the State was readmitted January 26, 1870, and at once came under control of the native born whites. Trouble began, however, with legislation regarding the State debt. In 1871 a bill was passed funding two-thirds of the State debt into bonds, the coupons of which should be receivable for taxes. The other third of the debt was considered to be the share of West Virginia, which share that State refused to acknowledge. The Legislature of 1872 repealed the tax coupon feature, but it was held by the courts that as $17,000,000 had already been funded in these bonds, the State was bound to receive them, even if their receipts kept the State treasury in chronic bankruptcy. Many offers of compromise were made, and many attempts to prevent the presentation of the coupons for taxes, leading to conflicts of jurisdiction between the State and the United States courts. Certain State officers in exercise of the duties ordered by the Legislature were punished for contempt of court by the United States judge. In 1890 the decisions handed down by the United States Supreme Court favored the State on the whole, and in 1891-92 a final settlement was made with the bondholders, chiefly English, who received $19,000,000 in new century bonds for bunds and unpaid coupons amounting to $23,000,000. The question entered politics and Governors, Congressmen, and Senators were elected on the issue of the readjustment of the State debt. William Mahone became a leading figure in Virginia politics. The Readjuster Party, however, coöperated with the Republicans, and its major adherents were finally absorbed by them. The question, while a vital issue, had the effect of dividing the negro vote. In 1901-02 a constitutional convention was held, having for its chief objects retrenchment and suffrage restriction. The new Constitution was proclaimed without submission to the people, May 19, 1902. One result was largely to suppress the negro vote. From the beginning the State has been Democratic in national politics. The hold was never broken until 1860, when the vote was cast for the Constitutional Union candidate, John Bell. Since its readmission the vote has been steadily cast for the Democratic national candidates, with the exception of 1872, when the Republican candidate, Grant, was preferred to his opponent, Greeley, an old abolitionist.
| Governors of Virginia | ||
| UNDER THE COMPANY | ||
| Edward Maria Wingfield, President | 1607 | |
| John Ratcliffe, President | 1607-08 | |
| Capt. John Smith, President | 1608-09 | |
| Capt. George Percy, President | 1609-10 | |
| Sir Thos. Gates, Deputy Governor | 1610 | |
| Lord Delaware, Lord Governor | 1610-18 | |
| Capt. George Percy, Deputy Governor | 1611 | |
| Sir Thomas Dale, High Marshal, Deputy Governor | 1611 | |
| Sir Thomas Gates, Lieut. Governor | 1611-14 | |
| Sir Thomas Dale, Marshal and Deputy Governor | 1614-16 | |
| George Yeardley, Deputy Governor | 1616-17 | |
| Capt. Samuel Argall, Admiral and Deputy Governor | 1617-19 | |
| Nathaniel Powell,[1] Acting Deputy Governor | 1619 | |
| Sir George Yeardley, Governor | 1619-21 | |
| Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor | 1621-24 | |
| UNDER THE CROWN | ||
| Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor | 1624-26 | |
| Sir George Yeardley, Governor | 1626-27 | |
| Francis West, (acting) | 1627-28 | |
| John Pott, (acting) | 1628-30 | |
| Sir John Harvey, Governor | 1630-35 | |
| John West, (acting) | 1635-36 | |
| Sir John Harvey, Governor | 1636-39 | |
| Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor | 1639-42 | |
| Sir William Berkeley, Governor | 1642-44 | |
| Richard Kemp, President of Council | 1644-45 | |
| Sir William Berkeley, Governor | 1645-52 | |
| UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH | ||
| Richard Bennett | 1652-55 | |
| Edward Digges | 1655-58 | |
| Samuel Matthews | 1658-59 | |
| Interregnum | 1659-60 | |
| UNDER THE CROWN | ||
| Sir William Berkeley | 1660-61 | |
| Sir Francis Morrison or Moryson (acting) | 1661-62 | |
| Sir William Berkeley | 1662-77 | |
| Sir Herbert Jeffries, Lieut. Governor | 1677-78 | |
| Sir Henry Chicheley, Lieut. Governor | 1678-80 | |
| Thomas, Lord Culpeper, Governor | 1680-83 | |
| Nicholas Spencer (acting) | 1683-84 | |
| Lord Howard of Effingham, Governor | 1684-88 | |
| Nathaniel Bacon, Sr. (acting) | 1688-90 | |
| Sir Francis Nicholson, Lieut. Governor | 1690-93 | |
| Sir Edmund Andros, Governor | 1693-98 | |
| Sir Francis Nicholson, Lieut. Governor | 1698-1704 | |
| Geo. Hamilton Douglas, Earl of Orkney, Governor | 1704-05 | |
| Edward Nott, Lieut. Governor | 1705-06 | |
| Edmund Jennings, President of Council | 1706-10 | |
| Robert Hunter, Lieut. Governor[2] | 1708 | |
| Alexander Spotswood, Lieut. Governor | 1710-22 | |
| Hugh Drysdale, Lieut. Governor | 1722-26 | |
| Robert Carter, President of Council | 1726-27 | |
| William Gooch, Lieut. Governor | 1727-40 | |
| William, Earl of Albemarle, Governor | 1740-54 | |
| James Blair, President of Council | 1740-41 | |
| Sir William Gooch, Lieut. Governor | 1741-49 | |
| John Robinson, President of Council | 1749 | |
| Thomas Lee, President of Council | 1749-51 | |
| Lewis Burwell, President of Council | 1751 | |
| Robert Dinwiddie, Lieut. Governor | 1751-58 | |
| John Campbell, Earl of Loudoun, Governor | 1756-68 | |
| John Blair, President of Council | 1758 | |
| Francis Fauquier, Lieut. Governor | 1758-68 | |
| Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Governor | 1763-68 | |
| John Blair, President of Council | 1768 | |
| Lord Botetourt, Governor | 1768-70 | |
| William Nelson, President of Council | 1770-71 | |
| John, Lord Dunmore | 1771-75 | |
| Interregnum | 1775-76 | |
| STATE | ||
| Patrick Henry | 1776-79 | |
| Thomas Jefferson | 1779-81 | |
| Thomas Nelson, Jr. | 1781 | |
| Benjamin Harrison | 1781-84 | |
| Patrick Henry | 1784-86 | |
| Edmund Randolph | 1786-88 | |
| Beverly Randolph | 1788-91 | |
| Henry Lee | 1791-94 | |
| Robert Brooke | 1794-96 | |
| James Wood | Democratic-Republican | 1796-99 |
| James Monroe | ““ | 1799-1802 |
| John Page | ““ | 1802-05 |
| William H. Cabell | ““ | 1805-08 |
| John Tyler, Sr. | ““ | 1808-11 |
| James Monroe | ““ | 1811 |
| George William Smith | ““ | 1811 |
| Peyton Randolph (acting) | 1811-12 | |
| James Barbour | 1812-14 | |
| Wilson Cary Nicholas | Republican | 1814-16 |
| James Patton Preston | “ | 1816-19 |
| Thomas Mann Randolph | “ | 1819-22 |
| James Pleasant, Jr. | “ | 1822-25 |
| John Tyler | 1825-27 | |
| William B. Giles | 1827-30 | |
| John Floyd | Democrat | 1830-34 |
| Littleton Waller Tazewell | “ | 1834-36 |
| Windham Robertson (acting) | 1836-37 | |
| David Campbell | 1837-40 | |
| Thomas Walker Gilmer | Whig | 1840-41 |
| John M. Patton (acting) | “ | 1841 |
| John Rutherford | “ | 1841-42 |
| John P. Gregory | “ | 1842-43 |
| James McDowell | “ | 1843-46 |
| William Smith | Democrat | 1846-49 |
| John Buchanan Floyd | “ | 1849-52 |
| Joseph Johnson | “ | 1852-56 |
| Henry Alexander Wise | “ | 1856-60 |
| John Letcher | “ | 1860-64 |
| William Smith | “ | 1864-65 |
| Francis Pierpont, Provisional (Republican) | 1865-68 | |
| Henry H. Wells, Provisional | 1868-69 | |
| Gilbert C. Walker, Republican | 1869-74 | |
| James Lawson Kemper, Conservative | 1874-78 | |
| Frederick W. M. Holliday | 1878-82 | |
| William E. Cameron, Readjuster | 1882-86 | |
