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1002. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Prince Edward County
1003. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Prince William County
1004. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Richmond County
1005. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Rockbridge County
1006. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Shenandoah County
1007. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Southampton County
1008. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Surry County
1009. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Sussex County
1010. Virginia 1820 House of Delegates, Wood County
1011. Virginia 1820 State Senate, Class 3, District 1
1012. Virginia 1820 State Senate, Class 3, District 2
1013. Virginia 1820 State Senate, Class 3, District 3
1014. Virginia 1820 State Senate, Class 3, District 4
1015. Virginia 1820 State Senate, Class 3, District 5
1016. Virginia 1820 State Senate, Class 3, District 6
1017. Virginia 1821 Governor
1018. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Accomack County
1019. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Albemarle County
1020. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Amelia County
1021. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Amherst County
1022. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Bath County
1023. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Bedford County
1024. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Berkeley County
1025. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Botetourt County
1026. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Brooke County
1027. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Brunswick County
1028. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Buckingham County
1029. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Cabell County
1030. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Caroline County
1031. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Charles City County
1032. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Chesterfield County
1033. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Cumberland County
1034. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Dinwiddie County
1035. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Elizabeth City County
1036. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Essex County
1037. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Fairfax County
1038. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Fauquier County
1039. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Fluvanna County
1040. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Frederick County
1041. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Gloucester County
1042. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Goochland County
1043. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Halifax County
1044. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Hampshire County
1045. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Hardy County
1046. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Henrico County
1047. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Isle of Wight County
1048. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Jefferson County
1049. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, Kanawha County
1050. Virginia 1821 House of Delegates, King William 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