In the Spanish-American War of 1898, many Virginians fought valiantly for their country. The outstanding contributions of such Virginians as Dr. Walter Reed (birthplace, Gloucester County) and his colleague, Dr. Robert Powel Page Cooke, in discovering that yellow fever was transmitted to human beings by the bite of mosquitoes, Major-General Fitzhugh Lee (nephew of General Robert E. Lee) who served as United States Consul-General to Cuba in 1896 and who was given the command of the Seventh Army Corps in the Spanish-American War and Robley Dunglison Evans (Floyd) who was Commander of the U.S.S. Iowa at the Battle of Santiago Harbor helped considerably in the efforts of the United States to win this war.
By 1900, although Virginia's population (both white and Negro) had increased at a rapid rate, Virginia ranked seventeenth in population in comparison to the other forty-four states in the Union. Virginia had approximately 1,854,000 people including approximately 661,000 Negroes. However, one-third of the area of the state—which had become West Virginia—was permanently separated. In addition, Kentucky had been carved from within the original boundaries of Virginia with the consent of the state government.
Twentieth Century Developments
On June 12, 1901, a state constitutional convention was held in Richmond at the request of Carter Glass, an outstanding Virginia statesman from Lynchburg. The major issue of this convention was the discovery of a method of reducing the large number of illiterate Negro votes which in the 1900 election had outnumbered the white votes in one-third of the counties of the state. Since there was a large number of illiterate whites in the western mountain regions of Virginia, careful consideration had to be given to any proposed restrictions on suffrage so that these inhabitants whose ancestors had fought bravely in the Revolutionary War and in the War between the States would not be severely penalized. Consequently, the Constitution of 1902 included the requirement that a poll tax of one dollar and fifty cents had to be paid as a qualification for voting. Furthermore, a constitutional requirement demanded payment of three years' poll taxes six months before general elections. Since the Negroes were financially very poor at this time, this requirement indirectly caused a great decrease in the total number of Negro votes cast.
This constitution also included an "understanding clause" provision which required voters to prove in written statements their understanding of the government of Virginia. This provision was to be replaced in 1904 by the requirement of each potential voter passing an intelligence test proving that he could properly interpret the constitution. Such provisions prevented many uneducated Negroes from participating in elections.
A State Corporation Commission was created for the first time in the Commonwealth to control corporations such as the public transportation companies and the telephone and telegraph companies. Other governmental changes provided for in this constitution were: the direct election of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the State Treasurer, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration and the Superintendent of Public Instruction by the qualified voters; the replacement of County Courts by Circuit Courts; the constitutional requirement for the political status of a city: an incorporated community with a minimum population of 5,000 inhabitants is eligible to become an independent city, and, as the name implies, such cities are not subject to county administration; the establishment of racial segregation in the public schools of Virginia; a considerable extension of the powers of the State Board of Education, and a change in the age range used to determine school population as a basis for distributing the common school fund from 5-21 years to 7-20 years.
On May 29, 1902, the Constitution of 1902 was "proclaimed" by the convention members, whose delegates voted for its adoption. Although this Constitution was never ratified by the voters themselves, it was later approved by the state legislature. With certain revisions which were added later, this Constitution of 1902 is the present Constitution of the Commonwealth.
In spite of the political influence which had been prevalent in the public school system of Virginia in the 1880's, by the early 1900's numerous educational improvements had resulted: the local general public began to favor a public school system; professional teacher training methods were developed; a Virginia State Education Association was formed; simultaneous examinations for teacher certification throughout the state were standardized; state summer normal schools were organized; teacher scholarships were created, and education conferences were held.
The oft-called "renaissance" in Virginia education occurred in 1905. A New York educator had encouraged various educational conferences to be held in the South in an attempt to improve education in the South which had lagged far behind the rest of the nation. The Virginia Cooperative Education Commission and the leaders of the May Campaign of 1905 (so-called because the intensive campaigning took place in the month of May) demanded improved schools, better school regulations, an increase in the number of secondary schools and institutions of higher learning and a revised curriculum. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction at this time was Dr. Joseph Dupuy Eggleston whose leadership contributed greatly to the success of a movement to modernize and improve the educational standards of the State of Virginia. Vocational training (examples, agricultural, educational, manual training and domestic economy classes) which had long been discussed by certain educators became a reality, specific legislative appropriations for public high schools were made, public school libraries were established, health checkups for abnormalities were instituted in the school program and the number of teacher-training schools was increased.
Such educational progress was observed that, after five years of the new education planning and of the execution of such plans, a spokesman for the Carnegie Foundation remarked that "Probably no educational development in any State of the Union is more remarkable than that which is represented in the Old Commonwealth of Virginia." Practical education as well as theoretical education was offered with opportunities also available to study improved farming methods.