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202. Virginia 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
203. Virginia 1811 U.S. House of Representatives, District 20
204. Virginia 1808 House of Delegates, Amelia County
205. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Essex County
206. Virginia 1818 House of Delegates, Essex County
207. Virginia 1813 House of Delegates, Norfolk Borough
208. Virginia 1813 House of Delegates, Buckingham County
209. Virginia 1817 House of Delegates, Westmoreland County
210. Virginia 1813 House of Delegates, Buckingham County
211. Virginia 1795 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
212. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Charles City County
213. Virginia 1817 State Senate, Class 4, District 4
214. Virginia 1802 State Senate, Class 1, District 1
215. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Franklin County
216. Virginia 1817 House of Delegates, Elizabeth City County
217. Virginia 1825 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
218. Virginia 1809 House of Delegates, Fauquier County
219. Virginia 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 13
220. Virginia 1819 House of Delegates, Princess Anne County
221. Virginia 1813 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
222. Virginia 1814 House of Delegates, Brunswick County
223. Virginia 1811 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
224. Virginia 1817 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
225. Virginia 1817 House of Delegates, Stafford County
226. Virginia 1815 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
227. Virginia 1797 House of Delegates, Fairfax County
228. Virginia 1816 U.S. Senate, Special
229. Virginia 1817 House of Delegates, Fairfax County
230. Virginia 1810 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
231. Virginia 1813 U.S. House of Representatives, District 19
232. Virginia 1817 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
233. Virginia 1796 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
234. Virginia 1808 State Senate, Class 3, District 5
235. Virginia 1813 House of Delegates, Fairfax County
236. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Southampton County
237. Virginia 1814 State Senate, Class 1, District 6
238. Virginia 1815 House of Delegates, Elizabeth City County
239. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Brooke County
240. Virginia 1822 House of Delegates, Charles City County
241. Virginia 1795 State Senate, Class 4, District 2
242. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 15
243. Virginia 1802 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
244. Virginia 1800 State Senate, Class 3, District 5
245. Virginia 1798 House of Delegates, Amelia County, Special
246. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 21
247. Virginia 1813 House of Delegates, Westmoreland County
248. Virginia 1822 House of Delegates, Westmoreland County
249. Virginia 1821 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
250. Virginia 1815 U.S. House of Representatives, District 23
251. Virginia 1822 House of Delegates, Alleghany County
252. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Ohio County
253. Virginia 1791 House of Delegates, Essex County
254. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Henrico County
255. Virginia 1815 House of Delegates, York County
256. Virginia 1817 House of Delegates, Culpeper County
257. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Russell County
258. Virginia 1799 House of Delegates, Stafford County
259. Virginia 1811 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
260. Virginia 1813 U.S. House of Representatives, District 9
261. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
262. Virginia 1802 House of Delegates, Frederick County
263. Virginia 1813 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
264. Virginia 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 9
265. Virginia 1822 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
266. Virginia 1812 House of Delegates, Essex County
267. Virginia 1808 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
268. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Bedford County
269. Virginia 1822 House of Delegates, Greenbrier County
270. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
271. Virginia 1788 House of Delegates, Essex County
272. Virginia 1803 House of Delegates, Loudoun County
273. Virginia 1804 State Senate, Class 3, District 6
274. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Pittsylvania County
275. Virginia 1811 U.S. House of Representatives, District 11
276. Virginia 1819 U.S. House of Representatives, District 21
277. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Jefferson County
278. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Caroline County
279. Virginia 1811 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
280. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Mercer County
281. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
282. Virginia 1808 Governor
283. Virginia 1799 Speaker of the Senate
284. Virginia 1817 House of Delegates, Henrico County
285. Virginia 1799 Executive Council
286. Virginia 1815 House of Delegates, Lancaster County, Special
287. Virginia 1793 U.S. House of Representatives, District 13
288. Virginia 1801 House of Delegates, Chesterfield County
289. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Essex County
290. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Harrison County
291. Virginia 1802 House of Delegates, Augusta County
292. Virginia 1792 House of Delegates, Greensville County
293. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 6
294. Virginia 1803 House of Delegates, Lancaster County
295. Virginia 1813 House of Delegates, Bath County
296. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 18
297. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Frederick County
298. Virginia 1812 State Senate, Class 3, District 3
299. Virginia 1813 U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
300. Virginia 1814 House of Delegates, Lancaster County
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The Commonwealth of Virginia rebelled from England and created its own constitution in 1776 as an independent state. This document was written primarily by James Mason and was basically a bill of rights rather than a detailed framework of government. When Virginia joined first other colonies, under the Articles of Confederation, and then the United States, under our present Constitution, its government functioned much as it had as a colony. It had a legislature, but that body and the county courts were dominated by an elite of what one historian has called "Gentlemen Freeholders." This colonial gentry was made up of men who had a good deal of land and twenty or more slaves. Yet the right to vote was much more widely enjoyed than in England. Although governors were appointed by the imperial government before the Revolution, there were popular elections for the House of Burgesses.
Thus colonial Virginians (at least, many of the white landholding men) were used to elections, and these were several-day events that were quite public and rather intensely social. From 1776 until 1850, the government of Virginia continued to function on its original principles, and the Virginia constitution was not significantly changed. Thomas Jefferson early had called for a revision of the constitution of the commonwealth. His most extensive analysis was in “Notes on the State of Virginia,” published in the 1780s. Most historians are also familiar with a well-known letter written just a year before his death when constitutional reform was being debated.
The Old Dominion (as Virginia was often called) during the period of the elections being presented here had a governor and his counsel elected by the legislature. The legislature was bicameral, and both houses were popularly elected by the freeholders—essentially white men who held a respectable amount of land or, after the legislature changed the law in 1785, lived in town and owned a house.
In the 1820s the movement for reform grew. There were a number of demands to democratize the government, by electing the governor popularly, for example, or by building a hierarchy of republics from the local level up (Jefferson’s favorite idea). Even so, the famous collection of prominent Virginian statesmen, including ex-presidents, senators, congressmen and even the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, made very little change in the suffrage, admitting only "householders." The governor's council was eliminated, but the number of elective offices was not expanded. The unequal system of representation in the legislature was addressed by a compromise giving more seats to the west—mostly the Shenandoah Valley—without creating a rational plan for the future.
During this period, Virginians could vote for their legislators, congressmen, and electors in the presidential elections. They voted yearly in the spring for legislators, every two years for their members of Congress, and every four years for presidential electors. At first they voted for the electors themselves, because they were not willing to say whom they might vote for. The freeholders voted at the polling place closest to their home—a polling place that was often a court house but sometimes a local store. These Virginians voted viva voce, so we have poll books in some counties for some elections to supplement the statistics taken mostly from newspapers.
Bibliography
- Dabney, Virginius.
Virginia: The New Dominion (1971) - Heinemann, Ronald L., John G. Kolp, Anthony S. Parent Jr., and William G. Shade,
Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607-2007 (2007). - Salmon, Emily J., and Edward D.C. Campbell, Jr., eds.
The Hornbook of Virginia history: A Ready-Reference Guide to the Old Dominion's People, Places, and Past 4th edition. (1994) - Official State of Virginia Site
- Library of Virginia
- Virginia Historical Society