Results navigation
302. Virginia 1803 State Senate, Class 2, District 3
303. Virginia 1803 State Senate, Class 2, District 4
304. Virginia 1803 State Senate, Class 2, District 5
305. Virginia 1803 State Senate, Class 2, District 6
306. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Amelia County
307. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Bath County
308. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
309. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
310. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Elizabeth City County
311. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Essex County
312. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Fairfax County
313. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Frederick County
314. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Jefferson County
315. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Lancaster County
316. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Loudoun County
317. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Monroe County
318. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Norfolk Borough
319. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Norfolk County
320. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
321. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
322. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Randolph County
323. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Richmond City
324. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Richmond County
325. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Rockbridge County
326. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Spotsylvania County
327. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Sussex County
328. Virginia 1804 House of Delegates, Westmoreland County
329. Virginia 1804 State Senate, Class 3, District 1
330. Virginia 1804 State Senate, Class 3, District 2
331. Virginia 1804 State Senate, Class 3, District 3
332. Virginia 1804 State Senate, Class 3, District 4
333. Virginia 1804 State Senate, Class 3, District 5
334. Virginia 1804 State Senate, Class 3, District 6
335. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Amelia County
336. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Augusta County
337. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Bath County
338. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
339. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Brunswick County
340. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
341. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Dinwiddie County
342. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Essex County
343. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Fairfax County
344. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Greensville County
345. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Isle of Wight County
346. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Jefferson County
347. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Lancaster County
348. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Loudoun County
349. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Nansemond County
350. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Norfolk Borough
351. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Norfolk County
352. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
353. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
354. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Princess Anne County
355. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Richmond County
356. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Spotsylvania County
357. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Sussex County
358. Virginia 1805 House of Delegates, Westmoreland County
359. Virginia 1805 State Senate, Class 4, District 1
360. Virginia 1805 State Senate, Class 4, District 2
361. Virginia 1805 State Senate, Class 4, District 3
362. Virginia 1805 State Senate, Class 4, District 4
363. Virginia 1805 State Senate, Class 4, District 5
364. Virginia 1805 State Senate, Class 4, District 6
365. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Bath County
366. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
367. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
368. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Essex County
369. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Fluvanna County
370. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Hampshire County
371. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Lancaster County
372. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Mason County
373. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Norfolk Borough
374. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Norfolk County
375. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
376. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
377. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Richmond County
378. Virginia 1806 House of Delegates, Sussex County
379. Virginia 1806 State Senate, Class 1, District 1
380. Virginia 1806 State Senate, Class 1, District 2
381. Virginia 1806 State Senate, Class 1, District 3
382. Virginia 1806 State Senate, Class 1, District 4
383. Virginia 1806 State Senate, Class 1, District 5
384. Virginia 1806 State Senate, Class 1, District 6
385. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Amelia County
386. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Bath County
387. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
388. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
389. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Essex County
390. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Fairfax County
391. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Frederick County
392. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Hanover County
393. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Isle of Wight County
394. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Jefferson County
395. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Lancaster County
396. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Loudoun County
397. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Mason County
398. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Norfolk Borough
399. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Norfolk County
400. Virginia 1807 House of Delegates, Ohio County
Results navigation
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