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2. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Amherst County
3. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Brunswick County
4. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Buckingham County
5. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Essex County
6. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Fauquier County
7. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Fayette County
8. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Frederick County
9. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Henrico County
10. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Mercer County
11. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Norfolk County
12. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Orange County
13. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Powhatan County
14. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Princess Anne County
15. Virginia 1788 Constitutional Convention, Shenandoah County
16. Virginia 1788 House of Delegates, Botetourt County
17. Virginia 1788 House of Delegates, Brunswick County
18. Virginia 1788 House of Delegates, Buckingham County
19. Virginia 1788 House of Delegates, Essex County
20. Virginia 1788 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
21. Virginia 1788 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
22. Virginia 1788 House of Delegates, Princess Anne County
23. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Botetourt County
24. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Brunswick County
25. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Essex County
26. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Norfolk County
27. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Orange County
28. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Pendleton County
29. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
30. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Princess Anne County
31. Virginia 1789 House of Delegates, Westmoreland County
32. Virginia 1789 State Senate, Class 4, District 1
33. Virginia 1789 State Senate, Class 4, District 5
34. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Accomack County
35. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Brunswick County
36. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Essex County
37. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Fluvanna County
38. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Jefferson County
39. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Norfolk County
40. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Orange County
41. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
42. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
43. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Princess Anne County
44. Virginia 1790 House of Delegates, Sussex County
45. Virginia 1790 State Senate, Class 1, District 1
46. Virginia 1790 State Senate, Class 1, District 2
47. Virginia 1791 House of Delegates, Brunswick County
48. Virginia 1791 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
49. Virginia 1791 House of Delegates, Essex County
50. Virginia 1791 House of Delegates, Frederick 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