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lision, and the struggle went on obstinately. The Con- stitution had strong supporters. John Marshall, after- wards Chief Justice of the United States, was its per- sistent advocate. He was an immense power in himself, and had at his back Edmund Pendleton, James Innes, Francis Corbin, George Nicholas, and General Henry Lee, the " Light Horse Harry " of the war; above all James Madison, who fought for the Constitution at every step, and was the leader of the party in favor of it, as Patrick Henry was the leader of the party opposed to it.
The struggle continucd until the latter part of June. Then it was seen that the Constitution would be adopted if the amendments proposed by Virginia were concurred in. The important question next arose whether these amendments should be previous or subsequent ; whether Virginia should insist upon them as conditions precedent to her ratification, or leave them for subsequent legisla- tion. The latter course was decided upon, and (June 25, 1788), the final vote was taken. Eighty-nine votes were cast in the affirmative and seventy-nine in the nega- tive. Virginia had thus ratified the Federal Constitu- tion by a majority of ten, in a Convention consisting of one hundred and sixty-eight members. The form of the ratification gave rise later to interminable discussions. Virginia had declared that " the powers granted under the Constitution being derived from the people of the United States, may be resumed by them whenever the same may be perverted to their injury or oppression ; and that every power not granted thereby remains with them and at their will." It was not maintained by any statesman of that time, that the phrase " the people of the United States," signified the people of
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the whole country welded into one nation, in which the majority was to rule without regard to State bounda- ries. That theory was reserved for the after-time, and has not yet established itself. What the future will bring is yet to be seen. The Virginia amendments were generally adopted, and the Constitution went into opera- tion. Washington was elected President by a unani- mous vote, and the career of the American Republic thus began.
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MODERN VIRGINIA.
THE adoption of the Federal Constitution marks the limits of a history of Virginia proper. Henceforth the affairs of the Commonwealth are inseparably bound up with those of the whole country, and to write the history of the one would be to write the history of the other.
That subject is much too large for a work like the present, which has had a distinct aim, - to trace the origin and development of Virginia society through its various phases until it assumed the aspect which it pre- sents in the nineteenth century. It is impossible to treat here of the rise and progress of parties, of the views of the people on questions of foreign and domestic policy, and all that properly constitutes the political history of a country. Such a narrative would be voluminous, and exceed the limits proposed to himself by the author of this work. Other objections exist to a detailed history of the post-Revolutionary epoch. Up to the period of the great civil convulsion, the events of Virginia history are comparatively uninteresting. At long intervals an
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incident occurs deserving attention, but these incidents are few in number, - what chiefly attracts notice and re- quires mention, is the change in society following the ascendency of the Republican party under the leader- ship of Jefferson, which began with the beginning of the century.
After the year 1800 Virginia gradually assumed a new physiognomy. Dress and manners underwent a change. The aristocratic planter of the eighteenth cen- tury, with his powder and silk stockings, gave place to the democratic citizen, with his plain clothes and plain manners. The theories of Jefferson, who received the name of the " Apostle of Democracy," were adopted as the rule of society, and pervaded the entire community. Class distinctions were ignored as a remnant of social superstition. The country was disposed to laugh even at the manners of the first administration, when Presi- dent Washington received Congress, standing grandly in full court costume, sword at side, offering no one his hand, and never relaxing from his august dignity. The people mucli preferred Jefferson, the head of the new order of things, who was familiar with every one, tied his shoes with a leathern string, rode to the Capitol without an escort, and would not allow himself to be addressed as "Your Excellency," or even as " Honora- ble." Democratic equality had become the watchword, and controlled society ; a brusque address bad taken the place of the old ceremonious courtesy ; and the States- rights party in Virginia, as elsewhere, seemed to have sworn, not only political but social antagonism to the old Federal party.
Many of the descendants of the former planters con- tinued to cling to the past, and lament the change which
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had taken place ; but it was seen, even by these, that the old regime had passed away never to return. The style of living of the eighteenth century was no longer possible. The descendant of the "nabob " had become a gentleman of limited means. The old plantation of thousands of acres had dwindled down to a few hun- dreds. The traditional influence of the ancient families had in large measure disappeared with their great landed possessions ; and it was plain that the inexorable nine- teenth century was slowly effacing the impression of the preceding age from Virginia society.
The change was gradual, and is still in progress, but cannot be said to have essentially altered the peculiar characteristics of the race. The old manner of living has disappeared with failing fortunes, and the energy of the nineteenth century is steadily infusing itself into the Virginia blood ; but the traits of the people remain nearly the same. The Virginian of the present time has ingrained in his character the cordial instincts, and spirit of courtesy and hospitality which marked his ancestors. He has the English preference for the life of the country to the life of the city ; is more at home among green fields and rural scenes than in streets ; loves horses and dogs, breeds of cattle, the sport of fox- hunting, wood-fires, Christmas festivities, the society of old neighbors, political discussions, traditions of this or that local celebrity, and to entertain everybody to the extent of, and even beyond his limited means. Many of these proclivities have been laughed at, and the peo- ple have been criticized as provincial and narrow- minded ; but after all it is good to love one's native soil, and to cherish the home traditions which give charac- ter to a race. Of the Virginians it may be said that
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they have objected in all times to being rubbed down to a uniformity with all the rest of the world, and that they have generally retained the traits which character- ized their ancestors.
The last years of the century were marked by the great struggle between the Federalists and Republi- cans, and the action of Virginia on the Alien and Sedi- tion Laws. These acts of the Adams administration, aimed at French emissaries who were disturbing the public peace, punished with fine and imprisonment all persons who should utter or print " false, scandalous, and malicious " charges against the Government, Congress, or President ; and empowered the President to send out of the country "all such aliens as he shall judge danger- ous to the peace and safety of the United States." At these enactments Virginia took fire. They were de- nounced as a gross invasion of the liberty of the citizen, and Jefferson, the leader of the Republican party, sent to Kentucky a series of resolutions which were passed by the Assembly there in November, 1798, asserting that all acts of the General government, exceeding the powers delegated by the Constitution, were "void and of no effect," and that each party to the federal com- pact had "an equal right to judge for itself, as well of in- fractions, as of the mode and measure of redress." This action of Kentucky, the daughter of Virginia, was soon followed in Virginia. The State began to arm. The Assembly directed the erection of two arsenals and an armory sufficient to store ten thousand muskets; and (December 2, 1798) passed, by a vote of one hundred against sixty-three, the celebrated "Resolutions of '98-'99."
These resolutions are the authoritative exposition of
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the fundamental principle of the Virginia States'-rights party - that a strict, not a latitudinarian construction must be placed on the powers granted to the Federal government. They declared that the people of Vir- ginia were warmly attached to the Union; that they were ready to maintain and defend it ; but that the au- thority of the General government was limited by the plain meaning and intent of the compact ; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, the States have the right, and ought to interpose. The Alien and Sedition Laws were de- clared to be an exercise of such other powers - the first of a power not delegated, and the last of a power for- bidden. Against both the Virginia Assembly protested, referring to the terms in which the State had ratified the Federal Constitution, and a solemn appeal was made to the other States to unite with the Commonwealth in her protest.
It is not necessary here to enter into any discussion of these resolutions ; but it is curious to notice how the practical importance of the principles laid down in them, came in time to be denied. An eminent statesman and writer of the last generation, John Pendleton Kennedy, said : " These resolutions, so noted, have already served out their time, and have been cast into the great recepta- cle of abstractions. . . . They are now seen only as a buoy floating where there is no shoal." Events occur- ring on Virginia soil about ten years afterwards were a terrible commentary on this dictum of one of the most intelligent Americans of his time.
In the midst of the political turmoil, the two greatest Virginians of the century expired. Patrick Henry died in June, and Washington in December, 1799; and the
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disappearance of these two great figures profoundly im- pressed the people. The passionate eloquence of one had aroused the colonies to resistance, and the soldier- ship of the other had placed America among the nations of the world. These two men had filled so great a space in the history of the country, that they fell like monarchs, and the old age with its great actors seemed to have passed away with them. Both died in the Christian faith, and Henry wrote in his will, "I have now disposed of all my property to my family ; there is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they have that and I had not given them one shilling they would be rich ; and if they have not that and I had given them all this world they would be poor."
Two trials which took place in Virginia in the first years of the new century, assumed the importance of historical events. One of these was the trial in 1800 of John Thompson Callender, under the Alien and Sedi- tion Laws, for attacking President Adams in an acrimo- nious pamphlet styled, " The Prospect Before Us." The attack was not only violent - what was much worse, it was amusing. Mr. Adams was described as a " hoary- headed incendiary," who floated on "a mere bladder of popularity ;" and never " opened his lips, or lifted his pen without threatening and scolding." The design of the scold and incendiary was said to be to betray the American people "into an alliance with the British tyrant ;" and on these false and scandalous charges, Callender, who lived at Petersburg, was arrested, and arraigned before Judge Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
The trial took place at Richmond (June, 1800), and
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proved a farce, except to the unlucky Callender. Judge Chase lost his temper ; the counsel for the defense re- tired from the case ; and under the instructions of the court that the laws were there and ought to be respected, the jury found Callender guilty, and fixed his punish- ment at two hundred dollars fine, and nine months' im- prisonment. Such was the issue of this famous case. It had far-reaching consequences. The Federalists had signed their own death-warrant. The Alien and Sedition Laws were already immensely unpopular. The whole country rose in indignation. And at the next Presi- dential election Thomas Jefferson, the head of the Re- publican party, became President of the United States.
The second trial alluded to was that of Aaron Burr for treason against the United States. This remarkable person, as much distinguished for ability as for his want of principle, had been a great political power in New York ; had nearly defeated Jefferson for the Presidency, and been chosen Vice-President ; but, losing public con- fidence, had conceived the design either of invading Mexico, or of separating the Southwestern States from the Union. He was arrested in the midst of his opera- tions and brought to Richmond, where he was arraigned on the charge of treason. Judge Marshall presided, and the trial became a great political combat. Presi- dent Jefferson was known to be bitterly hostile to his old opponent, and interposed in the case. He was charged with saying that the "impudent Federal bull- dog," Luther Martin, counsel for Burr, must be " muz- zled ; " and Federalists and Republicans hastened to take sides and make the affair a political issue. The only person who remained calm was the Judge, John Marshall. He held the balances in his firm grasp and
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opposed his judicial authority to that of Jefferson, who was throwing the whole weight of his official influence against Burr. He even proceeded to the length of din- ing with Burr, which subjected him to bitter criticism ; but it was not the habit of this great man to care for criti- cism in the discharge of his duty. In spite of every at- tempt to convict Burr, the jury, with John Randolph of Roanoke, for foreman, brought in the verdict : " Aaron Burr is not proved to be guilty, under the indictment, by any evidence submitted to us ;" and the political in- triguer who had slain Hamilton, and shipwrecked a great career by trickery and deceit, was discharged from cus- tody.
This trial is remarkable for the association in it of three celebrated figures. The one was John Marshall, the great republican judge, who, after fighting in the Revolution, had returned to Virginia, paid his last guinea to the clergyman who married him, and had steadily risen to the greatest offices in the gift of the people, until he became the head of the Federal judici- ary, where he threw the weight of his immense intellect in favor of the Federal construction of the Constitution. The second figure, Randolph of Roanoke, was that of the eccentric politician, the wonderful orator, the master of philippic, who, beginning his long career by making his first public speech against Patrick Henry's last, was to become the great States-right champion, and to die in harness, denouncing Jackson for his Force proc- lamation against South Carolina. The third figure was that of Burr, the serene and smiling political gymnast, who had narrowly escaped becoming President of the United States, but had overreached himself, and from this time forward was a wanderer on the face of the
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earth. It was a singular chance which had thus brought for a moment, face to face with each other, these three contrasted types of American character.
Two sinister events of the first half century, were the servile insurrections headed by Gabriel and Turner : the one in 1800, and the other in 1831. The immedi- ate cause of these strange affairs has never been ascer- tained ; as far as the record goes they were both the re- sult of a frenzied desire to shed blood, without further aims. Gabriel, the leader of the first rising in the sum- mer of 1800, was a slave belonging to a farmer near Richmond, about twenty-four years of age, tall and pow- erful in person, and with a grim and " insidious " face scarred by fighting. He drew a large number of negroes into his plot : to attack Richmond, put the citizens to death, seize the public arms, and produce a general in- surrection. Assembling a force, armed with scythe blades, on a night of August, he marched on Richmond, but was stopped by a violent storm. A creek in front was found to be impassable, and intelligence reached Gabriel that his plot was discovered. The insurgents at once scattered and took refuge in the woods and swamps. Many were captured and executed, among them Gabriel, all whose ferocity abandoned him as he was conducted to the gallows.
The second insurrection took place in the county of Southampton, south of James River toward the coast, in the summer of 1831. The leader's name, in this case, was Nat Turner, a negro of feeble person but great cunning. He passed, among his people, as a prophet, and, like Gabriel, conceived the design of exterminating the whites. He seems to have had no express provoca. tion. He afterwards stated that his master had always
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treated him kindly, and his motives remain unknown. His proceedings were singular. He traced with blood, on a sheet of paper, mystic numbers and the figures of a sun and a crucifix ; showed the paper mysteriously to the negroes ; informed them that great events were near ; and the whole black population soon thrilled with vague excitement. Turner is said to have traveled with his bloody hieroglyphics, through the whole south-side of James River, but the subsequent rising was confined to Southampton. The brutal details of what followed, may be summed up in a few words. Turner attacked his master's house (August 21, 1831), killed him and his wife and children with the axe ; plundered the es- tablishment; proceeded further and killed a lady and her ten children ; then a number of school-girls in an old field-school ; and lastly a lady and all her children, who were shot down as they endeavored to escape. The negroes were now drunk with blood, and marched on Jerusalem, the county-seat. But the county had been aroused. A party of citizens, armed with guns, attacked thiem and they fled to the swamps, where many of them were killed and the rest captured. Fifty-five white per- sons had been put to death, almost all of them women and children, and twenty-one of the insurgents were brought back to Jerusalem. Of these, thirteen were hung, among them Nat Turner, who never explained his motives in the insurrection.
The origin of these uprisings, the first and last which have taken place in Virginia, is unknown. The plausi- ble theory that they were the result of cruelty is not supported by the facts. It is to be presumed that if cruelty had been exercised the fact would have been urged in mitigation of punishment; but the plea was
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not made, and Turner expressly disclaimed it. The naked fact remains, that the two leaders worked on the passions and superstition of their people; persuaded them that the time had come to put the white race to death ; and that they proceeded to do so.
A terrible domestic tragedy was the destruction, by fire, of the theatre at Richmond (December 26, 1811), by which seventy persons were burned to death, or after- wards died of their injuries. The fire took place dur- ing the performance of a drama called " The Bleeding Nun," and was caused by a spark falling on the curtain of the stage. The scene which followed was piteous. The people in the pit escaped easily, but those in tlie boxes crowded together in the narrow lobby and were unable to extricate themselves. The house was soon a mass of flames and suffocating vapor. Piercing cries were heard; the strong trampled on the weak ; the clothes of men and women caught fire; many leaped from the windows and were maimed or killed; the spectacle was heart-rending. In the midst of the terror there were incidents which touch the common heart of all humanity. Fathers who were separated from their children rushed back into the flames to save them. Hus- bands and wives refused to leave each other and died together. The cry of a bereaved father to another ex- presses the anguish of the time : " Yesterday a beloved daughter gladdened my heart by her innocent smiles ; to-day she is in heaven. My dear, dear, Margaret, and your sweet Mary, with her companions, passed together, and at once, into a happier world." Many distinguished persons perished, among them the Governor of Virginia ; and the Senate of the United States, adopting the same action as the Virginia Assembly, resolved, that the mem-
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