http://encyclopediavirginia.org http://encyclopediavirginia.org/img/EV_Logo_sm.gif This is the url http://encyclopediavirginia.org The first and ultimate online reference work about the Commonwealth /Dyer_Carrie_Victoria_1839-1921 Fri, 17 May 2013 09:28:11 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Dyer_Carrie_Victoria_1839-1921 Fri, 17 May 2013 09:28:11 EST]]> /Fay_Lydia_Mary_ca_1804-1878 Fri, 17 May 2013 09:22:26 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Fay_Lydia_Mary_ca_1804-1878 Fri, 17 May 2013 09:22:26 EST]]> /Atwell_Joseph_Sandiford_1831-1881 Thu, 09 May 2013 16:36:50 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Atwell_Joseph_Sandiford_1831-1881 Thu, 09 May 2013 16:36:50 EST]]> /Browne_William_Washington_1849-1897 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:40:47 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Browne_William_Washington_1849-1897 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:40:47 EST]]> /Clayton_John_1656_or_1657-1725 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:40:40 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Clayton_John_1656_or_1657-1725 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:40:40 EST]]> /Dawson_Thomas_1715-1760 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:12:44 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Dawson_Thomas_1715-1760 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:12:44 EST]]> /Davies_Samuel_1723-1761 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:04:14 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Davies_Samuel_1723-1761 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:04:14 EST]]> /Dabney_Robert_Lewis_1820-1898 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:42:16 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Dabney_Robert_Lewis_1820-1898 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:42:16 EST]]> /Carter_Robert_1728-1804 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:14:13 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Carter_Robert_1728-1804 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:14:13 EST]]> /Bucke_Richard_1581_or_1582-ca_1624 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:51:33 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Bucke_Richard_1581_or_1582-ca_1624 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:51:33 EST]]> /Blair_James_ca_1655-1743 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:34:17 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Blair_James_ca_1655-1743 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:34:17 EST]]> /Andros_Sir_Edmund_1637-ca_1714 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:36:53 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Andros_Sir_Edmund_1637-ca_1714 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:36:53 EST]]> /Inter_caetera_by_Pope_Alexander_VI_May_4_1493 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:56:28 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Inter_caetera_by_Pope_Alexander_VI_May_4_1493 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:56:28 EST]]> /El_Requerimiento_by_Juan_Lopez_de_Palacios_Rubios_1513 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:37:54 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/El_Requerimiento_by_Juan_Lopez_de_Palacios_Rubios_1513 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:37:54 EST]]> /Custalow_George_F_Thunder_Cloud_1865-1949 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:26:08 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Custalow_George_F_Thunder_Cloud_1865-1949 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:26:08 EST]]> /Charlottesville_During_the_Civil_War Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:17:07 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Charlottesville_During_the_Civil_War Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:17:07 EST]]> /Religion_in_Early_Virginia_Indian_Society Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:42:03 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Religion_in_Early_Virginia_Indian_Society Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:42:03 EST]]> /Witchcraft_in_Colonial_Virginia Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:58:11 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Witchcraft_in_Colonial_Virginia Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:58:11 EST]]> /Church_of_England_in_Virginia Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:05:19 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Church_of_England_in_Virginia Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:05:19 EST]]> /Puritans_in_Colonial_Virginia Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:01:08 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Puritans_in_Colonial_Virginia Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:01:08 EST]]> /Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_John_Adams_October_12_1813 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 13:13:21 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_John_Adams_October_12_1813 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 13:13:21 EST]]> /Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_Dr_Joseph_Priestley_April_9_1803 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:53:14 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_Dr_Joseph_Priestley_April_9_1803 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:53:14 EST]]> /Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_Ezra_Styles_June_25_1819 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:06:00 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_Ezra_Styles_June_25_1819 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:06:00 EST]]> /Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_John_Adams_May_5_1817 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:40:24 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_John_Adams_May_5_1817 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:40:24 EST]]> /Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_the_Danbury_Baptist_Association_January_1_1802 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:32:21 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_the_Danbury_Baptist_Association_January_1_1802 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:32:21 EST]]> /Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_Peter_Carr_August_10_1787 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:51:47 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_Peter_Carr_August_10_1787 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:51:47 EST]]> /Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_John_Page_May_4_1786 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:29:42 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Thomas_Jefferson_to_John_Page_May_4_1786 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:29:42 EST]]> /Jefferson_Thomas_and_Religion Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:27:23 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Jefferson_Thomas_and_Religion Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:27:23 EST]]> /Methodists_in_Early_Virginia Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:37:08 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Methodists_in_Early_Virginia Methodists had only a small presence in Virginia at the beginning of the American Revolution (1775–1783), but by the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865) they had become, along with the Baptists, one of the state's dominant denominations. Organized at the University of Oxford in the 1730s by John Wesley and a group of fellow students, Methodism came to Virginia in the mid-1700s. Robert Williams arrived in the colony in 1772 and soon formed Virginia's first Methodist circuit. The Brunswick Circuit, as it was called, hosted major revivals in 1775–1776, a time in which the colony's Methodist population almost doubled. Following John Wesley's lead, many Methodists were antislavery and, during the Revolution, loyal to the British government. In 1784, the group formed its own national church, the American Methodist Episcopal Church, and a second major revival occurred in Virginia from 1785 until 1788. Thousands of converts were won over by the promise of forgiveness of sins and a style of worship that emphasized trances, dreams, visions, and bodily movement. By the time of the Second Great Awakening, the Methodists, although still hosting revivals in Virginia, had become more politically and socially mainstream. Their presence transformed Virginia religion, however, by helping to usher in an era free from state-sponsored religion.
Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:37:08 EST]]> /Virginia_Statute_for_Establishing_Religious_Freedom_1786 Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:30:30 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Virginia_Statute_for_Establishing_Religious_Freedom_1786 The Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom was drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the General Assembly on January 16, 1786, before being signed into law three days later. The statute affirms the rights of Virginians to choose their faiths without coercion; separates church and state; and, while acknowledging the right of future assemblies to change the law, concludes that doing so would "be an infringement of a natural right." Jefferson's original bill "for establishing religious freedom," drafted in 1777 and introduced in 1779, was tabled in the face of opposition among powerful members of the established Church of England. Then, in 1784, a resolution calling for a tax to support all Christian sects excited such opposition that James Madison saw an opportunity to reintroduce Jefferson's bill. It passed both houses of the General Assembly with minimal changes to its text. One of the most eloquent statements of religious freedom ever written, the statute influenced both the drafting of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the United States Supreme Court's understanding of religious freedom. Jefferson considered it one of his crowning achievements and a necessary bulwark against tyranny.
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:30:30 EST]]> /Corprew_E_G_ca_1830-1881 Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:07:31 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Corprew_E_G_ca_1830-1881 E. G. Corprew was an African American pastor who, during the American Civil War (1861–1865), lobbied for emancipation in Virginia. He was a missionary for the American Baptist Home Mission Society and may also have served in the 1st United States Colored Cavalry, although the historical evidence is ambiguous. Following the war, Corprew became pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Virginia, and moderated the Colored Shiloh Baptist Association, the state's largest and most important black Baptist association.
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:07:31 EST]]> /Colored_Shiloh_Baptist_Association Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:05:19 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Colored_Shiloh_Baptist_Association The Colored Shiloh Baptist Association was a union of individual black congregations in central Virginia formed on August 11, 1865, just after the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865). A similar association had been formed in Norfolk the year before, but the Richmond-based Colored Shiloh Baptist Association was soon larger and more influential, with both groups helping to provide blacks the opportunity to worship on their own terms.
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:05:19 EST]]> /Jacob_Rowe_Sanctioned_in_Debate_over_Two_Penny_Bill_1758 Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:27:48 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Jacob_Rowe_Sanctioned_in_Debate_over_Two_Penny_Bill_1758 Debate in the House of Burgesses over the proposed Two Penny Bill turned nasty in September 1758. In the following excerpts from the Journal of the House of Burgesses, the Reverend Jacob Rowe is sanctioned and then apologizes for comments he made in a private conversation that were overhead by burgess William Kennon. The Two Penny Act of 1758 was signed into law by Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier, on behalf of George II, on October 12, 1758. Some spelling has been modernized and contractions expanded.
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:27:48 EST]]> /_An_Act_for_Exempting_their_Majestyes_Protestant_Subjects_dissenting_from_the_Church_of_England_from_the_Penalties_of_certaine_Lawes_1688 Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:43:20 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/_An_Act_for_Exempting_their_Majestyes_Protestant_Subjects_dissenting_from_the_Church_of_England_from_the_Penalties_of_certaine_Lawes_1688 Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:43:20 EST]]> /Virginia_s_First_Africans Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:31:27 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Virginia_s_First_Africans Virginia's first Africans arrived at Point Comfort, on the James River, late in August 1619. There, "20. and odd Negroes" from the English ship White Lion were sold in exchange for food and some were transported to Jamestown, where they were sold again, likely into slavery. Historians have long believed these Africans to have come to Virginia from the Caribbean, but Spanish records suggest they had been captured in the Portuguese colony of Angola, in West Central Africa. They probably were Kimbundu-speaking people from the kingdom of Ndongo, and many of them may have been urban dwellers with some knowledge of Christianity. While aboard the São João Bautista bound for Mexico, they were stolen by the White Lion and another English ship, the Treasurer. Once in Virginia, they were dispersed throughout the colony. The number of Virginia's Africans increased to thirty-two by 1620, but then dropped sharply by 1624, likely because of the effects of disease and the Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1622–1632). Evidence suggests that many were baptized and took Christian names, and some, like Anthony and Mary Johnson, won their freedom and bought land. By 1628, after a shipload of about 100 Angolans was sold in Virginia, the Africans' population jumped dramatically. Meanwhile, their experience in West Central Africa cultivating tobacco contributed greatly to the crop's success in the colony.
Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:31:27 EST]]> /_To_goe_likewise_abroad_an_excerpt_from_Virginea_Britannia_A_Sermon_Preached_At_White_Chappel_In_The_presence_of_many_the_Adventurers_and_Planters_for_Virginia_by_Reverend_William_Symonds_1609 Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:40:55 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/_To_goe_likewise_abroad_an_excerpt_from_Virginea_Britannia_A_Sermon_Preached_At_White_Chappel_In_The_presence_of_many_the_Adventurers_and_Planters_for_Virginia_by_Reverend_William_Symonds_1609 On April 25, 1609, the Reverend William Symonds preached a sermon at London's White Chapel in defense of the Virginia Company of London's efforts to sustain its colony at Jamestown. In this excerpt, Symonds focuses on the call of Abraham in Genesis 12, comparing it to England's call to settle America. He then responds at length to those who object that England had no right to invade "the territories of other princes, by force of sword." Some spelling has been modernized and contractions expanded.
Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:40:55 EST]]> /Paleoindian_Period Wed, 30 May 2012 09:59:35 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Paleoindian_Period Wed, 30 May 2012 09:59:35 EST]]> /Query_XVII_an_excerpt_from_Notes_on_the_State_of_Virginia_by_Thomas_Jefferson_1784 Mon, 14 May 2012 15:03:36 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Query_XVII_an_excerpt_from_Notes_on_the_State_of_Virginia_by_Thomas_Jefferson_1784 Mon, 14 May 2012 15:03:36 EST]]> /Religion_During_the_Civil_War Thu, 10 May 2012 13:57:10 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Religion_During_the_Civil_War As many as two-thirds of all Virginians attended a Protestant church before the American Civil War (1861–1865). These men and women witnessed intense conflict within their congregations and denominational councils before, during, and after the war. All Virginia churchgoers saw their congregations torn asunder at least once during the sectional conflict, whether in the process of dividing from Northern churches before the war, when they sent their sons to fight, or upon the secession of black members from biracial communities. On a more ideological level, even many Virginians who were not connected with a particular church interpreted the Civil War in religious terms. All Virginians who faced death in the field or on forced labor projects—or who experienced the deaths of loved ones—wondered why God permitted such extraordinary suffering. In addition, white Virginians found Union victory a disturbing challenge to their belief that God had favored both slavery and the Confederacy. Black Virginians, on the other hand, found Union victory a resounding affirmation that God had heard their prayers.
Thu, 10 May 2012 13:57:10 EST]]> /Religious_Revivals_During_the_Civil_War Thu, 10 May 2012 13:33:13 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Religious_Revivals_During_the_Civil_War Religious revivals during the American Civil War (1861–1865) were characterized by surges in religious interest and observance among large numbers of soldiers in both the Union and Confederate armies. Although they came not long after the Second Great Awakening, which was primarily a Baptist and Methodist phenomenon, the soldier revivals tended to be ecumenical and to cross class boundaries. They were often marked by frequent, fervent, and heavily attended religious ceremonies, including preaching services, organized prayer meetings, and "experience meetings," or gatherings in which individual soldiers took turns sharing with the group how God had brought them to faith in Christ. They were also evidenced by much private Bible reading and small informal prayer meetings among the troops.
Thu, 10 May 2012 13:33:13 EST]]> /An_Act_for_establishing_religious_Freedom_1786 Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:31:15 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/An_Act_for_establishing_religious_Freedom_1786 "An Act for establishing religious Freedom" was drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777, introduced into the House of Delegates in 1779, reintroduced in 1785, and finally adopted by the full General Assembly on January 16, 1786. This manuscript version of what has come to be known as the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom was signed alongside three other laws on January 19. Some spelling has been modernized.
Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:31:15 EST]]> /Tax_on_Religion_an_excerpt_from_the_Journal_of_the_House_of_Delegates_1784 Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:10:12 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Tax_on_Religion_an_excerpt_from_the_Journal_of_the_House_of_Delegates_1784 In this excerpt from the Journal of the House of Delegates, the House adopts a resolution supporting "a moderate tax or contribution, annually," to benefit all Christian sects, including dissenters from the established Church of England. The resolution, which eventually failed, excited such opposition that James Madison was emboldened to reintroduce Thomas Jefferson's Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which was passed by the General Assembly on January 16, 1786.
Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:10:12 EST]]> /Debate_and_Passage_of_An_act_for_establishing_religious_Freedom_in_the_House_of_Delegates_and_the_Senate_of_Virginia_1785-1786 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:37:32 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Debate_and_Passage_of_An_act_for_establishing_religious_Freedom_in_the_House_of_Delegates_and_the_Senate_of_Virginia_1785-1786 In these excerpts from the Journal of the House of Delegates and the Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the General Assembly debates and finally passes the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom, originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:37:32 EST]]> /A_Bill_for_Establishing_Religious_Freedom_1779 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:17:28 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/A_Bill_for_Establishing_Religious_Freedom_1779 A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777, was introduced to the House of Delegates on June 12, 1779, but eventually tabled. James Madison reintroduced a slightly different version in 1785, which was passed by the General Assembly on January 16, 1786.
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:17:28 EST]]> /The_Duties_of_Servants_and_Masters_an_excerpt_from_The_Whole_Duty_of_Man_1658 Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:50:52 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/The_Duties_of_Servants_and_Masters_an_excerpt_from_The_Whole_Duty_of_Man_1658 In this excerpt from Chapter 15 of The Whole Duty of Man, titled "Of duty to our Brethren, and Relations, Husband, Wife, Friends, Masters, Servants," the author details moral duties specific to both servants and masters. Although the context of the writing is England, the thinking likely influenced the way seventeenth-century Virginians approached the master-servant relationship, both in terms of indentured servants and enslaved Africans. The Whole Duty of Man was published anonymously in 1658, and while its author was certainly Protestant, his or her identity has not been established. Many scholars believe it to be Richard Allestree (1619–1681). Some spelling has been modernized.
Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:50:52 EST]]> /_Declaration_Edward_Waterhouse_s Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:37:55 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/_Declaration_Edward_Waterhouse_s A Declaration of the state of the Colonie and Affaires in Virginia. With a Relation of the barbarous Massacre in the time of peace and League, treacherously executed upon the English Infidels, 22 March last … (1622), written by Edward Waterhouse, was the Virginia Company of London's official publication about an assault by Virginia Indians on the English plantations along the James River that took place on March 22, 1622. The company's secretary, Waterhouse collected information from eyewitnesses and Virginia's governing officials and concluded that the surprise attack, which killed more than a quarter of the colony's population, was executed with the purpose of their "utter extirpation." Waterhouse describes a time, just prior to the attack, of "firme peace and amitie," when Indians and colonists freely mingled. He notes that the Indians used this to their advantage, insinuating themselves into the homes of colonists, using the colonists' own tools to "basely and barbarously" kill them, and then disappearing into the woods. Outraged that most Indians, and in particular their leader Opechancanough, had not accepted Christianity, Waterhouse declares that the attack justified a policy whereby the English "destroy them who sought to destroy us." The attack, and the company's response to it, marks a point at which colonists, no longer dependent on the Indians economically, began in earnest to kill them and seize their land.
Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:37:55 EST]]> /An_act_for_exempting_the_different_societies_of_Dissenters_from_contributing_to_the_support_and_maintenance_of_the_church_as_by_law_established_and_its_ministers_and_for_other_purposes_therein_mentioned_1776 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:31:09 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/An_act_for_exempting_the_different_societies_of_Dissenters_from_contributing_to_the_support_and_maintenance_of_the_church_as_by_law_established_and_its_ministers_and_for_other_purposes_therein_mentioned_1776 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:31:09 EST]]> /The_Virginia_Declaration_of_Rights_First_Draft_1776 Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:47:57 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/The_Virginia_Declaration_of_Rights_First_Draft_1776 This transcript is of a copy, made in an unknown hand, of the first draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was written by George Mason. The final version of the declaration was incorporated into the state constitution of 1776 and was retained in all subsequent state constitutions. Some spelling has been modernized.
Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:47:57 EST]]> /John_Banister_1649_or_1650-1692 Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:50:02 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/John_Banister_1649_or_1650-1692 John Banister was a naturalist and Anglican minister in the Virginia colony. Born in England, he became interested in North American plants while studying at the University of Oxford. After arriving in Virginia in 1679, he took charge of Bristol Parish, near the mouth of the Appomattox River. Exploring as far west as the Virginia foothills, Banister collected specimens of the colony's flora and fauna, many of which he sent back to England. He was not able to complete his own comprehensive natural history of Virginia, but his numerous lists, notes, and drawings were used by European naturalists in their published works on North American plants and animals. Other naturalists named plants for Banister, and William Houstoun gave the name Banisteria to a class of tropical and subtropical viny plants. In his Species Plantanum (1753), Carolus Linnaeus cited species and specimens that Banister had procured and described. While on a collecting expedition Banister was accidentally killed by one of his traveling companions sometime between May 12 and May 16, 1692.
Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:50:02 EST]]> /Parish_in_Colonial_Virginia_The Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:09:08 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Parish_in_Colonial_Virginia_The A parish in colonial Virginia was a unit of both civil and religious authority that covered a set geographical territory. Each Church of England parish in the colony was served by a single minister and governed by a vestry usually composed of local elites. As a religious institution, a parish contained a mother, or central, church, and frequently two or more so-called chapels of ease in outlying areas that the minister served on successive Sundays. As a civil institution, the parish vestry was charged with overseeing a wide range of responsibilities that included social welfare and presenting moral offenders to the courts. The contemporary understanding of parishes and vestries as institutions that deal primarily, if not exclusively, with internal parochial affairs is at odds with the extent of duties associated with the colonial parish. Indeed, according to the historian John Nelson, local government in early Virginia should be understood as "parish-county" government, these two "linked institutions sharing, dividing up, and intermingling their interests and responsibilities."
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:09:08 EST]]> /_An_Act_to_enable_the_inhabitants_of_this_Colony_to_discharge_their_public_dues_officers_fees_and_other_tobacco_debts_in_money_for_the_ensuing_year_1758 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:45:41 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/_An_Act_to_enable_the_inhabitants_of_this_Colony_to_discharge_their_public_dues_officers_fees_and_other_tobacco_debts_in_money_for_the_ensuing_year_1758 In "An Act to enable the inhabitants of this Colony to discharge their public dues, officers fees, and other tobacco debts, in money, for the ensuing year," better known as the Two Penny Act, the General Assembly responded to a second failure of the colony's tobacco crops by again allowing vestries and county courts to collect taxes and pay salaries in money calculated at the usual market price for tobacco rather than in tobacco at windfall rates. Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier signed the act into law, on behalf of George II, on October 12, 1758.
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:45:41 EST]]> /The_Two_Penny_Act_1755 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:44:20 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/The_Two_Penny_Act_1755 In "An act to enable the inhabitants of this colony to discharge their Tobacco debts in money, for this present year," better known as the Two Penny Act, the General Assembly responded to the failure of the colony's tobacco crops by allowing vestries and county courts to collect taxes and pay salaries in money calculated at the usual market price for tobacco rather than in tobacco at windfall rates. Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie signed the act into law, on behalf of George II, on November 8, 1755.
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:44:20 EST]]> /Baptists_in_Colonial_Virginia Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:11:55 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Baptists_in_Colonial_Virginia Baptists during most of the colonial period in Virginia operated on the fringes of the religious mainstream and attracted a mere handful of adherents. Their numbers began to increase modestly in the 1750s, and then more rapidly thereafter, so that by 1790 the state could be described as one of the most "Baptist" places in the country. (At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Baptists collectively comprised the largest religious group in Virginia.) This upsurge, which was bookended by an expansion of Presbyterian and Methodist practices as well, was part of a dramatic transformation in Virginia's religious landscape. The Church of England had enjoyed exclusive legal privileges in the colony from its founding. Dissenters from Anglicanism initially were few, and they operated under significant legal restrictions defined by the 1689 Act for Toleration (which entered Virginia law in 1699). The rise of the Baptists ultimately became entwined with both secular and religious challenges to Anglican monopoly that culminated in disestablishment and the passage of Virginia's 1786 Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, which allowed a gradual evangelical turn in the state at large. Because Virginia was the origin point for many colonial and American migrants moving westward, the expansion of Baptist churches there can be understood as important to rooting the faith in the country at large.
Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:11:55 EST]]> /Jarratt_Devereux_1733-1801 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:01:00 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Jarratt_Devereux_1733-1801 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:01:00 EST]]> /Two_Penny_Acts_1755_1758 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:48:53 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Two_Penny_Acts_1755_1758 The General Assembly adopted the Two Penny Acts of 1755 and 1758 as temporary relief measures in response to the failure of the Virginia colony's tobacco crops. Tobacco was Virginia's principal export, but it also backed the colony's currency, and these crop failures threatened Virginia's system of taxation for support of local and provincial government, including the parishes and clergy of the Church of England. The Two Penny Acts allowed vestries and county courts to collect taxes and pay salaries in money calculated at the usual market price for tobacco rather than in tobacco at windfall rates. Although it reduced their annual salaries, relatively few Virginia clergymen objected to the 1755 act, which expired after ten months. They were less amenable to the second act, however. Reverend Jacob Rowe spoke so vehemently against it that he was forced to apologize to the House of Burgesses. Reverend John Camm, meanwhile, took the protest to London and succeeded in having the act revoked, which set up a conflict between Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier and the power of the Crown. When clergymen sued for their back wages, the controversy known as the Parsons' Cause erupted and became a precedent for resistance to English authority.
Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:48:53 EST]]> /Act_of_Toleration_1689 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:21:44 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Act_of_Toleration_1689 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:21:44 EST]]> /_Letter_to_the_Inhabitants_of_Maryland_Virginia_North_and_South_Carolina_1740 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:17:45 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/_Letter_to_the_Inhabitants_of_Maryland_Virginia_North_and_South_Carolina_1740 "Letter to the Inhabitants of Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina" by the Anglican priest George Whitefield was published in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin in Three Letters from the Reverend Mr. G. Whitefield. An important leader of the First Great Awakening, Whitefield used the occasion to address slave owners in the American South, including Virginia. He chastised them for mistreating their enslaved African Americans and for not attempting to convert them to Christianity. Rather than encourage slaves to run away, Whitefield argued, Christian views would make them better slaves. In the end, Whitefield himself owned a plantation and slaves in South Carolina, but his message of salvation for slaves became typical of white southern evangelicals.
Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:17:45 EST]]> /Huskanaw Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:50:14 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Huskanaw The huskanaw was a rite of passage by which boys become men. While such rituals were common among American Indian societies, the huskanaw was conducted by, among others, the Algonquian-speaking Powhatan Indians of Tsenacomoco, an alliance of twenty-eight to thirty-two petty tribes and chiefdoms centered around the James, Mattaponi, and Pamunkey rivers. Aligning it with various other religious rituals, they referred to the huskanaw as a sacrifice and told the Jamestown colonists that if they did not perform it their powerful god Okee would be angered and disrupt their hunting or cause natural disasters. Although the English colonists at first took this ceremony to be a literal sacrifice of boys, they quickly learned that the term was metaphorical. The word huskanaw refers to the youth of the initiates and to the fact that they were to be transformed into men.
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:50:14 EST]]> /Great_Awakening_in_Virginia_The Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:09:46 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Great_Awakening_in_Virginia_The The Great Awakening was the most significant cultural upheaval in colonial America. The term refers to a series of religious revivals that began early in the eighteenth century and led, eventually, to the disestablishment of the Church of England as the official church during the American Revolution (1775–1783). Triggered by the preaching of the Anglican itinerant George Whitefield, the Great Awakening began in New England and the Middle Colonies, where thousands converted to an evangelical faith centered on the experience of the "new birth" of salvation. It also featured intense, emotional scenes of penitential sinners and new converts being filled, as they saw it, with the Holy Spirit, with associated outcries, visions, dreams, and spirit journeys. The Great Awakening's effects in Virginia developed slowly, beginning early in the 1740s. By the 1760s, evangelical Presbyterians and Baptists were making major inroads among Virginians, and challenging the established church in the colony. Perhaps the most notable historical result of the Great Awakening in Virginia was the end of the state's establishment of religion, which was ultimately accomplished through the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom (1786). The cause of religious freedom was championed politically by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, but it depended on the popular support of legions of evangelicals, especially Baptists.
Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:09:46 EST]]> /Slavery_During_the_Civil_War Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:46:34 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Slavery_During_the_Civil_War Virginia had the largest population of enslaved African Americans of any state in the Confederacy, and those slaves responded to the American Civil War (1861–1865) in a variety of ways. Some volunteered to assist the Confederate war effort, while many others were forced to support the Confederacy, working on farms and in factories and households throughout Virginia. Thousands escaped to the Union army's lines, earning their freedom and forcing the United States to develop a uniform policy regarding emancipation. Others remained on their home plantations and farms but took advantage of the war to gain some measure of autonomy for their families. Slaves' wartime actions most often exhibited their strong desire for freedom, and even those who chose not to escape frequently welcomed the Union army as liberators.
Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:46:34 EST]]> /Pendleton_William_Nelson_1809-1883 Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:01:30 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Pendleton_William_Nelson_1809-1883 William Nelson Pendleton was an Episcopal priest and chief of artillery for the Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865). No Confederate officer in the East generated less heat on the battlefield and more away from it than Pendleton. As Robert E. Lee's chief of artillery, he was responsible for hundreds of guns and thousands of cannoneers, but he never fully utilized the potential of the army's "long arm" in battlefield to merit his high standing. Pendleton's efforts usually resulted in controversy, the most scandalous occurring when he abandoned his command at the Battle of Shepherdstown on September 19, 1862. Yet Pendleton did make a few important contributions in reorganizing the artillery into the more efficient and effective battalion system that enabled battery commanders to maximize their limited firepower. Pendleton was also a man of the cloth and his attention to the spiritual needs of the rank-and-file must have endeared him to the pious Lee.
Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:01:30 EST]]> /Political_Organization_in_Early_Virginia_Indian_Society Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:24:33 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Political_Organization_in_Early_Virginia_Indian_Society Political organization in early Virginia Indian society likely was similar across the several distinct and culturally diverse groups that lived in the area; however, due to the records left by the English colonists, the most is known about the Powhatan Indians of Tsenacomoco. The alliance's six core groups lived along the James, Mattaponi, and Pamunkey rivers, with their capital, Werowocomoco, situated on the present-day York River. Each constituent group consisted of one or more towns ruled by a weroance, or chief, whose position was inherited matrilineally. For guidance, the weroance consulted his council, or cockarouses, and whenever he acted he was first obligated to seek the approval of his one or more kwiocosuk, or shamans. The mamanatowick, or paramount chief, ruled all of Tsenacomoco and likely combined the authority of weroance and kwiocosuk. He lived an opulent and exalted life—bejeweling himself in necklaces, bracelets, and a crown and traveling with a fifty-man bodyguard—but he was not an absolute ruler. He, too, consulted his council and, lacking a standing army or police force, he was not always able to enforce his will on subordinates. In the end, the ultimate authority in Tsenacomoco was religious, not political. Although the paramount chief was seen to own all of the land and its wealth, the shamans were empowered to intervene with the gods, mollifying them with sacrifices on the occasion of famine, flood, or other disasters.
Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:24:33 EST]]> /Hancock_Gordon_Blaine_1884-1970 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:28:45 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Hancock_Gordon_Blaine_1884-1970 Gordon Blaine Hancock was a professor at Virginia Union University, pastor of Moore Street Baptist church in Richmond , and a leading spokesman for African American equality in the generation before the civil rights movement. Hancock co-founded the Richmond chapter of the Urban League and wrote newspaper columns for the Associated Negro Press, advising his mostly black audience on how to get by in tough times while still taking principled stands against segregation. His work with the Virginia Interracial Commission and the Southern Regional Council also suggested his willingness to be both outspoken and pragmatic in the midst of the fight against segregation—a fight, he wrote, that must be won "if the Negro is to survive."
Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:28:45 EST]]> /Cannon_James_1864-1944 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:52:19 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Cannon_James_1864-1944 James Cannon Jr. was an educator, a bishop of the southern Methodist Church, a leader of Prohibitionists in Virginia and the nation, and a political activist of such skill and combativeness that he became one of the most famous, and deeply controversial, American figures of the early twentieth century. Best known as a relentless advocate of Prohibition, Cannon drove the Virginia Anti-Saloon League's campaign for statewide Prohibition, adopted in 1914. He then served as the national Anti-Saloon League's principal Democratic lobbyist through the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1919 and the subsequent enforcement of national Prohibition during the 1920s. Cannon was a partisan Democrat, yet in 1928 he led a rebellion of southern Democrats against the presidential campaign of Alfred E. Smith, a wet, Catholic representative of the urban wing of the Democratic Party. Also an innovator and divisive figure within his church, Cannon, who became a bishop in 1918, directed worldwide missionary efforts and unsuccessfully pushed for the unification of the northern and southern branches of American Methodism. Charges of embezzlement, stock-market gambling, and adultery, fanned by Cannon's numerous enemies, dogged the bishop from 1929 until 1934 and diminished his influence thereafter.
Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:52:19 EST]]> /Conway_Moncure_Daniel_1832-1907 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:00:03 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Conway_Moncure_Daniel_1832-1907 Moncure Conway was a Methodist minister, Unitarian minister, abolitionist, free thinker, and prolific writer who the historian John d'Entremont describes as "the most thoroughgoing white male radical produced by the antebellum South." Born into a prominent Virginia slaveholding family, he nevertheless became an outspoken critic of the South's "peculiar institution," anguishing over how to reconcile his background with his antislavery convictions in his younger years. He first openly allied himself with abolitionists in July 1854 in the wake of the capture in Boston, Massachusetts, of fugitive slave Anthony Burns, whom Conway claimed to have known in Virginia. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Conway accompanied thirty-one of his father's slaves, all of whom had escaped to Washington, D.C., on a harrowing train ride to freedom in southwestern Ohio. There he established what came to be known as the Conway Colony; many African Americans continue to live in the area and identify their ancestors as Virginia slaves. In addition, Conway traveled in high literary circles, authoring as many seventy published works, including popular book-length arguments against slavery and important biographies of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Paine.
Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:00:03 EST]]> /Falwell_Jerry_1933-2007 Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:07:13 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Falwell_Jerry_1933-2007 Jerry Falwell was a fundamentalist Christian pastor and the founder of the Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Best known for his key role in mobilizing the Christian Right into a formidable power in United States politics, Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979, a national political organization that emphasized a commitment to a "pro-family" agenda. The Moral Majority achieved prominence very quickly when in 1980 there was a significant surge in evangelical conservative support for the Republican Party nominee for U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, and for Republican, or GOP (Grand Old Party) candidates for the U.S. Congress. Many observers credited Falwell with having played the leading role in energizing these voters to support Reagan and the GOP. After Reagan's landslide win and the Republican successes in the congressional races as well, Falwell and the Moral Majority became prominent, though controversial, fixtures on the U.S. political scene.
Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:07:13 EST]]> /Minnigerode_Charles_1814-1894 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:34:00 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Minnigerode_Charles_1814-1894 Charles Minnigerode was a professor of Latin and Greek and, for thirty-three years, the rector of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Saint Paul's was sometimes called "the Cathedral of the Confederacy," and its parishioners included Confederate president Jefferson Davis and Confederate general Robert E. Lee. In 1862, Minnigerode, who immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1839, baptized Davis, and in 1864, he read prayers at the burial of Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart.
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