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2031978The New International Encyclopædia — Virginia (State)

​ VIRGINIA (Neo-Lat., named in honor of Queen Elizabeth, the ‘Virgin Queen’). A South Atlantic State of the United States, known popularly as the ‘Old Dominion.’ It lies between latitudes 36° 31′ and 39° 27′ N., longitudes 75° 13′ and 83° 37′ W., and is bounded on the north by West Virginia and Maryland, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by North Carolina and Tennessee, and on the west by Kentucky. The southern boundary is a straight line 440 miles long, but the others are extremely irregular, following various Appalachian ridges on the northwest and the Potomac River on the northeast. The greatest breadth from north to south is 192 miles. The State includes the narrow peninsula lying between lower Chesapeake Bay and the ocean. The total area of Virginia is 42,450 square miles, including 2325 square miles of water. It ranks thirtieth in size among the States in total area, and thirty-second in land area.

Topography. The three great topographical regions which rise in broad, low terraces from the Atlantic coast of the United States—the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont Plain, and the Appalachian mountain region—cross the State in parallel bands from southwest to northeast. Two of these are further differentiated, so that six well-marked regions are recognized. The first is the tidewater country, which includes the region traversed by the four estuaries of the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James rivers, and the peninsula east of Chesapeake Bay. This is a low, level, and marshy region, watered by a multitude of tidal inlets, creeks, and rivers. On the west the land rises by a low, rocky escarpment to the Piedmont Plain, whose eastern portion is known as the middle country. The latter has an elevation of 100 to 500 feet, and is drier and more undulating than tidewater Virginia. It terminates on the west at a broken line of hills known as the Coast Mountains, from which the Piedmont section proper extends westward to the foot of the Blue Ridge. The Piedmont section has an elevation of from 500 to 1000 feet, and is rugged compared with eastern Virginia, having isolated knobs and ridges rising 100 to 600 feet above the general level. The Blue Ridge is considered as a region by itself, being the most prominent topographical feature of the State. It rises abruptly from the Piedmont Plain to a height of 1500 feet above it, or 2500 to over 3000 feet above the sea. The ridge is broken in places, notably by the Potomac on the northern State boundary and by the James River farther south. In the southwest it widens out into a triangular plateau, which on its western border bears the highest elevations in the State—Rogers Mountain, 5719 feet, and White Top, 5530 feet above the sea. North of this plateau the ridge is rather narrow and falls steeply on the west into the magnificent Great Valley, known in the north as the Shenandoah, and farther north, in Pennsylvania, as the Cumberland Valley. This is a continuous longitudinal depression about 20 miles wide, with its floor about 1200 feet above the sea. West of the valley lies the Appalachian section, a succession of numerous narrow and broken but parallel ridges running from southwest to northeast, and inclosing equally narrow longitudinal valleys. The ridges are generally about 3500 feet in elevation, and are known under a multitude of local names, though collectively they form the Alleghany Mountains in the northeast and the Cumberland Mountains in the southwest.


​

COPYRIGHT, 1891 AND 1903, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY.


​

AREA AND POPULATION OF VIRGINIA BY COUNTIES.

County Map
 Index.  		 County Seat.   Area in 
square
miles. 		Population.
1890. 1900.
Accomac J 3  Accomac 478  27,277   32,570 
Albemarle F 4  Charlottesville 755 26,788 28,473
Alexandria H 3  Fort Myer  32  4,258  6,430
Alleghany D 4  Covington 452  9,283 16,330
Amelia F 4  Amelia 355  9,068  9,037
Amherst E 4  Amherst 464 17,551 17,864
Appomattox F 4  West Appomattox  342  9,589  9,662
Augusta E 3  Staunton 1,012   30,030 32,370
Bath E 3  Warm Springs 548  4,587  5,595
Bedford E 4  Bedford City 729 31,213 30,356
Bland C 4  Bland 352  5,129  5,497
Botetourt K 4  Fincastle 548 14,854 17,161
Brunswick G 5  Lawrenceville 529 17,245 18,217
Buchanan B 4  Grundy 492  5,867  9,692
Buckingham F 4  Buckingham 552 14,383 15,266
Campbell E 4  Rustburg 554 21,378 23,256
Caroline G 3  Bowling Green 562 16,681 16,709
Carroll D 5  Hillsville 445 15,497 19,303
Charles City G 4  Charles City 183  5,066  5,040
Charlotte F 4  Smithville 479 15,077 15,343
Chesterfield G 4  Chesterfield 484 16,965 18,804
Clarke F 2  Berryville 189  8,071  7,927
Craig D 4  Newcastle 351  3,835  4,393
Culpeper F 3  Culpeper 399 13,233 14,123
Cumberland F 4  Cumberland 297  9,482  8,996
Dickenson B 4  Clintwood 324  5,077  7,747
Dinwiddie G 4  Dinwiddie 521 13,515 15,374
Elizabeth City H 4  Hampton  50 16,168 19,460
Essex H 4  Tappahannock 277 10,047  9,701
Fairfax G 3  Fairfax 433 16,655 18,580
Fauquier G 3  Warrenton 676 22,590 23,374
Floyd D 5  Floyd 383 14,405 15,388
Fluvanna F 4  Palmyra 289  9,508  9,050
Franklin D 5  Rockymount 690 24,985 25,953
Frederick F 2  Winchester 435 12,684 13,239
Giles D 4  Pearlsburg 349  9,090 10,793
Gloucester H 4  Gloucester 253 11,653 12,832
Goochland F 4  Goochland 296 9,958 9,519
Grayson C 5  Independence 438 14,394 16,853
Greene F 3  Stanardsville 150  5,622  6,214
Greenesville G 5  Emporia 288  8,230  9,758
Halifax E 5  Houston 806 34,424 37,197
Hanover G 4  Hanover 478 17,402 17,618
Henrico G 4  Richmond 273 22,006 30,062
Henry E 4  Martinsville 425 18,208 19,265
Highland E 3  Monterey 407  5,352  5,647
Isle of Wight H 5  Isle of Wight 352 11,313 13,102
James City H 4  Williamsburg 159  3,812  3,688
King and Queen  G 4  King and Queen 336  9,669  9,265
King George G 3  King George 183  6,641  6,918
King William G 4  King William 246  9,605  8,380
Lancaster H 4  Lancaster 137  7,191  8,949
Lee A 5  Jonesville 433 18,216 19,856
Loudoun G 2  Leesburg 519 23,274 21,948
Louisa F 3  Louisa 529 16,997 16,517
Lunenburg F 4  Lunenburg 471 11,372 11,705
Madison F 3  Madison 336 10,225 10,216
Mathews H 4  Mathews  92  7,584  8,239
Mecklenburg F 5  Boydton 640 25,359 26,551
Middlesex H 4  Saluda 156  7,458  8,220
Montgomery D 4  Christiansburg 394 15,682 15,852
Nausemond H 5  Suffolk 393 19,692 23,078
Nelson E 4  Lovingston 472 15,336 16,075
New Kent G 4  New Kent 233  5,511  4,865
Norfolk H 5  Portsmouth 425 28,899 50,780
Northampton J 4  Eastville 232 10,313 13,770
Northumberland  H 4  Heathsville 235  7,885  9,846
Nottoway F 4  Nottoway 304 11,582 12,366
Orange F 3  Orange 349 12,814 12,571
Page F 3  Luray 317 13,092 13,794
Patrick D 5  Stuart 489 14,147 15,403
Pittsylvania, E 5  Chatham 986 49,636 46,894
Powhatan G 4  Powhatan 284  6,791  6,824
Prince Edward F 4  Farmville 345 14,694 15,045
Prince George G 4  Prince George 302  7,872  7,752
Princess Anne H 5  Princess Anne 285  9,510 11,192
Prince William G 3  Manassas 353  9,805 11,112
Pulaski D 4  Pulaski City 338 12,790 14,609
Rappahannock F 3  Washington 264  8,678  8,843
Richmond H 4  Warsaw 188  7,146  7,088
Roanoke D 4  Salem 297 13,942 15,837
Rockbridge E 4  Lexington 593 22,018 21,799
Rockingham E 3  Harrisonburg 870 31,299 33,527
Russell B 5  Lebanon 503 16,126 18,031
Scott B 5  Gate City 535 21,694 22,694
Shenandoah F 3  Woodstock 486 19,671 20,253
Smyth C 5  Marion 444 13,360 17,121
Southampton G 5  Courtland 609 20,078 22,848
Spottsylvania G 3  Spottsylvania 401 9,705 9,239
Stafford G 3  Stafford 285  7,363  8,097
Surry H 4  Surry 292  8,256  8,469
Sussex G 5  Sussex 490 11,100 12,082
Tazewell C 4  Tazewell 557 19,899 23,384
Warren F 3  Front Royal 226  8,280  8,837 ​

AREA AND POPULATION OF VIRGINIA BY COUNTIES.

(Continued.)

County Map
 Index.  		 County Seat.   Area in 
square
miles. 		Population.
1890. 1900.
Warwick H 4  Denbigh  85  2,201  4,888
Washington B 5  Abingdon 605  26,118   28,995 
Westmoreland H 3  Montrose 245  8,399  9,213
Wise B 4  Wise 413  9,345 19,653
Wythe C 5  Wytheville  474 18,019 20,437
York H 4  Yorktown 124  7,596  7,482
City of Alexandria G 3  ... ... 14,339 14,528
City of Bristol B 5  ... ...  2,902  4,579
City of Buena Vista E 4  ... ...  1,044  2,388
City of Charlottesville F 3  ... ...  5,591  6,449
City of Danville E 5  ... ... 10,305 16,520
City of Fredericksburg  G 3  ... ...  4,528  5,068
City of Lynchburg E 4  ... ... 19,709 18,891
City of Manchester G 4  ... ...  9,246  9,715
City of Newport News H 5  ... ...  4,449 19,635
City of Norfolk H 5  ... ... 34,871 46,624
City of Petersburg G 4  ... ... 22,680 21,810
City of Portsmouth H 5  ... ... 13,268 17,427
City of Radford D 4  ... ...  2,060  3,344
City of Richmond G 4  ... ... 81,388 85,050
City of Roanoke E 4  ... ... 16,159 21,495
City of Staunton E 3  ... ...  6,975  7,289
City of Williamsburg H 4  ... ...  1,831  2,044
City of Winchester F 2  ... ...  5,196  5,161


​ Hydrography. The greater part of the State's surface is drained directly into the Atlantic or its great arm, Chesapeake Bay. The largest river within the State is the James, which rises on the western boundary, breaks through the Blue Ridge, and enters the foot of Chesapeake Bay through a large tidal estuary. All of the rivers flowing into Chesapeake Bay enter it through estuaries which are very large for the size of the stream, such as the York River, the common estuary of the Pamunkey and Mattapony, the estuary of the Rappahannock, and, greatest of all, that of the Potomac on the northeastern boundary. All the rivers east of the Blue Ridge flow in parallel southeastward courses, and those traversing the southern part of the Piedmont Plain, chief of which is the Staunton, flow across the boundary into North Carolina. The Great Valley and Appalachian region are drained by several river systems. Through the northern part of the valley flows the Shenandoah to join the Potomac, while the central valley and mountain region are watered by the upper course of the James and its tributaries. Farther south the New River or Great Kanawha traverses the mountain belt and passes into West Virginia on its way to the Ohio, while the southwestern part of the State gives rise to the headstreams of the Tennessee River. The deep and wide estuaries of the eastern rivers admit large vessels to the heart of the State, but a short distance above the heads ​of the estuaries navigation is blocked on all the rivers at the Fall Line, where the streams fall over the escarpment of the Piedmont Plain. The only lake in Virginia is Drummond Lake, situated in the centre of the Dismal Swamp (q.v.), in the southeastern corner of the State.

Climate. East of the Blue Ridge the climate is mild or temperately warm, with a mean temperature of 37° for January and 77° for July. The minimum here rarely falls below 10°, while the maximum may reach 110°, though it is generally about 100°. In the uplands the climate is dry and healthful, but malarial diseases are endemic in the tidewater section. West of the Blue Ridge the summers are cool and very pleasant, while the winters, especially on the mountains, are cold. The mean temperature at Staunton, in the Great Valley, is 33.4° for January and 74.6° for July. The minimum in this section may reach 8° below zero. The rainfall is sufficient throughout the State, and favorably distributed for agriculture. It is greatest in the central portion near Richmond, where the average is 48 inches. In the Great Valley it is 38 inches.

Soil and Vegetation. The soils of eastern Virginia are in general light and sandy, except in the bottom lands and in the marsh regions, where a deep layer of vegetable mold has accumulated. In the Piedmont upland the soil is generally more fertile, having been enriched by decayed greenstone material. The most fertile portion of the State, however, is the Great Valley, where the underlying rocks are ancient limestones, whose decomposed materials are admirably adapted for wheat and other grain. The forests are still of considerable extent, and consist in the coastal plain chiefly of yellow pine and cedar, with cypress in the swamps and some oak, hickory, locust, and persimmon. In the western uplands there are large forests of deciduous trees, with white pine on the mountains, and with the general characters of the Appalachian floral region. See paragraph Flora under United States.

Geology and Mineral Resources. As in the other Atlantic States, the principal geological formations run in parallel bands from southwest to northeast, and correspond closely to the topographical regions, whose characteristics, in fact, are dependent upon the underlying rock formations. The coastal plain or tidewater section is overlaid by unconsolidated strata of sand, gravel, clay, and marl of Tertiary and later origin. The western boundary of the coastal plain formation runs from the neighborhood of Washington due south, passing west of Richmond. Between this line and the Blue Ridge the country is of Archæan origin, consisting of granite, gneiss, syenites, and slates, with intrusions of greenstone in the west. The central part of the region, however, was submerged in early Mesozoic times, and several large patches of rock belonging to the Jura-Trias system still remain. The Blue Ridge consists mainly of Potsdam sandstone of the Canadian system, and the valleys and ridges to the west of it are of Lower Paleozoic age, Silurian limestone predominating in the valleys, and Devonian rocks on the ridges. A peculiar feature of the limestone region in the Great Valley is the formation of great caverns which rank among the foremost natural curiosities in the country, such as Weyer's Cave in Augusta County, and the arched remnant of a cave, famous as the ‘Natural Bridge,’ in Rockbridge County.

Virginia has a great and varied mineral wealth. Iron is found as magnetite along the eastern base of the Blue Ridge, limonite on its western slope and in various other localities, and red hematite in the western Alleghanies. Other metals found in the mountain region are zinc, lead, tin, and copper, and manganese is widely distributed. Through the Archæan rocks of middle Virginia runs an auriferous quartz reef, and silver is also found in small quantities. Building stones, granite, limestones, and sandstones are found of great beauty and variety, and in inexhaustible quantities. Hydraulic limestone is also abundant, and in the southwestern corner of the State there are immense ledges of gypsum and rock salt. Even the tidewater section contains valuable minerals in the form of greensand marl.

Mining. The mining industry has never reached any great development, but it has, nevertheless, for a long time been an important factor in the industrial history of the State. Coal (mostly bituminous) is mined in the Appalachian region. The total product of the State, as reported for the year 1882, was 112,000 tons, and increased to over 1,000,000 tons for 1888. There was then a steady decrease of product until 1892, when it fell to 675,205 tons. Subsequently, however, extensive developments in Wise County brought up the annual output again to more than 1,000,000 tons. Some of this product is used in the making of coke. The output of iron rose in 1900 to 490,000 short tons. Almost all of this was brown hematite, constituting one-half of the country's output of that ore. Considerable quantities of stone, principally granite, limestone, and slate, are quarried in the central and Piedmont districts. The annual value for the last decade approximated $500,000; in 1900 it was $670,000. Virginia is one of the important mineral-water States; the product of 39 springs aggregated $320,000 in value in 1899. Gold, silver, and some other minerals have been mined for a long time, but are at present of very little importance.

Fisheries. Virginia ranks close to Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland in the importance of sea fisheries. In 1897 there were 28,000 men employed in the industry, this being a decided increase over the beginning of the decade. There was also an increase in the total product, but the value ($3,179,000) was much less, owing to the decline in prices. About two-thirds of the total product represented oysters, and it was in these that the decrease in price was greatest. Among other varieties, shad, menhaden, clams, and alewives are most important, the first three showing an increase in value during the period 1890-1900.

Agriculture. The short mild winters and the long summers, with plentiful rains, are conducive to farming. The soil, however, is generally much inferior to the soils of the Mississippi Valley, and the yield per acre very much less. There is a great variation of soil in the different physical divisions. The region of greatest fertility is the Shenandoah Valley, while the Piedmont district, extending across the State in a southwesterly direction ​parallel to the Blue Ridge range of mountains, is also well adapted for general agriculture. Greater productivity is now being secured through the increased use of fertilizers, the amount in 1894 having averaged $22 per farm. The agricultural interests of the State suffered vastly from the Civil War, and important changes have been made in the agricultural system since that time. In 1860 the farms averaged 336 acres in size; in 1900 the average was 118.6 acres. In 1900, 19,907,883 acres, or 77.5 per cent. of the area of the State, were included in farms, and 10,094,805 acres were improved. The improved area increased nearly 1,000,000 acres between 1890 and 1900. Since 1880 there has not been any marked tendency toward an increase in the tenant-operated farms, as against the farms operated by owners. In 1900 the latter class included 69.3 per cent. of tlie farms, and of the remainder two-thirds were rented on the share system. About one-fourth of the farms are operated by negroes, but such farms include only 11.2 per cent. of the total farm acreage. By far the most common and most valuable crop is corn, the acreage of which has grown in recent years. Wheat, the next most important cereal, has also increased its area since 1890. Oats, the only other crop of much importance, has declined in rank since the Civil War. Strawberries and other small fruits are extensively grown. Between 1890 and 1900 there was an increase of 88.5 per cent. in the total number of fruit trees. In the latter year there were 8,190,025 apple trees, which was 75.6 per cent. of the total number of fruit trees. The acreage of peanuts almost doubled between 1890 and 1900, and the State ranks first in the cultivation of this product. Their production is largely confined to the southeastern counties. Some of the southern counties raise cotton, but the industry is declining. The following table shows the acreage of the leading crops for the census years indicated:

CROP 1900 1890
Corn  1,910,085   1,600,690 
Wheat 927,266  737,510 
Oats 275,394  495,508 
Rye 31,534  52,063 
Buckwheat 19,251  5,170 
Hay 612,962  ............ 
Tobacco 184,334  ............ 
Peanuts 116,914  ............ 
Cotton 25,724  39,213 
Dry peas 22,206  ............ 
Potatoes 51,021  ............ 
Sweet potatoes  40,681  ............ 

From the beginning of the State's history tobacco has been one of its most important economic products, and prior to the Civil War the State had always ranked first in its production. There is a great fluctuation in the area devoted to it from year to year, the increase from 1889 to 1899 amounting to 66.7 per cent. The crop is grown most extensively in the south central counties. The tidewater and midland sections have developed into one of the leading truck-farm regions in the United States. The freight steamers trading between the coast towns and the large Northern centres provide special accommodations for the marketing of truck. In 1899 97,285 acres were reported in miscellaneous vegetables, of which the most important were cabbages, tomatoes, and watermelons. Both Irish and sweet potatoes are important products.

Stockraising. Stockraising is growing in importance in the north central and western parts, where the blue grass flourishes. The number of dairy cows and of other cattle, horses, and mules has increased every decade since 1870, while sheep and swine were each more numerous in 1900 than in 1870. In the last census decade there was an increase of 34.5 per cent. in the production of milk. The following table shows the number of domestic animals on farms:

ANIMALS 1900 1890
Dairy cows  281,876   273,634 
Other cattle 543,636  473,700 
Horses 298,522  242,512 
Mules and asses  47,886  37,533 
Sheep 392,123  495,313 
Swine 946,443  796,691 

Forests and Forest Products. In 1900 the woodland included about 23,400 square miles, or 58 per cent. of the land area. The pine forests which were formerly common in the mountain region have been generally removed. The greatest cut in late years consists of the yellow pine found in the region below the Fall Line, and these forests also have become largely depleted. The Piedmont forests consist largely of oak and other hard wood, and from this region likewise the better has been cut. The value of the timber cut in 1900 was more than twice as great as that in 1890. See table in the following paragraph.

Manufactures. Like most other Southern States, Virginia has, since 1880, had a noteworthy industrial growth. The value of manufactured products increased from $51,780,992 in 1880 to $132,172,910 in 1900. The aggregate capital invested in the latter year was $103,670,988, and there were 72,702 persons engaged as wage-earners. The varied and extensive resources of the State can well supply raw materials for an extensive manufacturing industry. The culture and manufacture of tobacco has always played a leading part in the economic life of the State. The second most important branch of industry, flour and grist milling, also draws upon the State's agricultural products. The State produces sufficient quantities of flour to allow of exportations to foreign countries. Virginia's production of iron ore and coal has made the manufacture of iron one of the leading industries. This industry is carried on chiefly in the western part of the State. The closely allied foundry and machine-shop industry made decided gains between 1890 and 1900. Among its principal products are tobacconists' tools and machinery. One of the most rapidly developing industries is tanning, which has the special advantage of the oak bark which the timber of the State affords. The manufacture of cotton goods, although still small, is a growing industry. The abundant water power of the Piedmont district is being utilized in this connection. Between 1890 and 1900 there was a large increase in the railroad car and shop construction business. Since the Civil War the manufacture of fertilizers has become a leading industry. Richmond is the principal manufacturing centre, but Norfolk is the most rapidly growing centre. The following table shows the relative importance of the leading industries:

​

INDUSTRIES  Year  Number of
 establishments  		 Wage-earners, 
average
number 		Value of
products,
including
custom
work and
 repairing 
Cars and general shop construction and 
 repairs by steam railroad companies
1900 28  4,922  $6,277,279 
1890 8  1,643  1,504,995 
Fertilizers
1900 39  1,171  3,415,850 
1890 28  600  2,475,638 
Flouring and grist mill products
1900 1,726  790  12,687,267 
1890 1,179  1,475  11,716,356 
Foundry and machine shop products
1900 80  2,912  4,833,137 
1890 59  1,971  2,739,695 
Iron and steel
1900 20  3,097  8,341,888 
1890 21  3,010  6,326,084 
Leather, tanned, curried, and finished
1900 65  889  4,716,920 
1890 82  401  1,224,800 
Lumber and timber products
1900 1,341  7,611  12,137,177 
1890 663  5,973  5,630,600 
Lumber, planing mill products,
 including sash, doors, and blinds
1900 88  1,333  2,686,898 
1890 65  1,136  2,350,281 
Textiles:
⁠Total
1900 35  3,293  3,282,583 
1890 44  2,389  2,342,457 
⁠Cotton goods
1900 7  2,931  2,655,002 
1890 9  1,990  1,732,648 
⁠Woolen goods
1900 28  362  627,581 
1890 35  399  609,809 
Tobacco:
⁠Total
1900 212  11,815  21,278,266 
1890 296  13,658  22,020,298 
⁠Tobacco, chewing, smoking, and snuff 
1900 69  6,061  10,707,766 
1890 93  9,769  11,804,813 
⁠Tobacco, cigars and cigarettes
1900 89  2,595  4,843,641 
1890 102  2,259  3,727,842 
⁠Tobacco, stemming and rehandling
1900 54  3,159  5,726,859 
1890 101  1,630  6,487,643 
⁠Total for selected industries for State
1900 3,634  37,833   $79,657,265 
1890 2,445  32,256  58,331,204 
Increase, 1890 to 1900
Per cent. of increase
........ 1,189  5,577  $21,326,061 
........ 48.6  17.3  36.6 
 
Per cent. of total of all industries in state 
1900 44.1  52.0  59.9 
1890 41.3  60.2  66.0 

Transportation. The numerous bays and arms of the sea afford a number of excellent harbors, and, together with the rivers, form an extensive system of navigable waterways. The James River is navigable for small ocean steamers as far as Richmond, while Norfolk and other coast ports afford an excellent harbor for larger vessels. The Rappahannock and other streams are navigable for river boats. Virginia took an early interest in the construction of railroads. In 1840 there were 147 miles; in 1860, 1379 miles; in 1880, 1893 miles; in 1890, 3359 miles; and in 1899, 3721 miles. The principal railway systems are the Atlantic Coast Line, which is a combination of routes on various connecting lines, by which travel is possible the entire length of the Atlantic coast without change of cars; the Norfolk and Western and its divisions; the Southern, and the Chesapeake and Ohio. Other facilities are the James River and Kanawha Canal, from Richmond to Buchanan, 198 miles; the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, from Norfolk to Albemarle Sound; and the Dismal Swamp Canal, which makes the same connections by another route.

Commerce. For the year ending June 30, 1900, the imports exceeded $3,000,000, and the exports were nearly $48,000,000. This was an increase of $19,000,000 over the exports of 1894. Newport News is the most flourishing port; the exports from this customs district alone amounted to $34,900,000, making it fifth in importance among the Atlantic coast ports. Nearly all of the balance of the exports was from the customs district of Norfolk and Portsmouth. Only a very small percentage of the total was foreign trade. The principal exports were flour, oats, corn, cattle, tobacco, lumber, and lard.

Banks. Though there are no records of organized banks in Virginia before 1792, the banking business was known in the State for a century before, and was conducted by private individuals. The special act of 1777 prohibiting the issue of currency by private persons shows how common a practice it was. Lack of instruments of exchange forced the State to issue notes, and the necessities of the Revolutionary War increased their number, but the rapid depreciation of these notes left the State without a stable currency. In 1792 the banks of Alexandria and of Richmond were established. In 1795 branches of the Bank of the United States were organized. In the first two decades of the nineteenth century there developed half a dozen large banking institutions with a great number of branches all over the State—altogether over 40 branches. The issue was strictly limited to three times their capital, and directors were made liable to loss. Because of the branch system, these banks were very strong and did a profitable business. This called forth a large number of private or unchartered banks of issue, but they were all prohibited by the law of 1816. In 1837 a free banking law was passed and a large number of banks of issue organized under it, and a still larger number of banks of deposit and discount. In 1860 there were 24 banks of issue with 41 branches, and between 150 and 200 banks of deposit and discount. Not a bank survived the war. The national bank, however, soon appeared. State banks began to reappear in 1869, after the new Constitution was adopted. There was no regulation at all of the State banks until 1885, when a law was passed requiring reports to the State Auditor. Not only the Legislature, but circuit courts are empowered to issue banking charters. After 1885 the number of State banks greatly increased.

The condition of the banks in 1902 is shown in the following table:

  National
banks 		State
banks
Number 59 120
Capital  $6,542,000   $6,587,000 
Surplus  2,717,000  1,996,000
Cash, etc.   2,291,000  1,824,000
Deposits 29,035,000 27,478,000
Loans 30,634,000 27,052,000

Finances. During the colonial days the financial needs were very small, and for almost a century the budget increased hardly 50 per cent., being £4200 in 1660, £4500 in 1700, and £6500 in 1754. The main sources of income were a poll tax and an export duty on tobacco. The Revolutionary War necessitated expenses for which there was no provision in the system of taxation, and thus a debt of about $2,000,000 was created. The debt was assumed by the Federal Government in 1790, and until 1820 the debt of Virginia consisted only of $343,139. borrowed only for purposes of the War of 1812. Several small issues of bonds were made between 1820 and 1835.

​The idea of public improvements, which developed in the thirties, found enthusiastic supporters in the State. In 1835 the debt hardly amounted to $2,500,000, but during the short period 1835-38 $4,132,700 was loaned, the main purpose being the construction of canals and railroads. Although the debt had grown to $12,000,000 in 1857, an act was passed in that year authorizing the Board of Public Works to borrow the necessary sums for the continuation of the works and the refunding of old debts. Within the ten years 1851-61 debts to the amount of $24,538,716 were incurred, and at the beginning of the Civil War Virginia had a debt of more than $35,000,000, created for the purpose of constructing railroads, canals, and roads. During the war the interest could not be paid and many more loans were made; and although these loans for war purposes were repudiated by order of President Johnson, the overdue interest payments swelled the debt considerably. This interest was funded by special act in 1867, and for a year Virginia met her obligations, but, passing under military control, was again forced to stop payment of interest. By 1870 the debt had grown to $45,872,778. A complicating circumstance was the organization of the western counties into a new State—West Virginia. Virginia, holding that the new State was responsible for part of the debt, was willing to pay only two-thirds of the interest, namely, 4 per cent. An effort was made in 1871 to settle the question by a process of refunding the whole debt. One-third of it was designated as the part of West Virginia, and refunding of this part was made dependent upon settlement with that State. This settlement was never brought about and a third of the debt was thus absolutely repudiated. The rest of the debt was to be refunded at its full value and old rate of interest, with the coupons made receivable for taxes. This clause is mentioned because it was the main political question in Virginia for the following twenty years. In the following year the ‘readjusters,’ i.e. those who advocated the necessity of reducing the debt of the State, were victorious and they began an attack upon the coupons. Repudiation was impossible as long as the coupons were receivable for taxes, and this clause became the object of attacks. Dozens of ‘coupon-killing’ acts were passed in 1872, 1873, 1876, and until 1885; most of them were declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, which held that the objectionable clause was a contract and therefore inviolable. Every new decision of the Supreme Court called forth efforts of the Virginia Legislature at some new way of evading the obligations. The struggle lasted for twenty years, and, though the State never accomplished its purpose fully, it succeeded in putting so many difficulties in the way of receiving coupons for taxes that the amount received sank very low. Meanwhile an effort was made to settle the question by the act of Riddleberger, which was vetoed by the Governor in 1880, but passed in 1882. The basis of this act was repudiation of the unpaid interest since 1861, and the total just debt was calculated at $19,665,196. Most of the bondholders refused to avail themselves of this offer. The final adjustment came only in 1892, after long negotiations between the State and a committee of English bondholders, when the total debt of the State which was not yet refunded, estimated at $28,000,000, was refunded at the rate of 19 to 28 by 100-year bonds, bearing 2 per cent. for ten years and 3 per cent. for the rest of the time. Since then Virginia has met her obligations. About $24,000,000 of bonds were refunded under this act for 16. Her present total debt cannot definitely be stated, but amounts probably to about $25,000,000. A great part of the Government income is as yet derived from a poll tax (8 per cent.), a real estate tax (30 per cent.), and a personal property tax (11 per cent.), but many other sources have been added since the Civil War, as liquor and other licenses (18 per cent.), an inheritance tax, taxes on insurance companies, railroads, oyster grounds, etc. A considerable sum is received for hire of criminals. The main items of expenditures are interest on the public debt (22 per cent.), schools (20 per cent.), and hospitals (10 per cent.). The total receipts in the fiscal year 1901-02 amounted to $3,795,093 and the total expenditures to $3,910,191. The balance in the treasury on October 1, 1902, was $739,392.

Government. According to the Constitution adopted in 1902, the privilege of voting is limited to male citizens of the United States, 21 years of age, who have resided in the State two years, in the county, city, or town one year, and in the precinct 30 days, and have registered and paid their poll tax. Registration is limited to male citizens of the United States, of qualified age and residence, who, first, have personally paid to the proper officer the State poll taxes for the preceding three years; second, who make application for registration in their own handwriting; and, third, who answer questions affecting their qualifications as electors. If the individual has served in the Civil War in the army or navy of the United States or Confederate States, he is not required to pay poll tax in order to be allowed to register.

Legislative. The Constitution provides that the Senate shall consist of not less than 33 or more than 40 members and the House of Delegates of not less than 90 or more than 100. The Senators are elected for four years and the Delegates for two years, elections being held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The legislative sessions are held once in two years, beginning on the second Wednesday in January, and continuing not longer than 60 days, unless with concurrence of three-fifths of the members, in which case the extra time is limited to thirty days. Salary cannot be received for more than 60 days at any regular session, or 30 days at any extra session.

Executive. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, and Auditor are each elected for a term of four years, beginning on the first day of February. The Governor is ineligible for reëlection for the next succeeding term. A two-thirds majority of the members elected to each House overrides the Governor's veto. The Governor may veto any item of an appropriation bill, in which case the bill is returned to the Legislature for reconsideration, and after action thereon is sent again to the Governor as in the first instance.

Judicial. The Supreme Court of Appeals consists of five judges who are chosen by a joint vote ​of both Houses to serve for terms of twelve years. The General Assembly may, for special reasons, provide for a special Court of Appeals. The State is divided into twenty-four judicial circuits, subject to change after 1906. A judge is chosen for each circuit by the joint vote of the two Houses to serve for a term of eight years. Cities having more than 10,000 inhabitants have in addition to the Circuit Court a Corporation Court. Cities with less than 10,000 inhabitants may continue such Corporation or Hustings Court as may be in existence or may abolish it by a vote of the electors. Judges of the City Court of Records are chosen by the joint vote of both Houses for terms of eight years. Judges may be removed by the concurrent vote of both Houses. There is an Attorney-General elected by the voters to serve for four years. The Legislature provides for the appointment or election of justices of the peace.

Local Government. In magisterial districts one supervisor is elected—the supervisors of all the districts constituting a Board of Supervisors for the county and having power to lay the county and district levies, etc. County and district officers are elected on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Legislature provides by general laws for the organization and government of cities and towns.

Virginia sends ten members to the National House of Representatives. The capital is Richmond.

Population. The population of Virginia increased from 747,610 in 1790 to 1,065,116 in 1820; to 1,596,318 in 1860; in consequence of the Civil War and the division of the State it decreased to 1,225,163 in 1870. The figure then advanced to 1,512,565 in 1880, to 1,655,980 in 1890, and to 1,854,184 in 1900. The per cent. of gain in the last decade was 12, as against 20.7 for the nation. In the first three census decades Virginia ranked first in population, in 1870 tenth, and in 1900 seventeenth. There were in 1900 46.2 inhabitants to the square mile. The negroes numbered 660,722. For a number of years the percentage which the negro population constitutes of the total has been rapidly decreasing. There has been a large migration of negroes both to the North and to the South. The foreign born numbered only 19,461. The females (928,287) slightly outnumbered the males (925,897). Richmond, the capital and largest city, had a population in 1900 of 85,050. Other cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants are: Norfolk, 46,624; Petersburg, 21,810; Roanoke, 21,495; Newport News, 19,635; Lynchburg, 18,891; Portsmouth, 17,427; Danville, 16,520; and Alexandria, 14,528.

Militia. In 1900 the State had a population of militia age numbering 346,030. The organized militia in 1901 numbered 2331 men.

Religion. The different branches of the Methodist and the Baptist churches include the large majority of the church members in the State. Numerous other denominations are represented, the strongest being the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Disciples of Christ, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Dunkards.

Education. The present public school system of Virginia was inaugurated in 1870, and as a result the school attendance, which had been very low in the preceding years, rapidly increased. In 1870 the attendance was 59,000, while in 1871, after the new law went into operation, it reached 158,000. The system is under the control of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, elected for four years by a joint ballot of the General Assembly, and a Board of Education, composed of the Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Attorney-General. This board has general supervision of the State school fund and with the consent of the State Senate can remove county and city superintendents. The school fund is augmented by a tax of not less than 1 and not more than 5 mills on the dollar, apportioned among the various school districts according to the number of children of school age. All schools, excepting primary, must be in session at least five months, fifteen pupils being the minimum number required to constitute a school. Both white and colored pupils have equal educational privileges, although separate schools are maintained. The total population of school age in the census year 1900 was 704,771, consisting of 435,612 whites and 268,962 colored. Of the total number 301,330, or 42.2 per cent., were in attendance. Of the whites of school age 48.1 per cent. were in attendance, as against 32.6 per cent. of the colored of school age. Of the population ten years of age and upward, 22.9 per cent. were illiterate. The white illiterates formed 11.1 per cent. of the total white population, and the colored illiterates 44.6 of the total colored population.

The leading educational institutions are the College of William and Mary (q.v.), at Williamsburg; the University of Virginia (q.v.), at Charlottesville; Washington and Lee University (q.v.), at Lexington; Richmond College, at Richmond; Randolph-Macon College, at Ashland; Roanoke College, at Salem; Virginia Union University, at Richmond; Emory and Henry College, at Emory; Bridgewater College, at Bridgewater; Hampden-Sidney College, at Hampden-Sidney; and Fredericksburg College, at Fredericksburg. Normal courses are given at the College of William and Mary, the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, at Petersburg, and the State Female Normal School, at Farmville.

Charitable and Penal Institutions. There is an asylum for the deaf, dumb, and blind at Staunton, and an industrial reform school for white boys at Laurel. There are insane asylums for whites at Staunton, Williamsburg, and Marion, the number of inmates in September, 1900, aggregating 1918. An insane asylum for negroes at Petersburg had 868 inmates at the same date. There is a soldiers' home near Richmond. The State penitentiary, at Richmond, on October 1, 1899, had 224 white and 1039 colored convicts. There were also 56 white and 197 colored convicts on the State farm. The expense on account of the convicts is more than balanced by their earnings.

History. The name Virginia was given by Queen Elizabeth to the country explored by the expedition under Amadas and Barlow, sent out by Sir Walter Ralegh in 1584. (See North Carolina.) Virginia in history proper begins, however, with the grant by James I. on April 10, 1606, of territory two hundred miles wide, between 34° and 45° north latitude to two companies, usually called, from the residences of their chief incorporators, the London and the ​Plymouth companies. (See Massachusetts.) By this charter the London Company could colonize between 34° and 41° and the Plymouth between 38° and 45°, provided the colonies were 100 miles apart. The government was vested in a Royal Council of Virginia in London, superior to resident councils nominated by the Crown and governing by royal instructions. Sealed instructions provided for a local constitution and an annual president in the colony. The land was to be held in free and common socage, and the settlers and their children were “forever to enjoy all liberties, franchises, and immunities enjoyed by Englishmen in England.” The Virginia Company of London, holding the southern grant, was organized under Sir Thomas Smith, treasurer. With its colony, 120 emigrants in three ships, Christopher Newport cleared England, December-February, 1607, reaching Cape Henry April 26, 1607. Having explored Chesapeake Bay, they entered James River and founded on a peninsula forty miles up the river Jamestown (Jamesfort), May 14, 1607, the first permanent English settlement in America. Malaria, Indian hostility, unaccustomed labor, and insufficient provisions left on Newport's return to England, reduced the colony to half by September. Dissensions arose, and when Captain Newport returned, January 12, 1608, bringing ‘near 100’ more men, only 38 were left, Wingfield was a prisoner, Smith condemned, and Archer's ‘parliament’ summoned. In the latter part of 1608 the Indians refused to sell corn, and but for the energy and tact of Captain John Smith (q.v.) as president the colony must have perished. In 1609 a new charter strictly incorporated the London Company, enlarged its territory, and vested the colony's government in the company's Treasurer and Council in London, endowed with sovereign powers. On June 1, 1609, large reinforcements were sent consisting of nine ships carrying 500 persons, including women and children. One ship sank, and one was wrecked on the Bermudas, now discovered by Somers. Seven ships with 300 persons reached Jamestown, and Smith returned to England on one of these ships. The winter was known as the ‘starving time,’ and the colony was reduced from 500 to 60 within six months. Though 140 arrived in the “Sea-Venture,” Lieutenant-Governor Gates abandoned Jamestown, June 7, 1610, and was halted only by the opportune arrival of Lord Delaware, the Governor. Delaware left George Percy as Deputy Governor in 1611 with some 150 colonists. Percy was succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale and Sir Thomas Gates.

Dale and Gates brought 500 colonists with cattle, built new towns (Henrico, Bermuda, Charles City), and by Dale's harsh martial rule effectually quelled lawlessness. Communism remained, but favored classes (officers, tenants, farmers, artisans) in 1613 and 1616 received conditional freedom for self-maintenance. A new charter in 1612 had added the Bermudas, established elective and legislative courts in the company, exempted it from duties, and authorized lotteries. John Rolfe established tobacco culture and his marriage (1613) to Pocahontas, daughter of the powerful Indian Sachem Powhatan, won that chief and further brightened colonial prospects. Mismanagement by Sir Thomas Smith and the court party produced dissensions in the company; Sir Edwin Sandys (q.v.) and the popular party gained control in 1618 and commissioned Sir George Yeardley governor to replace the rapacious Argall and establish personal freedom. On July 30, 1619, the first representative assembly in America (a council elected by the company and a House of Burgesses chosen by the free colonists) met. The same year twenty-one negro servants (see Servitude) were introduced by Dutch and English privateers. Women were sent as wives to the Virginia settlers, the husband paying 120 pounds of tobacco for his wife. The laws of 1619 were approved by the company, and in 1621 a written constitution, the work of Sir Edwin Sandys, was granted. By 1620 the population of the colony had reached 4000, including apprentices, indented servants, and some petty convicts sent over by the King, who was becoming bitterly hostile to the company. In the midst of this prosperity the Indians rose and massacred ‘about 400’ of the settlers, March 22, 1622. The King's hostility to democracy in the company led to quo warranto proceedings in 1624. The charter was revoked June 26th, and Virginia became a royal colony.

Charles I. (1625) reëstablished the government under two councils, depriving the Virginians of control over public officials and expenditures; but their acquiescence in his ecclesiastical and civil policy, and royal revenues from tobacco, won his favor. His reign was marked also by the settlement of some Puritans in northeast Virginia, and by the grant of a part of the territory to Lord Baltimore in 1632. William Claiborne seized and claimed disputed territory, Kent Island, for Virginia, having settled it in 1631. Maryland by force and diplomacy from 1634 to 1654 vindicated her claims. A popular insurrection deposed Governor Harvey, who was arbitrary and supported Maryland. Though reinstated, he was soon (1639) succeeded by Sir Francis Wyatt. With the coming of Sir William Berkeley as Governor in 1642, a strong figure appears. The divine right of the King and the maintenance of the Established Church were his creed. He captured Opechancano, who in his second massacre (1644) had killed 300 colonists, and driven many Puritans into Maryland and New England. On the execution of Charles I. thousands of Cavaliers flocked to Virginia. Its Assembly alone resisted Parliament, and declared guilty of treason all persons refusing to acknowledge the ‘King that now is.’ In retaliation, Parliament in 1650 forbade all trade with Virginia, and appointed (1651) four commissioners (two in Virginia) to force the surrender of the colony. Virginia surrendered (1652) to Commissioners Bennett and Claiborne, stipulating that the act be regarded as ‘voluntary,’ not a ‘conquest;’ that full indenmity be granted; a year without oath be allowed for dissatisfied persons to remove; the use of the Prayer Book be permitted for a year; and that Virginia enjoy her ancient boundaries. In reality during the whole period of the Commonwealth the Assembly elected the Governors, and there was entire religions and political toleration. The circumstance of acknowledging Charles II. sooner than any other part of the kingdom gave to Virginia the name of the ‘Old Dominion.’ On the ​collapse of the Commonwealth, the loyal Assembly elected Berkeley Governor before Charles II. was crowned. Charles encouraged the servant and slave traffic, burdened the colony with navigation acts (1663-72), and granted it in part to Court favorites and wholly in 1673 for thirty-one years to Lords Arlington and Culpeper. These acts, restriction of the suffrage to freeholders, and Berkeley's refusal to protect the frontier from Indians precipitated a popular rebellion. Nathaniel Bacon (q.v.) asked for a commission to go against the savages in 1676, and when it was refused, made a successful campaign without authority. Berkeley evasively answered a second popular demand for Bacon's commission, and upon his advance against the Indians proclaimed him and his forces rebels. A contest for the possession of Jamestown ensued. Bacon won, established a government, burned Jamestown to defeat Berkeley, and, preparing to pursue him to Accomac, suddenly died from previous hardships. Rumors of his poisoning are discredited. Berkeley regained power, and took severe measures against his opponents, of whom 23 were executed, eliciting from Charles II. the remark, “That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have done for the murder of my father.”

After this war on Berkeley and the Crown, and reconstruction by English commissioners, royal Governors (Jeffreys, Chicheley, and Culpeper) by incompetence or rapacity increased popular dissatisfaction. In 1677 a lasting Indian peace was secured, and in 1692 William and Mary College, the second oldest college in America, was chartered. A striking exception among royal Governors was Alexander Spotswood (1710-22). He led the ‘Knights of the Golden Horseshoe’ over the Blue Ridge in 1716, established iron manufactures, aided the Carolina colonists in their struggle with the Tuscarora Indians, and sent out an expedition which killed the notorious pirate John Teach (‘Blackbeard’) and captured his men. The first newspaper in the colony (the Virginia Gazette) was established in 1736, and Postmaster-General Spotswood organized a postal system in 1738. The population had steadily increased, and by 1700 was fully 70,000, chiefly of English descent. In 1699 the Huguenot immigration was large, and under Queen Anne a number of German Palatines came over. After 1732 large numbers of sturdy Scotch-Irish and Germans from Pennsylvania filled the Valley and Piedmont Virginia with dissenters, liberty-loving freehold farmers, restive under British oppression. Colonel William Byrd's project (1733) for founding Richmond and Petersburg instances expanding English settlement. The great article of export from the colony was tobacco, the returns from its sale enabling the wealthier planters to surround themselves with luxuries of every kind and the refinements of European civilization.

The charter of 1609 had fixed the limits of the colony at 200 miles north and 200 miles south of Point Comfort and west and northwest from sea to sea. Under this vague description Virginia claimed that the northwest line was the upper one, and hence her territory increased as it went westward. Maryland and Pennsylvania had included territory that she claimed, but her title to the northwest was undisputed until French colonization expanded. Toward the middle of the eighteenth century English occupation of the territory began. The Ohio Company (chiefly Marylanders and Virginians) was formed in 1749, for the exploration of the territory which the French also claimed by Marquette's discovery. (See Ohio.) George Washington was sent by Governor Dinwiddle in 1753 to ask the removal of the French forts, but to no purpose. The French and Indian War (q.v.) followed. The Virginians saved Braddock's army from utter annihilation, and the pioneers organized by Washington held the Virginia frontier against the Indians and the French. Settlements were constantly made beyond the Alleghanies in spite of the King's proclamation in 1763. From 1750 to 1769 Walker, Gist, and Boone explored here. Kentucky was made a separate county of Virginia through the influence of George Rogers Clark in 1776.

On the announcement of the policy of Parliamentary taxation of America Virginia became a leader in resistance. The colonists' claim of the rights of Englishmen and full representation, and pride in the colony's relative position, made her taxation without representation impossible. Patrick Henry (q.v.) and the jury in the ‘Parsons' Cause’ defied the King. Henry's famous speech in opposition to the Stamp Act, delivered (1765) in the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg, was quoted everywhere, and three of his five resolutions were adopted denying Parliament's right to tax. They were heralded as the first important protest against this tax. “Virginia gave the signal to the continent,” said General Gage. The Burgesses memorialized King and Parliament against the tax act of 1767, and in 1769 passed resolutions against this Parliamentary ‘tyranny’ and transportation of offenders to England for trial. They proposed colonial correspondence, and circulated an invitation for colonial concurrence. Dissolved by Governor Botetourt, they met in revolutionary convention at the Raleigh Tavern and signed and circulated Mason's nonimportation agreement. After the rude and unscrupulous Lord Dunmore succeeded Botetourt, the Assembly in 1773 appointed a standing legislative Committee of Correspondence (Jefferson, Lee, Carr, and others) for colonial concert. When the news of the Boston Port Bill arrived the Assembly passed sympathetic resolutions and was promptly dissolved (1774) by Dunmore. Its members met at the Raleigh Tavern, and proposed a Virginia convention for August and a general congress of the colonies. Committees of safety were organized and forces raised in every county. Dunmore attempted disarmament by seizing the magazine and removing the gunpowder, but was driven by a mob (June, 1775) to take refuge on shipboard. George Washington was elected commander-in-chief of the Continental armies, Patrick Henry of the Virginia forces, and in the colony a remarkable group of leaders was developed, Jefferson, Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, Edmund Pendleton, and others, who pushed Virginia toward independence. Colonel Woodford defeated the British at Great Bridge, and Dunmore burned Norfolk, but was driven from Virginia by Andrew Lewis (1776). A State convention met in May, 1776, and passed ​resolutions asking Congress for a Declaration of Independence, afterwards moved by R. H. Lee and drafted by Jefferson. On June 15th the convention adopted Mason's famous Virginia Declaration of Rights. This was followed by the adoption of a constitution on the 29th. Patrick Henry became Governor, and Jefferson afterwards secured acts for religious freedom and the abolition of entails. Virginia troops won distinction in the battles of Brandywine and Saratoga, and George Rogers Clark captured (1778 and 1779) the Northwest Territory for Virginia, furnishing the United States its title by conquest against British claims. Virginia was invaded in 1781. Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, and Tarleton's cavalry devastated the James River region and nearly captured Governor Jefferson and the Assembly at Charlottesville. Finally Cornwallis was penned in at Yorktown and surrendered. The conflicting claims of other colonies and land companies, and the refusal of Maryland otherwise to join the Confederation, led Virginia (1781-83) to cede her Northwest Territory to the Union, reserving only a small portion for her veterans. The transfer was conditioned on the erection therein of new States and was formally executed March, 1784.

Virginia was prominent in advocating a general convention to make necessary changes in the Articles of Confederation. When that body produced the Constitution of the United States, many able patriots, Lee, Mason, Monroe, and particularly Patrick Henry, bitterly opposed its ratification as destructive to State rights. Finally, after long debate, it was ratified, June 25, 1788, but by only ten majority, and chiefly through the ardent championship of James Madison. The addition of a Bill of Rights and 20 amendments was recommended. Lee, Grayson, and Madison helped to secure the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The State was jealous of its rights, and on account of the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts (q.v.) in 1798, put forward Madison's Virginia Resolutions (see Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions), which declared for a strict construction of the Constitution. Priority of settlement, character and amount of population, valuable staples, and distinguished men made the colony powerful and kept the State prominent in the early years of the Republic. During the first thirty-six years of the nation a Virginian was President for thirty-two, and the proportion of her citizens in other high offices was very large. The title ‘Mother of Presidents’ as well as ‘Mother of States and Statesmen’ seems deserved. The famous trials of John T. Callender and Aaron Burr at Richmond in 1806 intensified issues between Federalists and Republicans and brought into prominence John Marshall and John Randolph of Roanoke. The burning of the Richmond Theatre marked 1811 with public mourning. In 1813 Admiral Cockburn was repulsed at Craney Island and Norfolk saved from the British. The University of Virginia, planned by Thomas Jefferson and founded in 1819, was the first American university for advanced work. Slavery had been recognized by statute in 1661, but Virginia's first Assembly had prohibited the slave trade (1778), and Jefferson in his joint revision of the Virginia Code with Wythe and Pendleton in 1779 proposed emancipation and colonization of slaves. Saint George Tucker in 1796 offered another plan for the abolition of slavery, while Monroe, Randolph, and the Legislature promoted the African Colonization Society (1800-16). A slave, Gabriel, futilely plotted (1800) to massacre the whites of Richmond. In 1831 an insurrection (see Turner, Nat) by 40 negroes in Southampton County killed 60 persons, alarming Virginia and the South. Thomas Jefferson Randolph's bill for emancipation was fully and freely discussed with other plans and lost by a mere majority. In the Federal convention Virginia had fought for the immediate prohibition of the slave trade against a combination of New England and the extreme South demanding extension. A new or amended Constitution, adopted by the State convention (1830), extended the suffrage, and its work was continued by a similar convention in 1850. This emphasized the opposition between eastern and western Virginia on the question of a mixed basis or white basis for representation, and, reagitated by the Legislature (1845-46), hastened their separation in 1862. During Nullification Virginia opposed the coercion of South Carolina, but endeavored to act as a pacificator.

In spite of the capture of Harper's Ferry in 1859 by John Brown (q.v.), and his plan to raise a general slave insurrection, the State opposed secession. It suggested the peace convention of the States and sent commissioners to Washington to endeavor to prevent hostilities. The State convention met February 13, 1861, and as late as April 1st it voted (89 to 45) against secession. Two days after President Lincoln's call for troops to coerce the seceding States, an ordinance of secession and adhesion to the Confederacy was voted (88 to 45), April 17th, which was ratified by a popular majority of 16,241. Meanwhile a ‘temporary convention’ was formed with the Confederate Government in July, 1861. Robert E. Lee followed his State and became commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army. Richmond became the strategic capital, and Virginia a great battleground of the Confederacy. Western Virginia had little sympathy with secession, and on May 13th delegates from 25 counties met at Wheeling, declared the ordinance of secession null anil void, and called a convention to meet June 11th, which elected Francis H. Pierpont (q.v.) Governor. Later the Restored Government of Virginia was established. Pierpont continued to exercise his office until the establishment of West Virginia (q.v.) as a separate State. In 1863 he moved his government to Alexandria under the guns of Washington and asserted authority over those counties within the Federal lines, and in 1864 a new Constitution was adopted by these counties. At the close of the war Pierpont was recognized by the Federal authorities as the lawful Governor, and moved to Richmond; he put the Constitution of 1864 into limited effect, military authority still being paramount.

The Reconstruction Acts gave negroes the right to vote for convention delegates and a new Constitution was adopted in 1868 embodying negro suffrage and other new features, but so great was the popular feeling against it that it was not submitted to the people until a new act of Congress allowed a separate vote on the disfranchising clauses. These were rejected, but ​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 ​
Fitzhugh Lee  Democrat  1886-90
Philip W. McKinney “ 1890-94
Charles F. O'Ferrall “ 1894-98
J. Hoge Tyler “ 1898-1902
Andrew J. Montague “ 1902

Bibliography. Calendar of Virginia State Papers (Richmond, 1875-90); Virginia Historical Society, Collections (ib., 1882-92); Brown, Genesis of the United States (Boston, 1890); id., The First Repuhlic in America (ib., 1898); Cooke, Virginia (ib., 1884); Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors (New York, 1897); Neill, History of the Virginia Company of London (Albany, 1869); id., Virginia Carolorum (ib., 1886); Stith, History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia (1747; 3d ed., New York, 1865); Arber, ed., Works of Captain John Smith (ib., 1884); Foote, Sketches of Virginia (Philadelphia, 1850-55); Bruce, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century (New York, 1896); Johnson and Buel, eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (ib., 1887); Doyle, English Colonies in America (ib., 1882); Campbell, History of Virginia (Philadelphia, 1860); Howison, A History of Virginia (Richmond, 1848); Burk, History of Virginia (Petersburg, 1804-16); Howe, Historical Collections of Virginia (Charleston, 1845); Ballagh, History of Slavery in Virginia (Baltimore, 1902); id., Servitude in Virginia (ib., 1895).


  1. ↑ President of Council.
  2. ↑ Appointed but captured by the French.
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