The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

by S. J. Quinn

In an address on the Supreme Court by Justice Brown in 1896, he said: “The Constitution had been adopted by the vote of the thirteen States of the Union, but its construction was a work scarcely less important than its original creation. With a large liberty of choice, guided by no precedents, and generally unhampered by his colleagues upon the bench, the great Chief Justice (Marshall) determined what was law by what he thought it ought to be, evolved from his own experience of the defects of the Articles of Confederation and from an innate consciousness of what the country required, a theory of construction which time has vindicated and the popular sentiment of succeeding generations has approved. In the case of Marbury against Madison, which arose at his very first term, he declared the judicial power to extend to the annulment of an act of Congress in conflict with the Constitution, a doctrine peculiar to this country, but so commending itself to the common sense of justice as to have been incorporated in the jurisprudence of every State in the Union. The lack of this check upon the action of the Legislature has wrecked the constitution of many a foreign State, and it is safe to say that our own would not have long survived a contrary decision. Had Marshall rendered no other service to the country, this of itself would have been sufficient to entitle him to its gratitude.” And Judge A. W. Wallace, writing of Justice Marshall, said: “By his canons of construction he fortified the foundations of the Constitution and builded thereon the jurisprudence of the United States—whose opinions, nearly a century old, stand, like a great sea-wall, breasting every billow of political frenzy that has threatened to engulf the safety, permanence and perpetuity of our institutions.”

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

It was Thomas Jefferson, of Albemarle county, a Virginian, who wrote the act of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed on the 26th day of December, 1785, establishing religious liberty in Virginia, which has been adopted, or a law of similar import, by every State in the United States, and made a part of the Constitution of the United States, by the first amendment made to that instrument. It is one of the grandest achievements of Mr. Jefferson, and stamps him as a patriot who could and did rise superior to his environments and surroundings, and even his predilections and life-long attachments, and secure to the people, by a law which he expressed the hope would never be repealed, their rights in matters of conscience as to religion and the worship of their God. It has permeated this whole country, and its influence is felt more or less throughout Christendom, and as a little leaven will leaven the whole lump, so its influence is still at work and time only can tell what it shall accomplish.

The act was written in Fredericksburg, and, omitting the long preamble, which is written in Mr. Jefferson’s best and most vigorous style, is as follows: “That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be inforced, restrained, molested or burthened, in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities.”

THE MONROE DOCTRINE.

It was James Monroe, a native of Westmoreland county, but for years a citizen of Fredericksburg, a Virginian, who announced the American principle, known as the “Monroe Doctrine” that declared that no foreign power should acquire territory on this continent, which has been the guiding principle of the United States government since its enunciation, and which has been the safeguard to all the governments of this hemisphere.

The Monroe doctrine and the causes that called it forth, are succinctly stated in volume 10 of the “Messages and Papers of the Presidents,” and are as follows: “After the overthrow of Napoleon, France, Russia, Prussia and Austria formed the so-called Holy Alliance in September, 1815, for the suppression of revolutions within each other’s dominions and for perpetuating peace. The Spanish colonies in America having revolted, it was rumored that this alliance contemplated their subjugation, although the United States had acknowledged their independence. George Canning, English Secretary of State, proposed that England and America unite to oppose such intervention. On consultation with Jefferson, Madison, John Quincy Adams and Calhoun, Monroe, in his annual message to Congress in 1823, embodied the conclusions of these deliberations in what has since been known as the Monroe Doctrine. Referring to the threatened intervention of the powers, the message declares: ‘We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.’”

ESTABLISHED THE YOUNG REPUBLIC.

And furthermore: Not only did Fredericksburg and vicinity furnish the leader of the American armies to victory and independence, and the leading spirit in the navy; not only did they furnish the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Father of the Constitution, but they furnished the Presidents of the United States for thirty-two years of the most trying and difficult part of the history of the Republic,—it being the formative period of an experiment,—except the four years of John Adams’s administration, during which but little, if any, progress was made. Washington was the first President, serving eight years; Jefferson succeeding Adams, who served eight years; then Madison eight years, followed by James Monroe for eight years, thus making the thirty-two years. Besides these four Presidents, Virginia furnished three others, who lived or were born within the circle of seventy-five miles of Fredericksburg, namely, Wm. Henry Harrison, John Tyler and Zachary Taylor. It is rather remarkable that both Harrison and Tyler should have been born in Charles City county, Virginia, elected on the same ticket, Harrison, who had moved to Ohio, as President, and Tyler as Vice-President, the death of the former just one month after his inauguration, elevating Tyler to the Presidency. President Taylor was born in Orange county.

THE GREAT NORTHWEST RECLAIMED.