Some Notes on the State of Virginia

Article V Blog ^ | February 7th 2017 | Rodney Dodsworth

[Jacquerie]

There’s a tendency among 21st century patriots to assume the foundation of republican free government, conventions of the sovereign people, was known from the moment of independence in 1776. While the essential purpose (security of rights) of any government, expressed so eloquently by Thomas Jefferson, was widely accepted, the actual process to arrive at such government remained elusive. How were thirteen distinct societies to go about replacing their previous monarchal régimes? Let’s look at one, Virginia.

Virginia’s Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, dissolved the House of Burgesses when it passed a resolution on June 1st 1774 declaring a day of fasting and prayer in support of their colonial brethren in Boston. While it wasn’t known at the time, English rule ended and would never return when Dunmore fled to a Royal Navy frigate on June 8th. Virginia’s society was in a state of nature, and society demands government.

As opposed to our modern view of the superiority of special conventions over legislative bodies, that wasn’t the perception in 1776, nor was it the case over the previous 100+ plus years. Conventions were regarded as inferior legislative bodies called together to deal with emergencies. In 1660, England found itself without a Cromwell or a King. Real and legal Parliaments depended on a Lord Protector or King to call them into session. What to do? Members of the Cromwell era Parliament met in a convention, and voted to establish themselves as a Parliament. The new Parliament subsequently petitioned the son of the King murdered by Parliament (Charles I in 1649) to assume the throne as Charles II.