Volume 46

GIVE ME LIBERTY

The Struggle for Self-Government in Virginia

THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER Edwards Professor Emeritus of American History Princeton University

THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY INDEPENDENCE SQUARE PHILADELPHIA 1958

COPYRIGHT 1958 BY THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 58-9093

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY J. H. FURST COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Preface

None of the American colonies "will ever submit to the loss of those valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the happiness of every free state," George Washington wrote in October, 1774. Perhaps the British officer to whom he made this statement was startled to have him speak of the colonies as free. Yet at the time the American people were the freest in the world, freer even than the people of England. It was to defend this freedom, not to gain new rights, that the colonists rebelled against Great Britain. For decades they had been governing themselves, so when the British Ministry tried to govern them from London, they would not submit.

To understand what was in the minds and hearts of George Washington, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and the other patriots, it is necessary to know how the colonies became self-governing. One must follow the political battles and hard-earned victories of their fathers, and grandfathers, and great-grandfathers in the colonial Assemblies.

This volume treats of the struggle for self-government in Virginia from the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the Declaration of Independence. The story of the gradual lessening of the King's prerogative, of the weakening of the power of the Governor, of the emergence of the Assembly as the ruling body could be paralleled in other colonies. But it is of especial importance in Virginia, where was held the first representative Assembly in the New World, and which gave so many leaders to the American Revolution.

I wish to express my appreciation to my Alma Mater, the University of Virginia, for its award of a Thomas Jefferson Research Fellowship, without which this volume would not have been written.

THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER.

Princeton, N. J. April 1, 1957.

Contents

PAGE

I. The Cornerstone of Liberty 1

II. Self-government 17

III. We Prefer Another Governor 36

IV. Royalty Overthrown 54

V. A Bacon! A Bacon! 76

VI. Reconstruction and Despotism 97

VII. The Glorious Revolution 122

VIII. The Virginia Hitler 133

IX. The Virginia House of Lords 151

X. Spotswood 160

XI. Peace and Prosperity 177

XII. At Stake--Liberty and a Continent 194

XIII. The Widening Rift 209

XIV. Independence 232

Essay on Sources 258

Index 265

Illustrations

Thomas Jefferson. Portrait by Thomas Sully in the Hall of the American Philosophical Society frontispiece

The Old Capitol at Williamsburg, showing the north elevation which is a duplicate of the historic Virginia Capitol originally completed in 1705. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. facing page 134

The House of Burgesses in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. 134

Governor Dinwiddie. Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery of London 196

The General Court in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. 196

Lord Dunmore. From the copy in the possession of the Virginia Historical Society of the original portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds 238

The Governor's Palace, Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. 238