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diff --git a/28472-8.txt b/28472-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..efc1f9f --- /dev/null +++ b/28472-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5683 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Patrician and Plebeian, by Thomas J. Wertenbaker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Patrician and Plebeian + Or The Origin and Development of the Social Classes of the Old Dominion + +Author: Thomas J. Wertenbaker + +Release Date: April 2, 2009 [EBook #28472] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATRICIAN AND PLEBEIAN *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Research has indicated the copyright on this book was | + | not renewed. | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | This e-book contains archaic spelling. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +Patrician and Plebeian +in Virginia + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Patrician and Plebeian +in Virginia + +OR THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT +OF THE SOCIAL CLASSES OF THE +OLD DOMINION + +By +THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER + + +_New York_ +RUSSELL & RUSSELL + + + + +COPYRIGHT 1910, 1958, 1959 BY +THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER + + +LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 59-11227 + + +PRINTED IN U.S.A. + + + + +Dedicated to H.R.W. + + + + +_PREFACE_ + + +Forty-seven years have passed since this volume was first published; +in that time a mass of source material has been made available to the +historian and numerous books on early Virginia history have been +published. But I believe that its main theses have not been shaken. +The old belief that the Virginia aristocracy had its origin in a +migration of Cavaliers after the defeat of the royalists in the +British Civil War has been relegated to the sphere of myths. It is +widely recognized that the leading Virginia families--the Carters, the +Ludwells, the Burwells, the Custises, the Lees, the Washingtons--were +shaped chiefly by conditions within the colony and by renewed contact +with Great Britain. + +That the Virginia aristocracy was not part of the English aristocracy +transplanted in the colony is supported by contemporaneous evidence. +When Nathaniel Bacon, the rebel, the son of an English squire, +expressed surprise when Governor Berkeley appointed him to the Council +of State, Sir William replied: "When I had the first knowledge of you +I intended you and do now again all the services that are in my power +to serve, for gentlemen of your quality come very rarely into the +country, and therefore when they do come were used by me with all +respect." + +Bacon was equally frank. "Consider ... the nature and quality of the +men in power ... as to their education, extraction, and learning, as +to their reputation for honor and honesty, see and consider whether +here, as in England, you can perceive men advanced for their noble +qualifications...." + +Governor Francis Nicholson ridiculed the pretensions of the leading +planters to distinguished lineage. "This generation know too well from +whence they come," he wrote in a letter to the Lords of Trade, in +March 1703, "and the ordinary sort of planters that have land of their +own, though not much, look upon themselves to be as good as the best +of them, for he knows, at least has heard, from whence these mighty +Dons derive their originals ... and that he or his ancestors were +their equals if not superiors." + +On the other side of the Potomac Henry Callister was frank in refuting +the similar claims of wealthy Marylanders. "Some of the proudest +families here vaunt themselves of a pedigree, at the same time they +know not their grandfather's name. I never knew a good honest +Marylander that was not got by a merchant." + +That many prominent families in Virginia also were founded by +merchants is attested by the fact that they continued to be traders +after they came to the colony. "In every river here are from ten to +thirty men who by trade and industry have gotten very competent +estates," wrote Colonel Robert Quary in 1763. "These gentlemen take +care to supply the poorer sort with provisions, goods, and +necessities, and are sure to keep them always in debt, and so +dependent on them. Out of this number are chosen her Majesty's +Council, the Assembly, the justices, and other officers of the +government." + +Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton, in their _The Present State of Virginia +and the College_, written in 1697, divide the people into three +classes--planters, tradesmen, and merchants. "The merchants live +best," they said. But though profits were large, their business was +carried on in the face of great difficulties. The tobacco they bought +from the small planters had to be carted or rolled to the landings and +put on board their sloops and shallops for transfer to the merchant +ships; they had to sell imported goods on credit; often there were +long delays in loading the ships. + +Some of the most influential men in Virginia were importers of +servants and slaves. Among them were William Claiborne, Peter Ashton, +Isaac Allerton, Giles Brent, Joseph Bridger, Thomas Milner, Henry +Hartwell, and Robert Beverley. + +The distinguished historian, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, in _Tyler's +Magazine_, Volume I, says that "Virginia owes much to the London +firms, because they were continually sending over trusted young agents +... many of whom settled down and founded Virginia families.... The +business of the merchants consisted largely in buying and selling +tobacco and importing settlers and servants, for each of which if +imported at their expense the merchants were entitled to fifty acres +of land. Then there was the usual trade in clothing and articles of +general use." + +Though the Virginian who acquired a degree of wealth was no +aristocrat, he longed to be one. His grandfather, or his +great-grandfather might have been a younger son of an English squire. +He envied the honor, wealth, and power landholding brought that +ancestor, just as many Virginians today envy the life of the colonial +plantation owner. So when he found himself an extensive landholder, he +thought of himself as an English squire. He too would build a fine +residence, decorate his walls with family portraits, have a formal +garden, accumulate a library, and dress in the latest English fashion. + +Virginia in the colonial period was linked to England by government, +commerce, religion, reading, education. The mother country sent over +governors who set the fashion in courtly living. It was the planter's +agent in London or Bristol who usually selected his furniture, his +silverware, his clothing, and often even his books. When on Sunday he +went to church he listened to a minister who had been born and +educated in England. The shelves of his library were lined with books +from England, if he could afford it he sent his son to Oxford or +Cambridge. + +When a Virginia planter visited England in the eighteenth century, he +was deeply impressed by the beauty and dignity of the great country +mansions there. As he viewed Longleat, or Blenheim, or Eaton Hall, he +must have resolved that he too would build a stately house on the +banks of the James. If he had never been to England, he might take +down an English book of architecture--Batty Langley's _Treasury of +Designs_, or Abraham Swan's _The British Architect_, or James Gibb's +_A Book of Architecture_--pick out a suitable design and model his +house on it. He might even send to England for an architect, as did +George Mason, when he engaged William Buckland to design beautiful +Gunston Hall. Westover, Carter's Grove, Mount Airy, Kenmore, Brandon, +all bear the stamp of the English Georgian. + +If there was any doubt that the Virginia gentlemen followed the latest +English fashions in dress, a glimpse at their portraits would dispel +it. William Byrd II, as he appears in the painting by Sir Godfrey +Kneller would have made a fine figure in any assembly in England; no +English nobleman was better dressed than Robert Carter, of Nomini +Hall, as shown in the Reynolds portrait. + +When a Virginian went to England he not only took the opportunity to +replenish his own wardrobe, but was charged by his relatives and +friends to make purchases for them. In a letter to Mrs. Thomas Jones, +in 1727, Mrs. Mary Stith asked: "When you come to London pray favor me +in your choice of a suit of pinners suitably dressed with a crossknot +roll or whatever the fashion requires, with suitable ruffles and +handkerchief." In 1752 Lady Gooch, wife of Governor William Gooch, +while in London bought for Mrs. Thomas Dawson a fashionable laced cap, +a handkerchief, ruffles, a brocade suit, a blue satin petticoat, a +pair of blue satin shoes, and a fashionable silver girdle. But it was +not always necessary to send to England for clothing, for there were +tailors in Virginia who advertised that they could make gentlemen's +suits and dresses for the ladies "in the newest and genteelest +fashions now wore in England." It was a valuable asset for a tailor if +he had just arrived from London. + +The Virginians also imitated the English in their outdoor sports. The +fox chase, so dear to the Englishman's heart, was a favorite +amusement. When the crowds gathered around the county courthouse on +court days, they were often diverted from more serious business by +horseraces. And like their English cousins they were fond of +cockfighting, boat racing, and hunting. + +The life of the wealthy planter was profoundly influenced by his +reading of English books. He took his religion more from the _Sermons_ +of Archbishop Tillotson than from the preaching of the local +clergyman; as a county magistrate he had to know Blackstone and Coke; +he turned to Kip's _English Houses and Gardens_, or John James' +_Theory and Practice of Gardening_, to guide him in laying out his +flower beds and hedges and walks; if he or his wife or a servant +became ill he consulted Lynch's _Guide to Health_; he willingly obeyed +the dictates of Chippendale in furniture. + +But despite all the bonds with the mother country he was slowly, but +inevitably, becoming more an American, less an Englishman. It was the +plantation which shaped the daily life of the Virginian and made him +different from the English squire. As he looked out over his wide +acres, his tobacco fields, his pastures, his woodlands, his little +village of servant and slave quarters, tobacco houses, barn, and +stable, he had a sense of responsibility, dignity, pride, and +self-reliance. He must look after the welfare of the men and women and +children under his care, seeing that they were housed, clothed, and +fed, protecting their health, playing the role of benevolent despot. +He had to be agriculturalist, business man, lawyer, builder, even +doctor. + +Visitors to the colony were quick to notice the difference between the +Virginian and the Englishman. Hugh Jones, in his _The Present State of +Virginia_ devotes several pages to a description of the colonists. +Andrew Burnaby, who visited Virginia in 1760, thought that the +authority had by the planters over their slaves made them "vain and +imperious.... They are haughty and jealous of their liberties, +impatient of restraint...." Lord Adam Gordon, writing in 1764, gives a +more favorable opinion: "I had an opportunity to see a good deal of +the country and many of the first people in the province and I must +say they far excel in good sense, affability, and ease any set of men +I have yet fallen in with, either in the West Indies or on the +Continent, this, in some degree, may be owing to their being most of +them educated at home (England) but cannot be altogether the cause, +since there are amongst them many gentlemen, and almost all the +ladies, who have never been out of their own province, and yet are as +sensible, conversible, and accomplished as one would wish to meet +with." + +In brief, the Virginia aristocracy was the product of three forces, +inheritance, continued contact with the mother country, and local +conditions. Coming largely from the middle class in England, though +with some connections with the squirearchy through younger sons, they +brought with them the English language, English political +institutions, the Anglican Church, English love of liberty. This +inheritance was buttressed by their political and cultural dependence +on the mother country. But it was profoundly affected, even reshaped, +by Virginia itself. + +Dr. Samuel Johnson's charge that the Americans were a race of +convicts, if he meant it to be taken seriously, is of course absurd. +It is true that from time to time convicts were sent to the colonies. +This is proved by the protests of the Assemblies and by laws passed to +prohibit their importation. In Virginia there are records in some of +the county courthouses of the crimes committed by these jailbirds. But +they never entered in any appreciable numbers into the population of +the colony, not even of the lowest class. They were never numerous, +the planters considered it a risk to use them, some were forced to +serve as cannon fodder in the colonial wars, others were shunted off +to the frontiers. + +The bulk of the immigrants to Virginia were poor men seeking to better +their condition in a new country. Many came as indentured workers, who +placed their signatures to contracts to work for four years in the +tobacco fields in return for their passage across the Atlantic; other +thousands paid their fare in advance and so entered the colony as +freemen. They were not essentially different from the millions who +came to the United States in the nineteenth century. Most of them, +indentured workers and freemen alike, sooner or later acquired small +plantations and became members of a yeoman class. A few acquired +wealth. Many went into the trades to become carpenters, or +bricklayers, or blacksmiths, or coopers, or saddlers, or wheelwrights. + +Colonial Virginia has often been pictured as the land of the +aristocratic planter, the owner of thousands of acres and hundreds of +slaves. Scant attention has been paid to the far more numerous middle +class. Yet this class was the backbone of the colony. It is true that +most of the leaders came from the aristocracy, but it was the small +farmer who owned the bulk of the land, produced the larger part of the +tobacco crop, could outvote the aristocrat fifty to one, made up the +rank and file of the army in the colonial wars. + +Among the thousands of Englishmen who left their homes to seek their +fortunes in Virginia there were no dukes, no earls, rarely a knight, +or even the son of a knight. They were, most of them, ragged farm +workers, deserters from the manor, ill paid day laborers, yeomen who +had been forced off their land by the enclosures, youthful tradesmen +tempted by the cheapness of land or by the opportunities for commerce, +now and then a lad who had taken a mug of doctored grog and awakened +to find himself a prisoner aboard a tobacco ship. But Virginia claimed +them all, moulded them into her own pattern, made them Virginians. + +_Princeton, New Jersey_ THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER + _August, 1957_ + + + + +PART ONE + +THE ARISTOCRACY + + +The aristocratic character of Virginia society was the result of +development within the colony. It proceeded from economic, political +and social causes. On its economic side it was built up by the system +of large plantations, by the necessity for indentured or slave labor, +by the direct trade with England; politically it was engendered by the +lack of a vigorous middle class in the first half of the 17th century, +and was sustained by the method of appointment to office; on its +social side it was fostered by the increasing wealth of the planters +and by the ideal of the English gentleman. + +It will be necessary, in explaining this development, to determine the +origin of the men that composed this aristocracy; for it will be +impossible to understand the action of the forces which prevailed in +Virginia during the colonial period unless we have a knowledge of the +material upon which they worked. Much error has prevailed upon this +subject. It was for years the general belief, and is still the belief +of many, that the wealthy families, whose culture, elegance and power +added such luster to Virginia in the 18th century, were the +descendants of cavalier or aristocratic settlers. It was so easy to +account for the noble nature of a Randolph, a Lee or a Mason by +nobleness of descent, that careful investigation was considered +unnecessary, and heredity was accepted as a sufficient explanation of +the existence and characteristics of the Virginia aristocracy. + +We shall attempt to show that this view is erroneous. Recent +investigation in Virginia history has made it possible to determine +with some degree of accuracy the origin of the aristocracy. Yet the +mixed character of the settlers, and the long period of time over +which immigration to the colony continued make the problem difficult +of accurate solution, and the chances of error innumerable. Out of the +mass of evidence, however, three facts may be established beyond +controversy, that but few men of high social rank in England +established families in Virginia; that the larger part of the +aristocracy of the colony came directly from merchant ancestors; that +the leading planters of the 17th century were mercantile in instinct +and unlike the English aristocrat of the same period. + +Much confusion has resulted from the assumption, so common with +Southern writers, that the English Cavaliers were all of distinguished +lineage or of high social rank. The word "Cavalier," as used at the +time of Charles I, denoted not a cast, or a distinct class of people, +but a political party. It is true that the majority of the gentry +supported the king in the civil war, and that the main reliance of +Parliament lay in the small landowners and the merchants, but there +were many men of humble origin that fought with the royalist party and +many aristocrats that joined the party of the people. Amongst the +enemies of the king were the Earls of Bedford, Warwick, Manchester and +Essex, while many leaders of the Roundheads such as Pym, Cromwell and +Hampden were of gentle blood. Thus the fact that a man was Cavalier or +Roundhead proved nothing as to his social rank or his lineage.[1] + +No less misleading has been the conception that in Great Britain +there existed during the 17th century distinct orders of society, +similar to those of France or Spain at the same period. Many have +imagined the English nobility a class sharply and definitely separated +from the commonalty, and forming a distinct upper stratum of society. +In point of fact no sharp line of social demarkation can be drawn +between the peerage and the common people. For in England, even in the +days of the Plantagenets, the younger sons of the nobles did not +succeed to their fathers' rank, but sank to the gentry class, or at +most became "knights." They usually married beneath the rank of their +fathers and thus formed a link binding the nobility to the commons of +the country. Often the sons and brothers of earls were sent to +Parliament as representatives of the shires, and as such sat side by +side with shopkeepers and artisans from the towns. It is this +circumstance that explains why so many middle-class Englishmen of the +present day can trace back their lineage to the greatest and noblest +houses of the kingdom. The healthy political development which has +been such a blessing to the English nation is due in no small measure +to the lack of anything like caste in British society. + +These facts help to explain much in the origin of the Virginia +aristocracy that has only too often been misunderstood. They make +evident the error of presuming that many persons of gentle blood came +to Virginia because there was an immigration of so called Cavaliers, +or because certain families in the colony could trace back their +ancestry to noble English houses. + +Immigration to Virginia during the seventeen years after the founding +of Jamestown was different in character from that of any succeeding +period. The London Company in its efforts to send to the colony +desirable settlers induced a number of men of good family and +education to venture across the ocean to seek their fortunes in the +New World. Since the Company numbered among its stockholders some of +the greatest noblemen of the time, it could easily arouse in the +influential social classes extraordinary interest in Virginia. It is +due largely to this fact that among the first settlers are to be found +so many that are entitled to be called gentlemen. + +Moreover, the true nature of the task that confronted the immigrants +to the wilds of America was little understood in England at this time. +Those unhappy gentlemen that sailed upon the Discovery, the Godspeed +and the Susan Constant hoped to find in Virginia another Mexico or +Peru and to gain there wealth as great as had fallen to the lot of +Cortez or of Pizarro. Had they known that the riches of the land they +were approaching could be obtained only by long years of toil and +sweat, of danger and hardship, they would hardly have left their homes +in England. That the First Supply took with them a perfumer and six +tailors shows how utterly unsuited they were to the task of planting a +new colony. Many, doubtless, were men of ruined fortune, who sought to +find in the New World a rapid road to wealth. When it became known in +England that gold mines were not to be found in Virginia and that +wealth could be had only by the sweat of the brow, these spendthrift +gentlemen ceased coming to the colony. + +It is true, however, that the proportion of those officially termed +"gentlemen" that sailed with the early expeditions to Jamestown is +surprisingly large. Of the settlers of 1607, out of one hundred and +five men, thirty-five were called gentlemen.[2] The First Supply, +which arrived in 1608, contained thirty-three gentlemen out of one +hundred and twenty persons.[3] Captain John Smith declared these men +were worthless in character, more fitted "to spoyle a commonwealth +than to begin or maintain one," and that those that came with them as +"laborers" were really footmen in attendance upon their masters. In +the Second Supply came twenty-eight gentlemen in a total company of +seventy.[4] The conduct of those of the Third Supply shows them to +have been similar in character to their predecessors. Smith calls them +a "lewd company," among them "many unruly gallants packed thither by +their friends to escape il destinies."[5] These men, however, made +practically no imprint upon the character of the population of the +colony; for by far the larger part of them perished miserably within a +few months after their arrival. Of the five hundred persons alive in +Virginia in October, 1609, all but sixty had died by May of the +following year.[6] + +As years went by, this influx of dissipated gentlemen began to wane. +It could not be concealed in England that the early settlers had +perished of starvation, disease and the tomahawk, and those that had +been led to believe that Virginia was an Eldorado, turned with a +shudder from the true picture of suffering and death told them by +those that returned from the colony. Moreover, the London Company soon +learned that no profit was to be expected from a colony settled by +dissipated gentlemen, and began to send over persons more suited for +the rough tasks of clearing woods, building huts and planting corn. +Their immigrant vessels were now filled with laborers, artisans, +tradesmen, apprentices and indentured servants. It is doubtless true +that occasionally gentlemen continued to arrive in Virginia even +during the last years of the Company's rule, yet their number must +have been very small indeed. When, in 1624, James I took from the +London Company its charter, the colony contained few others than +indentured servants and freemen of humble origin and means. In 1623 +several of the planters, in answering charges that had been brought +against the colony by a certain Captain Nathaniel Butler, said that +the inhabitants were chiefly laboring men.[7] + +With the downfall of the London Company one influence which had tended +to send to Virginia persons of good social standing ceased to exist. +The personal interest of those noblemen that had owned stock in the +enterprise was no longer exerted to obtain a desirable class of +settlers, and economic forces alone now determined the character of +those that established themselves in Virginia. During the remainder of +the 17th century it was the profit that could be obtained from the +planting of tobacco that brought the most desirable class of settlers +to the colony. It is true, however, that dissipated and spendthrift +gentlemen still came over at times, seeking in Virginia a refuge from +creditors, or expecting amid the unsettled conditions of a new country +to obtain license for their excesses. It was this element of the +population, doubtless, that the Dutch, trader De Vries referred to +when he asserted that some of the planters were inveterate gamblers, +even staking their servants.[8] Such a character was Captain Stone, +whom De Vries met at the home of Governor Harvey. This man was related +to families of good standing in England, but strutted, was lewd, swore +horribly and was guilty of shameless carousals wherever he went. While +in New Amsterdam he entered upon a drinking bout with Governor Von +Twiller, and stole a vessel of Plymouth. In Massachusetts he called +Roger Ludlow a just ass, and later, having been detected in other +crimes, was forced to flee from the colony. Beyond doubt men similar +to Stone were to be found in Virginia during the first half of the +17th century, but they became rarer and rarer as time went on.[9] + +How few men of good social standing there were in the colony in this +period is shown by the number of important positions filled by +uneducated persons of humble origin and rank. The evidence is +conclusive that on many occasions indentured servants that had served +their term of bondage and had acquired property were elected by the +people to represent them in the House of Burgesses. This is notably +true of the first half of the 17th century, when the government was +largely in the hands of a few leading planters, and when pressure from +above could influence elections very decidedly. Had there been many +men of ability or rank to select from, these Plebeians would never +have found a place in the Assembly of the colony. The author of +Virginia's Cure stated that the burgesses were "usually such as went +over as servants thither," and although this is doubtless an +exaggeration, it shows that there must have been in the Assemblies +many men of humble extraction. In the case of some of the burgesses, +it has been shown definitely that they came to Virginia as servants. +Thus William Popleton was formerly the servant of John Davies; Richard +Townsend was in 1620 the servant of Dr. Potts; William Bentley arrived +in the colony in 1624 as a hired man. All three of these men were +burgesses.[10] The preacher, William Gatford, testified that persons +of mean extraction had filled places of importance and trust.[11] +Governor Berkeley, stated in 1651 while addressing the Assembly, that +hundreds of examples testified to the fact that no man in the colony +was denied the opportunity to acquire both honor and wealth. At times +men of humble origin became so influential that they obtained seats in +the Council, the most exclusive and powerful body in the colony. Thus +William Pearce, who came over in the days of the Company as a poor +settler, was a Councilor in 1632, and was before his death one of the +wealthiest and most powerful men in the colony.[12] In 1635 we find in +the Council John Brewer, formerly a grocer of London.[13] Malachy +Postlethwayt, a writer of several treaties on commerce, states that +even criminals often became leading men in Virginia. Although this is +obviously an exaggeration, Postlethwayt's testimony tends to add force +to the contention that many of humble rank did at times rise to +positions of honor. "Even your transported felons," he says, "sent to +Virginia instead of to Tyburn, thousands of them, if we are not +misinformed, have, by turning their hands to industry and improvement, +and (which is best of all) to honesty, become rich, substantial +planters and merchants, settled large families, and been famous in the +country; nay, we have seen many of them made magistrates, officers of +militia, captains of good ships, and masters of good estates."[14] In +England stories of the rapid advance of people of humble origin in +Virginia gave rise to the absurd belief that the most influential +families in the colony were chiefly composed of former criminals. +Defoe in two of his popular novels, gives voice to this opinion. In +Moll Flanders we find the following: "Among the rest, she often told +me how the greatest part of the inhabitants of that colony came hither +in very indifferent circumstances from England; that generally +speaking, they were of two sorts: either, 1st, such as were brought +over ... to be sold as servants, or, 2nd, such as are transported +after having been found guilty of crimes punishable with death. When +they come here ... the planters buy them, and they work together in +the field till their time is out.... (Then) they have ... land +allotted them ... and (they) ... plant it with tobacco and corn for +their own use; and as the merchants will trust them with tools ... +upon the credit of their crop before it is grown, so they plant every +year a little more (etc). Hence, child, says she, many a Newgate-bird +becomes a great man, and we have ... several justices of the peace, +officers of the trained band, and magistrates of the towns they live +in, that have been burnt in the hand."[15] In Mrs. Behn's comedy The +Widow Ranter, the same belief finds expression, for Friendly is made +to say: "This country wants nothing but to be peopled with a well-born +race to make it one of the best colonies in the world; but for want +of a governor we are ruled by a council, some of whom have been +perhaps transported criminals, who having acquired great estates are +now become Your Honour and Right Worshipful, and possess all places of +authority."[16] It is absolutely certain that the Virginia aristocracy +was not descended from felons, but this belief that found voice in +works of fiction of the 17th century must have had some slight +foundation in truth. It tends to strengthen the evidence that many men +of humble origin did attain places of honor and profit in the colony, +and it shows that in England in this period people were far from +imagining that many aristocrats had come to Virginia to settle.[17] + +Although it is impossible to determine with accuracy the lineage of +all the leading families of Virginia during the 17th century, it is +definitely known that many of the most wealthy and influential houses +were founded by men that could boast of no social prominence in +England. In the days immediately following the downfall of the London +Company there was no more influential man in the colony than Abraham +Piersey. In matters of political interest he took always a leading +part, and was respected and feared by his fellow colonists. He was +well-to-do when he came to Virginia, having acquired property as a +successful merchant, but he was in no way a man of social distinction +or rank. John Chew was another man of great distinction in the colony. +He too was a plain merchant attracted to the colony by the profits to +be made from the planting and sale of tobacco.[18] George Menifie, who +for years took so prominent a part in the political affairs of +Virginia, and who, as a member of the Council was complicated in the +expulsion of Governor Harvey, speaks of himself as a "merchant," +although in later years he acquired the more distinguished title of +"esquire." Menifie possessed an ample fortune, most of which was +acquired by his own business ability and foresight. It is stated that +his "large garden contained the fruits of Holland, and the roses of +Provence, and his orchard was planted with apple, pear and cherry +trees."[19] Samuel Mathews, a man of plain extraction, although well +connected by marriage, was a leader in the colony. In political +affairs his influence was second to none, and in the Commonwealth +period he became governor. He is described as "an old planter of above +30 years standing, one of the Council and a most deserving +Commonwealth man.... He hath a fine house, and all things answerable +to it; he sows yearly store of hemp and flax and causes it to be spun; +he keeps weavers and hath a tan house ... hath 40 negro servants, +brings them up to trade, in his house; he yearly sows abundance of +wheat, barley, etc.... kills store of beeves, and sells them to +victual the ships when they come thither; hath abundance of kine, a +brave dairy, swine great store and poultry."[20] Adam Thoroughgood, +although he came to Virginia as a servant or apprentice, became +wealthy and powerful. His estates were of great extent and at one time +he owned forty-nine sheep and one-hundred and seventeen cattle.[21] +Captain Ralph Hamor, a leading planter in the days of the Company, was +the son of a merchant tailor. Thomas Burbage, was another merchant +that acquired large property in Virginia and became recognized as a +man of influence. Ralph Warnet, who is described as a "merchant," died +in 1630, leaving a large fortune.[22] That these men, none of whom +could boast of high rank or social prominence in England, should have +been accepted as leaders in the colony shows that the best class of +settlers were of comparatively humble extraction. Had many men of +gentle blood come to Virginia during the first half of the 17th +century there would have been no chance for the "merchant" class to +acquire such prominence. + +Nor did men of plain extraction cease to occupy prominent positions +after the Restoration, when the much misunderstood "Cavalier" +immigration had taken place, and the society of the colony had been +fixed. Amongst the leading planters was Isaac Allerton, a man +distinguished for his activities both in the House of Burgesses and +the Council, and the founder of a prominent family, who was the son of +an English merchant tailor.[23] The first of the famous family of +Byrds, which for nearly a century was noted for its wealth, its +influence, its social prominence, was the son of a London +goldsmith.[24] Oswald Cary, who settled in Middlesex in 1659 was the +son of an English merchant.[25] There was no man in the colony during +the second half of the 17th century that exerted a more powerful +influence in political affairs than Philip Ludwell. He was for years +the mainstay of the commons and he proved to be a thorn in the flesh +of more than one governor. He was admired for his ability, respected +for his wealth and feared for his power, an admitted leader socially +and politically in the colony, yet he was of humble extraction, his +father and uncle both being mercers. The noted Bland family sprang +from Adam Bland, a member of the skinners gild of London.[26] Thomas +Fitzhugh, one of the wealthiest and most prominent men of the colony, +was thought to have been the grandson of a maltster. + +It was during the second half of the 17th century that occurred the +"Cavalier" immigration that took place as a consequence of the +overthrow of Charles I. Upon this subject there has been much +misapprehension. Many persons have supposed that the followers of the +unhappy monarch came to Virginia by the thousand to escape the +Puritans, and that it was from them that the aristocracy of the colony +in large part originated. Even so eminent a historian as John Fiske +has been led into the erroneous belief that this immigration was +chiefly responsible for the great increase in population that occurred +at this time. "The great Cavalier exodus," he says, "began with the +king's execution in 1649, and probably slackened after 1660. It must +have been a chief cause of the remarkable increase of the white +population of Virginia from 15,000 in 1649 to 38,000 in 1670."[27] +This deduction is utterly unwarranted. The increase in population +noted here was due chiefly to the stream of indentured servants that +came to the colony at this period. At the time when the so-called +Cavalier immigration was at its height between one thousand and +fifteen hundred servants were sent to Virginia each year. In 1671 +Governor Berkeley estimated the number that came over annually at +fifteen hundred, and it is safe to say that during the Commonwealth +period the influx had been as great as at this date. The constant wars +in Great Britain had made it easier to obtain servants for exportation +to America, for thousands of prisoners were disposed of in this way +and under Cromwell Virginia received numerous batches of unfortunate +wretches that paid for their hostility to Parliament with banishment +and servitude. Not only soldiers from King Charles' army, but many +captives taken in the Scotch and Irish wars were sent to the colony. +On the other hand after the Restoration, hundreds of Cromwell's +soldiers were sold as servants. If we estimate the annual importation +of servants at 1200, the entire increase of population which Fiske +notes is at once accounted for. Moreover, the mortality that in the +earlier years had been so fatal to the newcomers, was now greatly +reduced owing to the introduction of Peruvian bark and to the +precautions taken by planters to prevent disease on their estates. +Governor Berkeley said in 1671 that not many hands perished at that +time, whereas formerly not one in five escaped the first year. + +Nor can the increased number of births in the colony be neglected in +accounting for the growth of population. The historian Bruce, +referring to the period from 1634 to 1649, in which the population +trebled, says: "The faster growth during this interval was due, not to +any increase in the number of new settlers seeking homes in Virginia, +but rather to the advance in the birth-rate among the inhabitants. +There was by the middle of the century a large native population +thoroughly seasoned to all the trying variations of the climate and +inured to every side of plantation life, however harsh and severe it +might be in the struggle to press the frontier further and further +outward."[28] It may then be asserted positively that the growth of +population between the dates 1649 and 1670 was not due to an influx of +Cavaliers. + +Had many men of note fled to Virginia at this period their arrival +would scarcely have escaped being recorded. Their prominence and the +circumstances of their coming to the colony would have insured for +them a place in the writings of the day. A careful collection of the +names of those Cavaliers that were prominent enough to find a place in +the records, shows that their number was insignificant. The following +list includes nearly all of any note whatsoever: Sir Thomas Lunsford, +Col. Hammond, Sir Philip Honeywood, Col. Norwood, Stevens, Brodnax, +Welsford, Molesworth, Col. Moryson, John Woodward, Robert Jones, +Nicholas Dunn, Anthony Langston, Bishop, Culpeper, Peter Jenings, John +Washington, Lawrence Washington, Sir Dudley Wiat, Major Fox, Dr. +Jeremiah Harrison, Sir Gray Shipworth, Sir Henry Chiskeley and Col. +Joseph Bridger. Of this number a large part returned to England and +others failed to establish families in the colony. How few were their +numbers is shown by the assertions of colonial writers. Sir William +Berkeley reported in 1671 that Cromwell's "tyranny" had sent divers +worthy men to the colony. Hugh Jones, writing in 1722, speaks of the +civil wars in England as causing several families of good birth and +fortune to settle in Virginia. This language certainly gives no +indication of a wholesale immigration of Cavaliers. + +Some writers have pointed to the number of families in Virginia that +were entitled to the use of coats-of-arms as convincing proof that the +aristocracy of the colony was founded by men of high social rank. It +is true that in numerous instances Virginians had the right to +coats-of-arms, but this does not prove that their blood was noble, for +in most cases these emblems of gentility came to them through +ancestors that were mercantile in occupation and in instinct. During +the 17th century the trades were in high repute in England, and to +them resorted many younger sons of the gentry. These youths, excluded +from a share in the paternal estate by the law of primogeniture, were +forced either into the professions or the trades. It was the custom +for the country gentleman to leave to his eldest son the whole of his +landed estates; the second son he sent to Oxford or to Cambridge to +prepare for one of the learned professions, such as divinity, medicine +or law; the third was apprenticed to some local surgeon or +apothecary; the fourth was sent to London to learn the art of weaving, +of watchmaking or the like. It was the educating of the youngest sons +in the trades that gave rise to the close connection between the +commercial classes in England and the gentry. Great numbers of +merchants in the trading cities were related to the country squire or +even to the nobleman. These merchant families, since they did not +possess landed estates, could not style themselves "gentlemen," but +they clung to the use of the coat-of-arms that had descended to them +from their ancestors. Thus it happened that some of the immigrants to +Virginia possessed coats-of-arms. Since they still looked upon the +life of the country squire as the ideal existence, as soon as they +were settled upon the plantations, they imitated it as far as +possible. With the possession of land they assumed the title of +"gentleman." Since the squire or nobleman from whom the right to the +coat-of-arms came to them might have lived many generations before the +migration to Virginia, the use of this emblem could give but little +ground for a claim to gentle blood. + +Finally, the opinion that the leading planters of the colony sprang +from families of distinction and high social rank, in England is being +discarded by the best authorities on Virginia history. The Virginia +Magazine of History and Biography, which has done so much to shed +light on the early history of Virginia, throws its influence without +compromise against the old belief. It says: "If the talk of 'Virginia +Cavaliers' indicates an idea that most of the Virginia gentry were +descended from men of high rank, who had adhered to the King's side +and afterwards emigrated to Virginia, it is assuredly incorrect. Some +members of distinguished families, a considerable number of the minor +gentry, as well as persons of the lower ranks, after the success of a +party which they believe to be composed of rebels and traitors, came +to Virginia, finding here a warm welcome, and leaving many +descendants."[29] Again it says: "As we have before urged, and as we +believe all genealogists having any competent acquaintance with the +subject will agree, but few 'scions of great English houses' came to +any of the colonies. Gloucester ... has always been distinguished in +Virginia as the residence of a large number of families of wealth, +education and good birth; but in only a few instances are they +descended from 'great houses' even of the English gentry. The families +of Wyatt, Peyton and Throckmorton are perhaps the only ones derived +from English houses of historic note; but they were never, in +Virginia, as eminent for large estates and political influence as +others of the same county whose English ancestry is of much less +distinction. Next, as known descendants of minor gentry, were the +families of Page, Burwell, Lightfoot and Clayton. Other leading names +of the county, nothing certain in regard to whose English ancestry is +known, were Kemp, Lewis, Warner, etc. These families were, like those +of the ruling class in other countries, doubtless derived from +ancestors of various ranks and professions ... members of the country +gentry, merchants and tradesmen and their sons and relatives, and +occasionally a minister, a physician, a lawyer or a captain in the +merchant service."[30] The William and Mary Quarterly makes the +unequivocal statement that it was the "shipping people and merchants +who really settled Virginia." John Fiske, despite the exaggerated +importance which he gives to the Cavalier immigration, agrees that the +leading planters were not descended from English families of high +rank. "Although," he says, "family records were until of late less +carefully preserved (in Virginia) than in New England, yet the +registered facts abundantly prove that the leading families had +precisely the same sort of origin as the leading families of New +England. For the most part they were either country squires, or +prosperous yeomen, or craftsmen from the numerous urban guilds; and +alike in Virginia and in New England there was a similar proportion of +persons connected with English families ennobled or otherwise eminent +for public service."[31] + +Beyond doubt the most numerous section of the Virginia aristocracy was +derived from the English merchant class.[32] It was the opportunity of +amassing wealth by the cultivation of tobacco that caused great +numbers of these men to settle in the Old Dominion. Many had been +dealers in the plant in England, receiving it in their warehouses and +disposing of it to retailers. They kept up a constant and intimate +correspondence with the planter, acting for him as purchasing agent, +supplying him with clothes, with household goods, with the thousand +and one articles essential to the conducting of the plantation, and +thus were in a position to judge of the advantages he enjoyed. They +kept him in touch with the political situation in England and in +return received from him the latest tidings of what was going on in +Virginia. In fact for one hundred and fifty years after the founding +of Jamestown the colony was in closer touch with London, Bristol, +Plymouth and other English seaports than with its nearest neighbors in +America.[33] + +The life of the Virginia planters offered an inviting spectacle to the +English merchant. He could but look with envious eyes upon the large +profits which for so many years the cultivation of tobacco afforded. +He held, in common with all Englishmen, the passion for land, and in +Virginia land could be had almost for the asking. He understood fully +that could he resolve to leave his native country a position of +political power and social supremacy awaited him in the colony. + +The civil wars in England greatly accelerated the emigration of +merchants to Virginia. Business men are usually averse to war, for +nothing can derange the delicate fibers of commerce more quickly than +battles and sieges. And this is especially true of civil wars, for +then it is the very heart of the country that suffers. Many prominent +merchants of the English cities, fearing that their interests would be +ruined by the ravages of the contending armies or the general business +depression, withdrew to the colony, which was pursuing its usual quiet +life but slightly affected by the convulsions of the mother country. +William Hallam, a salter, wrote, "I fear if these times hold amongst +us, we must all be faine to come to Virginia." William Mason wrote in +1648, "I will assure you that we have had several great losses that +have befallen us and our charge is greater by reason of ye +differences that are in our kingdom, trading is dead."[34] + +The most convincing evidence that the leading settlers in Virginia +were of the mercantile class is to be found by a study of the +characteristics of the planters of the 17th century. Contemporaneous +writers are unanimous in describing them as mercantile in their +instincts. De Vries, a Dutch trader, complaining of the sharpness of +the planters in a bargain, says, "You must look out when you trade +with them, for if they can deceive any one they account it a Roman +action."[35] Hugh Jones says, "The climate makes them bright and of +excellent sense, and sharp in trade.... They are generally diverted by +business or inclination from profound study ... being ripe for +management of their affairs.... They are more inclined to read men by +business and conversation than to dive into books ... being not easily +brought to new projects and schemes; so that I question, if they would +have been imposed upon by the Mississippi or South-Sea, or any other +such monstrous Bubbles."[36] + +And this evidence is corroborated fully by letters of Virginia +planters to English merchants. They show that the wealthy Virginian of +the 17th century was careful in his business dealings, sharp in a +bargain, a painstaking manager, and in his private life often +economical even to stinginess. Robert Carter, one of the wealthiest +men of the colony, in a letter complains of the money spent upon the +outfit of the Wormley boys who were at school in England, thinking it +"entirely in excess of any need." William Fitzhugh, Philip Ludwell, +William Byrd I, typical leaders of their time, by the mercantile +instinct that they inherited from their fathers were enabled to build +up those great estates which added such splendor to the Virginia +aristocracy of the 18th, century.[37] + +Having, as we hope, sufficiently shown that the leading planters of +Virginia were not in any large measure the descendants of Englishmen +of high social rank, and that with them the predominant instinct was +mercantile, we shall now proceed to point out those conditions to +which the planters were subjected that changed them from practical +business men to idealistic and chivalrous aristocrats. + +Undoubtedly the most powerful influence that acted upon the character +of the Virginian was the plantation system. In man's existence it is +the ceaseless grind of the commonplace events of every day life that +shapes the character. The most violent passions or the most stirring +events leave but a fleeting impression in comparison with the effect +of one's daily occupation. There is something distinctive about the +doctor, the teacher, the tailor, the goldsmith. There is in each +something different from the rest of mankind, and this something has +been developed within him by the ceaseless recurrence of certain +duties required of him by his profession. Similarly the English +immigrant, isolated upon his vast plantation, surrounded by slaves and +servants, his time occupied largely with the cultivation of tobacco, +could not fail in the course of time to lose his mercantile instincts +and to become distinctly aristocratic in his nature. + +The estates of the planters were very large, comprising frequently +thousands of acres. William Byrd II inherited from his father 23,231 +acres, but so great was his hunger for land and so successful was he +in obtaining it that at his death he owned no less than 179,440 acres +of the best land in Virginia.[38] Robert Carter, of Nomini Hall, owned +60,000 acres.[39] The lands of William Fitzhugh amounted to 54,000 +acres, at his death in 1701.[40] Other prominent men were possessed of +estates not less extensive. These vast tracts of land comprised +usually several plantations that were scattered in various parts of +the colony and which differed widely in value and in extent. In the +region to the west beyond tidewater estates of 20,000, 30,000, or +40,000 acres were not infrequent, while in the sections that had been +first settled the average size was much less. Yet the plantations that +stretched along the banks of the James, the York, the Rappahannock and +the Potomac were so extensive that often the residences of the +planters were several miles apart. From 4,000 to 6,000 acres was the +average size of the farms of the wealthier men.[41] + +The author of Virginia's Cure, a pamphlet printed in 1661, says: "The +families ... are dispersedly and scatteringly seated upon the sides of +rivers, some of which running very far into the country, bear the +English plantations above a hundred miles, and being very broad, cause +the inhabitants of either side to be listed in several parishes. Every +such parish is extended many miles in length upon the rivers' side, +and usually not above a mile in breadth backward from the river, +which is the common stated breadth of every plantation, some extend +themselves half a mile, some a mile, some two miles upon the sides of +the rivers."[42] + +The system of large plantations was in vogue in Virginia from the +early years of the 17th century. Even before the days of Sir William +Berkeley, many of the colonists possessed extensive tracts of land, +only part of which they could put under cultivation. Doubtless the +dignity which the possession of land gave in England was the principal +inducement for the planter to secure as large an estate as his means +would permit. The wealthier Virginians showed throughout the entire +colonial period a passion for land that frequently led them into the +grossest and most unjustifiable fraud.[43] + +The tendency was accelerated by the law, made by the Virginia Company +of London to encourage immigration, which allotted fifty acres of land +to proprietors for every person they brought to the colony, "by which +means some men transporting many servants thither, and others +purchasing the rights of those that did, took possession of great +tracts of land at their pleasure."[44] In 1621 a number of extensive +grants were made to persons thus engaging themselves to take settlers +to Virginia. To Arthur Swain and Nathaniel Basse were given 5,000 +acres for undertaking to transport one hundred persons. Five thousand +acres was also given Rowland Truelove "and divers other patentees." +Similar tracts were given to John Crowe, Edward Ryder, Captain Simon +Leeke and others.[45] Sir George Yeardly received a grant of 15,000 +acres for engaging to take over three hundred persons.[46] + +Even more potent in building up large plantations was the wasteful +system of agriculture adopted by the settlers. It soon became apparent +to them that the cultivation of tobacco was very exhausting to the +soil, but the abundance of land led them to neglect the most ordinary +precautions to preserve the fertility of their fields. They planted +year after year upon the same spot until the soil would produce no +more, and then cleared a new field. They were less provident even than +the peasants of the Middle Ages, for they failed to adopt the old +system of rotation of crops that would have arrested to some extent +the exhausting of their fields. Of the use of artificial fertilizers +they were ignorant. + +This system of cultivation made it necessary for them to secure very +large plantations, for they could not be content with a tract of +territory sufficiently large to keep busy their force of laborers. +They must look forward to the time when their fields would become +useless, and if they were wise they would secure ten times more than +they could put into cultivation at once. If they failed to do this +they would find at the end of a few years that their estates consisted +of nothing but exhausted and useless fields. Thomas Whitlock, in his +will dated 1659, says: "I give my son Thomas Whitlock the land I live +on, 600 acres, when he is of the age 21, and during his minority to my +wife. The land not to be further made use of or by planting or +seating[47] than the first deep branch that is commonly rid over, that +my son may have some fresh land when he attains to age."[48] + +The plantations, thus vast in extent, soon became little communities +independent in a marked degree of each other, and in many respects of +the entire colony. The planter, his family, his servants and slaves +lived to themselves in isolation almost as great as that of the feudal +barons or of the inhabitants of the vill of the 13th century. + +But this isolation was due even more to the direct trade between the +planters and the foreign merchants than to the extent of the +plantations. This was made possible by the nature of the waterways. +The entire country was intersected with rivers, inlets and creeks that +were deep enough to float the sea going vessels of the age, and salt +water penetrated the woods for miles, forming of the whole country, as +John Fiske has expressed it, a sylvan Venice. Thus it was possible for +each planter to have his own wharf and to ship his tobacco directly +from his own estate. Moreover, it allowed him to receive from the +foreign vessels what merchandise he desired to purchase. Hugh Jones +wrote, "No country is better watered, for the conveniency of which +most houses are built near some landing-place; so that anything may be +delivered to a gentleman there from London, Bristol, &c., with less +trouble and cost, than to one living five miles in the country in +England; for you pay no freight from London and but little from +Bristol; only the party to whom the goods belong, is in gratitude +engaged to ship tobacco upon the ship consigned to her owners in +England."[49] + +This system, so remarkably convenient for the planters, was continued +throughout the entire colonial period despite the many efforts made to +change it. The Virginians could not be induced to bring their tobacco +to towns for the purposes of shipping when the merchant vessels could +so easily land at their private wharves. The merchants had less reason +to like the system, for it forced them to take their vessels into +remote and inconvenient places; to spend much valuable time in going +from plantation to plantation before their vessels were laden; to keep +accounts with many men in many different places.[50] The sailors too +complained of the custom, for they were frequently required to roll +the tobacco in casks many yards over the ground to the landings, +causing them much greater trouble than in loading in other countries. +For this reason they are said to have had a great dislike of the +country. Throughout the 17th century and even later the English +government made repeated efforts to break up this system but without +success, for the saving to the planters by local shipping was so great +that threats and even attempted coercion could not make them give it +up. + +It is this that is chiefly responsible for the lack of towns in +Virginia during the entire 17th century. Not until the settlements had +spread out beyond the region of deep water did towns of any size +arise. Then it became necessary to bring goods overland to the nearest +deep water and from this circumstance shipping cities gradually +appeared at the falls line on the rivers. Then it was that Richmond +developed into the metropolis of Virginia. + +How utterly insignificant the villages of the colony were during the +17th century is shown by a description of Jamestown given by Mrs. Ann +Cotton in her account of Bacon's Proceedings. "The town," she says, +"is built much about the middle of the south line close upon the +river, extending east and west about three-quarters of a mile; in +which is comprehended some sixteen or eighteen houses; most as is the +church built of brick faire and large; and in them about a dozen +famillies (for all their houses are not inhabited) getting their +liveings by keeping of ordinaries at extraordinary rates." This was in +1676, sixty-nine years after the first settlement, and when the +population of the colony was 45,000. + +The lack of towns was a source of much uneasiness to the first +promoters of the colony, for they regarded it as a sign of unhealthful +and abnormal conditions and frequent directions were given to the +colonial governors to put an end to the scattered mode of life and to +encourage in every way possible the development of cities. Sir Francis +Wyatt was instructed "to draw tradesmen and handicraftmen into +towns."[51] Time and again throughout the 17th century the English +kings insisted that the Assembly should pass laws intended to +establish trading towns. In 1662, an act was passed at the command of +Charles II providing for the building of a city at Jamestown.[52] +There were to be thirty-two brick houses, forty feet long, twenty feet +wide, and eighteen feet high; the roof to be fifteen feet high and to +be covered with slate or tile. "And," says the Act, "because these +preparations of houses and stores will be altogether useless unless +the towne be made the marte of all the adjoyning places, bee it +therefore enacted that all the tobacco made in the three counties of +James Citty, Charles Citty, and Surrey shall the next yeare when the +stores be built be brought by the inhabitants to towne and putt in the +stores there built." This absurd attempt met with utter failure. One +of the complaints made to the King's Commissioners sent to investigate +the causes of Bacon's Rebellion was, "That great quantities of tobacco +was levied upon the poor people to the building of houses at +Jamestown, which was not made habitable but fell down again before +they were finished."[53] + +In an effort to build up towns an act was passed in 1680 requiring all +merchants to bring their goods to certain specified spots and there +only to load their vessels with tobacco. "But several masters of ships +and traders ... not finding ... any reception or shelter for +themselves, goods or tobaccos, did absolutely refuse to comply with +the said act ... but traded and shipped tobaccos as they were +accustomed to doe in former years, for which some of them suffered +mouch trouble ... the prosecution being chiefly managed by such +persons ... as having particular regard to their privat ends and +designs, laid all the stumbling blocks they could in the way of +publick traffic (though to the great dissatisfaction of the most and +best part of the country)."[54] + +In 1682 Lord Culpeper was instructed to do everything in his power to +develop Jamestown into a city. Charles II told him to announce to the +members of the Council that he would regard with special favor those +that built houses there and made it their permanent residence. +Culpeper seems to have recognized the uselessness of the attempt, for +he wrote, "I have given all encouragement possible for the rebuilding +of James Citty, ... as to the proposall of building houses by those of +the Counsell and the cheefe inhabitants, it hath once been attempted +in vaine, nothing but profitt and advantage can doe it, and then there +will be noe need of anything else."[55] + +The Act of 1680 was never enforced. The planters complained that the +places selected for ports were too few in number and that they were +put to great expense in bringing their tobacco to them for shipment. +The English government then directed the Assembly so to change the Act +that it could be put into practical operation, but an attempt, in +1685, to follow these instructions proved futile. The Burgesses were +willing to pass a bill providing for ports in each county, but this +was not what the king wanted and so the whole matter came to +nothing.[56] + +These failures were attributed by many to the obstinacy of the +Virginians. Men at that time understood but dimly the supremacy of +economic laws, and could not realize that so long as the planters +found it profitable to do their shipping from their private wharves so +long would there be no seaports in Virginia, no matter what laws were +enacted. In 1701 a pamphlet was published entitled, "A Plain and +Friendly Perswasive to the Inhabitants of Virginia and Maryland for +promoting Towns and Cohabitation." The author tried to prove that +towns would be an unmixed blessing to the colony, that they would +promote trade, stimulate immigration, build up manufacture and aid +education and religion.[57] A similar pamphlet, called Virginia's +Cure, had been written in 1661, complaining that the scattered mode of +life was the cause of the decline of religion in Virginia and +advocating the building of towns. + +This lack of urban life reacted strongly upon the plantations. Since +there were no centers of activity in the colony where the planters +could gather on occasions of universal interest, it tended to isolate +them upon their estates. It forced them to become, except for their +trade with England, self-sustaining little communities. As there were +no towns to act as markets there was almost no trade between the +various parts of the colony. During the 17th century a stranger in +Virginia desiring to purchase any article whatever, could only obtain +it by applying at some plantation. Nowhere else in the colony could it +be had. The Friendly Perswasive dwelt especially on the evils of this +state of affairs. "And as to a home-trade," it says, "by towns, all +plantations far or near, would have some trade, less or more, to these +towns, and a frequent trade, and traffic, would soon grow and arise +between the several rivers and towns, by carrying and transporting +passengers and goods to and fro; and supplying all places with such +goods as they want most." Not until the end of the century was there +even the beginning of home trade. Then it was that Williamsburg, +Norfolk and Hampton, still mere villages, enjoyed a slight trade with +the surrounding plantations. + +This state of affairs made necessary the system of plantation +manufacture. Those articles whose nature made importation from Europe +inconvenient were produced upon the plantations, and not in the towns +of the colony. It had been the purpose of the Virginia Company of +London to make the colony an industrial community and with this in +view they had so encouraged the immigration of tradesmen and artisans, +that between the years 1619 and 1624 hundreds of carpenters, smiths, +coopers, bricklayers, etc., settled in Virginia. These men soon found, +however, that they could not maintain themselves by their trades, and +many, giving up their calling, secured tracts of land and became +planters. Others took up their abode on some large plantation to serve +as overseers or head workmen. In 1639 Sir Francis Wyatt was instructed +to see to it "that tradesmen and handicraftsmen be compelled to follow +their several trades,"[58] but this order was entirely ineffectual and +soon but few artisans remained. Makensie says, "Our tradesmen are none +of the best, and seldom improve from the incouragement they have. If +some few stick to their trades, they demand extravigant rates, and few +employ them but out of pure necessity."[59] Not infrequently an +artisan would combine tobacco planting with his trade, since the +latter alone was but a slender and insufficient source of income. On +several occasions the Assembly tried to encourage the various trades +by exempting free artisans from taxation, but this too proved +ineffective.[60] + +The planters found it necessary to secure skilled servants to fill the +place of the hired workmen, and soon every estate had its smith, its +carpenter, its cooper, etc. At the home plantation of "King" Carter +were two house carpenters, a ship carpenter, a glazier, two tailors, a +gardener, a blacksmith, two bricklayers and two sailors, all +indentured servants.[61] In his will Col. Carter divided these men +among his three sons.[62] The inventory of the property of Ralph +Wormeley, who died in 1791, shows that at the home house there were +eight English servants, among them a shoemaker, a tailor and a miller. +In the 18th century, when the negro slave had to a large extent taken +the place of the white servant, attempts were made to teach the +Africans to become artisans, but with partial success only. Hugh +Jones, in speaking of the negroes, says, "Several of them are taught +to be sawyers, carpenters, smiths, coopers, &c. though for the most +part they be none of the aptest or nicest."[63] + +An interesting picture of the life on the plantation is given in the +manuscript recollections of George Mason, by his son General John +Mason. "It was much the practice," he says, "with gentlemen of landed +and slave estates ... so to organize them as to have considerable +resources within themselves; to employ and pay but few tradesmen, and +to buy little or none of the course stuffs and materials used by +them.... Thus my father had among his slaves, carpenters, coopers, +sawyers, blacksmiths, tanners, curriers, shoemakers, spinners, +weavers, and knitters, and even a distiller. His woods furnished +timber and plank for the carpenters and coopers, and charcoal for the +blacksmiths; his cattle ... supplied skins for the tanners, curriers +and shoemakers; and his sheep gave wool and his fields produced +cotton and flax for the weavers and spinners, and his orchards fruit +for the distiller. His carpenters and sawyers built and kept in repair +all the dwelling houses, barns, stables, ploughs, harrows, gates, +etc., on the plantations, and the outhouses at the house. His coopers +made the hogsheads the tobacco was prized in, and the tight casks to +hold the cider and other liquors. The tanners and curriers, with the +proper vats, etc., tanned and dressed the skins as well for upper as +for lower leather to the full amount of the consumption of the estate, +and the shoemakers made them into shoes for the negroes. A professed +shoemaker was hired for three or four months in the year to come and +make up the shoes for the white part of the family. The blacksmith did +all the ironwork required by the establishment, as making and +repairing ploughs, harrows, teeth, chains, bolts, etc. The spinners, +weavers, and knitters made all the course cloths and stockings used by +the negroes, and some of finer texture worn by the white family, +nearly all worn by the children of it. The distiller made every fall a +good deal of apple, peach, and percimmon brandy.... Moreover, all the +beeves and hogs for consumption or sale were driven up and slaughtered +... at the proper seasons and whatever was to be preserved was salted +and packed away for after distribution."[64] + +And the isolation that was a consequence of this industrial +independence was made all the more pronounced by the condition of the +roads. The task of cutting highways through the great forests was more +than the first settlers could undertake. During the 17th century boats +were the most common means of conveyance.[65] Each plantation +possessed a number of vessels of various sizes and the settlers made +use of them both in visiting their immediate neighbors and in +travelling to more remote parts of the colony. Owing to the great +width of the rivers, however, the use of small boats was fraught with +danger.[66] For many miles from their mouths the James, the York, and +the Rappahannock are rather broad inlets of the Chesapeake Bay than +rivers, and at many points to row across is no light undertaking. + +Early in the 18th century efforts were made to construct serviceable +roads. The settlements had by that time extended back from the rivers +and creeks, and means of communication by land was absolutely +necessary. The nature of the country, however, presented great +difficulty. Hugh Jones wrote, "The worst inconveniency in travelling +across the country, is the circuit that must be taken to head creeks, +&c., for the main roads wind along the rising ground between the +rivers, tho' now they much shorten their passage by mending the swamps +and building of bridges in several places; and there are established +ferries at convenient places, over the great rivers." But slight +attention was given to keeping the roads in good condition and after +each long rain they become almost impassable. The lack of bridges was +a great hindrance to traffic and even the poor substitute of ferries +was often lacking, forcing travellers to long detours or to the +dangerous task of swimming the stream.[67] + +Thus cut off from his neighbors the planter spent his life in +isolation almost as great as that of the feudal barons of the Middle +Ages. The plantation was to him a little world whose activities it was +his business to direct and this world moulded his character far more +than any outward influence. + +It is a matter of no surprise that one of the first distinctive +characteristics to develop among the Virginia planters was pride. This +trait was natural to them even in the early years of the 17th century. +The operation of economic conditions upon a society is usually very +slow, and frequently the changes that it brings about may be detected +only after the lapse of centuries. This fact is nowhere more apparent +than in the development of the Virginia aristocracy, and we find that +its distinctive character had not been fully formed until after the +Revolution. Pride, however, is a failing so natural to humanity that +its development may be a matter of a few years only. Conditions in the +colony could not fail to produce, even in the first generations of +Virginians, all the dignity and self esteem of an old established +aristocracy. William Byrd I, Daniel Parke, "King" Carter were every +whit as proud as were Randolph, Madison or Jefferson. + +It is interesting to note how careful were the Virginians of the 17th +century not to omit in documents and legal papers any term of +distinction to which a man was entitled. If he possessed two titles he +was usually given both. Thus Thomas Willoughby is alluded to in the +records of Lower Norfolk County as "Lieutenant Thomas Willoughby, +gentleman." The term "esquire" was used only by members of the +Council, and was the most honorable and respectful which could be +obtained in Virginia, implying a rank which corresponded with the +nobility in England. It invested those that bore it with dignity and +authority such as has been enjoyed by the aristocrats of few +countries. The respect shown to the leading men of the colony is +evinced by an incident which befell Colonel William Byrd I, in 1685. +One Humphrey Chamberlaine, a man of good birth, became angry with +Byrd, and drew his sword in order to attack him. The man was +immediately seized and put in jail. At his hearing before the court he +declared in palliation of his act that he was a stranger in the +country and ignorant of its customs, but the justices thought this a +poor excuse, declaring that "no stranger, especially an English +gentleman, could be insensible of ye respect and reverence due to so +honorable a person" as Col. Byrd. Chamberlaine was fined heavily.[68] + +The arrogance of these early aristocrats is shown even more strikingly +by the conduct of Col. John Custis in 1688. As collector of duties on +the Eastern Shore he had been guilty of great exactions, extorting +from the merchants unjust and unreasonable fees. This had proceeded so +far that it was reacting unfavorably upon commerce, and when foreign +traders began to avoid entirely that part of the colony, the people of +Accomack in alarm drew up a paper of grievances which they intended to +present to the House of Burgesses. Custis one day seeing this paper +posted in public, flew into a great rage and tore it down, at the same +time shaking his cane at the crowd that had assembled around him and +using many threatening words. In this Custis was not only infringing +on the rights of the people, but he was offering a distinct affront to +the House of Burgesses. Yet so great was the awe that his authority +and dignity inspired, that the people of Accomack not only allowed him +to keep the paper, but "being terrified and affrighted drew up no +other aggreivances att that time."[69] + +Robert Carter was another planter whose "extraordinary pride and +ambition" made many enemies. Governor Nicholson accuses him of "using +several people haughtily, sometimes making the justices of the peace +of the county wait two or three hours before they can speak to +him."... "In contempt of him," he adds, "he is sometimes called 'King' +Carter."[70] + +Beyond doubt this haughtiness was chiefly the result of the life upon +the plantation. The command that the planter possessed over the lives +of scores of servants and slaves could not fail to impress him with a +feeling of respect for his own importance. John Bernard, the +traveller, shows that he understood this matter clearly. "Woe," he +says, "to the man who lives constantly with inferiors! He is doomed +never to hear himself contradicted, never to be told unwelcome truth, +never to sharpen his wits and learn to control his temper by argument +with equals. The Colonial Cavaliers were little kings, and they proved +the truth of the saying of the royal sage of Rome that the most +difficult of tasks is to lead life well in a palace."[71] + +Political conditions also tended to the same result, for the leading +men of the colony were possessed of extraordinary influence and power. +Many of the prominent families of the 17th century were related to +each other and they formed a compact little oligarchy that at times +controlled the affairs of the colony at will. + +But as time went on a decided change took place in the nature of the +Virginian's pride. During the 18th century he gradually lost that +arrogance that had been so characteristic of him in the age of +Nicholson and Spotswood. At the time of the Revolution are found no +longer men that do not hesitate to trample under foot the rights of +others as Custis, Byrd, and Carter had done. Nothing could be more +foreign to the nature of Washington or Jefferson than the haughtiness +of the typical Virginia planter of an earlier period. But it was +arrogance only that had been lost, not self-respect or dignity. The +Virginian of the later period had a most exalted conception of what a +man should be, and they respected themselves as exemplifiers of their +ideals, but they were always ready to accord to others the same +reverence they paid themselves. The change that had taken place is +shown in the lack of pretence and self-assertion in judges, +councillors, in college presidents and other dignitaries. Thomas +Nelson Page, in speaking of the fully developed Virginia gentleman, +says, "There was the foundation of a certain pride, based on +self-respect and consciousness of power. There were nearly always the +firm mouth with its strong lines, the calm, placid, direct gaze, the +quiet speech of one who is accustomed to command and have his commands +obeyed."[72] + +This change was beyond doubt the result of the increased political +resistance which the aristocracy encountered during the 18th century. +Within a few years after the founding of Jamestown the wealthy +planters may be noted as a body distinct from the other settlers. +Immediately after the downfall of the Virginia Company of London they +became a powerful force in the colony, and when, a few years later, +Governor Harvey tried to curb them, not only did they resist him +successfully, but they eventually brought upon him financial and +political ruin. This state of affairs was due largely to the vast +superiority of the merchant settlers to the lower class of immigrants, +both in intelligence and in wealth. Those English traders that made +their home in the colony, became at once leaders politically and +socially. Not infrequently they became burgesses, justices, or even +members of the Council after a few years' residence only, taking their +place quite naturally by the side of those that had come over +previously. This condition of affairs continued until late in the +century. Bacon the rebel was made a councillor, although he lived in +Virginia less than two years altogether, while the Lees, the +Washingtons and many others obtained places of influence and power as +soon as they reached the colony. On the other hand, the middle class +did not become a factor of very great importance in the government +until the surrender of the colony to the Parliamentary Commissioners +in 1652. The bulk of the immigrants during the first half of the 17th +century were indentured servants, brought over to cultivate the +tobacco fields. They came, most of them, from the ignorant laboring +class of England, and were incapable, even after the expiration of +their term of indenture, of taking an intelligent part in governmental +affairs. It is true that many free families of humble means came to +the colony in this period, but their numbers were not great enough to +counterbalance the power of the leading planters. These families +formed the nucleus of what later became an energetic middle class, but +not until their ranks were recruited by thousands of servants, did +they develop into a really formidable body. + +It was the Commonwealth Period that gave to the middle class its first +taste of power. After the surrender of the colony to Parliament, the +House of Burgesses was made the ruling body in Virginia, in imitation +of conditions in England. Since the Burgesses were the representatives +of the common people, it might naturally be inferred that the rich +planters would be excluded from any share in the government. Such, +however, was not the case. By a conveniently rapid change of front the +most prominent men of the colony retained much of their old influence, +and the rabble, lacking leaders of ability, were forced to elect them +to places of trust and responsibility. But the Commonwealth Period +helped to organize the middle class, to give it a sense of unity and a +desire for a share in the government. At the time of Bacon's Rebellion +it had grown in numbers and strength, despite the oppression of the +Restoration Period, and showed, in a way never to be forgotten, that +it would no longer submit passively to tyranny or injustice. + +Although England entered upon a policy of repression immediately after +the submission of the insurgents, which for some years threatened to +take from the common people every vestige of political liberty, it was +at this very time that the House of Burgesses began that splendid +struggle for its rights that was eventually to make it the supreme +power in the colony. Even in the waning years of the 17th century it +is evident that the middle class had become a power in political +affairs that must always be taken into account. The discontented +Berkeley party turned to it for support against the King's +Commissioners after Bacon's Rebellion; Culpeper, at the risk of +Charles' displeasure, compromised with it; Nicholson sought its +support in his memorable struggle with the Virginia aristocracy. In +the 18th century through the House of Burgesses its influence slowly +but steadily advanced. Governor Spotswood had once to beg the pardon +of the Burgesses for the insolence of the members of the Council in +wearing their hats in the presence of a committee of the House.[73] +Governor Dinwiddie expressed his surprise, when the mace bearer one +day entered the supreme court, and demanded that one of the judges +attend upon the House, whose servant he was.[74] Before the outbreak +of the Revolution the House of Burgesses had become the greatest power +in the colony. It is then a matter of no surprise that the rich +planters lost the arrogant spirit which had formerly characterized +them. Long years of vigorous opposition from a powerful middle class +had taught them to respect the privileges and feelings of others. They +were no longer at such a height above their humbler neighbors. The +spirit of democracy, which was fostered by the long resistance to the +English government, had so pervaded Virginia society, that even before +the open rupture with the mother country many of the aristocratic +privileges of the old families had been swept away. And when the war +broke out, the common cause of liberty in a sense placed every man +upon the same footing. An anecdote related by Major Anbury, one of the +British officers captured at Saratoga and brought to Virginia, +illustrates well the spirit of the times. "From my observations," he +says, "in my late journey, it appeared to me, that before the war, the +spirit of equality or levelling principle was not so prevalent in +Virginia, as in the other provinces; and that the different classes of +people in the former supported a greater distinction than those of the +latter; but since the war, that principle seems to have gained great +ground in Virginia; an instance of it I saw at Col. Randolph's at +Tuckahoe, where three country peasants, who came upon business, +entered the room where the Colonel and his company were sitting, took +themselves chairs, drew near the fire, began spitting, pulling off +their country boots all over mud, and then opened their business, +which was simply about some continental flour to be ground at the +Colonel's mill: When they were gone, some one observed what great +liberties they took; he replied it was unavoidable, the spirit of +independence was converted into equality, and every one who bore arms, +esteemed himself upon a footing with his neighbor, and concluded by +saying; 'No doubt, each of these men conceives himself, in every +respect, my equal.'"[75] + +One of the most fertile sources of error in history is the tendency of +writers to confound the origin of institutions with the conditions +that brought them into life. In nothing is this more apparent than in +the various theories advanced in regard to the development of chivalry +during the Middle Ages. The fundamentals of chivalry can be traced to +the earliest period of German history. Many Teutonic writers, imbued +with a pride in their ancestors, have pointed out the respect for +women, the fondness for arms, the regard for the oppressed and +unfortunate, of the people of the Elbe and the Rhine. Chivalry, they +say, was but the expansion, the growth of characteristics natural and +individual with their forefathers.[76] This is erroneous. The early +Germanic customs may have contained the germ of chivalry, but that +germ was given life only by conditions that came into operation +centuries after the Teutons had deserted their old habits and mode of +life and had taken on some of the features of civilization. + +Chivalry was the product of feudalism. It was that system that gave +birth to the noble sentiments, the thirst for great achievements, the +spirit of humanity that arose in the 10th and 11th centuries. +Feudalism, although it was the cause of much that was evil, also +produced in the hearts of men sentiments that were noble and generous. +If it delivered Europe into the hands of a host of ruthless and savage +barons, that trod under foot the rights of the common people, it +alone gave rise to the sentiment of honor which was so conspicuous +from the 10th to the 13th centuries. + +Similarly it is erroneous to look to England for the explanation of +chivalry in Virginia. This spirit was almost entirely a development in +the colony. The settlers of the 17th century, even of the better class +were by no means characterized by gallantry and honor. The mortal +enemy of chivalry is commerce, for the practical common-sense merchant +looks with contempt upon the Quixotic fancies of a Bayard. His daily +life, his habits of thought, his associations tend to make him hostile +to all that glittering fabric of romance reared in the Middle Ages. He +abhors battles and wars, for they are destructive to his trade. He may +be honest, but he cares little for the idealistic honor of the days of +knighthood. He ascribes to woman no place of superiority in society. +We have already seen that the Virginia aristocracy had its origin +largely in the emigration of English merchants to the colony, and we +should naturally expect to find the planters of the 17th century +lacking in the spirit of chivalry. Such indeed was the case. + +The Virginians were not a race of fighters. It was their misfortune to +be subjected to frequent and murderous attacks from a savage race +living in close proximity to them, and on this account were compelled +to keep alive the military spirit, but they never entered into war +with the feeling of joy that characterized the warriors of the Middle +Ages. Throughout the entire colonial period there was a numerous body +of militia, which was considered the bulwark of the people both +against the Indians and against attack from European armies. Its +commanders were selected from the leading planters of each community +and at times it numbered thousands of men. It never, however, +presented a really formidable fighting force, for it was at all times +lacking in discipline, owing to the fact that the people were so +scattered and the country so thinly settled that it was impossible for +them to meet often for military exercises. Repeated laws requiring the +militia to drill at stated periods created great discontent, and were +generally disobeyed. The Assembly, even in times of war, shirked the +responsibility of furnishing the companies with arms, while the people +were far too indifferent to purchase them for themselves. At times +the English government would send guns and powder and armor from the +royal arsenal, and then only would the colony be in a position to +repel foreign invasion. Governor Nicholson speaks of the utter +insufficiency of the militia, and spent a large part of his time in +reorganizing it, but conditions were so adverse that he met with +little success. Governor Spotswood, who had served under the Duke of +Marlborough and was an experienced soldier, also endeavored to +increase the efficiency of the militia and under his leadership better +discipline was obtained than before, but even he could effect no +permanent improvement. When the test of war came the militia was found +to be of no practical use. The companies could not be assembled +quickly enough to repel a sudden invasion, and when a considerable +body was gotten together desertion was so common that the force +immediately melted away. In the French and Indian War Governor +Dinwiddie soon learned that no dependence whatever could be placed in +the old organization and turned his attention to recruiting and arming +new companies. The Virginia troops that were driven from Fort +Duquesne, those that fought with Braddock, and those that held back +the attacks of the Indians along the frontier of the Shenandoah Valley +were in no way connected with the old militia. + +This distaste of the colonists for war is shown clearly by the +consistent opposition of the Assembly to all measures either of +defense or of military aggression. On more than one occasion they were +commanded by the English kings to render aid to other colonies in +America. Thus in 1695, when there was grave danger that the French +would invade New York the Virginians were directed to send men and +money to aid the Northern colony, which was a bulwark to all the +English possessions in America. It was only after repeated and +peremptory demands and even threats that any assistance at all was +sent, and then it was miserably insufficient. In 1696 the burgesses +were shameless enough to assert that an attempt to impress men for +service in New York would probably be the means of frightening most of +the young freemen from the colony, even causing many to desert their +wives and children.[77] Governor Spotswood met with great opposition +in his attempt to aid South Carolina and North Carolina when those +colonies were threatened with extermination by the savage attacks of +the Indians. And in later years, when there was imminent danger of an +invasion of Virginia itself by the French with their savage allies, +Governor Dinwiddie was never able to persuade the Assembly to provide +adequate means of defence. Not until the news of massacres of +defenceless women and children upon the frontier struck terror to +every family in Virginia did the legislators vote money for a body of +men to drive back the enemy. And even then so niggardly were they in +their appropriations that with the insufficient means granted him even +the patient and frugal Washington was unable to prevent the +continuance of the murderous raids of the Indians. In the +Revolutionary War the same spirit prevailed. Virginia was not willing +to raise and equip a standing army to defend her soil from the English +invaders and as a consequence fell an easy victim to the first hostile +army that entered her borders. The resistance offered to Cornwallis +was shamefully weak, and the Virginians had the mortification of +seeing their plantations and their towns devastated by an army that +should have been driven back with ease. The militia to which the +safety of Virginia was entrusted, like similar troops from the other +states, proved ill disciplined, ill armed and cowardly.[78] + +Although it was the House of Burgesses that offered the most strenuous +opposition at all periods to the improvement of the military +organization, a large measure of blame must be placed upon that +wealthy clique of men represented by the Council. The commissioned +officers were invariably selected from the wealthiest and most +influential planters, and it was they alone that could keep alive the +military spirit, that could drill the companies, that could enforce +the discipline that was so essential to efficiency. It is true that +the Council usually favored the measures proposed by various governors +for bettering the militia and for giving aid to neighboring colonies, +but this was due more to a desire to keep in harmony with the +executive than to military ardour. And it is significant that when +troops were enlisted for distant expeditions, the wealthy planters +were conspicuous by their absence. We see not the slightest +inclination on their part to rush into the conflict for the love of +fighting and adventure that was so typical of the aristocrat of the +Middle Ages. They were more than content to stay at home to attend to +the business of the plantation and to leave to humbler hands the task +of defending helpless families of the frontiers. But the economic and +political conditions in the colony were destined to work a change in +this as in other things in the Virginia planter. The gradual loss of +the mercantile instinct, the habit of command acquired by the control +of servants and slaves, and the long use of political power, the +growth of patriotism, eventually instilled into him a chivalric love +of warfare not unlike that of the knights of old. It is impossible to +say when this instinct first began to show itself. Perhaps the +earliest evidence that the warlike spirit was stirring in the breasts +of the planters is given in 1756, when two hundred gentlemen, moved by +the pitiful condition of the defenseless families of the Shenandoah +Valley, formed a volunteer company, and marched against the Indians. +It is probable that the expedition did not succeed in encountering +the enemy, but it was of much value in animating the lower class of +people with greater courage.[79] In the Revolutionary War the change +had become quite apparent. It is to the Old Dominion that the colonies +turn for the commander-in-chief of their armies. The Lees, Morgan and +other Virginia aristocrats were among the most gallant leaders of the +American army. But the development was even then far from its climax. +Not until the Civil War do we note that dash, that gallantry, and +bravery that made the Virginia gentleman famous as a warrior. Then it +was that the chivalrous Stuart and the reckless Mosby rivaled the +deeds of Bayard and of Rupert. Then it was that each plantation gave +forth its willing sacrifice of men for the defense of the South, and +thousands of the flower of Virginia aristocracy shed their blood upon +the battle field. And Virginia produced for this great struggle a +galaxy of chieftains seldom equalled in the world's history. Robert E. +Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, Johnston and many other great generals show +that warfare had become natural to the people of the Old Dominion. + +Even more striking is the development of duelling in Virginia. The +history of chivalry in Europe is indissolubly connected with thousands +of tournaments and duels. It was the ambition of each knight to +increase his fame by triumphing over as many warriors as possible. He +looked upon these fights as the greatest pleasure of his existence, +and his training and education were intended largely to prepare him +for them. As years passed and the feudal baron gave place to the +aristocratic lord, the tournament was no longer indulged in, but as +its successor the custom of duelling continued unabated. It remained, +as it had been for centuries, the acknowledged way for gentlemen to +settle difficulties. At the very time that the best class of settlers +was coming to Virginia, duelling was in high favor with the English +aristocracy. It was a common event for two gentlemen who were suitors +for the hand of the same lady to settle the matter by mortal combat, +and this was considered not only proper, but the highest compliment +that could be paid the lady's charms. Angry joustings were frequent in +places of amusement or even upon the streets. In London the ring in +Hyde Park, the back of Montague House, and the Barns Elms were the +favorite places for these combats.[80] + +That the custom was not continued in Virginia adds convincing +testimony to the evidence that the best class of immigrants to the +colony were not members of the English aristocracy. Had many country +gentlemen or noblemen settled in the Old Dominion, duelling would have +been as common on the banks of the James as it was in London. The most +careful investigation has been able to bring to light evidence of but +five or six duels in Virginia during the entire colonial period.[81] +In 1619 Capt. Edward Stallings was slain in a duel with Mr. William +Epes at Dancing Point. Five years later Mr. George Harrison fought a +duel with Mr. Richard Stephens. "There was some words of discontent +between him and Mr. Stephens, with some blows. Eight or ten days after +Mr. Harrison sent a challenge to Stephens to meet him in a place, +which was made mention of, they meeting together it so fell out that +Mr. Harrison received a cut in the leg which did somewhat grieve him, +and fourteen days after he departed this life."[82] + +After this fatal affair the custom of duelling died out almost +entirely in the colony. Had there been many of these encounters +frequent mention beyond doubt would have been made of them. Any deaths +resulting from them could hardly have escaped mention in the records, +and the general interest that always attaches itself to such affairs +would have caused them to find a place in the writings of the day. +Beverley, Hugh Jones, John Clayton and other authors who described the +customs of colonial Virginia made no mention of duelling. Only a few +scattered instances of challenges and encounters have been collected, +gleaned largely from the county records, and these serve to show that +duelling met with but little favor. Most of the challenges were not +accepted and provoked usually summary and harsh punishment at the +hands of the law. In 1643 a commissioner was disabled from holding +office for having challenged a councillor.[83] Some years later Capt. +Thomas Hackett sent a challenge by his son-in-law, Richard Denham, to +Mr. Daniel Fox, while the latter was sitting in the Lancaster County +court. The message was most insulting in its wording and ended by +declaring that if Fox "had anything of a gentleman or manhood" in him +he would render satisfaction in a personal encounter with rapiers. One +of the justices, Major Carter, was horrified at these proceedings. He +addressed Denham in words of harsh reproval, "saying that he knew not +how his father would acquit himself of an action of that nature, which +he said he would not be ye owner of for a world." Denham answered in a +slighting way "that his father would answer it well enough ... +whereupon ye court conceivinge ye said Denham to be a partye with his +father-in-law ... adjudged ye said Denham to receive six stripes on +his bare shoulder with a whip." The course pursued by Fox in this +affair is of great interest. Had duelling been in vogue he would have +been compelled to accept the challenge or run the risk of receiving +popular contempt as a coward. He could not have ignored the message on +grounds of social superiority, for Hackett ranked as a gentleman. Yet +he requested the court to arrest Hackett, "him to detain in safe +custody without baile or mainprize," in order to save himself from the +risk of a personal attack.[84] A similar case occurred in 1730, when +Mr. Solomon White entered complaint in the Princess Anne County court +against Rodolphus Melborne for challenging him "with sword and +pistoll." The court ordered the sheriff to arrest Melborne and to keep +him in custody until he entered bond in the sum of 50 pounds as +security for good behavior for twelve months.[85] + +But though the Virginia gentleman, in the days when he still retained +the prosaic nature of the merchant, frowned upon duelling, it was +inevitable that in time he must become one of its greatest advocates. +The same conditions that instilled into him a taste for war, could not +fail in the end to make him fond of duelling. We are not surprised +then to find that, at the period of the Revolutionary War, duelling +began to grow in popularity in Virginia and that from that time until +the Civil War appeals to the code were both frequent and deadly. +Writers have sought to find a reason for this change in the military +customs introduced by a long war, or in the influence of the French. +There can be no doubt, however, that the rapid increase of duelling at +this time was due to the fact that conditions were ripe for its +reception. A spirit had been fostered by the life upon the plantation +which made it distasteful to gentlemen to turn to law for redress for +personal insults. The sense of dignity, of self reliance there +engendered, made them feel that the only proper retaliation against an +equal was to be found in a personal encounter. + +Perhaps the most beautiful, the most elevating feature of the chivalry +of the Middle Ages was the homage paid to women. The knight always +held before him the image of his lady as an ideal of what was pure and +good, and this ideal served to make him less a savage and more a good +and true man. Although he was rendered no less brave and warlike by +this influence, it inclined him to tenderness and mercy, acting as a +curb to the ferocity that in his fathers had been almost entirely +unrestrained. It made him recognize the sacredness of womanhood. The +true value of the wife and the mother had never before been known. In +none of the ancient communities did women attain the position of +importance that they occupied in the age of chivalry, for neither the +Roman matron nor the Greek mother could equal the feudal lady in +dignity and influence. + +And this was the direct outcome of the feudal system. The ancient +baron led a life of singular isolation, for he was separated in his +fortress home from frequent intercourse with other men of equal rank, +and around him were only his serfs and retainers, none of whom he +could make his companions. The only equals with whom he came in +contact day after day were his wife and children. Naturally he turned +to them for comradeship, sharing with them his joys and confiding to +them his sorrows. If he spent much of his time in hunting, or in +fishing, or in fighting he always returned to the softening influence +of his home, and it was inevitable, under these conditions, that the +importance of the female sex should increase.[86] + +As we have seen, the Virginia plantation bore a striking analogy to +the feudal estate. The planter, like the baron, lived a life of +isolation, coming into daily contact not even with his nearest +neighbors. His time was spent with his servants and slaves. He too +could turn only to his family for companionship, and inevitably, as +homage and respect for women had grown up among the feudal barons, so +it developed in Virginia. + +There is no proof that the colonists of the 17th century regarded +womanhood in any other than a commonplace light. They assigned to +their wives and daughters the same domestic lives that the women of +the middle classes of England led at that time. Predominated by the +instinct of commerce and trade, they had little conception of the +chivalric view of the superiority of the gentle sex, for in this as in +other things they were prosaic and practical. + +The early Virginians did not hesitate to subject gossiping women to +the harsh punishment of the ducking stool. In 1662 the Assembly passed +an Act requiring wives that brought judgments on their husbands for +slander to be punished by ducking.[87] In 1705 and again in 1748 the +county courts were authorized to construct ducking stools if they +thought fit.[88] That the practice was early in vogue is shown by the +records of the county courts. We read in the Northampton records for +1634 the following, "Upon due examination it is thought fitt by the +board that said Joane Butler shall be drawen over the Rings Creeke at +the starn of a boat or canoux." + +How inconsistent with all the ideals of chivalry was that action of +Bacon in his war with Governor Berkeley which won for his men the +contemptuous appellation of "White Aprons!" Bacon had made a quick +march on Jamestown and had surprised his enemies there. His force, +however, was so small that he set to work immediately constructing +earthworks around his camp. While his men were digging, "by several +small partyes of horse (2 or 3 in a party, for more he could not +spare) he fetcheth into his little league, all the prime men's wives, +whose husbands were with the Governour, (as Coll. Bacons lady, Madm. +Bray, Madm. Page, Madm. Ballard, and others) which the next morning he +presents to the view of there husbands and ffriends in towne, upon +the top of the smalle worke hee had cast up in the night; where he +caused them to tarey till he had finished his defense against his +enemies shott, ... which when completed, and the Governour +understanding that the gentle women were withdrawne in to a place of +safety, he sends out some 6 or 700 of his soulders, to beate Bacon out +of his trench."[89] + +The fact that Bacon's family was one of great prominence in the colony +makes this ungallant action all the more significant. His uncle, +Nathaniel Bacon, was a leader in political affairs, being one of +Berkeley's most trusted advisers. He himself had been a member of the +Council. It is true that his harsh treatment of the ladies brought +upon him some censure, yet it is highly indicative of the lack of +chivalry of the times, that a gentleman should have been willing to +commit such a deed. How utterly impossible this would have been to +George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, typical Virginians a hundred +years later! + +It remained to Berkeley, however, the so-called "Cavalier Governor" +of Virginia, to strike the most brutal blow at womanhood. After the +failure of Bacon's Rebellion, when the insurgents were being hunted +down by the implacable anger of the Governor, Major Chiesman, one of +the most prominent of the rebels, was captured. "When the Major was +brought into the Governours presence, and by him demanded, what made +him to ingage in Bacon's designs? Before that the Major could frame an +answer to the Governours demand; his wife steps in and tould his +honour that it was her provocations that made her husband joyne in the +cause that Bacon contended for; ading, that if he had not bin +influenced by her instigations, he had never don that which he had +done. Therefore (upon her bended knees) she desired of his honour, +that since what her husband had done, was by her means, and so, by +consequence, she most guilty, that she might be hanged, and he +pardoned." Had Berkeley had one atom of gallantry or chivalry in his +nature, he would have treated this unfortunate woman with courtesy. +Even though he condemned her husband to the gallows, he would have +raised her from her knees and palliated her grief as best he could +with kind words. That he spurned her with a vile insult shows how +little this "Cavalier" understood of the sacredness of womanhood.[90] + +Some years later an incident occurred which, as Bishop Meade well +remarks, speaks ill for the chivalry and decorum of the times.[91] A +dispute arose between Col. Daniel Parke and Commissary Blair, the +rector of the church at Williamsburg. Mr. Blair's wife, having no pew +of her own in the church, was invited by Mr. Ludlow, of Green Spring, +to sit with his family during the services. Col. Parke was the +son-in-law of Mr. Ludlow, and one Sunday, with the purpose of +insulting the rector, he seized Mrs. Blair rudely by the arm, and +dragged her out of the pew, saying she should no longer sit there. +This ungallant act is made all the more cowardly by the fact that Mr. +Blair was not present at the time. We learn with pleasure that Mr. +Ludlow, who was also probably absent, was greatly offended at his +son-in-law for his brutal conduct. The incident is the more +suggestive in that both Col. Parke and Mrs. Blair were members of +leading families in the colony. + +In matters of courtship there was little of romance and chivalry. +Women did not care for the formalities and petty courtesies of the +gallant suitor. Alsop, in describing the maids of Maryland, whose +social life was quite similar to that of their sisters of Virginia, +says, "All complimental courtships drest up in critical rarities are +meer strangers to them. Plain wit comes nearest to their genius; so +that he that intends to court a Maryland girle, must have something +more than the tautologies of a long-winded speech to carry on his +design, or else he may fall under the contempt of her frown and his +own windy discourse." + +We will not attempt to trace through successive years the chivalric +view of womanhood. The movement was too subtle, the evidences too few. +At the period of the Revolutionary War, however, it is apparent that a +great change was taking place. The Virginia gentleman, taught by the +experience of many years, was beginning to understand aright the +reverence due the nobleness, the purity, the gentleness of woman. He +was learning to accord to his wife the unstinted and sincere homage +that her character deserved. + +It is unfortunate that we should be compelled to rely to so great an +extent upon the testimony of travelers for our data regarding the +domestic life of the Virginia aristocracy of the 18th century. These +writers were frequently superficial observers and almost without +exception failed to understand and sympathize with the society of the +colony. Some were prejudiced against the Virginians even before they +set foot upon the soil of the Old Dominion, and their dislike is +reflected in their writings, while few tarried long enough to grasp +fully the meaning of the institutions and customs of the people. They +dwelt long on those things that they found displeasing, and passed +over in silence those distinctive virtues with which they were not in +harmony. It is not surprising then that they failed to grasp the +dignity and importance of the place filled by the Virginia woman. When +they spoke of her their criticisms were usually favorable, but only +too often they ignored her entirely. The gifted John Bernard, however, +was more penetrating than the others. "Of the planters' ladies," he +said, "I must speak in terms of unqualified praise; they had an easy +kindness of manner, as far removed from rudeness as from reserve, +which being natural to them ... was the more admirable.... To the +influence of their society I chiefly attribute their husbands' +refinement."[92] + +To understand fully the sentiment of respect for womanhood that +finally became so pronounced a trait of the Virginia gentleman, it is +necessary to turn to Southern writers. Thomas Nelson Page, in "The Old +South," draws a beautiful and tender picture of the ante-bellum matron +and her influence over her husband. "What she was," he says, "only her +husband knew, and even he stood before her in dumb, half-amazed +admiration, as he might before the inscrutable vision of a superior +being. What she really was, was known only to God. Her life was one +long act of devotion--devotion to God, devotion to her husband, +devotion to her children, ... devotion to all humanity. She was the +head and front of the church; ... she regulated her servants, fed the +poor, nursed the sick, consoled the bereaved. The training of her +children was her work. She watched over them, led them, governed +them.... She was at the beck and call of every one, especially her +husband, to whom she was guide, philosopher, and friend." + +Dr. George Bagby pays to the Virginia woman a tribute not less +beautiful. "My rambles before the war made me the guest of Virginians +of all grades. Brightest by far of the memories of those days ... is +that of the Virginia mother. Her delicacy, tenderness, freshness, +gentleness; the absolute purity of her life and thought, typified in +the spotless neatness of her apparel and her every surrounding, it is +quite impossible to convey. Withal, there was about her a naiveté +mingled with sadness, that gave her a surpassing charm."[93] + +Further evidence is unnecessary. Enough has been said to show clearly +that in the matter of gallantry a great change took place among the +wealthy Virginia planters during the colonial period; that in the 17th +century they were by no means chivalrous in their treatment of women; +that at the time of the Revolution and in succeeding years homage to +the gentler sex was an important part of the social code. It is but +one more link in the long chain of evidence that shows that society in +Virginia was not an imitation of society in England, but was a +development in the colony; that the Virginia aristocracy was not a +part of the English aristocracy transplanted to the shores of the New +World, but a growth produced by local conditions. + +A study of the spirit of honor in the colony leads us to the same +conclusion. It is not difficult to demonstrate that during the greater +part of the colonial period the Virginia aristocracy was not +characterized by the chivalric conception of what was honorable. The +mercantile atmosphere that they brought with them from England was not +well suited to this spirit. None were quicker to seize an unfair +advantage in a bargain, and the English and Dutch merchants that +traded with the Virginians made repeated complaints of unfair +treatment. So great were their losses by the system of credit then in +vogue in the colony that it was the custom for traders to employ +factors, whose business it was to recover bad debts from the planters, +and prolonged lawsuits became very frequent. The use of tobacco as +money caused a great amount of trouble, and the Virginians were not +slow to take advantage of any fluctuation in the value of their medium +of exchange. This was the occasion of great injustice and suffering. +It was the standing complaint of the clergy that they were defrauded +of a part of their salaries at frequent intervals by the varying price +of tobacco. + +Accusations of frauds in regard to weights were also made against the +planters, and this species of deception at one time was so general, +that it became necessary to pass a special law declaring the English +statute concerning weights to be in force in Virginia. The Act is as +follows, "To prevent the great abuse and deceit by false stillyards in +this colony, It is enacted by this Assembly, That whoever shall use +false stillyards willingly shall pay unto the party grieved three fold +damages and cost of suit, and shall forfeit one thousand pounds of +tobacco."[94] + +It is not necessary to assume, however, that the Virginia planters +were noted for dishonesty in matters of business. They were neither +better nor worse than merchants in other parts of the world or in +other times. It was their daily life, their associations and habits of +thought that made it impossible for them to see in an ideal light the +highest conceptions of honor. + +In their political capacity the leading men of the colony were +frequently guilty of inexcusable and open fraud. Again and again they +made use of their great influence and power to appropriate public +funds to their private use, to escape the payment of taxes, to obtain +under false pretenses vast tracts of land. + +After Bacon's Rebellion, when the King's Commissioners were receiving +the complaints of the counties, from all parts of the colony came +accusations of misappropriated funds. The common people asserted, with +an earnestness and unanimity that carry conviction, that throughout +the second period of Governor Berkeley's administration large +quantities of tobacco had been collected from them which had served +only to enrich certain influential individuals. Other evidence tends +to corroborate these charges. In 1672, the Assembly passed a bill for +the repairing of forts in the colony, and entrusted the work to +associations of wealthy planters, who were empowered to levy as heavy +taxes in the various counties as they thought necessary. Although +large sums of money were collected under this Act, very little of it +was expended in repairing the forts and there is no reason to doubt +that much of it was stolen. Similar frauds were perpetrated in +connection with an Act for encouraging manufacture. The Assembly +decided to establish and run at public expense tanworks and other +industrial plants, and these too were entrusted to wealthy and +influential men. Most of these establishments were never completed and +none were put in successful operation and this was due largely to open +and shameless embezzlement.[95] The common people, emboldened by +promises of protection by Governor Jeffries, did not hesitate to bring +forward charges of fraud against some of the most influential men of +the colony. Col. Edward Hill, who had been one of Berkeley's chief +supporters, was the object of their bitterest attack. They even +accused him of stealing money that had been appropriated for the +repairing of roads. Hill defended himself vigorously, but there can be +little doubt that he was to some extent guilty.[96] + +The Council members were the boldest of all in dishonesty, for they +did not scruple to defraud even the English government. There was a +tax on land in the colony called the quit rents, the proceeds of which +went to the king. Since there was very little coin in Virginia, this +tax was usually paid in tobacco. Except on rare occasions the quit +rents were allowed to remain in the colony to be drawn upon for +various governmental purposes, and for this reason it was convenient +to sell the tobacco before shipping it to England. These sales were +conducted by the Treasurer and through his connivance the councillors +were frequently able to purchase all the quit rents tobacco at very +low prices. In case the sale were by auction, intimidation was used to +prevent others than Council members from bidding. In 1697, Edward +Chilton testified before the Lords Commissioners of Trade and +Plantations that the quit rents had brought but four or six shillings +per hundred pounds, although the regular price of tobacco was twenty +shilling.[97] + +The wealthy planters consistently avoided the payment of taxes. Their +enormous power in the colonial government made this an easy matter, +for the collectors and sheriffs in the various counties found it +convenient not to question their statements of the extent of their +property, while none would dare to prosecute them even when glaring +cases of fraud came to light. Estates of fifty or sixty thousand acres +often yielded less in quit rents than plantations of one-third their +size.[98] Sometimes the planters refused to pay taxes at all on their +land and no penalty was inflicted on them. Chilton declared that the +Virginians would be forced to resign their patents to huge tracts of +country if the government should demand the arrears of quit rents.[99] + +Even greater frauds were perpetrated by prominent men in securing +patents for land. The law required that the public territory should be +patented only in small parcels, that a house should be built upon +each grant, and that a part should be put under cultivation. All these +provisions were continually neglected. It was no uncommon thing for +councillors to obtain patents for twenty or thirty thousand acres, and +sometimes they owned as much as sixty thousand acres. They neglected +frequently to erect houses on these estates, or, if they wished to +keep within the limits of the law, they built but slight shanties, so +small and ill constructed that no human being could inhabit them. On +one grant of 27,017 acres the house cost less than ten shillings. In +another case a sheriff found in one county 30,000 acres upon which +there was nothing which could be distrained for quit rents. At times +false names were made use of in securing patents in order to avoid the +restrictions of the law.[100] + +Amid these acts of deception and fraud one deed is conspicuous. Col. +Philip Ludwell had brought into the colony forty immigrants and +according to a law which had been in force ever since the days of the +London Company, this entitled him to a grant of two thousand acres of +land. After securing the patent, he changed the record with his own +hand by adding one cipher each to the forty and the two thousand, +making them four hundred and twenty thousand respectively. In this way +he obtained ten times as much land as he was entitled to and despite +the fact that the fraud was notorious at the time, so great was his +influence that the matter was ignored and his rights were not +disputed.[101] + +Alexander Spotswood was guilty of a theft even greater than that of +Ludwell. In 1722, just before retiring from the governorship, he made +out a patent for 40,000 acres in Spotsylvania County to Messrs. Jones, +Clayton and Hickman. As soon as he quitted the executive office these +men conveyed the land to him, receiving possibly some small reward for +their trouble. In a similar way he obtained possession of another +tract of 20,000 acres. Governor Drysdale exposed the matter before the +Board of Trade and Plantations, but Spotswood's influence at court was +great enough to protect him from punishment.[102] + +The commonness of fraud of this kind among the Virginia planters of +the earlier period does not necessarily stamp them as being +conspicuously dishonest. They were subjected to great and unusual +temptations. Their vast power and their immunity from punishment, made +it easy for them to enrich themselves at the public expense, while +their sense of honor, deprived of the support of expediency, was not +great enough to restrain them. The very men that were the boldest in +stealing public land or in avoiding the tax collector might have +recoiled from an act of private dishonesty or injustice. However, it +would be absurd in the face of the facts here brought forth, to claim +that they were characterized by an ideal sense of honor. + +But in this as in other things a change took place in the course of +time. As the self-respect of the Virginian became with him a stronger +instinct, his sense of honor was more pronounced, and he gradually +came to feel that deceit and falsehood were beneath him. Used to the +respect and admiration of all with whom he came in contact, he could +not descend to actions that would lower him in their estimation. +Certain it is that a high sense of honor became eventually one of the +most pronounced characteristics of the Virginians. + +Nothing can demonstrate this more clearly than the "honor system" that +came into vogue in William and Mary College. The Old Oxford system of +espionage which was at first used, gradually fell into disuse. The +proud young Virginians deemed it an insult for prying professors to +watch over their every action, and the faculty eventually learned that +they could trust implicitly in the students' honor. In the Rules of +the College, published in 1819, there is an open recognition of the +honor system. The wording is as follows, "Any student may be required +to declare his guilt or innocence as to any particular offence of +which he may be suspected.... And should the perpetrator of any +mischief, in order to avoid detection, deny his guilt, then may the +Society require any student to give evidence on his honor touching +this foul enormity that the college may not be polluted by the +presence of those that have showed themselves equally regardless of +the laws of honour, the principles of morality and the precepts of +religion."[103] + +How potent an influence for good was this sense of honor among the +students of the college is shown even more strikingly by an address of +Prof. Nathaniel Beverley Tucker to his law class in 1834. "If," he +says, "There be anything by which the University of William and Mary +has been advantageously distinguished, it is the liberal and +magnanimous character of its discipline. It has been the study of its +professors to cultivate at the same time the intellect, the +principles, and the deportment of the student, labouring with equal +diligence to infuse the spirit of the scholar and the spirit of the +gentleman. As such we receive and treat him and resolutely refuse to +know him in any other character. He is not harrassed with petty +regulations; he is not insulted and annoyed by impertinent +surveillance. Spies and informers have no countenance among us. We +receive no accusation but from the conscience of the accused. His +honor is the only witness to which we appeal; and should he be even +capable of prevarication or falsehood, we admit no proof of the fact. +But I beg you to observe, that in this cautious and forbearing spirit +of our legislation, you have not only proof that we have no +disposition to harrass you with unreasonable requirements, but a +pledge that such regulations as we have found it necessary to make +will be enforced.... The effect of this system in inspiring a high and +scrupulous sense of honor, and a scorn of all disingenuous artifice, +has been ascertained by long experience."[104] + +A society in which grew up such a system as this could have no place +for the petty artifices of the trader nor the frauds of leading men in +public affairs. It is clear that at this period the old customs had +passed away; that there was a new atmosphere in Virginia; that the +planter was no longer a merchant but a Cavalier. The commercial spirit +had become distinctly distasteful to him, and he criticised bitterly +in his northern neighbors the habits and methods that had +characterized his own forefathers in the 17th century. Governor Tyler, +in 1810, said in addressing the Legislature, "Commerce is certainly +beneficial to society in a secondary degree, but it produces also what +is called citizens of the world--the worst citizens in the world." And +In public affairs honesty and patriotism took the place of deceit and +fraud. Even in the Revolutionary period the change is apparent, and +long before the advent of the Civil War the very memory of the old +order of affairs had passed away. The Virginia gentleman in the 19th +century was the soul of honor. Thomas Nelson Page says, "He was proud, +but never haughty except to dishonor. To that he was inexorable.... He +was chivalrous, he was generous, he was usually incapable of fear or +meanness. To be a Virginia gentleman was the first duty."[105] The +spirit of these men is typified in the character of Robert E. Lee. To +this hero of the Southern people dishonesty was utterly impossible. +After the close of the Civil War, when he was greatly in need of money +he was offered the presidency of an insurance company. Word was sent +him that his lack of experience in the insurance business would not +matter, as the use of his name was all the company desired of him. Lee +politely, but firmly, rejected this proposal, for he saw that to +accept would have been to capitalize the homage and reverence paid +him by the people of the South. + +Along with the instinct of pride and the spirit of chivalry in the +Virginia planters developed the power of commanding men. Among the +immigrants of the 17th century leadership was distinctly lacking, and +during almost all the colonial period there was a decided want of +great men. Captain John Smith, Governor William Berkeley, Nathaniel +Bacon and Alexander Spotswood are the only names that stand out amid +the general mediocrity of the age. If we look for other men of +prominence we must turn to Robert Beverley, Philip Ludwell, William +Byrd II, James Blair. These men played an important part in the +development of the colony, but they are practically unknown except to +students of Virginia history. + +What a contrast is presented by a glance at the great names of the +latter part of the 18th century. The commonplace Virginia planters had +then been transformed into leaders of men. When the Revolution came it +was to them that the colonies looked chiefly for guidance and command, +and Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Mason, the Lees and many other +Virginians took the most active part in the great struggle that ended +in the overthrow of the sway of England and the establishment of the +independence of the colonies. Washington was the great warrior, +Jefferson the apostle of freedom, Henry the orator of the Revolution. +And when the Union had been formed it was still Virginia that +furnished leaders to the country. Of the first five presidents four +were Virginia planters. + +This transformation was due partly to the life upon the plantation. +The business of the Virginia gentleman from early youth was to +command. An entire community looked to him for direction and +maintenance, and scores or even hundreds of persons obeyed him +implicitly. He was manager of all the vast industries of his estate, +directing his servants and slaves in all the details of farming, +attending to the planting, the curing, the casing of tobacco, the +cultivation of wheat and corn, the growing of fruits, the raising of +horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. He became a master architect, having +under him a force of carpenters, masons and mechanics. Some of the +wealthiest Virginians directed in every detail the construction of +those stately old mansions that were the pride of the colony in the +18th century. Thus Thomas Jefferson was both the architect and builder +of his home at Monticello, and gave to it many months of his time in +the prime of his life. + +The public life of the aristocrat also tended to develop in him the +power of command. If he were appointed to the Council he found himself +in possession of enormous power, and in a position to resist the +ablest of governors, or even the commands of the king. In all that he +did, in private and public affairs, he was leader. His constant task +was to command and in nothing did he occupy a subservient position. No +wonder that, in the course of time, he developed into a leader of men, +equal to the stupendous undertaking of shaking off the yoke of England +and laying the foundations of a new nation. + +The magnificence with which the members of the aristocracy in the 18th +century surrounded themselves, and the culture and polish of their +social life are not so distinctly the result of local conditions. The +customs, the tastes, the prejudices that were brought over from +England were never entirely effaced. The earliest immigrants +established on the banks of the James a civilization as similar in +every respect to that of the mother country as their situation would +permit. Had it not been for economic and climatic conditions there +would have grown up amid the wilderness of America an exact +reproduction of England in miniature. As it was, the colonists infused +into their new life the habits, moral standards, ideas and customs of +the old so firmly that their influence is apparent even at the present +day. + +And this imitation of English life was continued even after the period +of immigration was passed. The constant and intimate intercourse with +the mother country made necessary by commercial affairs had a most +important influence upon social life. Hugh Jones, writing of society +in Governor Spotswood's time, says: "The habits, life, customs, +computations &c of the Virginians are much the same as about London, +which they esteem their home; the planters generally talk good English +without idiom and tone and can discourse handsomely upon most common +subjects; and conversing with persons belonging to trade and +navigation in London, for the most part they are much civilized." +Again he says, "They live in the same neat manner, dress after the +same modes, and behave themselves exactly as the gentry in London." + +Nor had this spirit of imitation become less apparent at the period of +the Revolution, or even after. Their furniture, their silver ware, +their musical instruments, their coaches and even their clothes were +still imported from England and were made after the latest English +fashions. John Bernard noted with astonishment that their favorite +topics of conversation were European. "I found," he says, "men leading +secluded lives in the woods of Virginia perfectly au fait as to the +literary, dramatic, and personal gossip of London and Paris." The lack +of good educational facilities in Virginia led many of the wealthy +planters to send their sons to England to enter the excellent schools +or universities there. Even after the establishment of William and +Mary College, the advantages to be derived from several years' +residence in the Old World, induced parents to send their sons to +Oxford or Cambridge. The culture, the ideas and habits there acquired +by the young Virginia aristocrats exerted a powerful influence upon +society in the Old Dominion. + +But the peculiar conditions of the new country could not fail to +modify profoundly the life of the colonists. Despite the intimacy with +England and despite the tenacity with which the people clung to +British customs, Virginia society in both the 17th and 18th centuries +was different in many respects from that of the mother country. The +absence of towns eliminated from colonial life much that was +essentially English. There could be no counterpart of the coffee +house, the political club, the literary circle. And even rural +conditions were different. The lack of communication and the size of +the plantations could not fail to produce a social life unlike that of +the thickly settled country districts of England. + +We note in Virginia a marked contrast between the 17th and 18th +centuries in the mode of living of the planters. In the first hundred +years of the colony's existence there was a conspicuous lack of that +elegance in the houses, the furniture, the vehicles, the table ware, +etc., that was so much in evidence at the time of the Revolution. This +was due in part to the newness of the country. It was impossible amid +the forests of America, where artisans were few and unskillful, to +imitate all the luxuries of England, and the planters were as yet too +busily employed in reducing the resources of the country to their +needs to think of more than the ordinary comforts of life. Moreover, +the wealth of the colony was by no means great. Before the end of the +century some of the planters had accumulated fortunes of some size, +but there were few that could afford to indulge in the costly and +elegant surroundings that became so common later. And the owners of +newly acquired fortunes were often fully satisfied with the plain and +unpretentious life to which they were accustomed and not inclined to +spend their money for large houses, fine furniture, or costly silver +ware. As time went on, however, the political and social supremacy of +the aristocracy, the broader education of its members, and the great +increase in wealth conspired to produce in the colony a love of +elegance that was second only to that of the French nobility. + +During the 17th century the houses even of the wealthiest planters +were made of wood. Despite the fact that bricks were manufactured in +the colony and could be had at a reasonable price, the abundance of +timber on all sides made the use of that material almost universal +during the greater part of the colonial period. Shingles were used for +the roof, although slate was not unknown. The partitions in the +dwellings were first covered with a thick layer of tenacious mud and +then whitewashed. Sometimes there were no partitions at all as was the +case in a house mentioned by William Fitzhugh. This, however, was not +usual and we find that most of the houses of the wealthiest planters +contained from four to seven compartments of various sizes. The +residence of Governor William Berkeley at Green Spring contained six +rooms. Edmund Cobbs, a well-to-do farmer, lived in a house consisting +of a hall and kitchen on the lower floor and one room above stairs. In +the residence of Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., were five chambers, a hall, a +kitchen, a dairy and a storeroom. The apartments in the house of +Mathew Hubbard, a wealthy planter of York County, consisted of a +parlor and hall, a chamber, a kitchen and buttery. Robert Beverley, +who played so important a role in Bacon's Rebellion and in the +political struggles following that uprising, resided in a house which +contained three chambers, a dairy, a kitchen and the overseer's room. +The house of William Fauntleroy, a wealthy land owner, contained three +chambers, a hall, a closet and a kitchen.[106] + +The surroundings, of the planters' residences were entirely lacking in +ornament. In the immediate vicinity of the house were usually grouped +stable, hen house, kitchen, milk house, servants' house and dove-cote. +Near at hand also was to be found the garden, which was devoted to +both vegetables and flowers. Around it were always placed strong +palings to keep out the hogs and cattle which were very numerous and +were allowed to wander unrestrained.[107] + +The furniture of the planters was of fairly good quality, as most of +it was imported from England. The beds were similar to those used in +the mother country, ranging from the little trundle-bed to the +great-bed of the main chamber, which was usually surrounded by +curtains upheld by a rod. Rugs were quite common, but were of very +poor quality, being made frequently of worsted yarn or cotton. Various +materials were used in making couches. Some were of hides, some of +tanned leather, some of embroidered Russian leather. As a substitute +for wardrobes or closets in every bed room were chests, in which were +kept the most costly articles of clothing, the linen, trinkets of +value and occasionally plate. Chairs of various kinds were used, the +most costly being the Russian leather chair and the Turkey-worked +chair. In the houses of the wealthiest planters the walls were +sometimes hung with tapestry.[108] + +When the families of the planters were large, which was frequently the +case, their little houses were exceedingly crowded. Beds are found in +every room except in the kitchen. In the parlor or reception room for +guests are not only beds, but chests of clothing and linen, while in +the hall which was used also as a dining room, are flock-beds, chests, +guns, pistols, swords, drums, saddles, and bridles. The chamber +contains every variety of article in use in the household. One of the +rooms in the house of Thomas Osborn contained a bedstead with +feather-bed, bolster, rug, blanket and sheets, two long table cloths, +twenty-eight napkins, four towels, one chest, two warming pans, four +brass candle-sticks, four guns, a carbine and belt, a silver beaker, +three tumblers, twelve spoons, one sock and one dram cup.[109] + +The utensils in use in the dining room and kitchen were usually made +of pewter, this material being both cheap and durable. Even upon the +tables of the wealthiest planters were found sugar-pots, castors, +tumblers, spoons, dishes, ladles, knives and various other articles +all of pewter. Silver, however, was not unknown. In the closing years +of the 17th century the possession of silver plate and silver +table-ware was becoming more and more frequent.[110] + +As the wealth of the leading planters increased they gradually +surrounded themselves with elegant homes and sumptuous furnishings. At +the period of the Revolution there were dozens of magnificent homes +scattered throughout Virginia. Shirley, Brandon, Rosewell, Monticello, +Blenheim, Mount Airy, and many more testified to the refined taste and +love of elegance of the aristocracy of this time. The most common +material used in the construction of these mansions was brick, +manufactured by the planter himself, upon his own estate. The usual +number of rooms was eight, although not infrequently there were as +many as fourteen or sixteen. These apartments were very large, often +being twenty-five feet square, and the pitch was invariably great. In +close proximity to the mansion were always other houses, some of which +contained bed rooms that could be used either by guests or by members +of the family. Thus the main house was really but the center of a +little group of buildings, that constituted altogether a residence of +great size. How spacious they were is shown by the number of guests +that were at times housed in them, for at balls and on other festive +occasions it was not at all infrequent for forty or fifty persons to +remain for several days in the home of their host. At a ball given by +Richard Lee, of Lee Hall, Westmoreland County, there were seventy +guests, most of whom remained three days. + +Nomini Hall, the house of Robert Carter, is an excellent example of +the residences of the wealthier planters during the middle of the 18th +century. The main building was of brick, which was covered over with a +mortar of such perfect whiteness that at a little distance it appeared +to be marble. Although it was far larger than the houses of the +preceding century it was not of great size, being but seventy-six feet +long and forty-four wide. The pitch of the rooms, however, was very +great, that of the lower floor being seventeen feet and that of the +second floor being twelve. No less than twenty-six large windows gave +abundance of light to the various apartments, while at different +points in the roof projected five stacks of chimneys, two of these +serving only as ornaments. On one side a beautiful jett extended for +eighteen feet, supported by three tall pillars. On the first floor +were the dining room, the children's dining room, Col. Carter's study, +and a ball room thirty feet long, while the second story contained +four bed rooms, two of which were reserved for guests. At equal +distances from each corner of the mansion were four other buildings of +considerable size. One of these, a two story brick house of five +rooms, was called the school and here slept Col. Carter's three sons, +their tutor and the overseer. Corresponding to the school house at the +other corners of the mansion were the stable, the coach house and the +work house. The beauty of the lawn and the graceful sweep of a long +terrace which ran in front of the mansion testified to the abundant +care and taste expended in planning and laying out the grounds. East +of the house was an avenue of splendid poplars leading to the county +road, and the view of the buildings through these trees was most +attractive and beautiful. One side of the lawn was laid out in +rectangular walks paved with brick and covered over with burnt oyster +shells, and being perfectly level was used as a bowling green. In +addition to the buildings already mentioned there were close to the +mansion a wash house and a kitchen, both the same size as the school +house, a bake house, a dairy, a store house and several other small +buildings.[111] + +Some of the mansions of the 18th century were much larger and more +beautiful than Nomini Hall. Rosewell, erected by the Page family, was +of immense size, containing a large number of halls and chambers, but +it was singularly devoid of architectural beauty and presented +somewhat the appearance of a hotel. The Westover mansion was very +large and could accommodate scores of guests. It was surrounded with +so many buildings and outhouses that to visitors it seemed a veritable +little city.[112] Chastellux, who was a guest of the Byrds in 1782, +says that Westover surpassed all other homes in Virginia in the +magnificence of the buildings and the beauty of the situation.[113] + +It was the interior of these mansions, however, that gave them their +chief claim to elegance. The stairways, the floors, the mantles were +of the finest wood and were finished in the most costly manner. In the +beautiful halls of Rosewell richly carved mahogany wainscotings and +capitals abounded.[114] At Monticello the two main halls were given an +air of richness and beauty by the curiously designed mantles, the hard +wood floors and the stately windows and doors. John Bernard, who +thought the Virginia mansions lacking in architectural beauty, stated +that internally they were palaces. + +The furniture was in keeping with its surroundings. It was frequently +of hard wood, beautifully decorated with hand work. All the furniture, +except that of the plainest design, was imported from England, and +could be bought by the planters at a price very little above that paid +in London. Costly chairs, tables, book-cases, bedsteads, etc., were +found in the homes of all well-to-do men. + +The Virginians seem to have had at this period a passion for silver +ware, and in their homes were found a great variety of articles made +of this metal. There were silver candle-sticks, silver snuffers, +silver decanters, silver snuff-boxes, silver basins. The dining table +on festive occasions groaned with the weight of silver utensils, for +goblets, pitchers, plates, spoons of silver were then brought forth +to do honor to the guests. The punch might be served in silver bowls +and dished out with silver ladles into silver cups; for the fruit +might be silver plates, for the tea silver pots. The silver plate at +Westover was mortgaged by William Byrd III to the value of £662. Among +other articles we find that ten candle-sticks brought £70, one +snuffer-stand £5, two large punch bowls £30, a punch strainer £1.10, +and a punch ladle £1.[115] Robert Carter, of Nomini Hall, was very +fond of fine silver. In 1774 he invested about £30 in a pair of +fashionable goblets, a pair of sauce-cups and a pair of decanter +holders.[116] + +In many homes were collections of pictures of great merit and value. +In the spacious halls of the mansions were hung the portraits of +ancestors that were regarded with reverential pride. The Westover +collection was perhaps the most valuable in the colony, containing +several dozen pictures, among them one by Titian, one by Rubens, and +portraits of several lords of England.[117] Mount Airy, the beautiful +home of the Tayloe family, contained many paintings, which were well +executed and set in elegant frames.[118] Although most of the pictures +in the homes of the aristocracy were imported from England, some were +painted in Virginia, for at times artists of talent came to the +colony. In 1735 a man named Bridges painted William Byrd's children. +It is thought also that it was he that painted the portrait of +Governor Spotswood and possibly several pictures of the Page +family.[119] + +The use of coaches during the 17th century was not common. The +universal highways of that period were the rivers. Every planter owned +boats and used them in visiting, in attending church and in travelling +through the colony. As the plantations for many years did not extend +far back from the rivers' banks, there was no need of roads or +vehicles. And even when many settlements had been made beyond +tidewater, the condition of the roads was so bad that the use of +vehicles was often impracticable and riding was the common method of +travelling. As the colony became more thickly populated and the roads +were gradually improved, various kinds of carriages were introduced. +During Governor Spotswood's administration most families of any note +owned a coach, chariot, berlin or chaise.[120] By the middle of the +18th century their use was general throughout the entire colony. + +The coaches in use at the time of the Revolution were elegant and very +costly. A bill for a post chaise which has come down from the year +1784 gives the following description of that vehicle. The chaise was +to be very handsome, the body to be carved and run with raised beads +and scrolls, the roof and upper panels to have plated mouldings and +head plates; on the door panels were to be painted Prince of Wales +ruffs with arms and crests in large handsome mantlings; the body was +to be highly varnished, the inside lined with superfine light colored +cloth and trimmed with raised Casoy laces; the sides stuffed and +quilted; the best polished plate glasses; mahogany shutters were to be +used, with plated frames and plated handles to the door; there were to +be double folding inside steps, a wainscoted trunk under the seat and +a carpet.[121] + +Every gentleman of means at this time owned a chariot drawn by four +horses. Frequently six horses were used.[122] These animals were of +the finest breed and were selected for their size and beauty from the +crowded stables of the planters. The vehicles were attended by +liveried negroes, powdered and dignified. Mrs. Carter, of Nomini Hall, +had three waiting men for her coach; a driver, a coachman and a +postillion.[123] + +In the matter of dress there seems, from the earliest days, to have +been a love of show and elegance. Inventories of the first half of the +17th century mention frequently wearing apparel that is surprisingly +rich. Thus Thomas Warnet, who died in 1629, possessed a pair of silk +stockings, a pair of red slippers, a sea-green scarf edged with gold +lace, a felt hat, a black beaver, a doublet of black camlet and a gold +belt and sword.[124] At times these early immigrants wore highly +colored waistcoats, plush or broad cloth trousers, camlet coats with +lace ruffles. This gaudy apparel must have seemed odd amid the rough +surroundings of the new colony. Not all the wealthy planters, however, +indulged in the weakness of costly dress. Many of the richest men of +the 17th century, obedient to the spirit of frugality which so often +marks the merchant, dressed plainly. + +At the time of the Revolution the use of costly apparel had become +general. The usual costume of both men and women at festivals or balls +was handsome and stately. Joseph Lane, while visiting at Nomini Hall, +was dressed in black superfine broadcloth, laced ruffles, black silk +stockings and gold laced hat.[125] Probably few even of the wealthiest +aristocrats could approach in matters of dress Lord Fairfax. The +inventory of this gentleman's estate shows an astonishing variety of +gaudy clothes. He possessed a suit of brown colored silk, a suit of +velvet, a suit of blue cloth, a suit of drab cloth, a green damask +laced waistcoat, a scarlet laced waistcoat, a pink damask laced +waistcoat, a gold tissue waistcoat, a brown laced coat, a green silk +waistcoat, a pair of black velvet breeches, and a pair of scarlet +plush breeches.[126] + +As might be expected, reading and study were not common among the +early settlers. The rough life in the woods of the New World, the +struggle to drive back the Indians and to build up civilization left +no time for mental culture. During the first half of the 17th century +books are mentioned very rarely in the records. As time passed, +however, the planters began to build up libraries of considerable size +in their homes. The lack of educational facilities and the isolation +of the plantations made it necessary for each gentleman to trust to +his own collection of books if he desired to broaden and cultivate his +mind. Moreover, the use of overseers which became general in the 18th +century left to him leisure for reading. Many of the libraries in the +mansions of the aristocracy were surprisingly large and well selected. +Some of Col. Richard Lee's books were, Wing's Art of Surveying, +Scholastical History, Greek Grammar, Caesaris Comentarii, Praxis +Medicinae, Hesoid, Tulley's Orations, Virgil, Ovid, Livius, Diogenes, +Sallust, History of the World, Warrs of Italy, etc.[127] In the +library of Ralph Wormeley were found Glaber's Kimistry, The State of +the United Provinces, The Colledges of Oxford, Kings of England, The +Laws of Virginia, The Present State of England, Ecclesiastical History +in Latin, Lattin Bible, Skill in Music, A Description of the Persian +Monarchy, Plutoch's Lives, etc.[128] Many of these volumes were great +folios bound in the most expensive way and extensively illustrated. + +The planters even in the 17th century were not insensible to the +refining and elevating influence of music. Inventories and wills show +that many homes contained virginals, hand lyres, violins, flutes and +haut boys. The cornet also was in use.[129] In the 18th century the +study of music became general throughout the colony and even the +classical compositions were performed often with some degree of skill. +Despite the difficulty of securing teachers, music became a customary +part of the education of ladies. Many of the planters themselves in +their leisure moments indulged in this delightful amusement. Robert +Carter had in his home in Westmoreland County a harpsichord, a +piano-forte, an harmonica, a guitar and a flute, and at Williamsburg +an organ. He had a good ear, a very delicate touch, was indefatigable +in practicing and performed well on several instruments. Especially +was he fond of the harmonica, and spent much time in practicing upon +it. His skill is thus described by his tutor, "The music was charming! +The notes are clear and soft, they swell and are inexpressibly grand; +and either it is because the sounds are new, and therefore please me, +or it is the most captivating instrument I have ever heard. The sounds +very much resemble the human voice, and in my opinion they far exceed +even the swelling organ."[130] Thomas Jefferson, amid the cares of +statesmanship and the study of philosophy, found time for music. He +performed upon the violin and during the Revolutionary War, when the +prisoners captured at Saratoga were encamped near his home, he took +great delight in playing with a British officer, who could accompany +him upon the guitar. + +Dancing was indulged in by the Virginians from the earliest period. +Even when the immigrants lived in daily dread of the tomahawk of the +Indians, and when their homes were but log huts in the midst of the +forest, this form of amusement was not unknown. The music for dances +was at times furnished by negroes, who had acquired skill upon the +fiddle. There is evidence of the presence of dancing masters in the +colony even during the 17th century. One of these was Charles Cheate. +This man wandered through the colony for some time giving lessons, but +he was forced to flee from the country after the suppression of +Bacon's Rebellion, because of his attachment to the cause of the +insurgents. However, the sparseness of the population, the isolation +of the plantations, the lack of roads made festive gatherings +infrequent during the first century of the colony's existence. The +lack of towns made it necessary for dances to be held in private +houses, and distances were so great that it was frequently impossible +for many guests to assemble. Moreover, at this period the residences +of the planter were too small either to allow room for dancing or to +accommodate the visitors, who must necessarily spend the night after +the close of the festivities. Not until the administration of Governor +Spotswood were these difficulties somewhat overcome. Then it was, that +the increasing wealth of the colony gave rise to a more brilliant +social life among the aristocracy. Hugh Jones declared in 1722 that at +the Governor's house at balls and assemblies were as good diversion, +as splendid entertainment, as fine an appearance as he had ever seen +in England.[131] + +At the time of the Revolution dancing was so general that it had +become a necessary part of the education of both gentlemen and ladies, +and dancing schools were quite common. The masters travelled from +house to house and the pupils followed them, remaining as guests +wherever the school was being held. A Mr. Christian conducted such a +school in Westmoreland County in 1773. Fithian thus describes one of +his classes held at Nomini Hall, "There were present of young misses +about eleven, and seven young fellows, including myself. After +breakfast, we all retired into the dancing room, and after the +scholars had their lessons singly round Mr. Christian, very politely, +requested me to step a minuet.... There were several minuets danced +with great ease and propriety; after which the whole company joined in +country dances, and it was indeed beautiful to admiration to see such +a number of young persons, set off by dress to the best advantage, +moving easily, to the sound of well performed music, and with perfect +regularity.... The dance continued til two, we dined at half after +three ... soon after dinner we repaired to the dancing-room again; I +observed in the course of the lessons, that Mr. Christian is punctual, +and rigid in his discipline, so strict indeed that he struck two of +the young misses for a fault in the course of their performance, even +in the presence of the mother of one of them!"[132] + +The balls of this period were surprisingly brilliant. The spacious +halls of the mansions afforded ample room for a large company and +frequently scores of guests would be present to take part in the +stately minuet or the gay Virginia reel. The visitors were expected to +remain often several days in the home of their host resuming the +dance at frequent intervals, and indulging in other forms of +amusement. Fithian thus describes a ball given by Richard Lee, of Lee +Hall, Westmoreland County. "We set away from Mr. Carter's at two; Mrs. +Carter and the young ladies in the chariot, ... myself on horseback. +As soon as I had handed the ladies out, I was saluted by Parson Smith; +I was introduced into a small room where a number of gentlemen were +playing cards ... to lay off my boots, riding-coat &c. Next I was +directed into the dining-room to see young Mr. Lee; he introduced me +to his father. With them I conversed til dinner, which came in at half +after four.... The dinner was as elegant as could be well expected +when so great an assembly were to be kept for so long a time. For +drink there was several sorts of wine, good lemon punch, toddy, cyder, +porter &c. About seven the ladies and gentlemen begun to dance in the +ball room, first minuets one round; second giggs; third reels; and +last of all country dances; tho' they struck several marches +occasionally. The music was a French horn and two violins. The ladies +were dressed gay, and splendid, and when dancing, their skirts and +brocades rustled and trailed behind them! But all did not join in the +dance for there were parties in rooms made up, some at cards; some +drinking for pleasure; ... some singing 'Liberty Songs' as they called +them in which six, eight, ten or more would put their heads near +together and roar.... At eleven Mrs. Carter call'd upon me to go." +There were seventy guests at this ball, most of whom remained three +days at Lee Hall.[133] + +Side by side with growth in luxury, in refinement and culture may be +noted a marked change in the daily occupation of the wealthy planters. +In the 17th century they were chiefly interested in building up large +fortunes and had little time for other things. They were masters of +the art of trading, and their close bargaining and careful attention +to detail made them very successful. Practically all of the fortunes +that were so numerous among the aristocracy in the 18th century were +accumulated in the colony, and it was the business instinct and +industry of the merchant settlers that made their existence possible. +The leading men in the colony in the last half of the 17th century +toiled ceaselessly upon their plantations, attending to the minutest +details of the countless enterprises that it was necessary for them to +conduct. They were the nation builders of Virginia. It is true that +they spent much of their energy upon political matters, but this was +to them but another way of increasing their fortunes. Altogether +neither their inclinations, nor the conditions in which they lived, +inclined them to devote much of their time to acquiring culture and +refinement. + +But the descendants of these early planters enjoyed to the full the +fruits of the energy and ability of their fathers. As time passed, +there grew up in the colony the overseer system, which relieved the +great property owners of the necessity of regulating in person all the +affairs of their estates. Even before the end of the 17th century many +men possessed plantations in various parts of the colony and it became +then absolutely necessary to appoint capable men to conduct those that +were remote from the home of the planter. At times the owner would +retain immediate control of the home plantation, which often served as +a center of industry for the remainder of the estate, but even this +in the 18th century was not infrequently intrusted to the care of an +overseer. These men were selected from the class of small farmers and +many proved to be so capable and trustworthy that they took from their +employers' shoulders all care and responsibility. They were well paid +when their management justified it and cases were frequent where +overseers remained for many years in the service of one man. + +This system gave to the planters far greater leisure than they had +possessed in the earlier part of the colony's existence, and they made +use of this leisure to cultivate their minds and to diversify their +interests. It is only in this way that we can fully explain why the +aristocrat surrounded himself with a large library, indulged in the +delicate art of music, beautified his home with handsome paintings, and +revelled in the dance, in races or the fox hunt. This too explains why +there grew up amid the plantations that series of political +philosophers that proved so invaluable to the colonies in the hour of +need. Jefferson, Henry, Madison, Marshall, Randolph, would never have +been able to give birth to the thoughts that made them famous had they +been tied down to the old practical life of the planters of early days. +The old instinct had been distinctly lacking in the philosophical +spirit. As Hugh Jones says, the planters were not given to prying into +the depths of things, but were "ripe" for the management of their +affairs. With the greater leisure of the 18th century this spirit +changed entirely, and we find an inclination among the aristocrats to +go to the bottom of every matter that came to their attention. Thus +John Randolph was not only a practical statesman and a great orator, he +was a profound thinker; although Thomas Jefferson was twice president +of the United States, and was the author of the Declaration of +Independence, it is as the originator of a political creed that he has +the best claim to fame; John Marshall, amid the exacting duties of the +Supreme Court, found time for the study of philosophy. In men less +noted was the same spirit. Thus Robert Carter of Nomini Hall in his +love for music, did not content himself with acquiring the ability to +perform on various instruments, but pried into the depths of the art, +studying carefully the theory of thorough bass.[134] He himself +invented an appliance for tuning harpsichords.[135] This gentleman was +also fond of the study of law, while he and his wife often read +philosophy together.[136] Fithian speaks of him as a good scholar, even +in classical learning, and a remarkable one in English grammar. +Frequently the gentlemen of this period spent much time in the study of +such matters as astronomy, the ancient languages, rhetoric, history, +etc. + +It is a matter of regret that this movement did not give birth to a +great literature. Doubtless it would have done so had the Virginia +planters been students only. Practical politics still held their +attention, however, and it is in the direction of governmental affairs +that the new tendency found its vent. The writings of this period that +are of most value are the letters and papers of the great political +leaders--Washington, Jefferson, Madison and others. Of poets there +were none, but in their place is a series of brilliant orators. +Pendleton, Henry, and Randolph gave vent to the heroic sentiments of +the age in sentences that burned with eloquence. + +The change that was taking place in the daily thoughts and occupations +of the planters is strikingly illustrated by the lives of the three +men that bore the name of William Byrd. Father, son and grandson are +typical of the periods in which each lived. The first of the name was +representative of the last quarter of the 17th century. He possessed +to an extraordinary degree the instinct of the merchant, taking quick +advantage of any opportunity for trade that the colony afforded and +building up by his foresight, energy and ability a fortune of great +size. Not only did he carry on the cultivation of tobacco with +success, but he conducted with his neighbors a trade in a great +variety of articles. In his stores were to be found duffels and cotton +goods, window glass, lead and solder, pills, etc. At one time he +ordered from Barbadoes 1,200 gallons of rum, 3,000 pounds of +"muscovodo sugar," 200 pounds of white sugar, three tons of molasses, +one cask of lime-juice and two-hundredweight of ginger. A handsome +profit often came to him through the importing and sale of white +servants. In a letter to England he writes, "If you could send me +six, eight or ten servants by the first ship, and the procurement +might not be too dear, they would much assist in purchasing some of +the best crops they seldom being to be bought without servants." Byrd +was also interested in the Indian trade. His plantation at Henrico was +well located for this business and he often sent out traders for miles +into the wilderness to secure from the savages the furs and hides that +were so valued in England. He was provident even to stinginess and we +find him sending his wig to England to be made over and his old sword +to be exchanged for a new one. Although Byrd took a prominent part in +the political life of the day, it is evident that in this as in other +things he was predominated by the spirit of gain, for he took pains to +secure two of the most lucrative public offices in the colony. For +years he was auditor and receiver-general, receiving for both a large +yearly income.[137] At his death his estate was very large, the land +he owned being not less than 26,000 acres. + +William Byrd II was also typical of the period in which he lived. He +was still the business man, but he lacked the talent for close +bargaining and the attention to details that characterized his father. +His business ventures were bold and well conceived, but they did not +meet with a great measure of success. His iron mines were never very +productive, while his Indian trade met with frequent and disastrous +interruptions from hostile tribes upon the frontier. Nor did he +confine his attention to business matters. He was intensely interested +in every thing pertaining to the welfare of the colony. He was one of +the commissioners that ran the dividing line between Virginia and +North Carolina. His writings show a brightness and wit that mark him +as the best author the colony possessed during the first half of the +18th century. In his every act we see that he is more the Cavalier +than his father, less the merchant. + +The third William Byrd was entirely lacking in business ability. His +mismanagement and his vices kept him constantly in debt, and for a +while it seemed probable that he would have to sell his beautiful home +at Westover. At one time he owed as much as £5,561 to two English +merchants, whose importunities so embarrassed him that he was forced +to mortgage one hundred and fifty-nine slaves on two of his +plantations, and even his silver plate. These financial troubles were +brought on him partly because of his fondness for gambling. Anbury +says of him, "Being infatuated with play, his affairs, at his death, +were in a deranged state. The widow whom he left with eight children, +has, by prudent management, preserved out of the wreck of his princely +fortune, a beautiful home, at a place called Westover, upon James +River, some personal property, a few plantations, and a number of +slaves."[138] Another of Byrd's favorite amusements was racing and he +possessed many beautiful and swift horses. He died by his own hand in +1777. Despite his dissipation and his weakness, he was a man of many +admirable qualities. In the affairs of the colony he was prominent for +years, distinguishing himself both in political life and as a soldier. +He was a member of the Council and was one of the judges in the +parsons' case of 1763, in which he showed his love of justice by +voting on the side of the clergy. In the French and Indian War, he +commanded one of the two regiments raised to protect the frontier +from the savage inroads of the enemy, acquitting himself with much +credit. He was a kind father, a cultured gentleman, and a gallant +soldier; an excellent example of the Cavalier of the period preceding +the Revolution, whose noble tendencies were obscured by the excess to +which he carried the vices that were then so common in Virginia. + +The story of the Byrd family is but the story of the Virginia +aristocracy. A similar development is noted in nearly all of the +distinguished families of the colony, for none could escape the +influences that were moulding them. The Carters, the Carys, the +Bollings, the Lees, the Bookers, the Blands at the time of the +Revolution were as unlike their ancestors of Nicholson's day as was +William Byrd III unlike his grandfather, the painstaking son of the +English goldsmith. + +Such were the effects upon the Virginia aristocracy of the economic, +social and political conditions of the colony. There can be no doubt +that the Virginia gentleman of the time of Washington and Jefferson, +in his self-respect, his homage to womanhood, his sense of honor, his +power of command, in all that made him unique was but the product of +the conditions which surrounded him. And although the elegance and +refinement of his social life, the culture and depths of his mind can, +to some extent, be ascribed to the survival of English customs and the +constant intercourse with the mother country, these too were +profoundly influenced by conditions in the colony. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 12. + +[2] Nar. of Early Va., p. 125. + +[3] Ibid., pp. 140-141. + +[4] Ibid., pp. 159-160. + +[5] Ibid., p. 192. + +[6] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. I, p. 154. The facts here +presented form a complete refutation of the assertion, so frequently +repeated by Northern historians, that the Virginia aristocracy had its +origin in this immigration of dissipated and worthless gentlemen. The +settlers of 1607, 1608 and 1609 were almost entirely swept out of +existence, and not one in fifty of these "gallants" survived to found +families. Most of the leading planters of Virginia came from later +immigrants, men of humbler rank, but of far more sterling qualities +than the adventurers of Smith's day. + +[7] Nar. of Early Va., p. 415. + +[8] Neill, Va. Carolorum. + +[9] Ibid. + +[10] Ibid. + +[11] Ibid. + +[12] Ibid. + +[13] Va. Mag. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, p. 317. + +[14] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 182. + +[15] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 179. + +[16] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 170. + +[17] As late as the year 1775 we find Dr. Samuel Johnson, with his +usual dislike of America, repeating the old error. In speaking of the +rebellious colonists, he says: "Sir, they are a race of convicts, and +ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." +Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, Temple Classics, Vol. III, p. 174. + +[18] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, pp. 380, 366. + +[19] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 377. + +[20] Neill, Va. Carolorum. + +[21] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, pp. 372, 377, 574. + +[22] Bruce, Soc. Hist. of Va., p. 164; Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, p. +531. + +[23] Wm. and Mary Quar., Vol. IV, p. 39. + +[24] Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 153. + +[25] Va. Mag. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, p. 366. + +[26] Bruce, Soc. Hist. of Va., p. 91. + +[27] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 16. + +[28] Bruce, Soc. Hist. of Va., pp. 18 and 19. + +[29] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 215. + +[30] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 217. + +[31] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 187. + +[32] Bruce, Soc. Hist. of Va., p. 83. + +[33] Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. IV, p. 29; Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 173; Bruce, +Soc. Life of Va., p. 85; Jones' Virginia. + +[34] Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. VIII, p. 243. + +[35] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, pp. 359, 366, 453; Vol. +XII, pp. 170, 173; Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. IV, pp. 27, 39; Bruce, Soc. +Life of Va. + +[36] Jones' Virginia. + +[37] Thinking Virginians of today cannot but be gratified that the old +erroneous belief concerning the origin of the aristocracy is being +swept away. Why it should ever have been a matter of pride with old +families to point to the English nobility of the 17th century as the +class from which they sprang is not easy to understand. The lords of +that day were usually corrupt, unscrupulous and quite unfit to found +vigorous families in the "wilderness of America." How much better it +is to know that the aristocracy of the colony was a product of +Virginia itself! The self-respect, the power of command, the +hospitality, the chivalry of the Virginians were not borrowed from +England, but sprang into life on the soil of the Old Dominion. Amid +the universal admiration and respect for Washington, Jefferson, +Madison and Marshall, with what pride can the Virginian point to them +as the products of his native state! + +[38] Bassett, Writings of Wm. Byrd, lxxxiii. + +[39] Fithian, Journal and Letters, p. 128. + +[40] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 17. + +[41] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 221. + +[42] Force, Hist. Tracts, Vol. III. + +[43] The proofs of this statement are here omitted, as they are given +at much length on pages 96 to 98 of this volume. + +[44] Virginia's Cure. + +[45] Abst. Proceedings Va. Co. of London, Vol. I, p. 154. + +[46] Abst. Proceedings Va. Co. of London, Vol. I, p. 160. + +[47] The word seating is used here in the sense of occupying. + +[48] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. V, p. 285. + +[49] An account of Virginia in 1676 written by Mrs. Thomas Slover +says, "The planters' houses are built all along the sides of the +rivers for the conveniency of shipping." + +[50] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IV, p. 261. + +[51] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, p. 56. + +[52] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 172. + +[53] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II, p. 387. + +[54] McDonald Papers, Vol. VI, p. 213. + +[55] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, p. 398. + +[56] Journal of Council, McDonald Papers, Vol. VII, pp. 457-566. + +[57] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IV, p. 255. + +[58] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, p. 56. + +[59] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IV, p. 267. + +[60] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IX, p. 277. + +[61] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI, p. 367. + +[62] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI, p. 3. + +[63] Jones' Virginia, p. 36. + +[64] Rowland, Life of Geo. Mason, Vol. I, pp. 101, 102; compare +Fithian, Journal and Letters, pp. 67, 104, 130, 131, 138, 217, 259; +Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. XI, p. 62; Fiske, Old Va. and Her +Neighbors, Vol. II, pp. 208, 214, 217; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. +II, pp. 411, 418. + +[65] Force Hist. Tracts, Vol. II, Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. +VI, p. 267. + +[66] Jones' Va., p. 49. + +[67] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 215. + +[68] Bruce, Soc. Life of Va., p. 133. + +[69] Jour. of Burg. 1688, pp. 81, 82; Sainsbury, Calendar of State +Pap., Vol. IV, p. 252; McDonald Papers, Vol. VII, pp. 437-441. + +[70] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VIII, p. 56. + +[71] Compare Voyages dans l'Amérique Septentrionale, Vol. II, p. 136. +"On n'en pourra pas douter, si l'on considere qu'une autre cause agit +encore en concurrence avec la premiere (heredity): je veux parler de +l'esclavage; ... parce que l'empire qu'on exerce fur eux, entretient +la vanité & la paresse." + +[72] Page, The Old South, p. 157. + +[73] Compare Jour. of Coun. 1748, pp. 17, 18, and 19. + +[74] Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. VI, p. 13. + +[75] Anbury, p. 329. + +[76] Guizot, Civ. in Europe, p. 117. + +[77] Jour. of Bour. Apl. 1696. + +[78] Marshall, Life of George Washington. + +[79] Dinwiddie Papers, Vol. II, p. 427. + +[80] Pict. Hist. of Eng., Vol. IV, p. 789. + +[81] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 216. + +[82] Brown, First Rep. in America, p. 582. + +[83] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VIII, p. 69. + +[84] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. II, p. 96; Bruce, Soc. Life of +Va., p. 246. + +[85] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, p. 89. Compare McDonald +Papers, Vol. V, p. 35. + +[86] Guizot, Hist. of Civ. in Europe, p. 106. + +[87] Hening, Statutes, Vol. II, p. 66. + +[88] Hening, Statutes, Vol. III, p. 268, Vol. V, p. 528. + +[89] Force, Hist. Tracts, Vol. I, Our Late Troubles, p. 8. + +[90] Force, Hist. Tracts, Vol. I, Ingram's Proceedings, p. 34. + +[91] Meade, Vol. II, pp. 180, 181. + +[92] Bernard, Retrospections of America, p. 150. + +[93] Bagby, The Old Va. Gentleman, p. 125. + +[94] Hening's Statutes, Vol. I, p. 391. + +[95] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, pp. 136, 141, 142. + +[96] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, p. 143. + +[97] Sainsbury, Cal. of State Pap., Vol. V, pp. 334, 336; 360-2. + +[98] Sainsbury, Cal. of State Pap., Vol. V, pp. 341-5. + +[99] Sainsbury, Cal. of State Pap., Vol. V, pp. 260-2. + +[100] Sainsbury, Cal. of State Pap., Vol. V, pp. 360-2. + +[101] Sainsbury, Cal. of State Pap., Vol. V, pp. 360-2. + +[102] Sainsbury, Cal. of State Pap., Vol. IX, pp. 131-2. + +[103] Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. IX, p. 194. + +[104] Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. VI, p. 184. + +[105] Page, The Old South, p. 158. + +[106] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. II, p. 145-158. + +[107] Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 160-161. + +[108] Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 163-166. + +[109] Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 177-179. + +[110] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, pp. 165-175. + +[111] Fithian, Journal and Letters, pp. 127-131. + +[112] Voyages dans l'Amérique Septentrionale, Tome II, p. 128. + +[113] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI, p. 347. + +[114] Meade, Vol. II, p. 331. + +[115] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. IX, p. 82. + +[116] Fithian, Journal and Letters, p. 251. + +[117] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI, p. 350. + +[118] Fithian, Journal and Letters, p. 148. + +[119] Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. I, p. 123; Vol. II, p. 121. + +[120] Jones' Virginia. + +[121] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog. Vol. VIII, p. 334. + +[122] Fithian, Journals and Letters, p. 58. + +[123] Ibid., p. 75. + +[124] Bruce, Soc. Life in Va., p. 164. + +[125] Fithian, Journal and Letters, p. 113. + +[126] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog. Vol. VIII. + +[127] Wm. & Mary Quar. Vol. II, p. 247, 248. + +[128] Wm. & Mary Quar. Vol. II, p. 172. + +[129] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. II, p. 175; Soc. Life of Va. p. +164. + +[130] Bruce, Soc. Life of Va., pp. 181-185. + +[131] Jones' Va. + +[132] Fithian, Journal and Letters, p. 63. + +[133] Ibid., pp. 94-97. + +[134] Fithian, Journal and Letters, pp. 59 and 83. + +[135] Ibid., p. 77. + +[136] Ibid., pp. 83 and 90. + +[137] Bassett, Writings of Wm. Byrd., Intro. XXV. + +[138] Anbury, Vol. II, p. 329. + + + + +PART TWO + +THE MIDDLE CLASS + + +Like the aristocracy the middle class in Virginia developed within the +colony. It originated from free families of immigrants of humble means +and origin, and from servants that had served their term of indenture, +and its character was the result of climatic, economic, social and +political conditions. There is no more interesting chapter in the +history of Virginia than the development of an intelligent and +vigorous middle class out of the host of lowly immigrants that came to +the colony in the 17th century. Splendid natural opportunities, the +law of the survival of the fittest, and a government in which a +representative legislature took an important part coöperated to +elevate them. For many years after the founding of Jamestown the +middle class was so small and was so lacking in intelligence that it +could exercise but little influence in governmental affairs, and the +governors and the large planters ruled the colony almost at will. +During the last years of the 17th century it had grown in numbers, had +acquired something of culture and had been drilled so effectively in +political affairs that it could no longer be disregarded by governors +and aristocracy. + +In the development of the middle class four distinct periods may be +noted. First, the period of formation, from 1607 to 1660, when, from +the free immigrants of humble means and from those who had entered the +colony as servants and whose term of indenture had expired, was +gradually emerging a class of small, independent farmers. Second, a +period of oppression, extending from 1660 to 1676. In these years, +when William Berkeley was for the second time the chief executive of +the colony, the poor people were so oppressed by the excessive burdens +imposed upon them by the arbitrary old governor and his favorites that +their progress was seriously retarded. Heavy taxes levied by the +Assembly for encouraging manufactures, for building houses at +Jamestown, for repairing forts, bore with great weight upon the small +farmers and in many cases brought them to the verge of ruin. During +this period the evil effects of the Navigation Acts were felt most +acutely in the colony, robbing the planters of the profit of their +tobacco and causing suffering and discontent. This period ends with +Bacon's Rebellion, when the down-trodden commons of the colony rushed +to arms, striking out blindly against their oppressors, and bringing +fire and sword to all parts of Virginia. The third period, from 1676 +to 1700, was one of growth. The poor people still felt the effects of +the unjust Navigation Acts, but they were no longer oppressed at will +by their governors and the aristocracy. Led by discontented members of +the wealthy planter class, they made a gallant and effective fight in +the House of Burgesses for their rights, and showed that thenceforth +they had to be reckoned a powerful force in the government of the +colony. The representatives of the people kept a vigilant watch upon +the expenditures, and blocked all efforts to impose unjust and +oppressive taxes. During this last quarter of the 17th century the +middle class grew rapidly in numbers and in prosperity. The fourth +period, from 1700 to the Revolution, is marked by a division in the +middle class. At the beginning of the 18th century, there was no +lower class corresponding with the vast peasantry of Europe. All +whites, except the indentured servants and a mere handful of freemen +whose indolence doomed them to poverty, lived in comparative comfort +and ease. After the introduction of slaves, however, this state of +affairs no longer existed and there grew up a class of poor whites, +that eked out a wretched and degraded life. On the other hand planters +of the middle class that had acquired some degree of prosperity +benefited greatly by the introduction of slaves, for it lowered the +cost of labor to such an extent that they were able to cultivate their +fields more cheaply than before. At the time of the Revolutionary War +the distinction had become marked, and the prosperous middle class +farmers were in no way allied to the degraded poor whites. + +During the first seventeen years of the colony's existence the +character of immigration was different from that of succeeding +periods. Virginia was at this time ruled by a private trading company. +This corporation, which was composed largely of men of rank and +ability, kept a strict watch upon the settlers, and excluded many +whom they thought would make undesirable colonists.[139] As a +consequence, the class of people that came over before 1624 were more +enlightened than the mass of the settlers during the remainder of the +century. The London Company looked upon the whole matter as a business +affair, and they knew that they could never expect returns from their +enterprise if they filled their plantations with vagabonds and +criminals. Those that were intrusted with the selection of settlers +were given explicit instructions to accept none but honest and +industrious persons. When it was found that these precautions were not +entirely effective, still stricter measures were adopted. It was +ordered by the Company in 1622 that before sailing for Virginia each +emigrant should give evidence of good character and should register +his age, country, profession and kindred.[140] So solicitous were they +in regard to this matter that when, in 1619, James I ordered them to +transport to Virginia a number of malefactors whose care was +burdensome to the state, they showed such a reluctance to obey that +they incurred the king's displeasure.[141] + +What tended strongly to attract a desirable class of men in the +earliest years of the colony was the repeated attempt to establish +manufactures. Until the charter of the London Company was revoked, +that body never ceased to send over numbers of skilled artisans and +mechanics. In 1619, one hundred and fifty workmen from Warwickshire +and Stafford were employed to set up iron works on the James.[142] +Repeated attempts were made to foster the silk industry, and on more +than one occasion men practiced in the culture of the silk worm came +to Virginia.[143] An effort was made to start the manufacture of +glass,[144] while pipe staves and clapboards were produced in +considerable quantities.[145] Moreover, numerous tradesmen of all +kinds were sent to the colony. Among the settlers of this period were +smiths, carpenters, bricklayers, turners, potters and husbandmen.[146] +With the year 1624 there came a change for the worse in the +immigration, for the lack of the Company's paternal care over the +infant colony was keenly felt after the king undertook personally the +direction of affairs. James I and, after his death, Charles I were +desirous that Virginia should undertake various forms of manufacture, +and frequently gave directions to the governors to foster industrial +pursuits among the settlers, for they considered it a matter of +reproach that the people should devote themselves almost exclusively +to the cultivation of tobacco, but neither monarch was interested +enough in the matter to send over mechanics and artisans as the +Company had done, and we find after 1624 few men of that type among +the newcomers.[147] The immigration that occurred under the London +Company is, however, not of great importance, for the mortality among +the colonists was so great that but a small percentage of those that +came over in the early years survived the dangers that they were +compelled to face. In 1622, after the memorable massacre of that year, +there were but 1258 persons in the colony and during the next few +years there was no increase in the population.[148] + +The immigration to Virginia of free families of humble means began in +the early years of the colony's existence, and continued throughout +the 17th century. The lowness of wages and the unfavorable economic +conditions that existed in England induced many poor men to seek their +fortunes in the New World.[149] The law which allotted to every +settler fifty acres of land for each member of his family insured all +that could pay for their transportation a plantation far larger than +they could hope to secure at home.[150] Thus it was that many men of +the laboring class or of the small tenant class, whose limited means +barely sufficed to pay for their passage across the ocean, came to +Virginia to secure farms of their own. The number of small grants in +the first half of the 17th century is quite large. Frequently patents +were made out for tracts of land varying from fifty to five hundred +acres in extent to immigrants that had entered the colony as +freemen.[151] The law allowed them to include in the head-rights of +their patents their wives, children, relatives, friends or servants +that came with them, and some immigrants in this way secured +plantations of considerable size. Thus in 1637 three hundred acres in +Henrico County were granted to Joseph Royall, "due: 50 acres for his +own personal adventure, 50 acres for the transportation of his first +wife Thomasin, 50 acres for the transportation of Ann, his now wife, +50 for the transportation of his brother Henry, and 100 for the +transportation of two persons, Robt. Warrell and Jon. Wells."[152] +These peasant immigrants sometimes prospered in their new homes and +increased the size of their plantations by the purchase of the +head-rights of other men, and the cheapness of land in the colony made +it possible for them to secure estates of considerable size. It is +probable that the average holding of the small farmers of this period +was between three and four hundred acres.[153] + +Owing to the demand for servants and the cost of transporting them to +the colony, it was seldom that any other than wealthy planters could +afford to secure them. The wills of the first half of the 17th century +show that few of the smaller planters even when they had attained a +fair degree of prosperity made use of servant labor. Thus there was in +Virginia at this period a class of men who owned their own land and +tilled it entirely with their own hands. This condition of affairs +continued until the influx of negroes, which began about the year +1680, so diminished the cost of labor that none but the smallest +proprietors were dependent entirely upon their own exertions for the +cultivation of their fields.[154] + +These men, like the wealthy planters, raised tobacco for exportation, +but they also planted enough corn for their own consumption. Their +support was largely from cattle and hogs, which were usually allowed +to wander at large, seeking sustenance in the woods or upon +unpatented land. The owners branded them in order to make +identification possible.[155] Some of the small farmers owned but one +cow and a few hogs, but others acquired numbers of the animals. The +testament of Edward Wilmoth, of Isle of Wight County, drawn in 1647, +is typical of the wills of that period. "I give," he says, "unto my +wife ... four milch cows, a steer, and a heifer that is on Lawns Creek +side, and a young yearling bull. Also I give unto my daughter Frances +a yearling heifer. Also I give unto my son John Wilmoth a cow calf, +and to my son Robert Wilmoth a cow calf."[156] + +The patent rolls, some of which have been preserved to the present +day, show that the percentage of free immigrants to the colony was +quite appreciable during the years immediately following the downfall +of the London Company. There are on record 501 patents that were +issued between the dates 1628 and 1637, and in connection with them +are mentioned, either as recipients of land or as persons transported +to the colony, 2,675 names. Of these 336 are positively known to have +come over as freemen, and most of them as heads of families. There are +245 others who were probably freemen, although this has not yet been +proved. The remainder are persons whose transportation charges were +paid by others, including indentured servants, negroes, wives, +children, etc. Thus it is quite certain that of the names on this list +over one fourth were those of free persons, who came as freemen to +Virginia and established themselves as citizens of the colony.[157] +Although the patent rolls that have been preserved are far from +complete, there is no reason to suspect that they are not fairly +representative of the whole, and we may assume that the percentage of +free families that came to the colony in this period was by no means +small. As, however, the annual number of immigrants was as yet small +and the mortality was very heavy, the total number of men living in +Virginia in 1635 who had come over as freemen could not have been very +large. The total population at that date was 5,000, and it is probable +that at least 3,000 of these had come to the colony as servants. + +After 1635 the percentage of free settlers became much smaller. This +was due largely to the fact that at this time the immigration of +indentured servants to Virginia increased very much. Secretary Kemp, +who was in office during Governor Harvey's administration, stated that +of hundreds of people that were arriving nearly all were brought in as +merchandise.[158] So great was the influx of these servants, that the +population tripled between 1635 and 1649. It is certain, however, that +at no period during the 17th century did freemen cease coming to the +colony. + +With the exception of the merchants and other well-to-do men that +formed the basis of the aristocracy, the free immigrants were ignorant +and crude. But few of them could read and write, and many even of the +most prosperous, being unable to sign their names to their wills, were +compelled to make their mark to give legal force to their +testaments.[159] Some of them acquired considerable property and +became influential in their counties, but this was due rather to rough +qualities of manhood that fitted them for the life in the forests of +the New World, than to education or culture. + +The use of the indentured servant by the Virginia planters was but the +result of the economic conditions of the colony. Even in the days of +the London Company the settlers had turned their attention to the +raising of tobacco, for they found that the plant needed but little +care, that it was admirably suited to the soil, and that it brought a +handsome return. Naturally it soon became the staple product of the +colony. The most active efforts of the Company and all the commands of +King James and King Charles were not sufficient to turn men from its +cultivation to less lucrative pursuits. Why should they devote +themselves to manufacture when they could, with far greater profit, +exchange their tobacco crop for the manufactured goods of England? It +was found that but two things were essential to the growth of the +plant--abundance of land and labor. The first of these could be had +almost for the asking. Around the colony was a vast expanse of +territory that needed only the woodman's axe to transform it into +fertile fields, and the poorest man could own a plantation that in +England would have been esteemed a rich estate. Labor, on the other +hand, was exceedingly scarce. The colony itself could furnish but a +limited supply, for few were willing to work for hire when they could +easily own farms of their own. The native Americans of this region +could not be made to toil in the fields for the white man, as the +aborigines of Mexico and the West Indies were made to toil for the +Spanish, for they were of too warlike and bold a spirit. Destruction +would have been more grateful to them than slavery. Their haughtiness +and pride were such that in their intercourse with the English they +would not brook the idea of inferiority. No thought could be +entertained of making them work in the fields. So the planters were +forced to turn to the mother country. As early as 1620 they sent +urgent requests for a supply of laborers, which they needed much more +than artisans or tradesmen. The Company, although it did not +relinquish its plan of establishing manufactures, was obliged to yield +somewhat to this demand, and sent to the planters a number of +indentured servants.[160] Thus early began that great stream of +laborers, flowing from England to Virginia, that kept up without +interruption for more than a century. + +From the first the indenture system was in vogue. Circumstances made +this necessary, for had no obligations been put upon the immigrants to +work for a certain number of years in servitude, they would have +secured tracts of ground for themselves and set themselves up as +independent planters, as soon as they arrived in the country. It was +found to be impossible to establish a class of free laborers. Also the +system had its advantages for the immigrant. The voyage to the colony, +so long and so expensive, was the chief drawback to immigration. +Thousands of poor Englishmen, who could hardly earn enough money at +home to keep life in their bodies, would eagerly have gone to the New +World, had they been able to pay for their passage. Under the +indenture system this difficulty was removed, for anyone could secure +free transportation provided he were willing to sacrifice, for a few +years, his personal freedom. + +And, despite the English love of liberty, great numbers availed +themselves of this opportunity. There came to Virginia, during the +period from 1635 to 1680, annually from 1000 to 1600 servants. The +immigration in the earlier years seems to have been nearly if not +fully as great as later in the century. During the year ending March +1636 sixteen hundred people came over, most of whom were undoubtedly +servants.[161] In 1670 Governor Berkeley estimated the annual +immigration of servants at 1500.[162] But we need no better evidence +that the stream at no time slackened during this period than the fact +that the demand for them remained constant. So long as the planter +could obtain no other labor for his tobacco fields, the great need of +the colony was for more servants, and able-bodied laborers always +brought a handsome price in the Virginia market. Col. William Byrd I +testified that servants were the most profitable import to the +colony.[163] The fact that the term of service was in most cases +comparatively short made it necessary for the planter to repeople his +estate at frequent intervals. The period of indenture was from four to +seven years, except in the case of criminals who sometimes served for +life, and without this constant immigration the plantations would have +been deserted. Thus in 1671, when the population of the colony was +40,000, the number of servants was but 6,000.[164] Nor was there any +sign of slackening in the stream until the last years of the century, +when there came a great increase in the importation of negro slaves. +As soon as it became practicable to secure enough Africans to do the +work of the servants, the need for the latter became less pressing. +For many reasons the slave was more desirable. He could withstand +better the heat of the summer sun in the fields, he was more +tractable, he served for life and could not desert his master after a +few years of service as could the servant. We find, then, that after +1680, the importation of servants decreased more and more, until, in +the middle of the 18th century, it died out entirely. + +Thus it will be seen that the number of indentured servants that were +brought to the colony of Virginia is very large. The most conservative +estimate will place the figure at 80,000, and there is every reason +to believe that this is much too low. Now, if we consider the growth +of population in conjunction with these facts, it becomes evident that +the indentured servant was the most important factor in the settlement +of the colony. In 1671, according to the statement of Governor +Berkeley, there were but 40,000 people in the colony.[165] The +immigration of servants had then been in progress for fifty years, and +the number brought over must have exceeded the total population at +that date. Even after making deductions for the mortality among the +laborers in the tobacco fields, which in the first half of this +century was enormous, we are forced to the conclusion that the +percentage of those that came as freemen was small. + +We have already seen that the larger part of the servants were men +that came over to work in the tobacco fields. Great numbers of these +were drawn from the rural districts of England, where the pitiful +condition of thousands of laborers made it easy to find recruits ready +to leave for Virginia. So low were the wages given the farm hands at +this period that their most excessive labor could hardly insure +enough to support life, and, after years of hard work, they were often +compelled to throw themselves upon charity in their old age. The +pittance that they received seldom made it possible for them to secure +food enough to sustain properly their arduous labors. Many worked for +fourteen pence a day, and those that were most favored earned two +shillings. The condition of the poorer class of workmen in the cities +was, if possible, worse than that of the agricultural laborers, for +economic conditions had combined with unwise laws to reduce them to +the verge of starvation. Those that had not some recognized trade were +compelled to labor incessantly for insufficient wages, and many were +forced into beggary and crime. They were clothed in rags and their +dwellings were both miserable and unsanitary. The number of those +dependent upon charity for subsistence was enormous. In Sheffield, in +1615, a third of the entire population was compelled to rely in part +on charity. No wonder these poor wretches were willing to sell their +liberty to go to the New World! They had the assurance that whatever +happened to them, their condition could not be altered much for the +worse. In Virginia there was a chance of improvement, at home they +were doomed to live lives of drudgery and misery.[166] + +But not all the indentured servants came from this class. Some were +persons of culture, and, on rare occasions, of means. The word +"servant" did not at that time have the menial signification that it +has acquired in modern times, for it was applied to all that entered +upon a legal agreement to remain in the employment of another for a +prescribed time.[167] There are many instances of persons of gentle +blood becoming indentured servants to lawyers or physicians, in order +to acquire a knowledge of those professions.[168] All apprentices were +called servants. Tutors were sometimes brought over from England under +terms of indenture to instruct the children of wealthy planters in +courses higher than those offered by the local schools. Several +instances are recorded of gentlemen of large estates who are spoken of +as servants, but such cases are very rare.[169] What was of more +common occurrence was the entering into indenture of persons who had +become bankrupt. The severe English laws against debtors forced many +to fly from the country to escape imprisonment, and there could be no +surer way for them to evade their creditors than to place themselves +under the protection of some planter as a servant and to sail for +Virginia. How numerous was the debtor class in the colony is shown by +an act of the Assembly in 1642, which exempted from prosecution +persons that had fled from their creditors in England. The colonial +legislators declared openly that the failure to pass such a law would +have hazarded the desertion of a large part of the country. + +At intervals large numbers of political prisoners were sent to +Virginia. During the civil wars in England, when the royal forces were +meeting defeat, many of the king's soldiers were captured, and many of +these were sold to the planters as servants. A large importation took +place after the defeat of Charles II at Worcester.[170] From 1653 to +1655 hundreds of unfortunate Irishmen suffered the consequence of +their resistance to the government of Cromwell by banishment to the +plantations.[171] After 1660, when the tables had been turned, and the +royalist party was once more in power, there set in a stream of +Commonwealth soldiers and nonconformists.[172] These were responsible +for a rising in the colony in 1663, that threatened to anticipate +Bacon's Rebellion by thirteen years.[173] The Scotch rebellion of 1678 +was the occasion of another importation of soldiers. Finally, in 1685, +many of the wretches taken at the battle of Sedgemoor were sent to +Virginia, finding relief in the tobacco fields from the harshness of +their captors.[174] + +These immigrations of political prisoners are of great importance. +They brought into Virginia a class of men much superior to the +ordinary laborer, for most of them were guilty only of having resisted +the party in power, and many were patriots in the truest sense of the +word, suffering for principles that they believed essential to the +welfare of their country. + +We have already seen that under the London Company of Virginia few +criminals were sent to the colony. After the dissolution of that body +there was quite as great strictness in regard to the matter. As the +Company had feared to fill the country with malefactors, knowing that +it would ruin the enterprise in which they had expended so much time +and money, so, in later years, the Virginia people were solicitous of +the character of those that were to be their neighbors. They were firm +in demanding that no "jailbirds" be sent them. On more than one +occasion, when persons of ill repute arrived, they at once shipped +them back to England. There existed, however, in the mother country a +feeling that it was but proper to use Virginia as a dumping ground for +criminals, and the magistrates from time to time insisted on shipping +objectionable persons. But it is certain that the percentage of felons +among the servants was not large. At one period only were they sent +over in numbers great enough to make themselves felt as a menace to +the peace of the colony. After the Restoration, when England was just +beginning to recover from the convulsions of the preceding twenty +years and when the kingdom was swarming with vicious and criminal +persons, a fresh attempt was made to seek an outlet for this class in +Virginia. A sudden increase in lawlessness in the colony aroused the +people to the danger, and in 1670 the General Court prohibited the +introduction of English malefactors into the colony.[175] Although in +the 18th century criminals were sent to Virginia at times, their +numbers were insignificant and their influence small. + +Having examined the various types of men that entered Virginia as +indentured servants, it now remains to determine to what extent these +types survived and became welded into the social life of the colony. +The importation of starving laborers and even of criminals was of +vital importance only in proportion to the frequency with which they +survived their term of service, acquired property, married and left +descendants. The law of the survival of the fittest, which is so great +a factor in elevating the human race, operated with telling effect in +Virginia. The bulk of the servants were subjected to a series of tests +so severe, that, when safely passed through, they were a guarantee of +soundness of body, mind, and character. + +The mortality among the laborers in the tobacco fields was enormous. +Scattered along the banks of the rivers and creeks and frequently +adjacent to swamps and bogs, the plantations were unhealthful in the +extreme. Everywhere were swarms of mosquitoes,[176] and the colonists +were exposed to the sting of these pests both by night and day, and +many received through them the deadly malaria bacteria. Scarcely three +months had elapsed from the first landing at Jamestown in 1607, when +disease made its appearance in the colony. The first death occurred in +August, and so deadly were the conditions to which the settlers were +subjected that soon hardly a day passed without one death to record. +Before the end of September more than fifty were in their graves. Part +of the mortality was due, it is true, to starvation, but "fevers and +fluxes" were beyond doubt responsible for many of the deaths.[177] +George Percy, one of the party, describes in vivid colors the +sufferings of the settlers. "There were never Englishmen," he says, +"left in a forreigne countrey in such miserie as wee were in this new +discovered Virginia, Wee watched every three nights, lying on the +bare ground, what weather soever came; ... which brought our men to be +most feeble wretches, ... If there were any conscience in men, it +would make their harts to bleed to hears the pitifull murmurings and +outcries of our sick men without reliefe, every night and day for the +space of six weekes: some departing out of the World, many times three +or foure in a night; in the morning, their bodies trailed out of their +cabines like dogges, to be buried."[178] Of the hundred colonists that +had remained at Jamestown, but thirty-eight were alive when relief +came in January, 1608. + +Nor were the colonists that followed in the wake of the Susan +Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery more fortunate. In the summer +of 1609, the newcomers under Lord Delaware were attacked by fever and +in a short while one hundred and fifty had died. It seemed for a while +that no one would escape the epidemic and that disease would prove +more effective than the Indians in protecting the country from the +encroachment of the Englishmen.[179] How terrible was the mortality in +these early years is shown by the statement of Molina in 1613, that +one hundred and fifty in every three hundred colonists died before +being in Virginia twelve months.[180] + +In 1623 a certain Nathaniel Butler, who had been at one time governor +of the Bermuda Islands, testified to the unhealthfulness of the +colony. "I found," he says, "the plantations generally seated upon +meer salt marishes full of infectious boggs and muddy creeks and +lakes, and thereby subjected to all those inconveniences and diseases +which are soe commonly found in the most unsounde and most unhealthy +parts of England whereof everie country and clymate hath some." Butler +asserted that it was by no means uncommon to see newcomers from +England "dying under hedges and in the woods." He ended by declaring +that unless conditions were speedily redressed by some divine or +supreme hand, instead of a plantation Virginia would shortly get the +name of a slaughter house.[181] + +The mortality was chiefly among the newcomers. If one managed to +survive during his first year of residence in the colony, he might +reasonably expect to escape with his life, being then "seasoned" as +the settlers called it. The death rate during this first year, +however, was frightful. De Vries said of the climate "that during the +months of June, July and August it was very unhealthy, that then +people that had lately arrived from England, die, during these months, +like cats and dogs, whence they call it the sickly season."[182] So +likely was it that a newcomer would be stricken down that a "seasoned" +servant was far more desirable than a fresh arrival. A new hand, +having seven and a half years to serve, was worth not more than +others, having one year more only. Governor William Berkeley stated in +1671, "there is not oft seasoned hands (as we term them) that die now, +whereas heretofore not one of five escaped the first year."[183] + +Robert Evelyn, in his Description of the Province of New Albion, +printed in 1648, gives a vivid picture of the unhealthful climate of +Virginia. He declared that formerly five out of every six men +imported from Europe fell speedy victims to disease. "I," he said, "on +my view of Virginia, disliked Virginia, most of it being seated +scatteringly ... amongst salt-marshes and creeks, whence thrice worse +than Essex, ... and Kent for agues and diseases ... brackish water to +drink and use, and a flat country, and standing waters in woods bred a +double corrupt air."[184] + +Much of the ill health of the immigrants was undoubtedly due to the +unwholesome conditions on board the ships during their passage from +Europe. The vessels were often crowded with wretched men, women and +children, and were foul beyond description. Gross uncleanliness was +the rule rather than the exception. William Copps, in a letter to +Deputy Treasurer Ferrar, says, "Betwixt decks there can hardlie a man +fetch his breath by reason there arisith such a funke in the night +that it causes putrifacation of blood and breedeth disease much like +the plague." Often the number of persons that died at sea was +frightful. One vessel lost one hundred and thirty persons out of one +hundred and eighty. The disease started in this way was often spread +in Virginia after the settlers had reached their new homes, and +terrible epidemics more than once resulted. + +If the assertion of Berkeley that four out of five of the indentured +servants died during the first year's residence in the colony, or +Evelyn's statement that five out of six soon succumbed, be accepted as +correct, the number of deaths must have been very large indeed. Among +the hundreds of servants that were brought to the colony each year a +mortality of over eighty per cent would have amounted in a few years +to thousands. Statements made in regard to early Virginia history are +so frequently inaccurate, and the conditions here described are so +horrible that one is inclined to reject this testimony as obviously +exaggerated. However, a close examination of the number of persons +that came to Virginia from 1607 to 1649, and of the population between +those dates forces us to the conclusion that the statements of +Berkeley and Evelyn were not grossly incorrect. When, however, Evelyn +adds that "old Virginians affirm, the sicknesse there the first thirty +years to have killed 100,000 men," it is evident that this rumor was +false.[185] Yet even this is valuable because it shows in an +indefinite way that the mortality was very large. + +When we consider the fact that it was the lowest class of immigrants +that were chiefly exposed to these perils it becomes evident how great +a purifying force was exerted. The indentured servants more than any +others had to face the hot sun of the fields, and upon them alone the +climate worked with deadly effect. + +But disease was not the only danger that the indentured servant faced +in those days. At times starvation carried off great numbers. Even +after the colony had attained a certain degree of prosperity famines +occurred that bore with fearful weight upon the servants. In 1636 +there was great scarcity of food and in that year 1,800 persons +perished. A servant, in 1623, complained in a letter to his parents +that the food that was given him would barely sustain life, and that +he had often eaten more at home in a day than was now allowed him for +a week.[186] + +But if the servant survived all these dangers, if he escaped disease, +starvation and the tomahawk, his task was not yet finished. He had +then to build for himself a place in society. When the servant was +discharged, upon the expiration of his term, he was always given some +property with which to start life as a freeman. In the days of the +Company, each was granted 100 acres of land, and, when this was +seated, each was probably entitled to an additional tract of the same +extent. After 1624 the servant received, at the end of his term of +indenture, no allotment of land, but was given instead enough grain to +sustain him for one year. Also he was to receive two sets of apparel, +and in Berkeley's time a gun worth twenty shillings.[187] The +cheapness of land made it easy for these men to secure little farms, +and if they were sober and industrious they had an opportunity to +rise. They might acquire in time large estates; they might even become +leaders in the colony, but the task was a hard one, and those that +were successful were worthy of the social position they obtained. + +It is of importance to note that of the servants that came to the +colony but a small number married and left descendants. Women were by +no means plentiful. During the earlier years this had been a drawback +to the advancement of the colony, for even the most prosperous +planters found it difficult to secure wives. It was this condition of +affairs that induced the Company to send to Virginia that cargo of +maids that has become so famous in colonial history. As years went on, +the scarcity of women became a distinct blessing, for it made it +impossible for the degraded laborer, even though he ultimately secured +his freedom, to leave descendants to perpetuate his lowly instincts. +Of the thousands of servants whose criminal instincts or lack of +industry made it impossible for them to become prosperous citizens, +great numbers left the colony. Many went to North Carolina. As +Virginia had served as a dumping ground for the refuse of the English +population, so did this new colony furnish a vent for undesirable +persons from Virginia. William Byrd II, who had an excellent +opportunity to observe conditions in North Carolina while running the +dividing line, bears testimony to the character of the immigrants to +that colony from Virginia and Maryland. "It is certain," he says, +"many slaves shelter themselves in this obscure part of the world, nor +will any of their righteous neighbors discover them. Nor were the +worthy borderers content to shelter runaway slaves, but debtors and +criminals have often met with the like indulgence. But if the +government of North Carolina has encourag'd this unneighbourly policy +in order to increase their people, it is no more than what ancient +Rome did before them."[188] Again he says, "The men ... just like the +Indians, impose all the work upon the poor women. They make their +wives rise out of their beds early in the morning, at the same time +that they lye and snore, til the sun has run one third of his +course.... Then, after stretching and yarning for half an hour, they +light their pipes, and, under the protection of a cloud of smoak, +venture out into the open air; tho' if it happens to be never so +little cold, they quickly return shivering into the chimney corner.... +Thus they loiter away their lives, like Soloman's sluggard, with their +arms across, and at the winding up of the year scarcely have bread to +eat. To speak the truth, tis a thorough aversion to labor that makes +people file off to North Carolina, where plenty and a warm sun confirm +them in their disposition to laziness for their whole lives."[189] The +gangs of outlaws that infested North Carolina during the early years +of the 18th century and defied the authority of the governors, were +composed largely of runaway servants from Virginia. The laxness and +weakness of the government made it an inviting place for criminals, +while the numerous swamps and bogs, and the vast expanse of dense +woods offered them a safe retreat.[190] + +Many freed servants took up in Virginia unpatented land, trusting that +their residence upon it might give to them in time a legal title. +Others settled upon tracts that had been deserted. In some instances, +where these people, or their descendants, had prospered and had built +homes and barns and stables on the property, or had otherwise improved +it, their claims to the land were confirmed by law. In other cases, +when patents were made out to land already occupied by "squatters," +the lowly settlers were forced to leave their farms and to seek homes +elsewhere, probably on unclaimed territory in remote parts of the +colony. This gave rise to that fringe of rough humanity upon the +frontier, that spread continually westward as the colony grew. Many of +the servants that escaped from their masters fled to the mountains, +seeking refuge among the defiles and woods of the Blue Ridge or the +more distant Alleghanies. The descendants of these wretched people +still exist in the mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee +and Kentucky, exhibiting in their ignorance, their disregard for law, +their laziness and even in their dialect the lowness of their origin. + +The facts presented in the preceding paragraphs lead us inevitably to +the conclusion that that portion of the vast body of indentured +servants that were brought to Virginia which made its lasting imprint +on the character of the population of the eastern countries was +composed of men of sterling qualities, and was rather an element of +strength than of weakness to the middle class into which they went. +That many did rise to places of trust and influence is well +established. There are numerous instances of servants, who, after +serving their term of indenture, became burgesses, justices, etc. Thus +John Trussell, who came over in 1622 as a servant, became a burgess in +1654.[191] The Assembly of 1629 included in its members William +Warlick, William Poppleton, Richard Townsend and Anthony Pagett, all +of whom had come to the colony under terms of indenture.[192] Gatford, +a puritanical preacher of the Commonwealth period, wrote that at that +time some of the former servants were still filling offices of trust +in the colony. The author of Virginia's Cure asserted, in 1662, that +the burgesses "were usuall such as went over as servants thither; and +though by time, and industry, they may have obtained competent +estates, yet by reason of their poor and mean condition, were +unskilful in judging of a good estate, either of church or +Commonwealth."[193] This, however, is undoubtedly an exaggeration. +Yet, in 1651, Governor Berkeley, in an address to the Assembly, stated +that hundreds of examples testified to the fact that no man in the +colony was denied the opportunity to acquire both honor and wealth. + +The chief occupation to which the freed servant turned was +agriculture. During their term of indenture it was as field laborers +that most of them had spent their time, and many were ignorant of any +other means of earning a living. Moreover, farming was almost the only +occupation open to them in the colony. Some, who had been trained upon +the plantations as artisans, doubtless made use of their skill after +becoming free to increase their incomes, but even these were forced to +turn their attention chiefly to farming. With the payment that was +made by the former master, and the land which it was so easy to +obtain, the new freeman, if he were sober and industrious, was sure to +wrest from the soil an abundant supply of food and perhaps enough +tobacco to make him quite prosperous. He must first plant corn, for +were he to give all his land to tobacco, he would starve before he +received from it any returns. If things went well with him, he would +buy hogs and cattle, and thereafter these would constitute his most +valuable possession. + +Some of the servants upon the expiration of their terms of indenture +secured work as overseers, if they found it impossible to obtain +patents to estates of their own. Throughout the greater part of the +colonial period the position occupied by the overseer was preferable +to that of the poorest class of independent farmers. His usual +remuneration was a part of the crop. Sometimes he received only +one-tenth of what was produced, but often his share was much greater, +for cases are on record where he was to keep one half. Later the pay +was regulated by the number of persons under his management, slaves as +well as hired and indentured servants forming the basis of the +calculation. Under both systems of payment he was liberally rewarded +for his services.[194] The control of many laborers, the necessity for +a knowledge of all the details of farming, the contact with his +employer in matters of business made requisite in the overseer both +intelligence and the power of command. Many were men of much ability +and were trusted by the planters with the entire management of their +estates. When the overseer worked upon the "home" plantation, he +usually dwelt either in the mansion itself or in one of the group of +houses nearby, in which were sleeping rooms used by members of the +household or guests. He was treated always with courtesy and was +accorded some social recognition by his aristocratic employer. +Sometimes the overseer through ability and care accumulated property +and became an independent planter. + +Occasionally the servants upon the close of their term of indenture +earned a subsistence as hired laborers. This, however, was not very +common, for the opportunities for an independent existence were so +great that few would fail to grasp them. There could be no necessity +for laboring for others when land could be had so cheaply. Those that +did hire themselves out were tempted usually by the excessive wages +that could be obtained from wealthy planters. Throughout the 17th +century, the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient supply of servants +to keep in cultivation the tobacco fields of the colony, created a +lively demand for labor and made wages higher than in England. Even +in the early years of the century this state of affairs prevailed, and +we find planters complaining of the excessive cost of hired labor and +making urgent requests for indentured servants.[195] Despite the high +price of tobacco that prevailed before 1660, it was the general +opinion that no profit could be made from it when hired laborers were +used in its cultivation, and it is probable that they were never +employed except when the supply of servants fell far short of the +demand. In the 18th century, when the importation of many thousands of +slaves had lowered the price of labor in the colony, the employment of +hired hands became still less frequent. + +The existence of high wages for so many years accelerated the +formation of the middle class, for the hired laborer could, if he were +economical, save enough to purchase land and to become an independent +farmer. So crude were the agricultural methods then in use in the +colony that very little capital was needed by the small planters, and +tobacco and corn could be raised by them almost as economically as +upon the large plantations. Moreover, since men of the middle class +could seldom afford to employ laborers to till their fields, they were +in a sense brought into competition with the wage earner. The price of +tobacco was dependent in large measure upon the cost of production, +and could not, except upon exceptional occasions, fall so low that +there could be no profit in bringing servants from England to +cultivate it, and this fact reacted favorably upon those that tilled +their fields with their own hands. On the other hand this very +circumstance made it hard for the small farmer to enlarge the scope of +his activities. Unless he had obtained a fair degree of prosperity, it +would be impossible for him to purchase servants or hire laborers and +the output of his plantation was limited to his own exertions, or +those of the members of his family. + +By 1660, the middle class was fully formed. From the thousands of +indentured servants that had been brought to the colony numerous +families had emerged which, though rough and illiterate, proved +valuable citizens and played an important rôle in the development of +the country. Added to the free immigrants of humble means they formed +a large body that needed only organization and leaders to wield a +powerful influence in governmental affairs. + +In the second period, from 1660 to 1676, the prosperity of the middle +class was seriously impaired by oppression by England and +misgovernment and tyranny in the colony. The Navigation Acts, which +were designed by the English to build up their commerce, regardless of +the consequences to their colonies, injured Virginians of all classes, +but bore with telling weight upon the poor independent planters. +Moreover, the arbitrary rule of Governor William Berkeley, the +corruption of the Assembly, the heavy and unjust taxes and the +frequent embezzlement of public funds conspired to retard the +advancement of the middle class and to impoverish its members. + +The beginning of England's oppressive policy towards the commerce of +her colonies must date from 1651, when Parliament passed a stringent +Navigation Act, forbidding the importation of any commodities into +England or its territories except in English vessels or vessels of the +nation that produced the goods.[196] This law was aimed chiefly at +the Dutch carrying trade, which was so extensive that it had aroused +England's jealousy, but it came as a serious blow to Virginia. A large +part of her exports had for many years been transported by the Dutch, +and the entire exclusion of the "Hollanders" could not fail to react +unfavorably upon her prosperity. The immediate effect, since it +relieved the English ship owners of much of the competition with which +they had contended, was to raise the cost of transportation. + +The Virginians protested strongly. In a speech to the Assembly, +Governor Berkeley, fairly foaming with rage, denounced the act. "We," +he said, "the Governor, Councell and Burgesses of Virginia, have seene +a printed paper ... wherein (with other plantations of America) we are +prohibited trade and commerce with all but such as the present power +shall allow of: ... we think we can easily find out the cause of this +the excluding us the society of nations, which bring us necessaries +for what our country produces: And that is the averice of a few +interested persons, who endeavour to rob us of all we sweat and labor +for."[197] + +But the evil was to some extent avoided during the Commonwealth +period, owing to constant evasions of the law. There is abundant +evidence to show that the Dutch trade, although hampered, was by no +means stamped out, and Dutch vessels continued to carry the Virginia +tobacco just as they had done during the reign of Charles I. In the +year 1657, there was a determined effort to enforce the law, and the +advance in the charges of transporting the crop of that year, +indicates that this effort was partly successful. The freight rate +rose from £4 a ton to £8 or £9, and in some cases to £14.[198] + +A more serious blow came in 1660. A bill was passed prescribing that +no goods of any description should be imported into or exported from +any of the king's territories "in Asia, Africa, or America, in any +other than English, Irish, or plantation built ships."[199] It was +also required that at least three-fourths of the mariners of these +ships should be Englishmen. Moreover, another feature was added to the +law which was far more oppressive than the first provision. It was +enacted that "no sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger, justic, +and other dying woods, of the growth or manufacture of our Asian, +African, or American colonies, shall be shipped from the said colonies +to any place but to England, Ireland, or to some other of his +Majesty's plantations." + +The results of this law were ruinous to Virginia. At one blow it cut +off her trade with all countries but England and her colonies, and +raised enormously the cost of transportation. Although England was the +largest purchaser of tobacco, Holland and other countries had taken a +large part of the crop each year. The colonists were now forced to +bring all their crop to England, and an immediate glut in the market +followed. The English could neither consume the enormously increased +supply of tobacco, nor rid themselves of it by exportation to +continental countries, and it piled up uselessly in the warehouses. An +alarming decline in the price followed, which reacted on the planters +to such an extent that it brought many to the verge of ruin. The +profit from tobacco was almost entirely wiped out. + +The effects of this law are clearly shown in a paper by a London +merchant named John Bland, which was presented to the authorities in +England, protesting against the injustice done to the colonies. "If," +he says, "the Hollanders must not trade to Virginia how shall the +planters dispose of their tobacco? the English will not buy it, for +what the Hollander carried thence was a sort of tobacco, not desired +by any other people, nor used by us in England but merely to transport +for Holland. Will it not then perish on the planters' hands?... the +tobacco will not vend in England, the Hollanders will not fetch it +from England; what must become thereof? even flung to the +dunghil."[200] + +The people of Virginia were reduced almost to despair. They made +desperate efforts to raise the price of their staple product. +Communications were entered into with Maryland and North Carolina to +restrict the planting of tobacco in order to relieve the +overproduction, but negotiations failed, giving rise to much +bitterness and contention.[201] Similar proposals were made by +Virginia from time to time, but the effort was never successful. In +1664, the whole tobacco crop of Virginia was worth less than £8.15s +for each person in the colony. In 1666 a large portion of the crop +could not be sold at any price and was left on the hands of the +planters.[202] + +Moreover, the strict enforcement of the law placing all carrying trade +in the hands of Englishmen created a monopoly for the English ship +owners, and raised enormously not only the freight rates, but the cost +of all imported goods. The planter, while he found his income greatly +decreased by the low price of tobacco, was forced to pay more for all +manufactured goods. The cost of clothing rose until the colony was +almost in nakedness. + +At this crisis an attempt was made to turn the energies of the people +to manufacture. The Assembly offered rewards for the best pieces of +linen and woolen cloth spun in the colony,[203] and put a bounty on +the manufacture of silk. A law was passed requiring each county to +erect tan-houses, while encouragement was given to a salt works on the +Eastern Shore. Bounties were also offered for ship-building. In 1666 a +bill was passed making it compulsory for the counties to enter upon +the manufacture of cloth. The reading of this act shows that the +Assembly understood fully the causes of the distress of the people. It +begins: "Whereas the present obstruction of trade and the nakedness of +the country doe sufficiently evidence the necessity of providing +supply of our wants by improving all means of raysing and promoteing +manuffactures amonge ourselves.... Be it enacted by the authority of +this grand assembly that within two yeares at furthest after the date +of this act, the commissioners of each county court shall provide and +sett up a loome and weaver in each of the respective counties."[204] + +The corruption and mismanagement that attended these measures made +them unsuccessful, and as time went on the planters became more and +more impoverished. The Virginians chafed bitterly under the harsh +enforcement of the law of 1660. Governor Berkeley when asked by the +Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations in 1671 what obstructions +there were to the improvement of trade and commerce in Virginia, +answered with his accustomed vigor, "Mighty and destructive, by that +severe act of Parliament which excludes us the having any commerce +with any other nation in Europe but our own.... If this were for his +majesty's service, or the good of his subjects, we should not repine, +whatever our sufferings are for it; but on my soul, it is the contrary +of both."[205] + +Berkeley had gone to England in 1661, and while there exerted his +influence for the repeal of the act, but had been able to accomplish +nothing. The desire of the English to crush the Dutch trade was so +strong that they could not be induced to consider at all the welfare +of the colonies. The powerful and logical appeal of Bland also was +unheeded. This remarkable man, who seems to have understood fully the +operation of economic laws that were only established as truths many +years later, explained clearly the harmful consequences of the act +and demanded that justice be done the colonists. "Then let me," he +says, "on behalf of the said colonies of Virginia and Maryland make +the following proposals which I hope will appear but equitable: + +"First, that the traders to Virginia and Maryland from England shall +furnish and supply the planters and inhabitants of those colonies with +all sorts of commodities and necessaries which they may want or +desire, at as cheap rates and prices as the Hollanders used to have +when the Hollander was admitted to trade thither. + +"Secondly, that the said traders out of England to those colonies +shall not only buy of the planter such tobacco in the colonies as is +fit for England, but take off all that shall be yearly made by them, +at as good rates and prices as the Hollanders used to give for the +same.... + +"Thirdly, that if any of the inhabitants or planters of the said +colonies shall desire to ship his tobacco or goods for England, that +the traders from England to Virginia and Maryland shall let them have +freight in their ships at as low and cheap rates, as they used to have +when the Hollanders and other nations traded thither." + +Bland, of course, did not expect these suggestions to be followed, but +he did hope that the evils that he so clearly pointed out would be +done away with by the repeal of the act. So far from heeding him, +however, Parliament passed another bill, in 1673, taking away the last +vestige of freedom of trade. The colonists, when the Navigation Acts +began to be strictly enforced, in seeking an outlet for their +commodities turned to each other, and a considerable traffic had +sprung up between them. The New Englanders, tempted by the high price +of manufactured goods in the south, were competing with Englishmen for +the market of the tobacco raising colonies. The British merchants +brought pressure to bear on Parliament, and a law was passed +subjecting all goods that entered into competition with English +commodities to a duty equivalent to that imposed on their consumption +in England. This act crippled the new trade and deprived Virginia of +even this slight amelioration of her pitiful condition. + +The decline in the price of tobacco and the increased cost of +manufactured goods bore with telling effect on the small farmers. It +was customary for them to sow the greater part of their fields with +tobacco, and the enormous decline in the price of that plant brought +many to the verge of ruin. Whenever the overproduction was so great +that the English traders left part of the crop in Virginia, it was the +planter of the middle class that was apt to suffer most, for the +merchants could not afford to affront the wealthy and influential men +of the colony, by refusing to transport their crops. Had it not been +for the ease with which the common people could obtain support from +Indian corn and from their hogs and cattle, many might have perished +during these years. + +But, in addition to the causes of distress that were brought about by +the unjust policy of England, there were forces at work within the +colony, that were scarcely less potent for harm. Chief among these was +the attempt of Governor William Berkeley to make his government +independent of the people. Berkeley had, during the reign of Charles +I, made a good governor, and had won the respect of the people, but as +he became old there was a decided change for the worse in his nature. +He is depicted in his declining years, as arbitrary, crabbed and +avaricious. + +He had for the populace the greatest contempt. To him they seemed a +mere rabble, whose sole function in life was to toil and whose chief +duty was to obey strictly the mandates of their rulers. He discouraged +education because it bred a spirit of disobedience. "I thank God," he +wrote, "there are no free schools and printing (in Virginia) and I +hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought +disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has +divulged them, and libels against the best governments."[206] That the +common people should have a share in the government seemed to him, +even more than it had seemed to Charles I, a thing absurd and +preposterous. After the Restoration, therefore, he resolved to free +himself as far as practicable from all restraint, and to assume an +arbitrary and almost absolute power. + +Berkeley was far better qualified for this task than had been his +royal masters the Stuarts. He possessed remarkable vigor and +determination, and despite his quick temper was not lacking in tact +and diplomacy. With a discrimination and care that marked him as a +master in the art of corruption, he tried to make the Assembly +dependent upon himself, by bribing the members of both houses. +Selecting men that he thought he could most easily manage, he gave to +them places of honor and emolument in the colony, some being made +collectors, some sheriffs, some justices.[207] The House of Burgesses +was entirely corrupted, and so far from seeking to defend the rights +of the people they represented, they proved willing instruments to the +governor in his attempt to establish absolute power.[208] Nor could +the colony correct this evil by returning to the Assembly new +burgesses, for Berkeley would not permit an election, and having once +won over the House, continued to prorogue it from year to year.[209] +For nine years before Bacon's Rebellion there had been no election of +burgesses. "In this way," complained the commons of Charles City +county, "Berkeley hath soe fortifyed his power over us, as himselfe +without respect to our laws, to doe what soever he best pleased."[210] + +His power over the Council became even more marked. The men composing +this important body looked to the governors for appointment to +lucrative offices and endeavored usually to keep their favor.[211] +Berkeley, more than any other governor, made use of this power over +the Council to make its members submissive to his will. When vacancies +occurred he took pains to appoint none whom he thought would be at all +refractory.[212] Moreover, "he very often discountenanced and placed +his frowns on such as he observed in the least to thrust or cross his +humor, soe that if by chance he had at any time choice of a person of +honor, or conscience, that durst like a noble patriot speake his mind +freely ... such person by some means or other was soone made weary of +coming to councelle, and others overawed from the like boldness."[213] +In making his selections for high offices, Berkeley had recourse at +times to men that had recently settled in the colony, hoping, +doubtless, to secure persons submissive to his will. "It has been the +common practice," it was stated, "to putt persons that are mere +strangers into places of great honor, profitt and trust who unduly +officiating therein, do abuse and wrong the people." These men proved +parasites upon the colony and many enriched themselves at the public +expense. Bacon, in his proclamation, called attention to this evil. +"Wee appeale," he said, "to the country itselfe what and of what +nature their oppressions have bin or by what caball and mistery the +designs of those whom we call great men in authority and favour to +whose hands the dispensation of the countries wealth has been +committed; let us observe the sudden rise of their estates compared +with the quality in which they first entered this country, or the +reputation they have held here amongst wise and discerning men, and +lett us see wither their extraction and education have not bin vile, +and by what pretence of learning and vertue they could soe soon come +into employments of so great trust and consequence ... let us see what +spounges have suckt up the publique treasures, and wither it hath not +bin privately contrived away by unworthy favorites and juggling +parasites whose tottering fortunes have been repaired and supported at +the publique charge." + +These evils were aggravated by excessive taxation. The government at +Jamestown added each year something more to the great burden that the +poor were bearing. With utter recklessness they appropriated large +quantities of tobacco for the repairing of forts, for stores and +ammunition, for the construction of ships, the support of ministers, +the establishment of new industries, the building of towns, and for +other purposes, in addition to the usual expenses of maintaining the +government itself. On all sides the people protested with bitterness. +They declared the taxes excessive and unnecessary, and in more than +one instance the approach of the collectors precipitated a riot. The +fact that much of the money was appropriated, not to the purposes to +which it was intended, but to the private use of individuals, was +galling in the extreme to the poor people of the colony.[214] This +abuse was especially notorious in the fort bill of 1672. The people of +Charles City county declared after the Rebellion that large sums had +been levied "for building and erecting forts which were never finished +but suffered to go to ruine, the artillery buried in sand and spoyled +with rust and want of care, the ammunition imbezzled...." They +complained also of mismanagement and fraud in connection with the +bills passed for fostering manufacture in the colony. "Great +quantities of tobacco have been raised on us," they said, "for +building work houses and stoure houses and other houses for the +propogating and encouragement of handicraft and manufactury ... yet +for want of due care the said houses were never finished or made +useful ... and noe good ever effected ... save the particular profitt +of the undertakers, who (as is usually in such cases) were largely +rewarded for thus defrauding us." + +The expense of maintaining the Assembly itself was very heavy. This +body not only added to the distress of the people by its corrupt and +unwise legislation, but drained their resources by frequent and +extended meetings, the cost of which was defrayed by taxation. The +people of Surry county stated "that ye last Assembly (before the +rebellion) continued many years and by their frequent meeting, being +once every yeare, hath been a continuall charge and burthen to the +poore inhabitants of this collony; and that the burgesses of the said +Assembly had 150lb tobacco p day for each member, they usually +continueing there three or 4 weeks togither, did arise to a great +some." + +This taxation would have been oppressive at any time, but coming as it +did at a period when the colony was suffering severely from the +Navigation Acts, and when the price of tobacco was so low that the +smaller planters could hardly cultivate it with profit, the effect was +crushing. The middle class during this period lost greatly in material +prosperity. Many that had been well-to-do and happy before the +Restoration, were reduced to poverty. + +Politically, however, the evils of this period proved finally to be of +benefit to the middle class, for when their burdens had become +unbearable they rushed to arms and, striking out blindly at their +oppressors, showed in no uncertain way that they would submit no +longer to tyranny and injustice. It is true that Bacon's Rebellion was +put down amid the blood of those that were its chief promoters, but +the fury and horror of that outburst were not forgotten, and never +again did governors or aristocracy drive to despair the commons of the +colony by unjust taxation and arbitrary assumption of all power. +Moreover, the misfortunes that preceded the Rebellion stirred in the +breasts of the poor farmers a feeling of brotherhood, causing them to +realize that their interests were common, and that by common action +alone could they guard their interests. After 1676 we find that the +middle class had become a self-conscious body, watching jealously +every action of the Council or of the governors and resisting with +energy and success all measures that seemed to them detrimental to +their interests. + +The period from 1676 to 1700 was marked by the growth of the middle +class both in material prosperity and in political power. It is true +that the Navigation Acts were still in force and that the price of +tobacco continued for a while so low that little profit could be made +from it, but the people were no longer so dependent on the plant as in +former times. The poor farmers had been forced by absolute necessity +to produce upon their own estates nearly all the articles necessary +for their maintenance and comfort, and could no longer be put so +completely at the mercy of the English merchants. Although the +attempts of the Assembly to establish public industries proved futile, +the end that had been held in view was in some measure attained by the +petty manufacture upon the little plantations. The farmers' wives +became expert spinners and weavers and supplied themselves and their +husbands with coarse cloth sufficient for their humble needs. By +planting less tobacco and more corn they could be sure of a plentiful +supply of bread, while their cattle and hogs furnished them with milk +and meat. The planting of apple or peach trees assured them not only +fruit in abundance, but made it possible for them to make cider or +brandy that were excellent substitutes for imported liquors. Their +furniture could be fashioned with their own hands, while, except in +rare cases, even household utensils might be made upon the farm. Thus +the small farmer to some extent prospered. + +Before the end of the 17th century it was rare indeed to find freemen +in the colony living in poverty. There were none whose condition was +at all comparable for misery and want to the vast body of paupers that +crowded the English cities and eked out an existence as laborers upon +the farms. Robert Beverley, who wrote in 1705, called Virginia the +best poor man's country in the world. He declared that the real poor +class was very small, and even these were not servile.[215] As early +as 1664 Lord Baltimore had written that it was evident and known that +such as were industrious were not destitute. Although this was +certainly an exaggeration, when applied to the period succeeding the +Restoration, it became strictly true after Bacon's Rebellion, when the +people were no longer oppressed with burdensome taxation. Hugh Jones, +writing during Governor Spotswood's administration, stated that the +common planters lived in "pretty timber houses, neater than the farm +houses are generally in England."[216] "They are such lovers of +riding," he adds, "that almost every ordinary person keeps a horse." +So favorable were the conditions in which the small farmers found +themselves that a fair degree of prosperity was often obtained by them +even though they were lacking in industry. Hugh Jones says, "The +common planters leading easy lives don't much admire labour, except +horse-racing, nor diversion except cock-fighting, in which some +greatly delight. This easy way of living, and the heat of the summer +makes some very lazy, who are said to be climate-struck." + +The fourth period in the development of the middle class extends from +1700 to the Revolution. It is marked by a split in the class, some of +the small planters becoming wealthy, others failing to advance in +prosperity, while still others degenerated, falling into abject +poverty. This was almost entirely the result of the substitution of +slave labor for the labor of the indentured servant. The importation +of negroes had begun early in the 17th century, but for many years +their numbers were so few that the vast bulk of the work in the fields +had been performed by white men. In 1625 there were about 465 white +servants in Virginia and only 22 negroes.[217] In 1649, when the +population of the colony was 15,000, there were but 300 slaves.[218] +In 1671, Governor Berkeley stated that there were only 2,000 slaves in +Virginia, although the population was at that date about 40,000.[219] +Near the end of the century, the number of negroes brought to the +colony increased very much. The Royal African Company, which had +obtained the exclusive right to trade in slaves with the English +possessions, stimulated this human traffic to such an extent that +negroes were soon found in every part of Virginia. By the year 1700 +the number of slaves was about 6,000.[220] The negroes proved more +suited to the needs of the planters than the white servants, for they +served for life, were docile and easy to manage, stood well the +unhealthful conditions in the tobacco fields, and, most important of +all, they cheapened vastly the cost of production. The wealthy +planters who had for so many years been limited in the amount of land +they could place under cultivation by the number of servants they +could procure, now found it possible to extend the scope of their +operations. Before the end of the century such men as Byrd and Carter +and Fitzhugh owned scores of slaves. It was this circumstance more +than any thing else that accounts for the increased prosperity of the +colony which is so noticeable during the first quarter of the 18th +century.[221] + +The more prosperous and capable members of the middle class shared to +some extent the benefits resulting from negro labor. Many that had +been unable to secure servants now bought slaves and thus were able to +increase very much the output of their plantations. The shortness of +the time that the servants served, the great cost of transporting them +to the colony and the risk of losing them by death or by flight, had +made it impossible for the small farmers to use them in cultivating +their fields. Since negro labor was not attended with these +objections, many planters of humble means bought slaves and at one +step placed themselves above the class of those that trusted to their +own exertions in the tilling of their fields. When once a start had +been made, the advance of their prosperity was limited only by the +extent of their ability and industry. Some became quite wealthy. +Smythe, writing in 1773, stated that many of them formed fortunes +superior to some of the first rank, despite the fact that their +families were not ancient or so respectable. + +Those members of the middle class who were unable, through poverty or +incapacity, to share the prosperity of the early years of the 18th +century were injured by the general use of slave labor in the colony. +Since they could not purchase negroes, they were in a sense thrown +into competition with them. The enormous increase in the production of +tobacco brought down the price and made their single exertions less +and less profitable. They were deprived of the privilege of working +for wages, for no freeman could toil side by side with negroes, and +retain anything of self-respect. Thus after the year 1700, the class +of very poor whites became larger, and their depravity more +pronounced.[222] A Frenchman, travelling in Virginia at the time of +the Revolution, testified that the condition of many white families +was pitiful. "It is there," he said, "that I saw poor people for the +first time since crossing the ocean. In truth, among these rich +plantations, where the negro alone is unhappy, are often found +miserable huts, inhabited by whites, whose wan faces and ragged +clothes give testimony of their poverty."[223] It is certain that this +class was never large, however, for those that were possessed of the +least trace of energy or ambition could move to the frontier and start +life again on more equal terms. Smythe says that the real poor class +in Virginia was less than anywhere else in the world. + +The introduction of slavery into the colony affected far more +profoundly the character of the middle class farmer than it did that +of the aristocrat. The indentured servants, upon whose labor the +wealthy planters had relied for so many years, were practically +slaves, being bound to the soil and forced to obey implicitly those +whom they served. The influence that their possession exerted in +moulding the character of the aristocracy was practically the same as +that of the negro slave. Both tended to instil into the master pride +and the power of command. Since, however, but few members of the small +farmer class at any time made use of servant labor, their character +was not thus affected by them. Moreover, the fact that so many +servants, after the expiration of their term of indenture, entered +this class, tended to humble the poor planters, for they realized +always the existence of a bond of fellowship between themselves and +the field laborers. When the negro slave had supplanted the indentured +servant upon the plantations of the colony a vast change took place in +the pride of the middle class. Every white man, no matter how poor he +was, no matter how degraded, could now feel a pride in his race. +Around him on all sides were those whom he felt to be beneath him, and +this alone instilled into him a certain self-respect. Moreover, the +immediate control of the negroes fell almost entirely into the hands +of white men of humble means, for it was they, acting as overseers +upon the large plantations, that directed their labors in the tobacco +fields. This also tended to give to them an arrogance that was +entirely foreign to their nature in the 17th century. All +contemporaneous writers, in describing the character of the middle +class in the 18th century, agree that their pride and independence +were extraordinary. Smythe says, "They are generous, friendly, and +hospitable in the extreme; but mixed with such an appearance of +rudeness, ferocity and haughtiness, which is, in fact, only a want of +polish, occasioned by their deficiencies in education and in knowledge +of mankind, as well as their general intercourse with slaves." +Beverley spoke of them as being haughty and jealous of their +liberties, and so impatient of restraint that they could hardly bear +the thought of being controlled by any superior power. Hugh Jones, +John Davis and Anbury also describe at length the pride of the middle +class in this century. + +Thus was the middle class, throughout the entire colonial period, +forming and developing. From out the host of humble settlers, the +overflow of England, there emerged that body of small planters in +Virginia, that formed the real strength of the colony. The poor +laborer, the hunted debtor, the captive rebel, the criminal had now +thrown aside their old characters and become well-to-do and respected +citizens. They had been made over--had been created anew by the +economic conditions in which they found themselves, as filthy rags are +purified and changed into white paper in the hands of the +manufacturer. The relentless law of the survival of the fittest worked +upon them with telling force and thousands that could not stand the +severe test imposed upon them by conditions in the New World succumbed +to the fever of the tobacco fields, or quitted the colony, leaving to +stronger and better hands the upbuilding of the middle class. On the +other hand, the fertility of the soil, the cheapness of land, the +ready sale of tobacco combined to make possible for all that survived, +a degree of prosperity unknown to them in England. And if for one +short period, the selfishness of the English government, the ambition +of the governor of the colony and the greed of the controlling class +checked the progress of the commons, the people soon asserted their +rights in open rebellion, and insured for themselves a share in the +government and a chance to work out their own destiny, untrammelled by +injustice and oppression. At the outbreak of the Revolution, the +middle class was a numerous, intelligent and prosperous body, far +superior to the mass of lowly immigrants from which it sprang. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[139] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. II, p. +164. + +[140] Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 17 and 18; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. +I, p. 597. + +[141] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, pp. +26 and 34; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 599-600. + +[142] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, pp. +162-164. + +[143] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. I, p. 51. + +[144] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, pp. +130 and 138. + +[145] Force, Vol. III. + +[146] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, p. +12. + +[147] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 286. + +[148] Bruce, Soc. Life of Va., p. 17; Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. IX, p. +61. + +[149] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 576-584. + +[150] Force, Vol. III, Orders and Constitutions, p. 22. + +[151] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII, p. 191. + +[152] Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 75. + +[153] Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 251. + +[154] Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 251. + +[155] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 378, 477 and 480. + +[156] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI, p. 251. + +[157] Ibid., Vol. VII, p. 441. + +[158] Sainsbury Abstracts, year 1638, p. 8. + +[159] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI. + +[160] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, p. +92. + +[161] Neill, Virginia Carolorum. + +[162] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II. + +[163] Virginia Hist. Register, Vol. I, p. 63. + +[164] Neill, Virginia Carolorum; Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 510. + +[165] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 510. + +[166] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 576-584. + +[167] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 573. + +[168] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 574. + +[169] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 574. + +[170] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 608. + +[171] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 609. + +[172] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 610. + +[173] Beverley, Hist. of Va., p. 57. + +[174] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 611. + +[175] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 510. + +[176] Strachey's Historie of Travaile into Va., p. 63. + +[177] Percy's Discourse, p. lxxii. + +[178] Narratives of Early Va., pp. 21 and 22. + +[179] Ibid., p. 200. + +[180] Ibid., p. 220. + +[181] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. II, p. +171. + +[182] Neill, Va. Carolorum. + +[183] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II. + +[184] Force, Historical Tracts, Vol. II, New Albion. + +[185] Ibid., p. 5. + +[186] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 7. + +[187] Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 41 and 42; Jones' Va. + +[188] Bassett, Writings of Wm. Byrd, p. 47. + +[189] Ibid., pp. 75 and 76. + +[190] It is not to be supposed that these people are the ancestors of +the eastern North Carolians of today. As they were cast off by society +in Virginia, so were they crowded west by the influx of more +industrious settlers in their new home and their descendants are at +present to be found in the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies. + +[191] Neill, Va. Carolorum. + +[192] Neill, Va. Carolorum; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. II, p. 45. + +[193] Neill, Va. Carolorum; Force, Historical Tracts, Vol. III; Bruce, +Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, p. 45. + +[194] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, p. 47. + +[195] Ibid., p. 118. + +[196] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. I, p. 349. + +[197] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 75. + +[198] Wm. & Mary Quar. + +[199] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 356. + +[200] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 141. + +[201] Sainsbury Abstracts, for 1662, pp. 17 and 19; Bruce, Econ. Hist. +of Va., Vol. I, pp. 389-390-391-392. + +[202] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 393. + +[203] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 238. + +[204] Ibid. + +[205] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 509. + +[206] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II. + +[207] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 59; Vol. III, p. 134. + +[208] The commons of Charles City county said: "Sir William Berkeley, +mindeing and aspiring to a sole and absolute power and command over us +... did take upon him the sole nameing and appointing of other +persons, such as himself best liked and thought fittest for his +purposes." + +[209] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, p. 141. + +[210] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, p. 136. + +[211] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 60. + +[212] Ibid., Vol. III, p. 134. + +[213] Ibid., Vol. III, p. 136. + +[214] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, p. 38; p. 136. + +[215] Beverley's Virginia; Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. VI, p. 9. + +[216] Jones' Virginia. + +[217] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 572. + +[218] Force, Hist. Tracts. + +[219] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 515. + +[220] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, p. 108. + +[221] Jones' Virginia. + +[222] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 189. + +[223] Voyages dans l'Amérique Septentrionale, Vol. II, p. 142; +"C'est-là que, depuis que j'ai passé les mers, j'ai vu pour la +premiere fois des pauvres. En effet, parmi ces riches plantations où +le negre seul est malhereux, on trouve souvent de misérables cabanes +hibitées par des blancs, dont la figure have & l'habillement +déguenillé annoncent la pauvreté." + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + Anbury, Major Thomas.--Travels Through the Interior Parts of + America in a series of Letters. Two Volumes. Printed for + William Lane, Leadenhall Street, London, 1791. Major Anbury was + a British officer who was captured at Saratoga and was brought + south with the Convention Prisoners. He was paroled and had an + opportunity to see much of Virginia. His observations upon the + social life of the state are interesting, although tinged with + prejudice. Viewing life in the New World with the eyes of one + accustomed to the conventional ideas of England his writings + throw light upon conditions in the Old Dominion that cannot be + found in the works of native authors. + + Bagby, George W.--Selections from the Writings of. Whittet and + Shepperson, Richmond, Va., 1884. Two volumes. The articles in + this work touching on Virginia life are well worth the attention + of the historian. Dr. Bagby traveled through many parts of the + state and had an unsurpassed opportunity of becoming acquainted + with this life. The style is pleasing and the stories + entertaining. + + Barton, R.T.--Virginia Colonial Decisions. The Reports by Sir John + Randolph and by Edward Barradall of the Decisions of the General + Court of Virginia, 1728-1741. Two volumes. The Boston Book + Company, Boston. Accompanying the decisions is a prospective + sketch of the contemporaneous conditions during the period + covered and of the lawyers who practiced at the bar of the + General Court in that day. In addition, the first volume + contains an interesting account of the settling of Virginia and + its history in the seventeenth century. Chapters are devoted to + a description of the land, of the people, of the government, of + the church, of the lack of cities, and of education. The chief + value of the work, however, lies in the light that is thrown + upon the history of Virginia during the years between 1728 and + 1741, by the publication of the decisions which were before in + manuscript form and practically inaccessible to the + investigator. + + Bernard, John.--Retrospections of America, 1797-1811. Harper and + Brothers, New York, 1887. One volume. Bernard was famous in his + time as a comedian and one of the earliest American managers of + theatrical companies. He visited Virginia in 1799 and made many + excursions to the homes of the wealthy planters. He thus had an + opportunity to see the inner life of the most refined class of + the state. His descriptions of their manners and morals, their + tastes, their hospitality and their love of out-of-door sports + are interesting and usually accurate. + + Beverley, Robert.--The History and Present State of Virginia, in + Four Parts. Printed for R. Parker, at the Unicorn, under the + Piazza's of the Royal-Exchange, 1705. One volume. The work + consists of an outline of the history of the colony from 1607 to + 1705; of a statement of the natural productions of Virginia; its + industries and its facilities for trade; of an account of the + Indians and a brief summary of the government at the time of + publication. The work is of value chiefly as a description of + Virginia at the beginning of the 18th century. In the account + given of the history of the colony in the earlier days there are + many errors. + + Brown, Alexander.--The Genesis of the United States. Two volumes. + Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York. This work + consists of an account of the movement which resulted in the + founding of Virginia, presented in the form of a series of + documents not before printed, and of rare contemporaneous tracts + reissued for the first time. The author, in a later work, + criticises The Genesis of the United States in the following + words, "I did not fully understand the case myself. I had failed + (as every one else had previously done) to give due + consideration to the influence of imperial politics on the + history of this popular movement. I had also failed to consider + properly the absolute control over the evidences, in print and + in manuscript, possessed by the crown." The chief value of the + work lies in the fact that it presents to the public numerous + historical evidences which were for so many years inaccessible. + + The First Republic in America. One volume. Houghton, Mifflin and + Company, Boston and New York. This work gives an account of the + origin of the nation, written from the records long concealed in + England. It not only is not based on the printed histories of + the day, but expressly repudiates them as false and unjust, and + as written in the interest of the Court Party. Much discredit is + thrown upon the narratives of Capt. John Smith. The author says; + "He never returned there (Virginia) and--if every one else had + done exactly as he did, there would have remained no colonists + in Virginia, but mountains of books in England, conveying + incorrect ideas, and filled with a mass of vanity, 'excellent + criticism' and 'good advice,' amounting really to nothing." In a + later work Mr. Brown says of The First Republic in America; "I + wrote from the point of the Patriot Party. It was the first + effort to restore to our foundation as a nation the inspiring + political features of which it was robbed by those who + controlled the evidences and histories under the crown." + + English Politics in Early Virginia History. One volume. Houghton, + Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York. The book is divided + into five parts. The First Part gives an outline of the efforts + of the "Patriot Party" in England to plant popular government in + America and of the Court Party to prevent. Part Two recites the + effort of the Court to obliterate the true history of the origin + of Virginia. In Part Three the author shows the influence of + politics on the historic record while the crown retained control + of the evidences. Part Four shows what has been done both + towards correcting and to perpetuating the error. In the Fifth + Part is given a review of some of the features of the struggle + of the "Patriot Party" and the Court Party. + + Bruce, Philip Alexander.--Economic History of Virginia in the + Seventeenth Century. Two volumes. Printed by the Macmillan + Company, New York. This work treats of aboriginal Virginia, of + the agricultural development after the coming of the English, + the acquisition of title to land, the system of labor, the + domestic economy of the planters, the part played by + manufactures in the colony, the inconvenience occasioned by the + scarcity of coin. The author has expended much labor in + accumulating a mass of interesting and valuable detail, and the + work is a veritable store house of information which is + invaluable to the historian. There is no attempt made to point + out the relation of the economic history of the time with the + political, religious or social developments that were taking + place in the 17th century. The work is valuable chiefly as a + source book. + + Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. One volume. + Printed for the author by Whittet and Shepperson, Richmond, Va. + In the first portion of this book the author attempts to explain + in some detail the origin of the higher planters in the colony. + A startling array of individual cases are cited to prove the + connection of at least a portion of this class with English + families of education and rank. As usual with the author little + attention is paid to generalizations and he arrives at his + conclusions by induction rather than by deduction. Interesting + chapters are devoted to social distinctions, social spirit, + popular diversions, public and private occasions and duelling. + + Burke, John.--The History of Virginia from its First Settlement to + the Present Day. Four volumes. Published in 1804. The chief + value of this work lies in the fact that it contains a number of + documents of great interest to the historian. Chief among these + is a series of papers relating to the dispute over the + Arlington, Culpeper grant. As a general history of Virginia the + work is antiquated. At the time Burke wrote a large part of the + documents and pamphlets relating to the colony were + inaccessible, and as a result he is compelled to pass over very + important periods with the most cursory mention. + + Burnaby, Andrew.--Travels through the Middle Settlements in North + America in the Years 1759 and 1760; with Observations upon the + State of the Colonies. Printed for T. Payne, at the Mews-Gate, + London, 1798. One volume. Burnaby's criticisms of Virginia + society are less accurate than those of others who have written + on the same subject because his stay in the colony was so brief. + He is by no means sympathetic with the life of the colony, + chiefly because he does not understand it. + + Byrd, William.--The Writings of "Col. William Byrd of Westover in + Virginia Esq." Edited by John Spencer Bassett. One volume. + Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1901. Col. Byrd gives an + interesting picture in this work of the life upon the frontier + of the colony in the first quarter of the 18th century. The + style is flowing and easy, and the author shows a literary + talent unusual in colonial writers. The Introduction by the + editor consists of a sketch of the Byrd family. This is ably + written, and the observations made upon Virginia politics and + life show keen insight into the unique conditions that were + moulding the character of the colony. It is, perhaps, a more + valuable contribution to Virginia history than the writings + which it introduces. + + Campbell, Charles.--History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of + Virginia. One volume. J.B. Lippincott and Company, + Philadelphia, 1860. In his preface the author says: "Her + (Virginia's) documentary history, lying, much of it, scattered + and fragmentary, in part slumbering in the dusty oblivion of + Trans-Atlantic archives, ought to be collected with pious care, + and embalmed in the perpetuity of print." The partial + accomplishment of this task, so urgently advocated by the + author, has rendered his work incomplete and insufficient for + the present day. Upon numerous periods of Virginia history + barely touched by him, a great light has since been thrown by + the unearthing of manuscripts and pamphlets. + + Chastellux, E.J.--Voyages dans l'Amérique Septentrionale. Chez + Prault, Imprimeur du Roi, Paris, 1786. Two volumes. Chastellux + was a Frenchman who visited various parts of America at the time + of the Revolution. His observations upon social life in Virginia + are less prejudiced than those of many of the foreign visitors + to the colony at this period. The work is valuable in that it + gives the impressions made by the higher class in Virginia upon + one used to the refined life of France in the second half of the + 18th century. + + Cooke, John Esten.--Virginia, a History of the People. Houghton, + Mifflin and Company, Boston, 1884. One volume. So many valuable + documents and pamphlets treating of Virginia history have been + made accessible since this work was published, that it is quite + antiquated. In addition, the author has failed to make the best + use of the material at his hands, and there are numberless + errors for which there can be no excuse. One wonders, when + reading the book, whether the author has ever taken the trouble + to glance at Hening's Statutes, for he repeats old mistakes that + were pointed out by Hening one hundred years ago. The style is + entertaining and has given to the work a popularity out of + proportion to its historical worth. + + Dinwiddie, Robert.--The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie. + Introduction and notes by R.A. Brock. Virginia Historical + Society, Richmond, Va., 1883. Two volumes. A large number of + manuscripts of various kinds relating to the administration of + Dinwiddie have been printed for the first time in this work. + Great light is thrown upon Braddock's disasterous expedition and + other important events of the French and Indian War. Dinwiddie's + account of the obstinacy and unreasonable conduct of the + burgesses should be studied in conjunction with the journals of + the House which have recently been published. + + Fiske, John.--Old Virginia and her Neighbors. Two volumes. + Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York, 1897. This + work is written in the delightful and entertaining style so + characteristic of the author, and like Macaulay's History of + England holds the interest of the reader from beginning to end. + Only a portion of the colonial period is covered, and this in a + general and hap-hazard way. The narrative is not equally + sustained throughout, some periods being dwelt upon in much + detail, and others, equally important, passed over with but + cursory mention. Fiske did not have access to many of the + sources of Virginia history, and this led him into repeating + some old errors. + + Fithian, Philip Vickers.--Journal and Letters, 1767-1774. Edited + for the Princeton Historical Association, by John Rogers + Williams. One volume. Fithian was tutor at Nomini Hall, the home + of Col. Robert Carter, during the years 1773 and 1774. His + observations upon the life in the midst of which he was thrown, + the life of the highest class of Virginians, are intensely + interesting and very instructive. The author was a young + theologian, who had received his education at Princeton, and who + seemed strangely out of place in the gay society of aristocratic + Westmoreland. For this very reason, however, his journal and + letters are interesting, for he dwells with especial emphasis + upon what was new or strange to him and has thus unconsciously + given an excellent account of all that was unique or distinctive + in the Virginia aristocracy. + + Force, Peter.--Tracts and other Papers, Relating Principally to + the Origin, Settlement and Progress of the Colonies in North + America. Printed in 1836. Four volumes. By the preservation of + these valuable documents Mr. Force has done a great service to + the history of the colony of Virginia. The papers relating to + Bacon's Rebellion are of especial interest, while Virginia's + Cure, A Description of New Albion and Leah and Rachel are hardly + less important. + + Goodwin, Maud Wilder.--The Colonial Cavalier or Southern Life + before the Revolution. Lowell, Coryell and Company, New York, + 1894. One volume. This little work is well written and is in the + main accurate. It offers an interesting picture of the Southern + planter and the unique life that he led in the second half of + the 18th century. + + Hening, W.W.--The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of all the + Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in + the Year 1619. In thirteen volumes covering the period up to + October, 1792. In 1836 Samuel Shepherd published three more + volumes, covering the period from 1792 to 1806. In addition to + the collection of laws the work contains many historical + documents of great value. The Statutes at Large are invaluable + to the student of Virginia history and they throw much light + upon periods otherwise obscured in gloom. It is to Hening + chiefly that the historian is indebted for his knowledge of the + years covered by the first administration of Sir William + Berkeley, while his information of what occurred during the + Commonwealth Period would be slight indeed without The Statutes + at Large. Since the Journals of the House of Burgesses have been + copied, and thus made available to the investigator, the work is + not so indispensable for some periods, but it constitutes a + valuable adjunct to these papers and no historian can afford to + neglect them. The work shows throughout the greatest care even + in the minutest details and will remain a monument to the + indefatigable energy and patience of Mr. Hening. + + Howe, Henry.--Historical Collections of Virginia; containing a + collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, + biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its history + and antiquaries, etc. One volume. Published by Babcock and + Company, 1845. In his preface the author says: "The primary + object of the following pages is to narrate the most prominent + events in the history of Virginia, and to give a geographical + and statistical view of her present condition." In accomplishing + the latter of these tasks Mr. Howe has done a real and lasting + service to the history of the state. His description of the + various counties in 1843 and the life of their people was the + fruit of personal observation and as a consequence is usually + accurate and trustworthy. + + Howison, Robert R.--A History of Virginia, from its Discovery and + Settlement by Europeans to the Present Time. Two Volumes. Carey + and Hart, Philadelphia, 1846. The preface of the work has the + following: "In writing the Colonial History, the author has + endeavored to draw from the purest fountains of light the rays + which he has sought to shed upon his subject." And throughout + the book there is abundant evidence to show that Mr. Howison had + studied the sources of Virginia history then available and had + picked out as best he could the truth whenever his authorities + differed. So much has been learned of the events he treats since + 1846, however, that his work is today of little value. + + Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political + Science. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore. A number of these + studies touch upon colonial Virginia history and they have done + much in bringing order out of the mass of facts to be found in + old books, in documents and in journals. Some of the papers are: + Justice in Colonial Virginia, O.P. Chitwood; History of Suffrage + in Virginia, J.A.C. Chandler; Representation in Virginia, J.A.C. + Chandler; White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia, H.R. + McIlwaine, and Virginia Local Institutions, Edward Ingle. + + Jones, Hugh.--The Present State of Virginia. Printed for J. Clark, + at the Bible under the Royal-Exchange, 1724. Reprinted for + Joseph Sabin, New York. This work gives an entertaining and + valuable picture of Virginia during the administration of + Governor Spotswood. Those chapters are most useful which treat + of the pursuits, the religion, the manners and the government + of the colonists. The descriptions given are drawn largely from + the personal observations of the author. This, together with the + sincere and straightforward manner in which the book is written, + leaves the impression of accuracy and trustworthiness. + + Journals of the Council of Virginia as Upper House. Manuscript + copies made of incomplete records in the State Library at + Richmond, in the Library of the Virginia Historical Society. + Arranged in three volumes as follows: I, 1685-1720; II, + 1722-1747; III, 1748-1767. These journals are by no means so + important as those of the House of Burgesses. They are devoted + quite largely to routine matters and reflect but little of the + political life of the colony. The historian, if he gives careful + study to their pages, will be rewarded by passages here and + there which draw aside the veil, and give fleeting pictures of + the strife between the Council and the Burgesses. + + Journals of the House of Burgesses.--In the State Library. Session + of 1619; manuscript copies of sessions from 1680 to 1718, and + from 1748 to 1772. These journals, so many of which have been + buried for centuries in English archives, throw a flood of light + upon the political life of the colony. They constitute by far + the most important source of information upon the long and + tireless struggle of the middle class in Virginia for a share in + the conducting of the government. Something of this, of course, + may be gleaned from the official correspondence of the + governors, but this evidence is partisan in spirit and does + injustice to the commons of Virginia. Hening gives in the main + only bare statutes, and the discussions, the quarrels and the + passions of the sessions are omitted. The journals are to + Hening's work what the living person is to the stone image. It + is a matter of the deepest regret that the journals from 1619 to + 1680 are missing, for they leave a gap in Virginia history that + it is impossible to fill. + + Keith, Sir William.--The History of the British Plantations in + America. Part One contains the History of Virginia. Printed by + S. Richardson, London, 1738. The work is devoted almost entirely + to the colony under the London Company. It contains little of + value, following John Smith's account throughout and presenting + nothing new either of documentary evidence or of criticism. + + Long, Charles M.--Virginia County Names, Two Hundred and Seventy + Years of Virginia History. The Neale Publishing Co., New York. + This little volume throws much light upon the history of + Virginia through the record left in the names of the counties. + The work contains several valuable tables. One of these gives + the governors of Virginia from 1607 to 1908. + + McDonald Papers.--Copies of Papers in Brit. Rec. Office. Virginia + State Library, Richmond. There were seven volumes of these + documents, but two of them have been missing for many years. + Vol. I covers the years from 1619 to 1626; Vol. II from 1627 to + 1640; Vols. III and IV are missing; Vol. V from 1675 to 1681; + Vol. VI from 1681 to 1685; Vol. VII from 1683 to 1695. This + collection contains many papers that are to be found in + Sainsbury, but they are usually more full, being often exact + copies of the originals. In addition there are many papers in + the McDonald collection not to be found elsewhere. + + Maury, Richard L.--The Huguenots in Virginia. Col. Maury in this + work has rendered an important service to Virginia history. On + every page are evidences of the utmost care for truth and the + greatest diligence in reaching it. Col. Maury made, before + writing this book, a thorough study of the sources of Virginia + history and the accuracy of his work reflects this labor. + + Maxwell, William.--The Virginia Historical Register. Printed by + Macfarlane and Ferguson, Richmond. In six volumes. This work is + one of the fruits of the revival of interest in Virginia history + which took place in the two decades preceding the Civil War. It + contains many papers and documents printed for the first time, + and no student of colonial history can afford to neglect it. + + Meade, William.--Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia. + J.B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia. Two volumes. The title + does not indicate all, nor the most valuable part, of the + contents of this work. In addition to giving numerous facts in + regard to the old churches and their ministers and + congregations, the author has presented an ecclesiastical + history of Virginia. The contest of the vestries with the + governors to obtain and to keep control of the church, is + carefully and ably set forth. Also, the relation of this + struggle to the political life of the colony is kept constantly + in sight. The appendix contains several papers relating to + church affairs that are invaluable to the historian. + + Miller, Elmer I.--The Legislature of the Province of Virginia. One + volume. The Columbia University Press. The Macmillan Co., + Agents. This work is but the assembling and arranging of + numerous facts in regard to the General Assembly. It presents no + new thoughts, it teaches no lessons in Virginia history, it + settles none of the old problems, it presents no new ones. + Unfortunately, also, the author did not have access to a large + number of the journals of the House of Burgesses, which, it need + hardly be added, are indispensable for an exhaustive study of + the Assembly. + + Neill, Edward D.--Virginia Vetusta, during the Reign of James I. + Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, 1885. The value of this work lies + in the printing of numerous documents throwing light on the + affairs of the colony under the London Company. Mr. Neill takes + the ground that John Smith's narratives are not to be trusted, + and he has made a long step towards correcting the errors + contained in the works of that writer. + + Virginia Carolorum: The Colony under the Rule of Charles the + First and Second A.D. 1625-A.D. 1685, based upon manuscripts + and documents of the period. Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, 1886. + Mr. Neill has been, with some justice, called the scavenger of + Virginia history. In Virginia Carolorum he has gathered many + papers and documents which are bitterly hostile to the colony, + and represent it in a light far from attractive. As, however, + it is the duty of the historian to present truth, no matter + whether pleasant or disagreeable, this volume is of undoubted + value. Its chief fault lies in the author's failure to point + out the prejudices of some of those writers that are quoted, + thus leaving the reader to give to their statements more weight + than they can justly claim. + + Page, Thomas Nelson.--The Old Dominion her Making and her Manners. + Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1908. This work consists of a + series of essays, in part addresses delivered before various + societies at different times. It is written in the delightful + style for which Dr. Page is so well known and is as entertaining + as Fiske's The Old Dominion and her Neighbors. Perhaps the most + valuable chapter is that devoted to Colonial Life. + + The Old South, Essays Social and Political. Charles Scribner's + Sons, New York, 1892. This work consists of a series of well + written articles upon anti-bellum Virginia. Among these are + Glimpses of Life in Colonial Virginia, The Old Virginia Lawyer, + and the Negro Question. Dr. Page's intimate knowledge of the + life upon the plantation makes him peculiarly well qualified to + write a book of this nature. + + Perry, William Stevens.--Papers Relating to the History of the + Church in Virginia, 1650-1776. Printed in 1870. One volume. This + collection of manuscripts is invaluable to the historian. Some + of the papers have been preserved in other works, but many are + to be had here only. The documents relating to the controversy + between the vestries and the governors for control of the + appointing of ministers are of great importance. Not only do + these papers give much information upon the ecclesiastical + history of the colony, but they throw light that cannot be + gotten elsewhere upon political conditions. + + Sainsbury, Noel W.--Papers. Twenty manuscript volumes in the + Virginia State Library. These papers are chiefly copies in + abstract of the official correspondence of the home government, + and the governors and secretaries of Virginia. They cover the + long period from the founding of the colony until the year 1730. + The letters of the governors to the Lords of Trade and + Plantations are often quite frank and give the student an + insight into their purposes and their methods that can be gained + from no other source. They should be studied in connection with + the Journals of the House of Burgesses, for they will make clear + many points that are purposely left obscure in the transactions + of the Assembly. It is a matter for regret that the papers are + but abstracts and the State of Virginia should have exact copies + made of the originals. + + Sale, Edith Tunis.--Manors of Virginia in Colonial Times. One + volume. J.B. Lippincott Co., 1909. This work contains accounts + of no less than twenty-four manors, including in the list + Shirley, Westover, Brandon, Rosewell, Monticello, Gunston Hall, + etc. The descriptions of the houses are made more vivid and + entertaining by sketches of the families that occupied them. The + volume is rich in illustrations. + + Smith, Capt. John.--Works of, edited by Edward Arber. On Montague + Road, Birmingham, England, 1884. Capt. Smith's account of the + settling of Jamestown and the struggle of the colonists there + was for many years accepted without cavil by historians. His + story of his own heroism and of the wickedness of his colleagues + has been embodied in almost every American school history. Mr. + Charles Dean, in 1860, was the first to question Smith's + veracity, and since that date many historians have taken the + ground that his works are quite unreliable. Alexander Brown has + contended that his account of Virginia was purposely falsified + to further the designs of the Court Party during the reign of + James I. The discovery of numerous documents relating to the + years covered by Smith's histories, and the application of + historical criticism to his work, cannot but incline the student + to distrust much that he has written. + + Spotswood, Alexander.--The Official Letters of. Edited by R.A. + Brock. Virginia Historical Society. Two volumes. These letters + are of great value, for they touch upon the most important + events of Spotwood's administration. They present, of course, + the governor's views upon public matters, and must be studied in + conjunction with other evidence for a just understanding of the + times. This, fortunately, is to be had in various manuscripts, + in the Journals of the House of Burgesses, the Journals of the + Council and in scattered papers, some of which have been + printed. + + Stanard, Mary Newton.--The Story of Bacon's Rebellion. The Neale + Publishing Co., 1907. One volume. The authoress has had before + her in this work the general interest that attaches to the + picturesque subject and has written in a light and pleasing + style, No deep analysis of the causes and results of the + Rebellion are given, but the reader has the feeling throughout + that the facts presented have been gathered with great care and + that the narrative is as accurate as labor and research can make + it. + + Stanard, William G. and Mary Newton.--The Colonial Virginia + Register. Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, 1902. This work contains + the names of the Governors of Virginia in the Colonial Period, + the Secretaries of State, the Auditors General, the Receivers + General, the Treasurers, the Attorneys General, the Surveyors + General, the Council members, the members of the House of + Burgesses and the members of the Conventions of 1775 and 1776. + + Stith, William.--The History of the First Discovery and Settlement + of Virginia. William Parks, Williamsburg, 1747. Stith had in the + preparation of this work access to some manuscripts which are + not now in existence. For this reason the work will retain a + certain value as a source book of Virginia history. In the main, + however, he follows Smith's story with servility, for it did not + occur to him that much of the latter was not trustworthy. Stith + takes his history no further than the year 1624. + + The Lower Norfolk County Virginia Antiquary. Press of the + Friedenwald Co., Baltimore. Five volumes. This magazine has + rendered a true service to Virginia history by publishing many + valuable documents hitherto hidden or inaccessible. These papers + touch Virginia life in the Colonial Period in many phases and + throw light on points hitherto obscure or misunderstood. + + The Southern Literary Messenger.--In 1845 and in the years + immediately following, this magazine, stimulated by the great + interest that was being shown in Virginia history at that time, + published a number of documents and articles relating to + colonial times. Among these is a reproduction of John Smith's + True Relation; papers relating to Sir William Berkeley, + contributed by Peter Force; and an account of the General + Assembly of 1715. + + The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.--Published by the + Virginia Historical Society. Seventeen volumes. The wealth of + material contained in these volumes can hardly be estimated. + Countless papers, formerly scattered abroad, or hidden in the + musty archives of libraries, have been published and rendered + accessible to the historian. So vastly important are they that + no account of colonial Virginia, no matter of what period, can + afford to neglect them. They touch every phase of the life of + the colony, political, social, economic and religious. Much + space has been given to biography. From the standpoint of the + constructive historian it is to be regretted that the magazine + has devoted so little of its space to short articles culling and + arranging and rendering more serviceable the facts published in + documentary form. But the magazine has done and is still doing a + work of vast importance in collecting and preserving historical + material. + + Tyler, Lyon G.--Narratives of Early Virginia, 1606-1625. Charles + Scribner's Sons. One volume. This work includes many important + and interesting papers of the period of the London Company. + Selections are made from Capt. John Smith's works. Among the + papers given are Observations by Master Geo. Percy; The Relation + of the Lord De-La-Ware; Letter of Don Diego de Molina; Letter of + Father Pierre Biard; Letter of John Rolfe; and The Virginia + Planters' Answer to Capt. Butler. + + Williamsburg, the Old Colonial Capital. Whittet and + Shepperson, Richmond. An account is given of the settlement + and history of the town. This is followed by a brief + description of Bruton church and its ministers and by a long + chapter on the college. Other chapters are devoted to the + capitol, the governors' house, the State prison, the powder + magazine, the theatre, the Raleigh Tavern, the printing + office, the jail, the courthouses, the hospital for the + insane, etc. + + The Cradle of the Republic: Jamestown and James River. Whittet + and Shepperson, Richmond. The author has described carefully + and minutely the village, locating, when possible, public + buildings and the homes of the inhabitants. The last chapter + is devoted to the places along the river and interesting + accounts are given of their origin and their history. + + Virginia Historical Society.--Abstract of the Proceedings of the + Virginia Company of London, 1619-1624, prepared from the + records in the Library of Congress by Conway Robinson and + edited by R.A. Brock. Two volumes. Since the infant colony at + Jamestown was so intimately connected with the great company + which gave it life that the one cannot be understood without a + knowledge of the other, this publication of the proceedings of + the company is of great importance to a correct understanding + of early Virginia history. + + Miscellaneous Papers. Edited by R.A. Brock, 1887. On volume. + This collection contains the Charter of the Royal African + Company; A Report on the Huguenot Settlement, 1700; Papers of + Geo. Gilmer, of Pen Park; and other valuable papers. + + Proceedings of the Society at the Annual Meeting Held in 1891, + with Historical Papers Read on the Occasion, and Others. Edited + by R.A. Brock. One Volume. + + William and Mary Quarterly.--Edited by Dr. Lyon G. Tyler. + Williamsburg, Va. Seventeen volumes. This magazine is devoted to + the history of Virginia and has published numerous papers + relating to that subject. Great space has been devoted to + biography and much light has been thrown upon the ancestry of + scores of families. Of great value are a number of articles + giving in condensed and clear form the results of study of the + new material brought forth. Thus there is a paper upon Education + in Colonial Virginia, another on Colonial Libraries, etc. The + magazine, like the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, + has rendered an invaluable service to Virginia history. + + * * * * * + + + + + Thomas J. Wertenbaker was born at Charlottesville, Va., Feb. + 6, 1879. After receiving his primary education at private + schools he entered Jones' University School. Later he attended + the Charlottesville Public High School. In the fall of 1896 he + entered the Academic Department of the University of Virginia, + where he remained as a student until 1900. During the session + of 1900-1901, he taught at St. Matthew's School, of Dobbs + Ferry, N.Y. In September, 1901, he re-entered the University + of Virginia and in 1902 received the degrees of Bachelor of + Arts and Master of Arts. For some years after this he was + engaged in newspaper work, being editor of the Charlottesville + Morning News and editor on the Baltimore News. In the fall of + 1906 he re-entered the University of Virginia as a graduate + student. In 1907 he was elected Associate Professor of History + and Economics at the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College + and filled that position for two sessions. In 1909 he was made + Instructor of History at the University of Virginia and once + more matriculated in the Graduate Department of that + institution. He is a member of the American Historical + Association and the Virginia Historical Society and is the + author of several historical articles and essays. + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page vi: dependance replaced with dependence | + | Page 11: usuall replaced with usually | + | Page 61: neuclus replaced with nucleus | + | Page 92: styllyards replaced with stillyards | + | Page 93: 'They were neither better not worse' | + | replaced with | + | 'They were neither better nor worse' | + | Page 99: 'an act of private dishonesty of injustice' | + | replaced with | + | 'an act of private dishonesty or injustice' | + | Page 104: leardership replaced with leadership | + | Page 119: mahogony replaced with mahogany | + | Page 124: waiscoat replaced with waistcoat | + | Page 126: Ecclesastical replaced with Ecclesiastical | + | Page 137: 200 pound replaced with 200 pounds | + | Page 139: 'he owned as much as £5,561 to two English | + | merchants' replaced with 'he owed as much as | + | £5,561 to two English merchants' | + | Page 143: govenmental replaced with governmental | + | Page 198: 'he though he could' replaced with | + | 'he thought he could' | + | Page 230: Munsel's replaced with Munsell's | + | Page 118: (fn) l'Amerique replaced with l'Amérique | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Patrician and Plebeian, by Thomas J. 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