History of Virginia :: :: University of Virginia Library

He was a son of the celebrated patriot and Treasurer of
Virginia, Robert Carter Nicholas, and was born in the city of
Williamsburg January 31, 1761. He was a student at William
and Mary College, which he left in 1779, at the age of eighteen
to enter the army. His gallantry met with deserved promotion
and he was made commander of Washington's Life Guards
until its disbandment in 1783. After the Revolution he was a
member of the House of Delegates in 1784-5 and 1785 6, supporting
all measures of reform. In 1788 he was a member of
the State Convention and defended the proposed Federal
Constitution. After that he was a member of the House of
Delegates from 1784 to 1789 and from 1794 to 1800, and in
his two last sessions was a strong champion of the resolutions
written by Mr. Madison advocating state sovereignty. In 1801
upon the accession of Mr. Jefferson as President, Mr. Nicholas
was one of the leaders in the Senate of the United States in
support of Jefferson's measures. In 1804 he resigned his seat,
but in 1807 he was a candidate for the House of Representatives
and was elected without opposition. In 1809 he was
elected for a second term, but in the autumn of the same year he
resigned because of a severe attack of rheumatism. In December,
1814, he was made Governor, and after a second election
declined further service in that office. Succeeding this he
served for a few months as president of the branch of the
Bank of the United States, situated at Richmond. On the 10th

450

of October, 1820, he suddenly expired while in the act of
dressing.

Mr. Nicholas' term of office began towards the end of the
war of 1812 and the speedy announcement of peace in the
spring of 1815 gave him but little opportunity to show his
talents as a war Governor. The State had been left to its
own resources during the war, and the adjustment with the
Federal Government of the expenses thus incurred was zealously
pushed by Nicholas. Foreseeing that as a result of
repayment, the State would have command of a considerable
fund, he urged in one of his messages that the proceeds to be
derived from the Federal Government be applied to the purposes
of education. The result was a recommendation from
the Finance Committee of the House of Delegates, of which
Charles Fenton Mercer was chairman, that the sum paid over
by the Federal Government should go to the Literary Fund,
established February 2, 1810, during the administration of
John Tyler, Sr. An act was accordingly passed, and by December,
1817, most of the debt of the United States having been
paid back, the Literary Fund had grown to nearly one million
dollars.

Internal improvements also received his attention. He
urged their promotion, and in response to his message the Legislature,
on February 5, 1816, created "The President and
Directors of Public Works," which was given the management
of a fund to be created for internal improvements. This fund
was to consist of "all the shares owned by the Commonwealth
in The Little River Turnpike Co., the Dismal Swamp Canal
Company, the Appomattox, Potomac and James River Canal
Companies, in the Bank of Virginia and Farmers' Bank of
Virginia, together with such dividends as may from time to
time accrue on such shares, and such bonus and premiums as
may hereafter be received for the incorporation of new banks
or for the augmentation of the capitals or the extensions of the
charters of existing banks." This Board, from the time of its
creation, continued an important factor in the public economy

451

of the State till 1902, when its powers were vested in the
present very useful "Corporation Commission."

The year 1816 witnessed among other things the beginning
of steamboat navigation in Virginia. The Powhata arrived
from New York and began to make regular trips between Norfolk
and Richmond.