Chapter VII: Part TWO: The Middle Class (2)

Moreover, the strict enforcement of the law placing all carrying trade in the hands of Englishmen created a monopoly for the English ship owners, and raised enormously not only the freight rates, but the cost of all imported goods. The planter, while he found his income greatly decreased by the low price of tobacco, was forced to pay more for all manufactured goods. The cost of clothing rose until the colony was almost in nakedness.

At this crisis an attempt was made to turn the energies of the people to manufacture. The Assembly offered rewards for the best pieces of linen and woolen cloth spun in the colony,[203] and put a bounty on the manufacture of silk. A law was passed requiring each county to erect tan-houses, while encouragement was given to a salt works on the Eastern Shore. Bounties were also offered for ship-building. In 1666 a bill was passed making it compulsory for the counties to enter upon the manufacture of cloth. The reading of this act shows that the Assembly understood fully the causes of the distress of the people. It begins: "Whereas the present obstruction of trade and the nakedness of the country doe sufficiently evidence the necessity of providing supply of our wants by improving all means of raysing and promoteing manuffactures amonge ourselves.... Be it enacted by the authority of this grand assembly that within two yeares at furthest after the date of this act, the commissioners of each county court shall provide and sett up a loome and weaver in each of the respective counties."[204]

The corruption and mismanagement that attended these measures made them unsuccessful, and as time went on the planters became more and more impoverished. The Virginians chafed bitterly under the harsh enforcement of the law of 1660. Governor Berkeley when asked by the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations in 1671 what obstructions there were to the improvement of trade and commerce in Virginia, answered with his accustomed vigor, "Mighty and destructive, by that severe act of Parliament which excludes us the having any commerce with any other nation in Europe but our own.... If this were for his majesty's service, or the good of his subjects, we should not repine, whatever our sufferings are for it; but on my soul, it is the contrary of both."[205]

Berkeley had gone to England in 1661, and while there exerted his influence for the repeal of the act, but had been able to accomplish nothing. The desire of the English to crush the Dutch trade was so strong that they could not be induced to consider at all the welfare of the colonies. The powerful and logical appeal of Bland also was unheeded. This remarkable man, who seems to have understood fully the operation of economic laws that were only established as truths many years later, explained clearly the harmful consequences of the act and demanded that justice be done the colonists. "Then let me," he says, "on behalf of the said colonies of Virginia and Maryland make the following proposals which I hope will appear but equitable:

"First, that the traders to Virginia and Maryland from England shall furnish and supply the planters and inhabitants of those colonies with all sorts of commodities and necessaries which they may want or desire, at as cheap rates and prices as the Hollanders used to have when the Hollander was admitted to trade thither.

"Secondly, that the said traders out of England to those colonies shall not only buy of the planter such tobacco in the colonies as is fit for England, but take off all that shall be yearly made by them, at as good rates and prices as the Hollanders used to give for the same....

"Thirdly, that if any of the inhabitants or planters of the said colonies shall desire to ship his tobacco or goods for England, that the traders from England to Virginia and Maryland shall let them have freight in their ships at as low and cheap rates, as they used to have when the Hollanders and other nations traded thither."

Bland, of course, did not expect these suggestions to be followed, but he did hope that the evils that he so clearly pointed out would be done away with by the repeal of the act. So far from heeding him, however, Parliament passed another bill, in 1673, taking away the last vestige of freedom of trade. The colonists, when the Navigation Acts began to be strictly enforced, in seeking an outlet for their commodities turned to each other, and a considerable traffic had sprung up between them. The New Englanders, tempted by the high price of manufactured goods in the south, were competing with Englishmen for the market of the tobacco raising colonies. The British merchants brought pressure to bear on Parliament, and a law was passed subjecting all goods that entered into competition with English commodities to a duty equivalent to that imposed on their consumption in England. This act crippled the new trade and deprived Virginia of even this slight amelioration of her pitiful condition.

The decline in the price of tobacco and the increased cost of manufactured goods bore with telling effect on the small farmers. It was customary for them to sow the greater part of their fields with tobacco, and the enormous decline in the price of that plant brought many to the verge of ruin. Whenever the overproduction was so great that the English traders left part of the crop in Virginia, it was the planter of the middle class that was apt to suffer most, for the merchants could not afford to affront the wealthy and influential men of the colony, by refusing to transport their crops. Had it not been for the ease with which the common people could obtain support from Indian corn and from their hogs and cattle, many might have perished during these years.

But, in addition to the causes of distress that were brought about by the unjust policy of England, there were forces at work within the colony, that were scarcely less potent for harm. Chief among these was the attempt of Governor William Berkeley to make his government independent of the people. Berkeley had, during the reign of Charles I, made a good governor, and had won the respect of the people, but as he became old there was a decided change for the worse in his nature. He is depicted in his declining years, as arbitrary, crabbed and avaricious.

He had for the populace the greatest contempt. To him they seemed a mere rabble, whose sole function in life was to toil and whose chief duty was to obey strictly the mandates of their rulers. He discouraged education because it bred a spirit of disobedience. "I thank God," he wrote, "there are no free schools and printing (in Virginia) and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best governments."[206] That the common people should have a share in the government seemed to him, even more than it had seemed to Charles I, a thing absurd and preposterous. After the Restoration, therefore, he resolved to free himself as far as practicable from all restraint, and to assume an arbitrary and almost absolute power.

Berkeley was far better qualified for this task than had been his royal masters the Stuarts. He possessed remarkable vigor and determination, and despite his quick temper was not lacking in tact and diplomacy. With a discrimination and care that marked him as a master in the art of corruption, he tried to make the Assembly dependent upon himself, by bribing the members of both houses. Selecting men that he thought he could most easily manage, he gave to them places of honor and emolument in the colony, some being made collectors, some sheriffs, some justices.[207] The House of Burgesses was entirely corrupted, and so far from seeking to defend the rights of the people they represented, they proved willing instruments to the governor in his attempt to establish absolute power.[208] Nor could the colony correct this evil by returning to the Assembly new burgesses, for Berkeley would not permit an election, and having once won over the House, continued to prorogue it from year to year.[209] For nine years before Bacon's Rebellion there had been no election of burgesses. "In this way," complained the commons of Charles City county, "Berkeley hath soe fortifyed his power over us, as himselfe without respect to our laws, to doe what soever he best pleased."[210]

His power over the Council became even more marked. The men composing this important body looked to the governors for appointment to lucrative offices and endeavored usually to keep their favor.[211] Berkeley, more than any other governor, made use of this power over the Council to make its members submissive to his will. When vacancies occurred he took pains to appoint none whom he thought would be at all refractory.[212] Moreover, "he very often discountenanced and placed his frowns on such as he observed in the least to thrust or cross his humor, soe that if by chance he had at any time choice of a person of honor, or conscience, that durst like a noble patriot speake his mind freely ... such person by some means or other was soone made weary of coming to councelle, and others overawed from the like boldness."[213] In making his selections for high offices, Berkeley had recourse at times to men that had recently settled in the colony, hoping, doubtless, to secure persons submissive to his will. "It has been the common practice," it was stated, "to putt persons that are mere strangers into places of great honor, profitt and trust who unduly officiating therein, do abuse and wrong the people." These men proved parasites upon the colony and many enriched themselves at the public expense. Bacon, in his proclamation, called attention to this evil. "Wee appeale," he said, "to the country itselfe what and of what nature their oppressions have bin or by what caball and mistery the designs of those whom we call great men in authority and favour to whose hands the dispensation of the countries wealth has been committed; let us observe the sudden rise of their estates compared with the quality in which they first entered this country, or the reputation they have held here amongst wise and discerning men, and lett us see wither their extraction and education have not bin vile, and by what pretence of learning and vertue they could soe soon come into employments of so great trust and consequence ... let us see what spounges have suckt up the publique treasures, and wither it hath not bin privately contrived away by unworthy favorites and juggling parasites whose tottering fortunes have been repaired and supported at the publique charge."

These evils were aggravated by excessive taxation. The government at Jamestown added each year something more to the great burden that the poor were bearing. With utter recklessness they appropriated large quantities of tobacco for the repairing of forts, for stores and ammunition, for the construction of ships, the support of ministers, the establishment of new industries, the building of towns, and for other purposes, in addition to the usual expenses of maintaining the government itself. On all sides the people protested with bitterness. They declared the taxes excessive and unnecessary, and in more than one instance the approach of the collectors precipitated a riot. The fact that much of the money was appropriated, not to the purposes to which it was intended, but to the private use of individuals, was galling in the extreme to the poor people of the colony.[214] This abuse was especially notorious in the fort bill of 1672. The people of Charles City county declared after the Rebellion that large sums had been levied "for building and erecting forts which were never finished but suffered to go to ruine, the artillery buried in sand and spoyled with rust and want of care, the ammunition imbezzled...." They complained also of mismanagement and fraud in connection with the bills passed for fostering manufacture in the colony. "Great quantities of tobacco have been raised on us," they said, "for building work houses and stoure houses and other houses for the propogating and encouragement of handicraft and manufactury ... yet for want of due care the said houses were never finished or made useful ... and noe good ever effected ... save the particular profitt of the undertakers, who (as is usually in such cases) were largely rewarded for thus defrauding us."

The expense of maintaining the Assembly itself was very heavy. This body not only added to the distress of the people by its corrupt and unwise legislation, but drained their resources by frequent and extended meetings, the cost of which was defrayed by taxation. The people of Surry county stated "that ye last Assembly (before the rebellion) continued many years and by their frequent meeting, being once every yeare, hath been a continuall charge and burthen to the poore inhabitants of this collony; and that the burgesses of the said Assembly had 150lb tobacco p day for each member, they usually continueing there three or 4 weeks togither, did arise to a great some."

This taxation would have been oppressive at any time, but coming as it did at a period when the colony was suffering severely from the Navigation Acts, and when the price of tobacco was so low that the smaller planters could hardly cultivate it with profit, the effect was crushing. The middle class during this period lost greatly in material prosperity. Many that had been well-to-do and happy before the Restoration, were reduced to poverty.

Politically, however, the evils of this period proved finally to be of benefit to the middle class, for when their burdens had become unbearable they rushed to arms and, striking out blindly at their oppressors, showed in no uncertain way that they would submit no longer to tyranny and injustice. It is true that Bacon's Rebellion was put down amid the blood of those that were its chief promoters, but the fury and horror of that outburst were not forgotten, and never again did governors or aristocracy drive to despair the commons of the colony by unjust taxation and arbitrary assumption of all power. Moreover, the misfortunes that preceded the Rebellion stirred in the breasts of the poor farmers a feeling of brotherhood, causing them to realize that their interests were common, and that by common action alone could they guard their interests. After 1676 we find that the middle class had become a self-conscious body, watching jealously every action of the Council or of the governors and resisting with energy and success all measures that seemed to them detrimental to their interests.

The period from 1676 to 1700 was marked by the growth of the middle class both in material prosperity and in political power. It is true that the Navigation Acts were still in force and that the price of tobacco continued for a while so low that little profit could be made from it, but the people were no longer so dependent on the plant as in former times. The poor farmers had been forced by absolute necessity to produce upon their own estates nearly all the articles necessary for their maintenance and comfort, and could no longer be put so completely at the mercy of the English merchants. Although the attempts of the Assembly to establish public industries proved futile, the end that had been held in view was in some measure attained by the petty manufacture upon the little plantations. The farmers' wives became expert spinners and weavers and supplied themselves and their husbands with coarse cloth sufficient for their humble needs. By planting less tobacco and more corn they could be sure of a plentiful supply of bread, while their cattle and hogs furnished them with milk and meat. The planting of apple or peach trees assured them not only fruit in abundance, but made it possible for them to make cider or brandy that were excellent substitutes for imported liquors. Their furniture could be fashioned with their own hands, while, except in rare cases, even household utensils might be made upon the farm. Thus the small farmer to some extent prospered.

Before the end of the 17th century it was rare indeed to find freemen in the colony living in poverty. There were none whose condition was at all comparable for misery and want to the vast body of paupers that crowded the English cities and eked out an existence as laborers upon the farms. Robert Beverley, who wrote in 1705, called Virginia the best poor man's country in the world. He declared that the real poor class was very small, and even these were not servile.[215] As early as 1664 Lord Baltimore had written that it was evident and known that such as were industrious were not destitute. Although this was certainly an exaggeration, when applied to the period succeeding the Restoration, it became strictly true after Bacon's Rebellion, when the people were no longer oppressed with burdensome taxation. Hugh Jones, writing during Governor Spotswood's administration, stated that the common planters lived in "pretty timber houses, neater than the farm houses are generally in England."[216] "They are such lovers of riding," he adds, "that almost every ordinary person keeps a horse." So favorable were the conditions in which the small farmers found themselves that a fair degree of prosperity was often obtained by them even though they were lacking in industry. Hugh Jones says, "The common planters leading easy lives don't much admire labour, except horse-racing, nor diversion except cock-fighting, in which some greatly delight. This easy way of living, and the heat of the summer makes some very lazy, who are said to be climate-struck."

The fourth period in the development of the middle class extends from 1700 to the Revolution. It is marked by a split in the class, some of the small planters becoming wealthy, others failing to advance in prosperity, while still others degenerated, falling into abject poverty. This was almost entirely the result of the substitution of slave labor for the labor of the indentured servant. The importation of negroes had begun early in the 17th century, but for many years their numbers were so few that the vast bulk of the work in the fields had been performed by white men. In 1625 there were about 465 white servants in Virginia and only 22 negroes.[217] In 1649, when the population of the colony was 15,000, there were but 300 slaves.[218] In 1671, Governor Berkeley stated that there were only 2,000 slaves in Virginia, although the population was at that date about 40,000.[219] Near the end of the century, the number of negroes brought to the colony increased very much. The Royal African Company, which had obtained the exclusive right to trade in slaves with the English possessions, stimulated this human traffic to such an extent that negroes were soon found in every part of Virginia. By the year 1700 the number of slaves was about 6,000.[220] The negroes proved more suited to the needs of the planters than the white servants, for they served for life, were docile and easy to manage, stood well the unhealthful conditions in the tobacco fields, and, most important of all, they cheapened vastly the cost of production. The wealthy planters who had for so many years been limited in the amount of land they could place under cultivation by the number of servants they could procure, now found it possible to extend the scope of their operations. Before the end of the century such men as Byrd and Carter and Fitzhugh owned scores of slaves. It was this circumstance more than any thing else that accounts for the increased prosperity of the colony which is so noticeable during the first quarter of the 18th century.[221]

The more prosperous and capable members of the middle class shared to some extent the benefits resulting from negro labor. Many that had been unable to secure servants now bought slaves and thus were able to increase very much the output of their plantations. The shortness of the time that the servants served, the great cost of transporting them to the colony and the risk of losing them by death or by flight, had made it impossible for the small farmers to use them in cultivating their fields. Since negro labor was not attended with these objections, many planters of humble means bought slaves and at one step placed themselves above the class of those that trusted to their own exertions in the tilling of their fields. When once a start had been made, the advance of their prosperity was limited only by the extent of their ability and industry. Some became quite wealthy. Smythe, writing in 1773, stated that many of them formed fortunes superior to some of the first rank, despite the fact that their families were not ancient or so respectable.

Those members of the middle class who were unable, through poverty or incapacity, to share the prosperity of the early years of the 18th century were injured by the general use of slave labor in the colony. Since they could not purchase negroes, they were in a sense thrown into competition with them. The enormous increase in the production of tobacco brought down the price and made their single exertions less and less profitable. They were deprived of the privilege of working for wages, for no freeman could toil side by side with negroes, and retain anything of self-respect. Thus after the year 1700, the class of very poor whites became larger, and their depravity more pronounced.[222] A Frenchman, travelling in Virginia at the time of the Revolution, testified that the condition of many white families was pitiful. "It is there," he said, "that I saw poor people for the first time since crossing the ocean. In truth, among these rich plantations, where the negro alone is unhappy, are often found miserable huts, inhabited by whites, whose wan faces and ragged clothes give testimony of their poverty."[223] It is certain that this class was never large, however, for those that were possessed of the least trace of energy or ambition could move to the frontier and start life again on more equal terms. Smythe says that the real poor class in Virginia was less than anywhere else in the world.

The introduction of slavery into the colony affected far more profoundly the character of the middle class farmer than it did that of the aristocrat. The indentured servants, upon whose labor the wealthy planters had relied for so many years, were practically slaves, being bound to the soil and forced to obey implicitly those whom they served. The influence that their possession exerted in moulding the character of the aristocracy was practically the same as that of the negro slave. Both tended to instil into the master pride and the power of command. Since, however, but few members of the small farmer class at any time made use of servant labor, their character was not thus affected by them. Moreover, the fact that so many servants, after the expiration of their term of indenture, entered this class, tended to humble the poor planters, for they realized always the existence of a bond of fellowship between themselves and the field laborers. When the negro slave had supplanted the indentured servant upon the plantations of the colony a vast change took place in the pride of the middle class. Every white man, no matter how poor he was, no matter how degraded, could now feel a pride in his race. Around him on all sides were those whom he felt to be beneath him, and this alone instilled into him a certain self-respect. Moreover, the immediate control of the negroes fell almost entirely into the hands of white men of humble means, for it was they, acting as overseers upon the large plantations, that directed their labors in the tobacco fields. This also tended to give to them an arrogance that was entirely foreign to their nature in the 17th century. All contemporaneous writers, in describing the character of the middle class in the 18th century, agree that their pride and independence were extraordinary. Smythe says, "They are generous, friendly, and hospitable in the extreme; but mixed with such an appearance of rudeness, ferocity and haughtiness, which is, in fact, only a want of polish, occasioned by their deficiencies in education and in knowledge of mankind, as well as their general intercourse with slaves." Beverley spoke of them as being haughty and jealous of their liberties, and so impatient of restraint that they could hardly bear the thought of being controlled by any superior power. Hugh Jones, John Davis and Anbury also describe at length the pride of the middle class in this century.

Thus was the middle class, throughout the entire colonial period, forming and developing. From out the host of humble settlers, the overflow of England, there emerged that body of small planters in Virginia, that formed the real strength of the colony. The poor laborer, the hunted debtor, the captive rebel, the criminal had now thrown aside their old characters and become well-to-do and respected citizens. They had been made over--had been created anew by the economic conditions in which they found themselves, as filthy rags are purified and changed into white paper in the hands of the manufacturer. The relentless law of the survival of the fittest worked upon them with telling force and thousands that could not stand the severe test imposed upon them by conditions in the New World succumbed to the fever of the tobacco fields, or quitted the colony, leaving to stronger and better hands the upbuilding of the middle class. On the other hand, the fertility of the soil, the cheapness of land, the ready sale of tobacco combined to make possible for all that survived, a degree of prosperity unknown to them in England. And if for one short period, the selfishness of the English government, the ambition of the governor of the colony and the greed of the controlling class checked the progress of the commons, the people soon asserted their rights in open rebellion, and insured for themselves a share in the government and a chance to work out their own destiny, untrammelled by injustice and oppression. At the outbreak of the Revolution, the middle class was a numerous, intelligent and prosperous body, far superior to the mass of lowly immigrants from which it sprang.

FOOTNOTES:

[139] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. II, p. 164.

[140] Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 17 and 18; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 597.

[141] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, pp. 26 and 34; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 599-600.

[142] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, pp. 162-164.

[143] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. I, p. 51.

[144] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, pp. 130 and 138.

[145] Force, Vol. III.

[146] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, p. 12.

[147] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 286.

[148] Bruce, Soc. Life of Va., p. 17; Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. IX, p. 61.

[149] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 576-584.

[150] Force, Vol. III, Orders and Constitutions, p. 22.

[151] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VII, p. 191.

[152] Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 75.

[153] Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 251.

[154] Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 251.

[155] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 378, 477 and 480.

[156] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI, p. 251.

[157] Ibid., Vol. VII, p. 441.

[158] Sainsbury Abstracts, year 1638, p. 8.

[159] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. VI.

[160] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. I, p. 92.

[161] Neill, Virginia Carolorum.

[162] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II.

[163] Virginia Hist. Register, Vol. I, p. 63.

[164] Neill, Virginia Carolorum; Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 510.

[165] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 510.

[166] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 576-584.

[167] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 573.

[168] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 574.

[169] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 574.

[170] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 608.

[171] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 609.

[172] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 610.

[173] Beverley, Hist. of Va., p. 57.

[174] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 611.

[175] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 510.

[176] Strachey's Historie of Travaile into Va., p. 63.

[177] Percy's Discourse, p. lxxii.

[178] Narratives of Early Va., pp. 21 and 22.

[179] Ibid., p. 200.

[180] Ibid., p. 220.

[181] Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Company of London, Vol. II, p. 171.

[182] Neill, Va. Carolorum.

[183] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II.

[184] Force, Historical Tracts, Vol. II, New Albion.

[185] Ibid., p. 5.

[186] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 7.

[187] Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 41 and 42; Jones' Va.

[188] Bassett, Writings of Wm. Byrd, p. 47.

[189] Ibid., pp. 75 and 76.

[190] It is not to be supposed that these people are the ancestors of the eastern North Carolians of today. As they were cast off by society in Virginia, so were they crowded west by the influx of more industrious settlers in their new home and their descendants are at present to be found in the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies.

[191] Neill, Va. Carolorum.

[192] Neill, Va. Carolorum; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. II, p. 45.

[193] Neill, Va. Carolorum; Force, Historical Tracts, Vol. III; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, p. 45.

[194] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, p. 47.

[195] Ibid., p. 118.

[196] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va. Vol. I, p. 349.

[197] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 75.

[198] Wm. & Mary Quar.

[199] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 356.

[200] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 141.

[201] Sainsbury Abstracts, for 1662, pp. 17 and 19; Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, pp. 389-390-391-392.

[202] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 393.

[203] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 238.

[204] Ibid.

[205] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 509.

[206] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II.

[207] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. I, p. 59; Vol. III, p. 134.

[208] The commons of Charles City county said: "Sir William Berkeley, mindeing and aspiring to a sole and absolute power and command over us ... did take upon him the sole nameing and appointing of other persons, such as himself best liked and thought fittest for his purposes."

[209] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, p. 141.

[210] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, p. 136.

[211] Ibid., Vol. I, p. 60.

[212] Ibid., Vol. III, p. 134.

[213] Ibid., Vol. III, p. 136.

[214] Va. Maga. of Hist. and Biog., Vol. III, p. 38; p. 136.

[215] Beverley's Virginia; Wm. & Mary Quar., Vol. VI, p. 9.

[216] Jones' Virginia.

[217] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. I, p. 572.

[218] Force, Hist. Tracts.

[219] Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 515.

[220] Bruce, Econ. Hist. of Va., Vol. II, p. 108.

[221] Jones' Virginia.

[222] Fiske, Old Va. and Her Neighbors, Vol. II, p. 189.

[223] Voyages dans l'Amérique Septentrionale, Vol. II, p. 142; "C'est-là que, depuis que j'ai passé les mers, j'ai vu pour la premiere fois des pauvres. En effet, parmi ces riches plantations où le negre seul est malhereux, on trouve souvent de misérables cabanes hibitées par des blancs, dont la figure have & l'habillement déguenillé annoncent la pauvreté."

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1705; of a statement of the natural productions of Virginia; its
industries and its facilities for trade; of an account of the
Indians and a brief summary of the government at the time of
publication. The work is of value chiefly as a description of
Virginia at the beginning of the 18th century. In the account
given of the history of the colony in the earlier days there are
many errors.

Brown, Alexander.--The Genesis of the United States. Two volumes.
Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York. This work
consists of an account of the movement which resulted in the
founding of Virginia, presented in the form of a series of
documents not before printed, and of rare contemporaneous tracts
reissued for the first time. The author, in a later work,
criticises The Genesis of the United States in the following
words, "I did not fully understand the case myself. I had failed
(as every one else had previously done) to give due
consideration to the influence of imperial politics on the
history of this popular movement. I had also failed to consider
properly the absolute control over the evidences, in print and
in manuscript, possessed by the crown." The chief value of the
work lies in the fact that it presents to the public numerous
historical evidences which were for so many years inaccessible.

The First Republic in America. One volume. Houghton, Mifflin and
Company, Boston and New York. This work gives an account of the
origin of the nation, written from the records long concealed in
England. It not only is not based on the printed histories of
the day, but expressly repudiates them as false and unjust, and
as written in the interest of the Court Party. Much discredit is
thrown upon the narratives of Capt. John Smith. The author says;
"He never returned there (Virginia) and--if every one else had
done exactly as he did, there would have remained no colonists
in Virginia, but mountains of books in England, conveying
incorrect ideas, and filled with a mass of vanity, 'excellent
criticism' and 'good advice,' amounting really to nothing." In a
later work Mr. Brown says of The First Republic in America; "I
wrote from the point of the Patriot Party. It was the first
effort to restore to our foundation as a nation the inspiring
political features of which it was robbed by those who
controlled the evidences and histories under the crown."

English Politics in Early Virginia History. One volume. Houghton,
Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York. The book is divided
into five parts. The First Part gives an outline of the efforts
of the "Patriot Party" in England to plant popular government in
America and of the Court Party to prevent. Part Two recites the
effort of the Court to obliterate the true history of the origin
of Virginia. In Part Three the author shows the influence of
politics on the historic record while the crown retained control
of the evidences. Part Four shows what has been done both
towards correcting and to perpetuating the error. In the Fifth
Part is given a review of some of the features of the struggle
of the "Patriot Party" and the Court Party.

Bruce, Philip Alexander.--Economic History of Virginia in the
Seventeenth Century. Two volumes. Printed by the Macmillan
Company, New York. This work treats of aboriginal Virginia, of
the agricultural development after the coming of the English,
the acquisition of title to land, the system of labor, the
domestic economy of the planters, the part played by
manufactures in the colony, the inconvenience occasioned by the
scarcity of coin. The author has expended much labor in
accumulating a mass of interesting and valuable detail, and the
work is a veritable store house of information which is
invaluable to the historian. There is no attempt made to point
out the relation of the economic history of the time with the
political, religious or social developments that were taking
place in the 17th century. The work is valuable chiefly as a
source book.

Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century. One volume.
Printed for the author by Whittet and Shepperson, Richmond, Va.
In the first portion of this book the author attempts to explain
in some detail the origin of the higher planters in the colony.
A startling array of individual cases are cited to prove the
connection of at least a portion of this class with English
families of education and rank. As usual with the author little
attention is paid to generalizations and he arrives at his
conclusions by induction rather than by deduction. Interesting
chapters are devoted to social distinctions, social spirit,
popular diversions, public and private occasions and duelling.

Burke, John.--The History of Virginia from its First Settlement to
the Present Day. Four volumes. Published in 1804. The chief
value of this work lies in the fact that it contains a number of
documents of great interest to the historian. Chief among these
is a series of papers relating to the dispute over the
Arlington, Culpeper grant. As a general history of Virginia the
work is antiquated. At the time Burke wrote a large part of the
documents and pamphlets relating to the colony were
inaccessible, and as a result he is compelled to pass over very
important periods with the most cursory mention.

Burnaby, Andrew.--Travels through the Middle Settlements in North
America in the Years 1759 and 1760; with Observations upon the
State of the Colonies. Printed for T. Payne, at the Mews-Gate,
London, 1798. One volume. Burnaby's criticisms of Virginia
society are less accurate than those of others who have written
on the same subject because his stay in the colony was so brief.
He is by no means sympathetic with the life of the colony,
chiefly because he does not understand it.

Byrd, William.--The Writings of "Col. William Byrd of Westover in
Virginia Esq." Edited by John Spencer Bassett. One volume.
Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1901. Col. Byrd gives an
interesting picture in this work of the life upon the frontier
of the colony in the first quarter of the 18th century. The
style is flowing and easy, and the author shows a literary
talent unusual in colonial writers. The Introduction by the
editor consists of a sketch of the Byrd family. This is ably
written, and the observations made upon Virginia politics and
life show keen insight into the unique conditions that were
moulding the character of the colony. It is, perhaps, a more
valuable contribution to Virginia history than the writings
which it introduces.

Campbell, Charles.--History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of
Virginia. One volume. J.B. Lippincott and Company,
Philadelphia, 1860. In his preface the author says: "Her
(Virginia's) documentary history, lying, much of it, scattered
and fragmentary, in part slumbering in the dusty oblivion of
Trans-Atlantic archives, ought to be collected with pious care,
and embalmed in the perpetuity of print." The partial
accomplishment of this task, so urgently advocated by the
author, has rendered his work incomplete and insufficient for
the present day. Upon numerous periods of Virginia history
barely touched by him, a great light has since been thrown by
the unearthing of manuscripts and pamphlets.

Chastellux, E.J.--Voyages dans l'Amérique Septentrionale. Chez
Prault, Imprimeur du Roi, Paris, 1786. Two volumes. Chastellux
was a Frenchman who visited various parts of America at the time
of the Revolution. His observations upon social life in Virginia
are less prejudiced than those of many of the foreign visitors
to the colony at this period. The work is valuable in that it
gives the impressions made by the higher class in Virginia upon
one used to the refined life of France in the second half of the
18th century.

Cooke, John Esten.--Virginia, a History of the People. Houghton,
Mifflin and Company, Boston, 1884. One volume. So many valuable
documents and pamphlets treating of Virginia history have been
made accessible since this work was published, that it is quite
antiquated. In addition, the author has failed to make the best
use of the material at his hands, and there are numberless
errors for which there can be no excuse. One wonders, when
reading the book, whether the author has ever taken the trouble
to glance at Hening's Statutes, for he repeats old mistakes that
were pointed out by Hening one hundred years ago. The style is
entertaining and has given to the work a popularity out of
proportion to its historical worth.

Dinwiddie, Robert.--The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie.
Introduction and notes by R.A. Brock. Virginia Historical
Society, Richmond, Va., 1883. Two volumes. A large number of
manuscripts of various kinds relating to the administration of
Dinwiddie have been printed for the first time in this work.
Great light is thrown upon Braddock's disasterous expedition and
other important events of the French and Indian War. Dinwiddie's
account of the obstinacy and unreasonable conduct of the
burgesses should be studied in conjunction with the journals of
the House which have recently been published.

Fiske, John.--Old Virginia and her Neighbors. Two volumes.
Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York, 1897. This
work is written in the delightful and entertaining style so
characteristic of the author, and like Macaulay's History of
England holds the interest of the reader from beginning to end.
Only a portion of the colonial period is covered, and this in a
general and hap-hazard way. The narrative is not equally
sustained throughout, some periods being dwelt upon in much
detail, and others, equally important, passed over with but
cursory mention. Fiske did not have access to many of the
sources of Virginia history, and this led him into repeating
some old errors.

Fithian, Philip Vickers.--Journal and Letters, 1767-1774. Edited
for the Princeton Historical Association, by John Rogers
Williams. One volume. Fithian was tutor at Nomini Hall, the home
of Col. Robert Carter, during the years 1773 and 1774. His
observations upon the life in the midst of which he was thrown,
the life of the highest class of Virginians, are intensely
interesting and very instructive. The author was a young
theologian, who had received his education at Princeton, and who
seemed strangely out of place in the gay society of aristocratic
Westmoreland. For this very reason, however, his journal and
letters are interesting, for he dwells with especial emphasis
upon what was new or strange to him and has thus unconsciously
given an excellent account of all that was unique or distinctive
in the Virginia aristocracy.

Force, Peter.--Tracts and other Papers, Relating Principally to
the Origin, Settlement and Progress of the Colonies in North
America. Printed in 1836. Four volumes. By the preservation of
these valuable documents Mr. Force has done a great service to
the history of the colony of Virginia. The papers relating to
Bacon's Rebellion are of especial interest, while Virginia's
Cure, A Description of New Albion and Leah and Rachel are hardly
less important.

Goodwin, Maud Wilder.--The Colonial Cavalier or Southern Life
before the Revolution. Lowell, Coryell and Company, New York,
1894. One volume. This little work is well written and is in the
main accurate. It offers an interesting picture of the Southern
planter and the unique life that he led in the second half of
the 18th century.

Hening, W.W.--The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of all the
Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in
the Year 1619. In thirteen volumes covering the period up to
October, 1792. In 1836 Samuel Shepherd published three more
volumes, covering the period from 1792 to 1806. In addition to
the collection of laws the work contains many historical
documents of great value. The Statutes at Large are invaluable
to the student of Virginia history and they throw much light
upon periods otherwise obscured in gloom. It is to Hening
chiefly that the historian is indebted for his knowledge of the
years covered by the first administration of Sir William
Berkeley, while his information of what occurred during the
Commonwealth Period would be slight indeed without The Statutes
at Large. Since the Journals of the House of Burgesses have been
copied, and thus made available to the investigator, the work is
not so indispensable for some periods, but it constitutes a
valuable adjunct to these papers and no historian can afford to
neglect them. The work shows throughout the greatest care even
in the minutest details and will remain a monument to the
indefatigable energy and patience of Mr. Hening.

Howe, Henry.--Historical Collections of Virginia; containing a
collection of the most interesting facts, traditions,
biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its history
and antiquaries, etc. One volume. Published by Babcock and
Company, 1845. In his preface the author says: "The primary
object of the following pages is to narrate the most prominent
events in the history of Virginia, and to give a geographical
and statistical view of her present condition." In accomplishing
the latter of these tasks Mr. Howe has done a real and lasting
service to the history of the state. His description of the
various counties in 1843 and the life of their people was the
fruit of personal observation and as a consequence is usually
accurate and trustworthy.

Howison, Robert R.--A History of Virginia, from its Discovery and
Settlement by Europeans to the Present Time. Two Volumes. Carey
and Hart, Philadelphia, 1846. The preface of the work has the
following: "In writing the Colonial History, the author has
endeavored to draw from the purest fountains of light the rays
which he has sought to shed upon his subject." And throughout
the book there is abundant evidence to show that Mr. Howison had
studied the sources of Virginia history then available and had
picked out as best he could the truth whenever his authorities
differed. So much has been learned of the events he treats since
1846, however, that his work is today of little value.

Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political
Science. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore. A number of these
studies touch upon colonial Virginia history and they have done
much in bringing order out of the mass of facts to be found in
old books, in documents and in journals. Some of the papers are:
Justice in Colonial Virginia, O.P. Chitwood; History of Suffrage
in Virginia, J.A.C. Chandler; Representation in Virginia, J.A.C.
Chandler; White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia, H.R.
McIlwaine, and Virginia Local Institutions, Edward Ingle.

Jones, Hugh.--The Present State of Virginia. Printed for J. Clark,
at the Bible under the Royal-Exchange, 1724. Reprinted for
Joseph Sabin, New York. This work gives an entertaining and
valuable picture of Virginia during the administration of
Governor Spotswood. Those chapters are most useful which treat
of the pursuits, the religion, the manners and the government
of the colonists. The descriptions given are drawn largely from
the personal observations of the author. This, together with the
sincere and straightforward manner in which the book is written,
leaves the impression of accuracy and trustworthiness.

Journals of the Council of Virginia as Upper House. Manuscript
copies made of incomplete records in the State Library at
Richmond, in the Library of the Virginia Historical Society.
Arranged in three volumes as follows: I, 1685-1720; II,
1722-1747; III, 1748-1767. These journals are by no means so
important as those of the House of Burgesses. They are devoted
quite largely to routine matters and reflect but little of the
political life of the colony. The historian, if he gives careful
study to their pages, will be rewarded by passages here and
there which draw aside the veil, and give fleeting pictures of
the strife between the Council and the Burgesses.

Journals of the House of Burgesses.--In the State Library. Session
of 1619; manuscript copies of sessions from 1680 to 1718, and
from 1748 to 1772. These journals, so many of which have been
buried for centuries in English archives, throw a flood of light
upon the political life of the colony. They constitute by far
the most important source of information upon the long and
tireless struggle of the middle class in Virginia for a share in
the conducting of the government. Something of this, of course,
may be gleaned from the official correspondence of the
governors, but this evidence is partisan in spirit and does
injustice to the commons of Virginia. Hening gives in the main
only bare statutes, and the discussions, the quarrels and the
passions of the sessions are omitted. The journals are to
Hening's work what the living person is to the stone image. It
is a matter of the deepest regret that the journals from 1619 to
1680 are missing, for they leave a gap in Virginia history that
it is impossible to fill.

Keith, Sir William.--The History of the British Plantations in
America. Part One contains the History of Virginia. Printed by
S. Richardson, London, 1738. The work is devoted almost entirely
to the colony under the London Company. It contains little of
value, following John Smith's account throughout and presenting
nothing new either of documentary evidence or of criticism.

Long, Charles M.--Virginia County Names, Two Hundred and Seventy
Years of Virginia History. The Neale Publishing Co., New York.
This little volume throws much light upon the history of
Virginia through the record left in the names of the counties.
The work contains several valuable tables. One of these gives
the governors of Virginia from 1607 to 1908.

McDonald Papers.--Copies of Papers in Brit. Rec. Office. Virginia
State Library, Richmond. There were seven volumes of these
documents, but two of them have been missing for many years.
Vol. I covers the years from 1619 to 1626; Vol. II from 1627 to
1640; Vols. III and IV are missing; Vol. V from 1675 to 1681;
Vol. VI from 1681 to 1685; Vol. VII from 1683 to 1695. This
collection contains many papers that are to be found in
Sainsbury, but they are usually more full, being often exact
copies of the originals. In addition there are many papers in
the McDonald collection not to be found elsewhere.

Maury, Richard L.--The Huguenots in Virginia. Col. Maury in this
work has rendered an important service to Virginia history. On
every page are evidences of the utmost care for truth and the
greatest diligence in reaching it. Col. Maury made, before
writing this book, a thorough study of the sources of Virginia
history and the accuracy of his work reflects this labor.

Maxwell, William.--The Virginia Historical Register. Printed by
Macfarlane and Ferguson, Richmond. In six volumes. This work is
one of the fruits of the revival of interest in Virginia history
which took place in the two decades preceding the Civil War. It
contains many papers and documents printed for the first time,
and no student of colonial history can afford to neglect it.