The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1907-04-25
HISTORIC VIRGINIA.
Entrsace Af a Better Element.
CONTINUED from page one.)

i lFlSh PfeSpyteyianS, ilSts'
and othornDissenters and the German
! Luthe.ans from the ravaged Palatinate.
| These finding ill the Tdewater region
! in the hands of the descendants of the
| hansers-ond off the courts of Charles
and James. took up farms in the Pied
mont region and in the Shenandoah
Valley, which they cultivated with their
own labor. and became an important,
| tho disturbing element in the country.
The production of tobacco and the
| raising of provisions by slave labor for
| the European market became highly
| lucrative, and that portion of Virginia
known as the Tidewater. lying east of
n line drawn from Washington to Rich
mond. which marks where the water
| falls over the granite lodges into the
| Tidewater. became very rich and pros
porous. These planters, mainly adher-
ing TO the Episcopal Church and stub
| bornly adhering to the privileges and
so-called rights of the Church. became
exceedingly intolerant and tyrannical.
| and bitter contests at once developt be-
| tween them and the non-Episcopal ele-
| ments in the Piedmont and Shenandoah
Valleys. Al the head of these latter
We're such men as Patrick Henry and
| Thomas Jefferson, who were insisting
| upon q pure democracy and absolute d.
vision between Church and State. The
| party of Henry and Jefferson won in the
! fight.
| The development of the Piedmont re-
gion led to the founding of Petersburg
and Richmond in 1893. Under the old
charter of 1909, which granted Virginia
all the lands between the Atlantic and
the Pacific, Virginia laid claim to the
Ohio country, and ii was this which led
Washington and Braddock to Fort Du-
quesne and to the French and Indian
wars. The King tried to prevent the
| tha IN n
into the new country, but his proclama-
i ton was disregarded. Walker, Gist and
| Daniel Boone explored the country, and
/ reported such good land in Kentucky as
to start a large emigration thither. The
| Royal Governors did much to force Vir-
ginia into the attitude Of striving for
| independence.
i Gov. Botetourt tried to repress the
agitation against paying tithes to the
| Episcopal clergy and the taxes levied
by Parliament on Virginia, and was an
tagonized by Patrick Henry, who open
1y defied the King and Parliament. The
rude, INSCRIPTIONS Lord Dunmore had
no better success, altho he tried to dis
tract attention by beginning an Indian
war.
| After the Governor had dissolved the
i House Of Burgesses for seditious ut
terances and acts a remarkable group
| of men, consisting of Jefferson, Richard
| Henry Lee, George Mason, Edwin Pen
| dleton and others. gathered around Pat
rick Henry, and continued the agitation
for Colonial Rights. which eventually
/ took the form of a struggle for indie
| pendence. Their followers soon began
overt acts, and DunmOre attempted dis
/ armament by seiZing the magazines and
removing the gunpowder, but found
himself confronted with force he was
unable TO resist, and took refuge on
shipboard. The war then began, with
! Dunmore burning Norfolk, but was
driven from Virginia by Andrew Lewis
Il in 1916, and aoCOnvention Of Virginia
adopted resolutions asking Congress for
a Declaration of Independence.
| - ~. R.v,Iu,,o.
| ~ -,
Patrlck Henry became Governor OF
the State under the Revolutionary re-
gime' ana among the nrst acts OF the
new LEGISLATURE were 10 estaDIsn re-
i hglous freedom ana apolish entails.
II Iho the Underwater region seheraHy
remained strongly loyal 10 the ring
1 the Presbyterian settiers IN the Fieo-
mont ana shenandoah Vaiieys gave
strong support TO the ReFolutlon, oeing
next 10 massachusetts, connecticut anu
I pennsylvania IN the NUMBER OF troops
furnished to the Contihentai armies. Ia
1916 she mad 6'iSl troops IN the neia,
to 1880 from Pennsylvanla' i5.i1i
from Connecticut ana ZO,3i2 from Mas
4 sachusetts.
i During the war Benedict Arnold
burned Rlchmond' and Iarletons Cav
airy devastated the James river couh-
try
While virginia peieVeo tnat strons-
err Government was necessary than that
established by the continental acts OF
conIederatior' she was sironsiy Opposed
to the ADOPTION Oh the CONSTITUTION Oh the
United states, and Mason, Monroe ana
posad ito ratification Tb;e was onIv
secured by a majority Of 10 thru the
ardent championship of James Madison
In spite of this opposition Virginians
had control Of the Government for a
long time in its earlier history. During
the FIRST SO years of the Nations life a
}. Virginian was President for 80. with 8
large proportion Of all the Fedeal Of
4 fees filled by Virginians.
4 Virginia went actively into the War
4 Of 1912, but the main action during the
war within her boundaries was the re-
4 pulse of Admiral Cockburn's feet al
Craney Island, which saved Norfolk.
II A large proportion OF the Virginians
led by Thomas Jefferson, were strongly
opposed to slavery, and the first Vir-
ginia Assembly in 1873 prohibited the
slave trade. In the Federal Convention
hibi n,i Of the slave trade, against a
combination of New England with
; South Carolina for its continuance
Thomas Jefferson Randolph's bill for
concentration was n long time before