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1202. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, King and Queen County
1203. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Lancaster County
1204. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Lewis County
1205. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Loudoun County
1206. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Madison County
1207. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Mason County
1208. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Monongalia County
1209. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Morgan County
1210. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Nansemond County
1211. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Nelson County
1212. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, New Kent County
1213. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Norfolk County
1214. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Northumberland County
1215. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Ohio County
1216. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Pendleton County
1217. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Pittsylvania County
1218. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Powhatan County
1219. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
1220. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Prince William County
1221. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Richmond County
1222. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Rockbridge County
1223. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Rockingham County
1224. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Russell County
1225. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Scott County
1226. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Shenandoah County
1227. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Southampton County
1228. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Stafford County
1229. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Surry County
1230. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Sussex County
1231. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Warwick County
1232. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Westmoreland County
1233. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Williamsburg City
1234. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, Wythe County
1235. Virginia 1823 House of Delegates, York County
1236. Virginia 1823 State Senate, Class 1, District 1, Special
1237. Virginia 1823 State Senate, Class 1, District 3
1238. Virginia 1823 State Senate, Class 2, District 1
1239. Virginia 1823 State Senate, Class 2, District 2
1240. Virginia 1823 State Senate, Class 2, District 3
1241. Virginia 1823 State Senate, Class 2, District 4
1242. Virginia 1823 State Senate, Class 2, District 5
1243. Virginia 1823 State Senate, Class 2, District 6
1244. Virginia 1824 Constitutional Convention
1245. Virginia 1824 Court of Appeals Judge
1246. Virginia 1824 Governor
1247. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Accomack County
1248. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Albemarle County
1249. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Amelia County
1250. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Amherst County
1251. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Augusta County
1252. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
1253. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Brooke County
1254. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Brunswick County
1255. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Buckingham County
1256. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Cabell County
1257. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Campbell County
1258. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Caroline County
1259. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Charlotte County
1260. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Chesterfield County
1261. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Culpeper County
1262. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
1263. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Dinwiddie County
1264. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Elizabeth City County
1265. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Essex County
1266. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Fairfax County
1267. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Fauquier County
1268. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Fluvanna County
1269. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Frederick County
1270. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Giles County
1271. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Gloucester County
1272. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Greenbrier County
1273. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Greensville County
1274. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Halifax County
1275. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Hampshire County
1276. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Hanover County
1277. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Harrison County
1278. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Henrico County
1279. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Henry County
1280. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Isle of Wight County
1281. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Jefferson County
1282. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Kanawha County
1283. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, King William County
1284. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Lancaster County
1285. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Lewis County
1286. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Lewis County, Special
1287. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Loudoun County
1288. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Louisa County
1289. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Madison County
1290. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Mason County
1291. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Mathews County
1292. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Mecklenburg County
1293. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Morgan County
1294. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Nansemond County
1295. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Nelson County
1296. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, New Kent County
1297. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Norfolk County
1298. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Northampton County
1299. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Northumberland County
1300. Virginia 1824 House of Delegates, Ohio 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