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102. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 2
103. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 20
104. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 21
105. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 3
106. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 4
107. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 5
108. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 6
109. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 7
110. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 8
111. Virginia 1796 Electoral College, District 9
112. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
113. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
114. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 11
115. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 12
116. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 13
117. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 14
118. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 15
119. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
120. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 17
121. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 18
122. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 19
123. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
124. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
125. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
126. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
127. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
128. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7
129. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
130. Virginia 1797 U.S. House of Representatives, District 9
131. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
132. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
133. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 11
134. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 12
135. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 13
136. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 14
137. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 15
138. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
139. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 17
140. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 18
141. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 19
142. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
143. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
144. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
145. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
146. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
147. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7
148. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
149. Virginia 1799 U.S. House of Representatives, District 9
150. Virginia 1800 Electoral College
151. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
152. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
153. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 11
154. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 12
155. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 13
156. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 14
157. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 15
158. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
159. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 17
160. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 18
161. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 19
162. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
163. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
164. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
165. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
166. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
167. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7
168. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
169. Virginia 1801 U.S. House of Representatives, District 9
170. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
171. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
172. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 11
173. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 12
174. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 13
175. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 14
176. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 15
177. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
178. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 17
179. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 18
180. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 19
181. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 2
182. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 20
183. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 21
184. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 22
185. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 3
186. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 4
187. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 5
188. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 6
189. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 7
190. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 8
191. Virginia 1803 U.S. House of Representatives, District 9
192. Virginia 1804 Electoral College
193. Virginia 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 1
194. Virginia 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 10
195. Virginia 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 11
196. Virginia 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 12
197. Virginia 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 13
198. Virginia 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 14
199. Virginia 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 15
200. Virginia 1805 U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
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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