University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER VI

DOMESTIC HISTORY, 1789-1861
ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE GOVERNORS, 1788-1834

Beverley Randolph, Governor,

December 1, 1788 November 30, 1791.

He was the son of Col. Peter Randolph, of "Chatsworth"
Henrico County, Surveyor General of the Customs for the
Middle district of America. He was educated at William and
Mary College, where he graduated in 1771, and during the
American Revolution he was a member of the House of Dele
gates from 1777 to 1781. In 1787 he was president of the
Governor's Council, and in 1788 he became Governor, serving
by annual election three years. He died in February, 1797,
at his residence, "Green Creek," in Cumberland County,
Virginia.

Among the many acts of the Legislature with which his
administration was concerned, the following may be
mentioned:

An act to cede to the United States two acres at Cape
Henry in Princess Anne County for the erection of a light
house. The act provided that after seven years, if the light
house was not erected, or was suffered to fall into decay or be
rendered useless, the property or the soil and jurisdiction
over the same should revert to the Commonwealth. This work
had been long in contemplation, and in February, 1727, the
General Assembly of Virginia had passed a law on the subject.
Another had been passed in 1752, but little or nothing was
done under either law. In 1772 the General Assembly passed
another act for the erection of the lighthouse, in conjunction

with the State of Maryland, and under the act in 1774 some
rock was brought to Cape Henry from Mr. Brooke's quarry
on the Rappahannock river. But the American Revolution
caused another delay.

Now under the auspices of the Federal Government a new
and successful start was made.

An act to erect the district of Kentucky, into an independent
State. Passed November 25, 1789.

An act for the cession of ten miles square, or any lesser
quantity of territory within this State to the United States for
the permanent seat of the General Government. Passed June
28, 1790.

In 1846 this portion of the District of Columbia was
returned to Virginia on the petition of the inhabitants.[97]

An act appropriating a further sum of money for building
the Capitol. Passed December 19, 1789. After the removal of
the seat of government from Williamsburg to Richmond in
1779, an act was passed for locating the Capitol, Governor's
house and other public buildings on Shockoe hill. The Revolution
prevented any actual construction, but in 1785 Mr. Jefferson,
then minister of the United States at Paris, was
requested by the directors of the public buildings, Messrs.
Buchanan and Hay, to procure for them a plan for the Capitol.
Mr. Jefferson responded and, in June, 1786, sent them a model
of the Maison Quarrée at Nismes, which he pronounced "one
of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful and precious
morsel of architecture left us by antiquity." It was a Roman
temple built by Caius and Lucius Cæsar and repaired by
Louis XIV. The model thus sent was accepted by the
directors, and the Capitol erected accordingly.

An act for cutting a navigable canal from the waters of
Elizabeth River in Virginia to the waters of Pasquotank
River in the State of North Carolina (known as the Dismal
Swamp Canal). Passed November 25, 1790.

An act directing a seal for the High Court of Chancery.

Passed December 27, 1790. The High Court of Chancery was
formed in October, 1777, and consisted at first of three judges,
Edmund Pendleton, president, George Wythe and John Blair,
but in October, 1788, it was reduced to one judge, George
Wythe, who under this act was to have executed a seal for his
court.

An act concerning Peter Francisco. Passed December 20,
1790. Francisco was noted for his great strength and served
gallantly in the Revolution. (See William and Mary College
Quarterly, XIII, 213-219.) The act allowed him a sum of
money for his valor and the loss of a horse.

An act concerning the southern boundary of this State.
Passed December 7, 1790. By this act the line commonly
called Walker's Line was declared the southern boundary of
the Commonwealth. In 1728 Col. William Byrd of Westover,
in Charles City County, acting for Virginia, had run the
boundary line from the Atlantic Ocean, through the Dismal
Swamp to Peter's Creek. In 1749 Col. Peter Jefferson, father
of Thomas Jefferson, and Joshua Fry, professor of mathematics
in William and Mary College, continued the line ninety
miles further to Steep Rock Creek, supposed to be on the
parallel of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. In 1778 another
survey was attempted, but the commissioners from the
two states differed so widely on principles, that two lines
were run instead of one, known as Walker's and Henderson's
lines, after the two leading commissioners from each State,
Dr. Thomas Walker and Richard Henderson. After thirteen
years North Carolina accepted Walker's line and this act confirmed
and established it.

But North Carolina having ceded the territory, known as
Tennessee, to the United States before this act was passed,
it became necessary to run the boundary line with that State.
Commissioners appointed in 1799 ran a line midway between
Walker's and Henderson's lines, which was ratified by the
Virginia Assembly in 1802-03.

Previously, in 1785, commissioners appointed in 1779 on

the part of Virginia, James Madison and Robert Andrews,
and on the part of Pennsylvania, George Bryan, John Ewing,
and David Rittenhouse, had agreed upon a line between Virginia
and Pennsylvania, which was duly accepted by the two
States. It continued Mason and Dixon's line five degrees
westward, thence northward on a meridian line to the Ohio.
By this agreement Pittsburg, site of old Fort Duquesne, fell
in Pennsylvania, and not in Virginia, as had been long claimed.

There were also many acts passed relative to the establishment
of academies, for opening and improving the navigation
of different rivers, and for establishing towns.

Henry Lee, Governor,

Dec. 1, 1791-Nov. 30, 1794.

He was the son of Henry Lee, and Lucy Grymes, his
wife, of "Leesylvania," Prince William County, Virginia, and
was born January 29, 1756. He graduated at the College of
New Jersey, A.B. 1773, and A.M. 1776. He served as lieutenant
colonel with great distinction in the Revolution. He served in
Congress from Virginia 1785-1788, and was a member of the
Convention of 1788 called to consider the Constitution, and
both spoke and voted for its ratification. In 1789-91 he was
a representative in the General Assembly, and was Governor
1791-1794. President Washington commissioned him Major
General in command of troops sent to Western Pennsylvania
to suppress the whiskey rebellion, which he soon effected. In
1798-99 he was in the Legislature and defended the alien and
sedition acts, and in 1799-1801 he was a representative in the
Sixth Congress, and at the close retired to private life. While
a member of Congress in 1799, when the death of Washington
was announced, he drew up a series of resolutions, formally
announcing the event, which were presented in his absence
by his colleague John Marshall. In these resolutions occur
those ever memorable words, "First in war, first in peace,
and first in the hearts of his fellow citizens." On the invitation

of Congress he was the author of "Funeral Oration" upon
President Washington, delivered December 26, 1799.

After his retirement to private life he wrote his excellent
work, "War in the Southern States" (2 vols., 1812). He died
while on a visit to General Greene's residence on Cumberland
Island, Georgia, March 25, 1818. He was buried there, but
recently his remains were removed to Lexington, Virginia,
and interred by the side of his illustrious son, General
Robert E. Lee. The County of Lee in southwest Virginia was
named for him.

One important matter of his administration was the relief
of the French emigrants who came under Du Tubeuf to Russell
County. Lee recommended that money be loaned them and
their bonds taken in payment. He pronounced their coming as
"the first effort at European emigration since the war." The
legislature acted on his advice and lent them 600 pounds.
Another matter of interest was the war with the Indians, who
had defeated the United States army under General St. Clair.
To protect the frontiers Virginia had to raise troops and
pay them, a duty which belonged to the United States. The
expense was so great that Lee states that "it had left the
treasury bare."

Another subject of interest was the new code, which Lee
announced to the Assembly, in a message dated October 1,
1792, as completed.

Probably the most important affair of his administration
was the suit brought in a Federal Court by the Indiana Company
in 1793 against the Commonwealth. His letters to the
speaker of the House of Delegates, October 21, 1793, and
November 13, 1793, take strong ground against the constitutionality
of the proceedings. He argues that the Union was
in "the nature of a Confederacy" and that "a sovereign
State was not sueable except with its consent." He advised
that an amendment be added to the Constitution expressly
forbidding such suits in the future. The Legislature backed
him by a resolution agreed to December 20, 1792, that the

claims of the Indiana Company had already been passed upon
and decided and that "the State cannot be made a defendant
in the said court, at the suit of any individual, or individuals."[98] Out of this grew the Eleventh Amendment, which
went into effect January 8, 1798.

Robert Brooke, Governor,

Dec. 1, 1794-Nov. 30, 1796.

He was born in Virginia in 1761, son of Richard Brooke,
and grandson of Robert Brooke, a skilled surveyor, who went
with Spotswood on the Transmontane expedition in 1714. He
was educated at Edinburgh University and in attempting to
return home at the beginning of the Revolution was captured
by Howe, the British admiral, and sent back to England, from
whence he went to Scotland, thence to France, and reached
Virginia in a French vessel carrying arms for the Continentals.
He joined Capt. Larkin Smith's company of cavalry,
was captured near Richmond, was exchanged and rejoined the
army. After the Revolution he was a member of the House
of Delegates for Spotsylvania County from 1791 to 1794,
and during the latter year became Governor. He served two
years, and in 1798 became Attorney General of the State,
defeating Bushrod Washington, General Washington's
nephew. He was grand master of Masons in Virginia in
1795-97. He died in 1799, while still Attorney General, aged
only thirty-eight. The County of Brooke in West Virginia
was named for him.

Among the important acts passed during his administration
was one granting Hampden-Sidney College the land
whereof a certain Robert Routledge died seized. Passed
December 11, 1794. This gentleman, who was a Scotch Presbyterian,
had been killed in a drinking bout by Col. John
Chiswell in the year 1766.

Another act was one establishing the first insurance company

in Virginia, the Mutual Assurance Society, passed
November 2, 1794; another, for appointing two persons to
perform marriages in Lee and Randolph counties, there being
then few ministers in these wild counties, who could act;
another, to establish the Petersburg Academy. Most interesting
perhaps was an act of the legislature granting the United
States Bank authority to establish a branch in the State, this
act seeming to claim that without the State's assent no branch
of the Bank could be set up in Virginia, which was the position
taken by John Tyler in 1841 as ground of his vetoes of
two bank bills.

James Wood, Governor,

Dec. 1, 1796-Nov. 30, 1799.

He was a son of James Wood, founder of Winchester, and
was born about the year 1750 in Frederick County, which he
represented in the Virginia Convention of 1776. From that
body he received a commission November 15, 1776, as colonel
in the Virginia line. In 1778 he was appointed to the command
of Burgoyne's imprisoned army and held command
at Charlottesville and at Winchester, when the prisoners were
removed to that place. In 1782 he was made president of the
Board of Arrangements of the Virginia line, created by a
resolution of Congress. In 1784 he was a member of the House
from Frederick County and afterwards served in the Executive
Council, and in December, 1794, he was elected Governor
of the State. After his term of three years had expired he
was commissioned Brigadier-General of State troops. He
was also for a time president of the Virginia branch of the
order of the Cincinnati. He died in Richmond, Virginia,
June 6, 1813. Wood County in West Virginia is named for
him.

During this administration there were rumors of negro
insurrections, and the Legislature in 1797 ordered the erection
of two arsenals and an armory sufficient to hold 10,000

muskets. The Alien and Sedition Laws, passed by the Federalists
in Congress, June 27, 1798, and July 14, 1798, had a
part in pushing them to completion. On December 2, 1798, the
Virginia Legislature adopted a protest drawn by James Madison,
which asserted the doctrine that the Union was a compact
to which the States were parties. The leaders in debate
in favor of the Resolutions were John Taylor of Caroline,
William B. Giles, Charles Fenton Mercer, Edmund Ruffin and
Peter Johnston (father of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston) and the
leaders against the Resolutions were George Keith Taylor,
Gen. Henry Lee and Archibald Magill.

James Monroe, Governor,

Dec. 1, 1799-Nov. 30, 1802.

He was a son of Col. Spence Monroe, of Westmoreland
County, Virginia, and was born April 28, 1758. He studied
at William and Mary College and rendered gallant service
in the Revolution, receiving a severe wound while leading
the advance at Harlem. In 1782 he was elected to the Legislature,
and from 1783 to 1786 was a member of the Continental
Congress. He served in the State Convention of 1788,
when he opposed the ratification of the Federal Constitution
without some amendments. In 1790 he became a United States
Senator, to fill the unexpired term of William Grayson,
deceased, serving until 1795, when Washington appointed him
minister to France. Here he offended the administration by
proving too pro-Galican, and he was recalled. The people
of Virginia sought to vindicate him by appointing him Governor.
On the election of Jefferson, Monroe was again sent
to France, and, with Robert R. Livingston, as co-plenipotentiary,
secured the cession from France of the vast Louisiana
Territory. Afterwards he was minister to England, Secretary
of State and Secretary of War, and President of the United
States for two terms (1817-1825). He died July 4, 1831. Monroe
County in West Virginia was named for him.

Just before his election as Governor, Patrick Henry died,
June 6, 1799, and two weeks after taking office George Washington
died, December 14, 1799.

This was followed by an insurrection of the negroes, known
as "Gabriel's Insurrection" after the ringleader, a negro
named Gabriel. At midday on the 30th of August, 1800,
information was given to Monroe by Mosby Shepherd that
the slaves in his neighborhood contemplated an extensive
insurrection. This information rested on the evidence of two
negroes, subsequently set free. Governor Monroe called out
at once several regiments of State Militia into service,
and, with the providential aid of a storm, which flooded the
streams and rendered their crossing impossible, nipped the
insurrection in the bud. The ringleaders, including Gabriel,
were caught, and some thirty of them executed. The plot was
fully explained by Monroe in his message December 5, 1800,
and it seems to have engaged the negroes in all the counties
surrounding Richmond. Their idea was to set fire to the
section of Richmond called Rocketts, in the east end, and
while the attention of the white inhabitants was engaged in
that quarter to seize the public arms and ammunition, stored
at the penitentiary.

Out of this insurrection grew the resolution of the Legislature
requesting the National Government, from motives of
humanity, to purchase a tract of land to which negroes like
those executed might be transported without compelling a
resort to extreme remedies involving death. Monroe, in communicating
the act to Thomas Jefferson, President of the
United States, gave it his endorsement, and suggested that
the terms of the resolution might be made the basis of another
interpretation for ridding the State altogether of slavery."
"We perceive," he said, "an existing evil, which commenced
under the Colonial system, and with which we are not properly
chargeable, or, if at all, not in the present degree, and we
acknowledge the extreme difficulty of remedying it." Jefferson

3 Monroe's Letter Book, State Archives.

in reply suggested Sierra Leone as a colonization point, and
this was first used as such; next in 1820 Sherbro Island was
used; and finally, December 15, 1821, Cape Mesurado, where,
shortly after, Monrovia, the future capital of Liberia, began
its existence, named after President Monroe.[99]

Another incident of the year 1800 was the trial in Richmond
of James T. Callender for alleged libel against John
Adams. Samuel Chase, who presided, was a Federalist of an
impudent type and utterly unfit to be a judge.

In 1802 the coming to Norfolk of negroes from San
Domingo gave rise to some apprehensions and there were
rumors of slave risings in Nottoway and Norfolk on May 10
of that year.

In his message December 7, 1800, Monroe urged internal
improvements, good roads and highways, and a well planned
system of schools.

Monroe was deeply interested in Jefferson's election in
1801 and wrote the Virginia Senators that "he trusted that
none of the Republican States will give ground." "The two
great States of Virginia and Pennsylvania, with their Republican
Governors, Monroe and McKean," says Muzzey, "were
ready to appeal to arms rather than see Jefferson cheated out
of the Presidency."

In a message dated December 6, 1802, Monroe informed
the General Assembly that the armory was nearly completed,
and in the same papers he said that the deaths of Major General
Daniel Morgan and of Brigadier-General Everard
Meade, and the removal of Major General George Rogers
Clark to Kentucky created vacancies in the militia which it
was incumbent upon the Legislature to fill.

John Page, Governor,

Dec. 1, 1802-Nov. 30, 1805.

John Page was born at "Rosewell" in Gloucester County
April 17, 1744, son of Mann Page and Alice Grymes, his

wife. He graduated from William and Mary College in 1763,
and served as a member of Lord Dunmore's Council and in
the House of Burgesses. When the Revolution began, he was
a delegate to the Convention of 1776, and became a member
of the Revolutionary Committee of Safety in August, 1775.
He was a colonel of militia from Gloucester in 1781, member of
Congress from 1789 to 1797. In the army to subdue the
Whiskey Insurgents in Western Pennsylvania, he was lieutenant
colonel. December 1, 1802, he became Governor, and after
serving three years, was in 1806 made by Jefferson United
States Commissioner of Loans, which position he held till his
death in 1808. The County of Page, in the Valley of Virginia,
formed in 1831 from Rockingham and Shenandoah, was named
after him.

Governor Page renewed the correspondence begun by
Monroe with Jefferson about colonization of the negroes in a
letter dated February 2, 1805. In a message dated December
5, 1803, he assumed the ground which prevailed more or
less with all the early governors that recommendations by the
governor was an interference with the legislative functions,
but two years later in making many suggestions in a message
he candidly admitted himself embarrassed by the recollections
of his former stand and recalled his opinions on the subject.

William H. Cabell, Governor,

Dec. 1, 1805-Nov. 30, 1808.

He was born December 6, 1772, in Cumberland County,
Virginia, and was the eldest son of Col. Nicholas and Hannah
Carrington Cabell. In February, 1785, he went to Hampden-Sidney
College, where he continued till September, 1789. In
February, 1790, he went to William and Mary College, where
he remained till July, 1793, graduating there as Bachelor of
Law. He practiced law, and in 1796 was elected a delegate
to the General Assembly. He was also in the Assembly of
1798 and voted for Madison's Resolutions against the Alien

and Sedition laws. In 1800 and again in 1804 he was presidential
elector on the Republican ticket. In April, 1805, he was
again elected to the Assembly, but within a few days after the
commencement of the session he was made Governor, December
1, 1805, and remained Governor three years. After this he
was a judge of the General Court, and later judge of the Supreme
Court of Appeals, becoming president thereof in 1842.
He served till 1851, when he retired from the bench. He died
at Richmond January 12, 1853. Cabell County in West Virginia
was named for him.

In his message to the Legislature December 1, 1806, Cabell
proved himself a strong friend of schools and urged their
importance. In the same paper he announced the death of the
great George Wythe, and the appointment of Creed Taylor
as chancellor to fill the vacancy.

Two other events distinguish the period of his incumbency.
One was the attack on the U. S. Frigate "Chesapeake," commanded
by Commodore Barron, by the British sloop of war
"Leopard." This outrage stirred the country generally and
exasperated beyond measure Virginia, within whose waters
the affair occurred. The Legislature passed flaming resolutions,
pledging both money and men to stand by the National
Government in defense of the rights of the Union.

The other event was the trial of Aaron Burr in Richmond
for alleged treason against the United States. The arch-conspirator
was defended by John Wickham, Edmund Randolph
and Benjamin Botts, eminent lawyers residing in Richmond,
and by John Baker of Shepherdstown and Luther Martin of
Maryland. Alexander McRae and George Hay of Richmond,
and the brilliant William Wirt were associated with the attorney
general of the United States, Caesar Rodney, in the prosecution.
John Marshall presided, and John Randolph was
foreman of the grand jury, and Col. Edward Carrington, foreman
of the jury that tried Burr. The last three were all bitter
enemies of Jefferson, on whom the duty devolved, as chief
executive, to see that the interest of the government was protected.

The trial degenerated into a party contest in which
the Federalists rallied about Burr and made him a hero and a
martyr to presidential persecution. The result as is well
known was the acquittal of Burr, because of the inability to
prove an overt act of treason, but the suspicion of which he
was prevailingly the subject seemed to attend him through
the remainder of his life. With the revival of Federalism in
recent days this unprincipled agitator is coming again into a
measure of praise.

John Tyler, Governor,

Dec. 1, 1808-Jan. 11, 1811.

John Tyler was son of John Tyler, who was long marshal to
the old Vice-Admiralty Court of the Colony of Virginia, and
died in 1773. The son was born in James City County, February
28, 1747, and was educated at William and Mary College.
He was an ardent patriot of the Revolution and was a
member of the House of Delegates from 1778 to 1786, during
a part of which time, 1781-1785, he was speaker. During his
last year (1786) he was instrumental in securing the passage of
the resolution for convening the Assembly of the states at Annapolis.
After this he was judge of the State Admiralty Court
and as such, a judge of the first Supreme Court of Appeals
till 1788, when, with the adoption of the Federal Constitution,
the Admiralty Court went out of existence, and Judge
Tyler became judge of the General Court. He was vice president
of the state convention which sat at Richmond in 1788,
and after a service of twenty years on the bench of the General
Court he became Governor December 1, 1808.

While judge he performed a memorable service in 1793 in
Kamper vs. Hawkins in maintaining the authority of the
court to set aside an act of the Legislature deemed unconstitutional.

He held office as Governor till January 11, 1811, when he
resigned to accept the office of District Judge of the United

States for Virginia, which he held till his death, February 6,
1813. In recommending him to Madison, Jefferson paid him
the compliment of having sufficient firmness to preserve his
independence on the same bench with Judge Marshall, a
difficult thing to do.

He was a warm Republican and supporter of Thomas
Jefferson. Tyler County in West Virginia is named for him.

One of the first acts of Mr. Tyler, as Governor, was to
enclose to Thomas Jefferson, who had now nearly concluded the
term of his second administration, an address of thanks from
the General Assembly, drawn by William Wirt, remarkable
for its elegance and beauty. The following October, 1809, his
term as President being concluded, Jefferson visited Richmond
and was enthusiastically received.

Governor Tyler, in his message December 4, 1809, enlarged
on the outrages committed by Great Britain and France,
and used this language: "We have talked long enough of our
rights and our national honor. Let us now prepare to defend
them."

In this message he was particularly urgent on the necessity
of promoting schools, and the invigoration of William and
Mary College by adding new professorships and giving the
legislature the power of appointing the board of managers.

So much of the governor's message as related to education
was referred to a committee, who, on January 19, 1810,
reported a bill providing that all escheats, confiscations, fines,
penalties and forfeitures and all rights in personal property
found derelict, should be appropriated to the encouragement
of learning, and the auditor was directed to open an account
to be designated the Literary Fund. It is said that the bill itself
was devised and drawn by Hon. James Barbour, then the
speaker of the House of Delegates. In his second message,
December 3, 1810, Governor Tyler urged an increase of the
number of judges of the Supreme Court from three to five,
which was acted on by the Legislature, and the number of five
still remains the constitution of the court. His strictures on
the old county courts have received present endorsement in the

fact of their abolition, and the appointment of judges learned
in the law to preside, while his attack upon the affectations of
the bar of his day—its habit of quoting English authorities and
making long and vapid speeches—has borne fruit in the growth
of a true American spirit. In Virginia today, Tucker, Lomax
and Minor take the place of Blackstone as text books, and
Call, Munford, Randolph, Leigh and Grattan take the place of
Durnford and East as reporters.

After a third election as Governor, Tyler resigned his
office on January 15, 1811, to accept, as stated, that of judge of
the United States District Court made vacant by the death of
Judge Cyrus Griffin.

James Monroe, Governor,

Jan. 16, 1811-April 3, 1811.

This was the second administration of Mr. Monroe, but as
he remained in office less than three months, no distinguishing
act of this interval is handed down to us. Monroe accepted the
office of Secretary of State tendered to him by Mr. Madison,
and on April 3 he resigned his office of Governor and was succeeded
by George William Smith, the Lieutenant Governor.

George William Smith, Lieutenant and Acting Governor,

April 3, 1811-Dec. 5, 1811; Governor,
Dec. 5, 1811-Dec. 26, 1811.

G. W. Smith, as Lieutenant Governor, became acting Governor
on April 3, 1811. He was elected Governor on December
5, 1811, but in a few days lost his life in the burning of the
Richmond Theater, December 26, 1811. He was a son of Col.
Meriwether Smith, a distinguished patriot of the Revolution
and was born in 1762. He was a lawyer, member of the House
of Delegates for Essex, 1790-1793, and for Richmond City,
1801-02, and 1807-08; of the Governor's Council, 1809; Lieutenant
Governor, 1810-1811.

On the lamentable occasion of his death, the theatre was
crowded with six hundred people. A new drama, "Father or

Family Feuds," was presented for the benefit of Henry
Placide, a favorite actor, and it was followed by the pantomime
of "The Bleeding Nun." The curtain had risen on the second
act when a wild cry of fire was heard. There was a rush for
safety, and in the frantic effort to escape many were trodden
under foot and killed. Others were burned to death. Seventy
persons were known to have perished. The fate of Lieutenant
James Gibbon of the United States Navy, son of the hero who
led "the forlorn hope" at Stony Point, and his betrothed
bride, the lovely Miss Conyers, was most touching. They died
locked in a mutual embrace. Benjamin Botts, one of Aaron
Burr's lawyers and father of John Minor Botts, lost his life
in endeavoring to save that of his wife. The same fate befell
Governor Smith, who had reached a place of safety outside of
the burning building, but returned to rescue his little son,
John Adams Smith. The Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States adopted a resolution to wear crape
on the left arm for a month.

The Monumental Church (Episcopal) was erected in 1812
upon the site of the ill-fated theatre; and a marble monument,
inscribed with the names of those who lost their lives, is still
to be seen in the portico of the church under which the unfortunate
victims were interred.

Peyton Randolph, Lieutenant and Acting Governor,

Dec. 26, 1811-Jan. 3, 1812.

Upon the death of Governor Smith, Peyton Randolph, as
President of the Council of State, or Lieutenant Governor,
acted as Governor for a few days, when James Barbour of
Orange County was elected Governor by the Legislature. He
was the son of Edmund Randolph and graduated at William
and Mary College in 1798. Inheriting the genius of his progenitors
for several generations he became early distinguished
in the practice of his profession of the law. In 1821
he became the reporter of the Supreme Court of Virginia, but

died December 26, 1828, and was succeeded as reporter by the
eminent Benjamin Watkins Leigh.

James Barbour, Governor,

Jan. 4, 1812-Dec. 11, 1814.

James Barbour was the son of Thomas Barbour, a member
of the House of Burgesses in 1769 and in 1775, and was born in
Orange County June 10, 1775. He was a member of the House
of Delegates from 1798 to 1811 and in 1831; Governor from
1812 to 1814; United States Senator from 1815 to 1825; Secretary
of War from 1825 to May 26, 1828, when he was sent by
President J. Q. Adams as envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary to Great Britain. He was a man of commanding
physique and noble mien, and President Adams greatly
admired him. In his diary, he declared that he did not think
the North could show his equal in ability. He was recalled by
President Jackson in September, 1829, and he only again
emerged from the retirement of private life to preside over the
Whig convention at Harrisburg in 1839, when Harrison and
Tyler were nominated. He died at his seat, Barbourville,
June 7, 1842. To him is ascribed the authorship of the bill to
establish the Literary Fund of Virginia and the anti-duelling
law—one of the most stringent and effective legislative acts
ever passed. Barbour County, now in West Virginia, was
named for him.

Governor Barbour's term of office as Governor pretty
nearly covered the period of the War of 1812. He rendered
great assistance to the Government of the United States in
the prosecution of the war. The people were enthusiastically
loyal, and they viewed the course of Massachusetts as treasonable.
This is the way an article in the Richmond Enquirer
began: "Rebellion Foiled and Union Stronger. March 9,
1814. The Legislature of Massachusetts has struck their tents
and gone home. Massachusetts threatened to secede and thus
destroy the Union because the war with England was not

brought to an end. How unlike Virginia, which flew to the aid
of Massachusetts when in 1776 the British made their attack
upon Boston."

But Virginia did not regard the Union as other than voluntary
and would have shed no blood if Massachusetts had
indeed withdrawn.

Wilson Cary Nicholas, Governor,

Dec. 11, 1814-Dec. 11, 1816.

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

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

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.

James Patton Preston, Governor,

Dec. 11, 1816-Dec. 11, 1819.

James Patton Preston was a son of Col. William Preston,
an active, enterprising citizen of the Southwest, and was born
at "Smithfield," Montgomery County, June 21, 1774. He
studied at William and Mary College about 1795, and in 1812
was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Twelfth Infantry,
United States Army, and for gallantry was promoted August
15, 1813, to the rank of Colonel, and assigned to the command
of the Twenty-third Regiment. He participated in the Battle
of Chrystler's Field and was so severely wounded in the thigh
that he was crippled for life. In recognition of his patriotic
services he was elected by the General Assembly Governor of
Virginia to succeed Wilson Cary Nicholas, December 11, 1816,
and served in that capacity by annual re-elections until December
11, 1819. Subsequent to his gubernatorial service
Mr. Preston was Postmaster of Richmond for several years.
He finally retired to his home in Montgomery County, where
he died May 4, 1843.

In his message in December, 1818, he states that the Federal
Government had paid for advances during the War of 1812 the
sum of $1,693,014.62, and it is noteworthy that in the last year
of his incumbency, on January 25, 1819, the law was passed
establishing the University of Virginia in Albemarle County
—upon a site near Charlottesville, which had previously
belonged to Central College. This great institution has been
termed "The Lengthening Shadow" of Thomas Jefferson,

who devoted the leisure of his retirement to its successful
upbuilding.

Thomas Mann Randolph, Governor,

Dec. 11, 1819-Dec. 11, 1822.

He was son of Thomas Mann Randolph, who had served in
the Committee of Safety during the American Revolution and
frequently in the Legislature. His mother was Anne Cary,
daughter of Col. Archibald Cary of "Ampthill," Chesterfield
County. He was born at "Tuckahoe," the family seat, in 1768,
studied at William and Mary College and the University of
Edinburgh and visited Paris in 1788, where Thomas Jefferson
was then residing as Minister from the United States, having
with him his daughter, Martha, whom Randolph married in
1790. He served in the House of Representatives from 1803
to 1807, and in the House of Delegates, 1819, 1823-24, 1824-25,
and was Governor from December 11, 1819, to December 11,
1822. In the War of 1812 he served first as Lieutenant Colonel
of the Light Corps on the Seaboard and afterwards on the
Canada line, where he figured as Colonel commanding the
Twentieth United States Infantry. He was very fond of botanical
studies, being probably the best informed man in Virginia
on these subjects during the time in which he lived. He died at
Monticello June 20, 1828, aged sixty years.

Mr. Randolph's administration was marked by the excitement
produced by John Marshall and the Supreme Court
of the United States in reexamining the decisions of the State
Supreme Court of Appeals through a writ of error. Mr. Randolph,
in his messages, and the Legislature, through its resolutions,
denounced the action of the Supreme Court of the United
States as in violation of the Eleventh Amendment, the very
object of which was to inhibit the dragging of a sovereign state
before any tribunal without its consent. Both the Governor
and the Legislature felt that such assumptions of power on the
part of the United States would promote sectionalism rather

than unionism. In these cases, McCulloch vs. the State of
Maryland and Cohen vs. Virginia, decided at this time, the
principles asserted by Marshall were the very principles urged
by Abraham Lincoln, a sectional President, in overturning the
self-determination of the South and bestowing upon the North
the government of the whole country.[100]

In his message December 23, 1821, Mr. Randolph gave the
aggregate of the militia of the Commonwealth—infantry, cavalry
and artillery—as 91,928 men. He also dwelt upon the
narrow spirit manifested in some parts of the Union in opposition
to religious freedom and said: "It is the glorious distinction
of Virginia to have first fully removed the main cause
of that frightful disorder of the public imagination, which has
appeared in all ages, in other countries and even in some of
these States during the short period of our history, which
confounds piety with cruelty and makes religion give sanction
to the most atrocious outrages against humanity."

By an act of the General Assembly, March 1, 1821, the State
ceded to the United States the lands and shoal at Old Point
Comfort and the Ripraps for fortifications. Old Point Comfort
had been the site of a fort since 1608—the earliest English
fort in the United States.

The close of his administration was marked by the death of
Spencer Roane, September 4, 1822, of the Supreme Court of
Appeals, the brave advocate of States Rights, and the rival of
John Marshall in the power of his intellect. Under the nomme
de plume of "Algernon Sidney" he had written a series of
very able letters against the decisions of the Supreme Court
of the United States, in which he showed the obvious tendency
was to give the North a monopoly of power and hasten the
conflict of sections, whose fundamental differences no decisions
of a court could remove. In this he showed a very
clear insight.

James Pleasants, Governor,

Dec. 11, 1822-Dec. 11, 1825.

Mr. Pleasants was son of James Pleasants and Anne Randolph,
his wife, daughter of Isham Randolph of "Dungenness,"
Goochland County. He was born in Goochland County,
October 24, 1769, attended private schools, and after studying
law with Judge Fleming, began the practice of the profession
with considerable success. In 1796 he was elected a delegate
from Goochland, and served five sessions till 1802. As a Republican
he supported the resolutions of 1798-1799. In 1803 he was
chosen clerk of the House of Delegates and served until 1811,
when he was elected to the House of Representatives. In
Congress he supported Madison's policy on the War of 1812,
and continued in the House till 1819, when he was appointed to
the Senate of the United States, where he continued till 1822,
when he was elected Governor. Mr. Pleasants subsequently
served as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 182930,
which was his last public position, for, though twice elected
afterwards to judicial positions, such was his rare modesty
that he declined acceptance from a distrust of his qualifications.
His son, John Hampden Pleasants, was the famous
editor of the Richmond Whig.

Mr. Pleasants' message of December 1, 1823, is very full on
the conditions of the State. Returns from seventy-five counties
showed that 6,105 indigent children had been sent to school
in 1822 on the credit of the Literary Fund. The estimated
revenue of the State for the year beginning October 1, 1822,
was $462,363.83, and there was a balance on the previous year
of $19,993.92. The sum to the credit of the Literary Fund was
$1,228,568.33. In January, 1825, an act was passed for the
erection of another hospital for the insane to be created in the
western part of the State, and Mr. Pleasants, in his message,
mentioned Staunton as the place selected.

Taking its beginning from Monroe's recommendation in
1800 as a result of Gabriel's insurrection, the National Colonization

Society was organized in December, 1816, at Washington
to provide a home on the coast of Africa for the free
negroes. Bushrod Washington of Virginia, nephew of General
Washington, was the first president of the society. During
Governor Pleasants' administration an auxiliary society
was formed in Richmond November, 1823, of which Chief
Justice John Marshall was elected president and Governor
Pleasants vice president. Later on, January 23, 1824, the citizens
of Richmond got together in a great meeting to express
sympathy with the Greeks in their struggle with the Turks.
There were also in 1824 the deaths of two prominent citizens
of the State, Judge Fleming of the Supreme Court of Appeals,
and Dr. William Foushee, who was one of Richmond's most
public spirited citizens.

But the greatest event which happened in 1824 was the visit
to the State of General La Fayette. He landed at Yorktown
October 19, and during his stay in the Commonwealth, which,
because of his associations, was the most beloved of all the
States, he visited Williamsburg, Richmond, Petersburg and
many other places, and everywhere the people turned out to
receive him en masse. At Williamsburg, William and Mary
College bestowed on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was
given a great demonstration in Richmond and at a banquet at
which Judge William Leigh presided La Fayette responded to
the toast, "The State of Virginia; the City of Richmond," and
Governor Pleasants to the toast, "The State of Virginia."

John Tyler, Governor,

Dec. 11, 1825-March 4, 1827.

He was son of John Tyler and Mary Marot Armistead, his
wife, and was born March 29, 1790. He attended William and
Mary College in 1802 and graduated Bachelor of Arts, July 4,
1807. He studied law under Edmund Randolph and was sent
to the House of Delegates in 1811. This was the beginning of a

5 Christian, Richmond: Her Past and Present, 102.

long career of public service in which Mr. Tyler filled successively
the offices of member of the House of Delegates, member
of the Governor's Council, member of the House of Representatives,
Governor, United States Senator, member of the Convention
of 1829-1830, President (pro tem) of the Senate, Vice
President of the United States, President, Commissioner to
President Buchanan in 1861, member and President of the
Peace Convention, and member of the State Convention of that
year, member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate
States, and member-elect of the Confederate House of Representatives.
His death occurred January 18, 1862.

During his administration of the affairs of Virginia Mr.
Tyler earnestly devoted himself to the task of healing the
sectional disputes which had long convulsed the State. He was
zealous in supporting the Board of Public Works, in pushing
canals and roads through the mountains, so as to bring the
East and West closer together. Two ceremonies of dignity
and importance graced the course of his first year. At the
invitation of the Legislature he presented a sword to Commodore
Lewis Warrington for his gallant service during the War
of 1812, making a notable speech on that occasion. This was
followed by the death of Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826,
which stirred the profoundest feelings of grief in the State and
Union. Thomas W. Gilmer communicated the sad tidings in
a note which ran: "Charlottesville, July 4, 3 o'clock p. m. To
the Editors of The Enquirer: Thomas Jefferson died today 10
minutes before one o'clock. Yours in great haste."

Immediately on hearing the news, which reached Richmond
on July 6, Governor Tyler convened the council and submitted
a set of resolutions[101] prepared by him which were unanimously
adopted. These resolutions provided for placing the hall of
the House of Delegates, the Senate Chamber and the Executive
Chamber in mourning, for tolling the bell in the guardhouse,
for the firing of minute guns and for badges of mourning to be
worn by the council for one month. After a meeting of the

citizens of Richmond in the hall of the House of Delegates
at which Andrew Stevenson addressed the meeting on the
life and labors of Jefferson, Tuesday, July 11, was set apart
as a day of public mourning. When the day arrived there was
a funeral procession from the Henrico County Court House up
E Street (Main Street) to Fifth, thence to H Street (Broad)
thence down H Street to the Capitol. Here Bishop Moore
opened the exercises with prayer, and Governor Tyler delivered
an oration, which received many plaudits in the newspapers
not only of the State but outside of the State.[102]

Everybody—Republican and Federalist alike—seemed to
grieve over Jefferson's departure. It was a testimonial of
interesting import that, just a month before, Chief Justice
John Marshall, his great political antagonist, had consented
to serve as chairman of a committee to receive subscriptions
in pecuniary aid of Jefferson. This committee was appointed
at a meeting of the citizens of Richmond on June 5, 1826, when
Governor Tyler presided and Thomas Ritchie acted as secretary.
July 4 was appointed as the day for making the subscriptions
and it was a day especially suited to call to mind
Jefferson's great work. The next newspaper that came out
was July 7, but instead of announcing the results of the effort
to raise money, it came with marks of deep mourning and
announced the death of Thomas Jefferson.[103]

In his second annual message in December, 1826, Governor
Tyler commented upon the defects of the educational system,
which was entirely eleemosynary and devoted to the education
of the poor. He professed himself in favor of a universal common
school system and made suggestions to that end. The
singular immunity from crime enjoyed by Virginia at this time
was noticed by him. Out of 700,000 free white inhabitants only
136 were within the walls of a prison.

On another subject Governor Tyler showed his interest.
Virginia, during the American Revolution, had held out inducements
in land bounties for military service. For the redemption
thereof she had appropriated lands in Kentucky, West
Virginia, and by the act ceding the Northwest, the land
between the Sciota and the Little Miami rivers. But the
erection of Kentucky into an independent State had cut short
this provision and rendered it inadequate. So Governor Tyler
in a message to the Legislature January 19, 1826, urged the
claims as a duty imposed upon Congress. The Legislature
did not act at once but when Mr. Tyler became Senator he
moved for an inquiry into the matter on March 5, 1830, and
soon after a bill was passed by Congress appropriating 260,000
acres in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio in satisfaction of the claims
of the Virginia State line.[104]

Mr. Tyler did not remain Governor long enough to fill out
his second term, being elected Senator in the place of John
Randolph. On March 3, 1827, he sent a letter to the Legislature
accepting the new honor conferred upon him, and resigned
his position as Governor.

William B. Giles, Governor,

March 4, 1827-March 4, 1830.

William B. Giles, son of William Giles and Anne Branch, his
wife, was born in Amelia County, Virginia, August 12, 1762.
He studied at Hampden-Sidney and Princeton Colleges, and
from Princeton he went to William and Mary College to study
law under the great law professor, George Wythe. From 1791
to 1803 he served in the House of Representatives, with the
exception of one term, 1798-1800, when he served in the House
of Delegates and supported Madison's famous resolutions and
report. In Congress he opposed John Jay's treaty in 1794
and the war with France. In 1804 he succeeded Wilson Cary

Nicholas in the United States Senate and being reelected
served till March 3, 1815. His failure to obey instructions in
1811 in voting for the United States Bank made him temporarily
unpopular in Virginia, which was increased by his opposition
to the Madison Administration. Mr. Giles was in private
life from 1815 to 1825, when he was a candidate for the United
States Senatorship, but was defeated by John Randolph. The
next year he was elected to the Legislature and on March 4,
1827, succeeded John Tyler as Governor. He was a member
of the State Convention of 1829-30, which convened on October
5, 1829, in the last year of his term. But he did not survive
long the close of this memorable gathering which occurred on
January 15, 1830. On December 4, 1830, he died at his residence,
"The Wigwam," in Amelia County.

In his messages, while advocating an extensive system of
internal improvements for the State, he denounced as contrary
to the Constitution the intermeddling of Congress with the
subject, and he was strong against the tariff. In a letter to the
Virginia Senators, Tazewell and Tyler, he advocated earnestly
the policy of laying an excise on goods imported from
any other State equal to the duty levied by Congress. He made
the telling point that "In distinct violation of the principle on
which American independence was founded, this tariff imposed
a tax, not by the representatives of the people bearing the
burden but by representatives of a distinct section of the
country, who did not participate in the burden of the tax."

The most important event of Giles' administration was the
meeting of the State Convention. The Constitution adopted in
1776 had existed till this time without change. It presented
a marked advance in the progress of democratic government,
but was still in many ways a copy of the old Colonial order of
government. Mr. Jefferson had not ceased to criticise it, and
it was especially objectionable to the large counties of the western
part of the State which had no greater representation than
the small counties of the East. The transmontane demanded a
white basis for representation, but the East, though unable to

defend equal county representation, insisted on a "mixed
basis" of white population and property. Eastern Virginia
demanded protection for its slaves, just as the Southern States
had demanded and received representation for three-fifths of
their slaves in the Constitution of the United States. Then
most of the taxes came from the East. Little Warwick County,
with its six hundred and eighty white persons, paid nearly
one-third of the tax paid by the 14,000 persons inhabiting the
large County of Monongahela.

After all theorizing about the fundamental principles of
law and government, the question confronting the members
was the union in one State of two dissonant factors, as existed
in the Union itself. The argument of the West was a good
one, if it meant separation, but it was subject to question, if the
East was to remain united with a section which had a totally
different set of interests to look after.

The Convention numbered in its membership of ninety-six
men two ex-Presidents, Madison and Monroe; the Chief Justice,
John Marshall; a future President, John Tyler, and many
others distinguished on the bench and at the bar and included
others who were yet to become Senators, Governors, members
of Presidential Cabinets, ministers abroad and members of
the Supreme Court of the United States. The East was led
by A. P. Upshur, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, William B. Giles,
Littleton Waller Tazewell and John Randolph of Roanoke,
and the West by Philip Doddridge, John R. Cooke, C. J.
Faulkner, Alexander Campbell and Lewis Summers. There
were, however, several from east of the Blue Ridge, like
William F. Gordon of Albemarle County, and Charles Fenton
Mercer of Loudoun County, that believed, like the Western
members, in an exclusive white basis.

A committee appointed to report on the subject was evenly
divided, and many propositions were offered but none adopted.
Till at last, when feeling had grown intense, a plan proposed
by William F. Gordon, in the nature of a compromise, received
the endorsement of the convention. The plan ignored the

JOHN RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE

basis question entirely and simply attempted an equitable distribution
of the representation. This adoption was accomplished
by a union of the valley counties with the East
and was not satisfactory to the West, which threatened
secession.[105]

The net result of the work of the convention was to do
away with county representation altogether, to reduce the
council from eight members to three, to extend the suffrage
to leaseholders and householders, but the government of the
counties was allowed to remain in the hands of the justices
as of old, under the controlling power of the Legislature.
When submitted to the people the Constitution was ratified
by 26,055 votes for acceptance to 15,566 for rejection.

John Floyd, Governor,

March 4, 1830-March 31, 1834.

John Floyd was born in Jefferson County, Virginia, April
24, 1783, son of Col. John Floyd, a prominent citizen of the
Southwest. He attended Dickinson College, Pennsylvania,
studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and settled
in Montgomery County. He was appointed a justice of
the peace in 1807, major of the militia in 1808, surgeon of the
Virginia line in 1812, and the same year was elected to the
House of Delegates. Later he was made brigadier-general
of militia in the State. In 1817 he was elected to Congress, and
was one of the leaders of the Republican party in the House.
He opposed the administration of John Quincy Adams (18251829)
and aided largely in the election of Jackson (1828). He
was a strong expansionist and introduced the first bill for the
occupation and settlement of Oregon. He became Governor of
Virginia March 4, 1830, and when his year was out he was
reelected by the Legislature for a term of three years under
the new constitution framed by the convention sitting at the

time of his inauguration, being the first Governor to serve
under that instrument, an honor of which he was proud. He
was in poor health for some time previous to the expiration
of his term, and he died from paralysis, at the Sweet Springs,
Montgomery County, August 15, 1837.

Three notable incidents distinguish his administration the
nullification controversy, Nat Turner's Insurrection, and the
running of the first rail cars employing steam power. The
history of the former has been given in another chapter, and
the sympathetic stand taken by Floyd in his messages procured
for him the vote of South Carolina as President of
the United States. Nat Turner's Insurrection took place in
Southampton County, south of the James River, in the summer
of 1831. It was a result of abolition propaganda, which was now
becoming quite active in the North. Nat Turner, the swarthy
leader, attacked his master's house, killed him, his wife and
children with an axe, and with his band of enthusiasts put
to sudden and violent death sixty-one persons, almost all
of whom were women and children. Governor Floyd took
prompt steps to suppress the insurrection, called out the
militia, and captured Turner, who, together with others prominent
in the affair, was tried for murder and executed on the
gallows. Some of the sentences to death, however, were commuted
by Floyd to imprisonment or deportation, and some
of the negroes he pardoned. The third event was the opening
in the summer of 1833 of the railroad from Petersburg to
Roanoke Falls in North Carolina, chartered in 1829-30.

As a result of Turner's uprising, many petitions and
memorials were sent to the Legislature of 1831-32, and were
referred to a select committee composed of twenty one members,
of whom sixteen were from counties east of the Blue
Ridge. Some days later William O. Goode, of Mecklenburg,
the leader of the slave interests, moved that the committee be
discharged from the consideration of the petitions, and "that
it is not expedient to legislate on the subject." Then Thomas
Jefferson Randolph, son of Governor Thomas Mann Randolph,

and grandson of Thomas Jefferson, moved as a substitute Jefferson's
postnatal scheme of 1779 for the gradual abolition
of slavery. After three days' discussion the committee made a
report to the effect that "it is inexpedient for the present
to make any legislative enactment for the abolition of
slavery." William Ballard Preston proposed a resolution as
a substitute for the report, declaring the expediency of a
legislative enactment on the subject. This was defeated by
a vote of ayes 58, noes 73. Then Archibald Bryce, of Goochland
County, proposed to amend the report of the committee
by prefixing the following preamble:

"Profoundly sensible of the great evils arising from the
colored population of the Commonwealth, induced by humanity
as well as policy, to an immediate effort for the removal
in the first place of as well as those now free or of such as
may hereafter become free, believing that this effort, while
it is in just accordance with the sentiments of the community
on the subject, will absorb all our present means; and that a
further action for the removal of the slaves should await a
more definite development of public opinion. Resolved, etc."

This preamble was adopted by a vote of 67 to 60, and, thus
amended, the report of the Select Committee was passed.

This incident in Virginia history is interesting historically
as showing that there was a strong sentiment abroad in the
State even at this late period for the abolition of slavery,
which might have grown to greater proportions but for the conscienceless
warfare waged by the abolitionists of the North,
inciting to murder and incendiarism. The violent crusade
undertaken by them against slavery closed the avenues of
public expression in Virginia, and it finally became almost
impossible for anyone in the State to talk openly, as so many
speakers did in this Legislature. It forced even men in West
Virginia, like George W. Summers and John S. Carlisle, the
last prominent in promoting the disruption of the State in
1861, into a position[106] that slavery was "a social, political and
religious blessing."

In the eyes of William Lloyd Garrison, a leader in abolitionism,
even Daniel Webster was a "monster" because of his
respect for the Constitution, and in the eyes of Wendell
Phillips Abraham Lincoln was a "slave hound" for a somewhat
similar reason.[107] But such epithets applied to Northern
men were mild when compared with those applied to Southerners
by the abolitionists. Governor Floyd was in thorough
sympathy with the movement in the Legislature for the abolition
of slavery, and used his influence in its favor, till the
heat of debate suggested a more politic stand.

On another subject, that of internal improvements, Floyd
had advanced ideas. Besides recommending help to the Jame-River
and Kanawha Canal, he recommended a railroad extending
to the salt, lead, iron and gypsum mines of the Southwest.
The proposed highway through Fredricksburg, Richmond and
Petersburg, connecting the North with the South, and the
Valley turnpike also received his endorsement.

13 Ambler, Life and Diary of John Floyd, p. 91.