Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia

by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

On August 17, 1775, the first Committee of Safety for Virginia was appointed by the Virginia Convention of July 1775. It consisted of eleven members, namely, Richard Bland, Carter Braxton, William Cabell, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, Thomas Ludwell Lee, George Mason, James Mercer, John Page, Edmund Pendleton and John Tabb. Edmund Pendleton was the chairman of this committee. Various members of the Committee of Safety actually ruled Virginia from the time it ceased to be a British colony until it officially became an independent state.

On December 1, 1775 the Fourth Virginia Convention was held at Richmond, but soon after the convention had become organized, it moved to Williamsburg. Edmund Pendleton was elected president of the convention. The chief problem of this convention was military protection and security for Virginia in the face of war. The army was increased from two regiments to nine regiments with an enlistment requiring two years of military service. The chief measures passed during the Fourth Virginia Convention of December 1775-January 1776 included the appointment of a commission of five men in each county to try cases of those individuals believed to be enemies of America, the creation of an admiralty court to hear cases involving maritime or naval affairs, the granting of permission for county courts to elect a sheriff for a one-year term and the issuing of special instructions to the Virginia delegates to the next Continental Congress to encourage the opening of American ports to the commerce of all foreign nations except Great Britain and the British West Indies. It was also decided at this convention to allow the Virginia troops to be merged or absorbed into the Continental Army and to have future military officers commissioned by the Continental Congress rather than by individual state or colonial legislatures. Another Committee of Safety for Virginia was named: nine members were re-appointed and two new members were substituted. Edmund Pendleton was still the chairman and the other committee members were Richard Bland, William Cabell, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, Joseph Jones, Thomas Ludwell Lee, James Mercer, John Page, John Tabb and Thomas Walker. On January 20, 1776, the convention adjourned.

During the convention, another Lord Dunmore episode took place. Lord Dunmore had become a real threat to the Virginians because, after he had fled from Williamsburg and from Yorktown, he armed many Negroes and persuaded them to fight for the King in return for their future freedom. He commanded a force which at this time was in possession of Norfolk and its adjacent areas. Eight days after the convention began, Lord Dunmore dispatched a few of his British regulars to attack some of the Virginian troops under Colonel William Woodford. These Virginians had constructed a breastwork along the southern branch of the Elizabeth River, approximately twelve miles from Norfolk. Colonel Woodford's Virginia troops killed almost all the British regulars, much to the surprise of Lord Dunmore, who quickly retreated to a part of the British fleet docked in Norfolk harbor. Later, while the convention was still in session, on January 1, 1776, Lord Dunmore with a small land and sea force bombarded and burned Norfolk itself which consisted of about 6,000 residents at the time. Many houses were completely burned and others badly damaged. St. Paul's Church was the only building to survive this bombardment and embedded cannon balls in the south wall of the church may still be seen which were fired from the ships in the harbor. Dunmore and his forces finally sailed up the Chesapeake Bay and stationed themselves off Gwynn's Island, near the present Mathews County mainland. From this area, Dunmore and his friends made repeated plunder attacks along the coast of Virginia until summer.

During the same month of January, a dramatic episode occurred at Woodstock. John Peter Gabriel Mühlenberg, an ex-German soldier who had migrated to Virginia and had become a minister, was very strongly pro-Virginia and very strongly anti-British King. He had received a military commission as a colonel from General George Washington due to his past military experience. His duty was to form a regiment of Germans living in the valley. On this particular Sunday, he ascended the pulpit and began to preach concerning the theme, "There is a time to every purpose ... a time to war and a time to peace!" He proceeded to describe the unjust treatment which the American colonies had received from the British King and the Parliament. At the conclusion of his sermon, he stated: "There is a time for all things—a time to preach and a time to pray; but there is a time to fight, and that time has come now." With these surprising words, he threw back his minister's attire and stood fully clothed in the blue and buff uniform of a Continental Colonel with the official sword at his side. He immediately descended from the pulpit and, in a very short time, had enlisted three hundred citizens within this small community in the Eighth Virginia Regiment. Thus, Mühlenberg earned for himself the title of the "Fighting Parson" and with his regiment marched directly to help the South Carolina Army. The regiment was later referred to as the German Regiment because it was made up solely of German Americans. It served with great honor during the Revolutionary War. Mühlenberg himself had the distinction of being with General Washington when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.

The Fifth Virginia Convention, now called the Virginia Constitutional Convention, began on May 6, 1776 at Williamsburg. By this time, the British had been driven out of Boston and out of the New England area in general. The American attempt to invade Canada had been unsuccessful, but the British had been defeated in North and South Carolina. Public opinion in Virginia which had been only "lukewarm" to complete separation from England at the early stages of the war now became very strongly in favor of it—particularly after the bombardment and burning of Norfolk. Most of the delegates had been instructed before coming to the convention to work toward two specific objectives: American independence and a representative government for Virginia. There were one hundred and thirty-one delegates present at this convention, representing sixty-six counties and corporations. Some of the outstanding members at this convention were James Madison, Edmund Randolph and Archibald Cary.

The various sections of Virginia were represented at the Fifth Convention. The type of clothing worn at the convention made the sections easily recognizable: there was an outstanding contrast between the homespun, practical clothing of the frontiersmen and the fancy British-made clothing of the wealthy traders and plantation owners. The convention members elected delegates to the Continental Congress and instructed them to propose American independence from England. The delegates chosen were George Washington, John Blair, James Madison, George Mason, James McClurg, Edmund Randolph and George Wythe. On May 15, a resolution was introduced by Archibald Cary and passed which declared the colony of Virginia a free and independent State. Immediately the British flag was lowered from the Capitol at Williamsburg and the colonial colors were raised instead. At this same convention, on May 27, Archibald Cary presented to the members the "Declaration of Rights" prepared by George Mason for this convention. This document stated the fundamental rights of English colonists as well as of Englishmen.

On June 12, 1776 Mason's "Declaration of Rights" was unanimously adopted. Its principles were considered so important that they were later the basis of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution and eventually were used as the background for state constitution Bills of Rights. The Virginia Bill of Rights is often referred to as the "Magna Charta of Virginia." George Mason also recommended the original motto of the official seal of the State of Virginia at this convention: "Sic Semper Tyrannis"—"Thus Always (or ever) to Tyrants."

In the same session, James Madison actively participated in a discussion concerning religious liberty and tolerance. He proposed a clause in the Virginia Bill of Rights to allow the "free exercise of religion" because he strongly believed that the state should have no coercive power over religious thought. This clause was adopted, and James Madison for the first time attracted state-wide attention to his thinking and philosophy.

Once the idea of independence from England was formally expressed and a specific objective was established, the Virginians at this convention proceeded to write a state constitution for Virginia. This constitution, the first written state constitution, was officially adopted on June 29, 1776, making this the birth date of the State of Virginia. Since George Mason was primarily responsible for the actual wording of the constitution, he is called the "Father of the Virginia Constitution." Virginia was organized as the Commonwealth of Virginia, the name believed patterned after the Commonwealth of England, the title acquired by the government of England after its Civil War. The first constitution for Virginia provided for a bicameral (two-house) legislature: the Senate and the House of Delegates. Membership in these groups was to be by election by the qualified voters. Each county was to choose two delegates annually to represent them and one-fourth of the Senate was to be elected annually. The combined balloting of the House and the Senate was to determine the election of the Governor (whose term was to be one year with a maximum three years possible), an eight-man Council of State and members of the Congress of the United States. A general system of courts was created. Patrick Henry was elected the first Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia and he served from 1776 to 1779. The Commonwealth of Virginia was now ready to function, and the new government went into effect immediately. The Williamsburg Convention which began May 6, 1776 adjourned on July 5, 1776.