It would seem that in the years from the recall of Nicholson to the arrival of Spotswood, the danger to liberty in Virginia came less from the Throne than from the Council. A free people could not be quiet under the rule of a body of twelve men, not chosen by the voters but appointed by the sovereign.
The average planter, not only the owner of only a few acres, but the man of means had reason to be alarmed. Was it consistent with the principles of English liberty, they must have asked, for a clique of wealthy men, many of them united in one family, to have such power over their lives and their property? If the people were to rule, final authority must be vested in the House of Burgesses, not the Council.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] CO5-1315, Bassett to Perry & Co., Aug. 30, 1706.
[2] CO5-1314, Doc. 63iv.
[3] Hugh Jones, The present state of Virginia, ed. R. L. Morton, 93.
[4] P. A. Bruce, Social life of Virginia, 133
[5] T. J. Wertenbaker, The planters of colonial Virginia, 155-160.
[6] CO5-1318, Spotswood to Lords of Trade, March 20, 1718.
[7] CO5-1340, Doc. 15.