University of Virginia Library

INTRODUCTION.

Although the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, October 19,
1781, had virtually terminated the struggle for the independence
of America, still the cessation of hostilities was not formally
proclaimed by Congress until April 11, 1783.

War with its desolating train had now given place to the
tranquil reign of peace; but, that war, with its history written
in blood from Lexington to Yorktown, had had its world-wide
uses. It had created a race of patriots, the story of whose
valor would never die; it had given birth to leaders who had
proved self-government a possibility; it had opened the way
for freedom of thought and action, and had snapped the cords
asunder that had bound America to a Throne. Last and
best, it had shown that the foundation of the infant Republic,
cemented with the crimson current of human life, was the
ground-work of a structure destined to be more enduring than
any fabric that could be reared by peaceful arbitration.

Nearly a hundred years had looked down upon its growth
when this "Union," tried in the throes of a tremendous civil
convulsion, emerged from a ravaging war of four long years'
duration, "One and inseparable." What could have accomplished
this, in its completeness, but the "mystic tie" of
Lexington, Concord, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Bunker
Hill, Quebec, Boston and New York; of Trenton, Princeton,
Brandywine, Germantown and Valley Forge; of Savannah,

Charleston, Camden, Cowpens, Richmond and Yorktown—
names, which like an amulet, had been hung around the infant
breast by every patriot mother, in every state, for well-nigh
a century!

Upon the cessation of hostilities with England, in April,
1783, and the return of peace, it was found that the "Articles
of Confederation" between the states were not quite adequate
to meet the new issues then arising. The necessity of vesting
in a Congress, (differently organized from that under the Confederation)
powers competent to provide for the national welfare
gave rise to permanent changes in the government. As
a matter of interest it may be noted that, from the beginning
of the War of the Revolution until the end, Virginia never
ceased in her exertions to furnish her full quota of men and
money in compliance with the requisitions of Congress, and
when, in 1783, certain commercial restrictions were proposed,
(made necessary by the action of England,) Virginia passed
her Act conferring the power on Congress to adopt such regulations,
suspending its operation, however, until all the
states in the Union should concur. She also passed "An Act
to provide certain and adequate funds for the payment of this
State's quota of the debts contracted by the United States"
(October, 1783), by conferring such powers on Congress as
would best tend to raise a revenue essential to the restoration
of public credit and the discharge of the public debts. This
Act was also suspended until similar laws should be passed by
every other state in the Union. The difficulties surrounding
these and other questions gave rise to a change in the organization
of the government, and to the adoption of the present
Constitution of the United States.

The territorial limits of Virginia have varied many times
since the hour when England's Queen traced with her royal
hand the name the new-found country was to bear.

The limits of Virginia under the Patent of Queen Elizabeth
to Sir Walter Ralegh, 1584, were vague and vast, but they
assumed a more definite shape under her successor, James I.,
and the various changes in her boundaries have resulted from:

I. The ancient charters from the Crown of England.

II. The grant of Maryland to Lord Baltimore, and the
subsequent determinations of the British Court as to the
extent of that grant.

III. The grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn, and a compact
between the General Assemblies of the Commonwealths
of Virginia and Pennsylvania as to the extent of that grant.

IV. The grant of Carolina and actual location of its northern
boundary, by consent of both parties.

V. The Treaty of Paris, of 1763.

VI. The confirmation of the charters of the neighboring
states by the Convention of Virginia at the time of constituting
her Commonwealth.

VII. The cession made by Virginia to Congress of all
the lands to which she had title on the north-west side of the
Ohio.

VIII. By an act approved December 31, 1862, Congress
provided for the admission of "West Virginia" into the
Union, upon certain conditions, which conditions being complied
with, the state government was formally inaugurated,
June 20, 1863.

By this Act, an area of 23,000 square miles was separated
from "The Old Dominion."

In tracing thus the changes wrought by time in the outer
limits of Virginia, it is likewise instructive to review some of
the mutations within her boundaries.

On February 16th, 1623, the "List of the Livinge" was
returned from the following places, and in this wise, viz.:

• At the Colledge Land.

• Att the Neak of Land.

• Att West & Sherlow Hundred.

• Att Jordan's Jorney.

• Att Flourdieu Hundred.

• The rest at West and Sherlow Hundred Island.

• At Chaplain's Choise.

• Att James Citie and within the corporation thereof.

• In the Maine.

• In James Island.

---

268





• The Neck of Land.

• Over the River.

• At the Plantation over against James Cittie.

• The Glase Howse.

• At Archur's Hoop.

• At Hogg Island.

• At Martin's Hundred.

• At Warwick Squrake.

• At the Indian Thickett.

• At Elizabeth Cittye.

• At Bricke Row.

• At Bass's Choice.

• More at Elizabeth Cittie.

• At the Eastern Shore.

• 1277.

• The End of the List of the Living.[1]

And now, compare this list of 1277 inhabitants with the
return from the Census Office for Virginia in 1890, showing
her total population to be 1,655,980, in her one hundred
flourishing counties, which are as follows:

• Accomac

• Albemarle

• Alexandria

• Alleghany

• Amelia

• Amherst

• Appomattox

• Augusta

• Bath

• Bedford

• Bland

• Botetourt

• Brunswick

• Buchanan

• Buckingham

• Campbell

• Caroline

• Carroll

• Charles City

• Charlotte

• Chesterfield

• Clarke

• Craig

• Culpeper

• Cumberland

• Dickenson

• Dinwiddie

• Elizabeth City

• Essex

• Fairfax

• Fauquier

• Floyd

• Fluvanna

• Franklin

• Frederick

• Giles

• Gloucester

• Goochland

• Grayson

• Greene

• Greenville

• Halifax

• Hanover

• Henrico

• Henry

• Highland

• Isle of Wight

• James City

• King and Queen

• King George

• King William

• Lancaster

• Lee

• Loudoun

• Louisa

• Lunenberg

• Madison

• Matthews

• Mecklenburg

• Middlesex

• Montgomery

• Nansemond

• Nelson

• New Kent

• Norfolk

• Northampton

• Northumberland

• Nottoway

• Orange

• Page

• Patrick

• Pittsylvania

• Powhatan

• Prince Edward

• Prince George

• Princess Anne

• Prince William

• Pulaski

• Rappahannock

• Richmond

• Roanoke

• Rockbridge

• Rockingham

• Russell

• Scott

• Shenandoah

• Smyth

• Southampton

---

269





• Spottsylvania

• Stafford

• Surry

• Sussex

• Tazewell

• Warren

• Warwick

• Washington

• Westmoreland

• Wise

• Wythe

• York

Though shorn of her vast territorial possessions, a greater
future spreads before Virginia than when her borders were
washed by the Atlantic on the east and the Pacific on the
west. With her mild and healthful climate, her fertile soil,
her splendid fisheries, her forest wealth; with her mineral
resources, her agricultural products, her commercial advantages;
with her increasing, intelligent, industrious, and
patriotic population, her greatness seems assured.

With such a land and such a people, the problem of Virginia's
possibilities, suggested by Lord Bacon in 1621,
"Who can tell?" is finding year by year, through all the
changes and chances of Time, a broader and higher interpretation.

is she now advancing from the ravages of war[2] and the
blight of debt, to a fuller and more glorious life than she has
ever known before.