Cast Off the British Yoke

Cast Off the British Yoke PDF

Author: Michael Cecere

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 9780788455681

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"Resolved unanimously that [Virginia's] delegates in General Congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent upon the crown or parliament of Great Britain..." 5th Virginia Convention, May 15, 1776. With this historic vote, His Majesty's Old Dominion (Virginia) effectively declared its independence from Great Britain. This bold act in the spring of 1776, an act that was inconceivable to most Virginians just twelve months earlier, was the culmination of a decade long dispute between the American colonists and British officials. In hindsight, the separation between Great Britain and her American colonies seemed inevitable, at least Thomas Paine thought so when he wrote in Common Sense that, "In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet..." But independence was far from a foregone conclusion prior to 1776 in large part because each of the thirteen American colonies had to individually wrestle with the issue of independence before the Continental Congress could. For a colony like Massachusetts, which experienced military occupation and bloodshed, the decision to support independence came easily and early. Virginia, on the other hand, had a much different experience and thus, its path towards independence was different as well. This book highlights Virginia's path to independence by exploring the key events that occurred in the 1760s and 1770s, events that ultimately led to the 5th Virginia Convention's fateful vote for independence in May 1776. Maps, a bibliography and an index to full-names, places and subjects add to the value of this work.

Defending the Old Dominion

Defending the Old Dominion PDF

Author: Stuart L. Butler

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2012-12-21

Total Pages: 673

ISBN-13: 0761860401

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Defending the Old Dominion describes historical events in Virginia during the War of 1812, examining how Virginia’s militia was organized, supplied, and financed by the Commonwealth. The book discusses the militia’s unpreparedness in training, its lack of adequate ordnance and arms, and how that affected its ability to defend the state against British incursions during the war. Political activities of the Virginia legislature and the U.S. Congress are examined with special reference to how the state financed the war and its relationship with the U.S. government. The book includes the fascinating story of nearly two thousand former slaves who fled to British ships to fight in Virginia with British forces.

Old Dominion, New Commonwealth

Old Dominion, New Commonwealth PDF

Author: Ronald L. Heinemann

Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Published: 2008-05-02

Total Pages: 657

ISBN-13: 0813930480

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"On the morning of 26 April 1607, three small ships carrying 143 Englishmen arrived off the Virginia coast of North America, having spent four months at sea.... All hoped for financial success and perhaps a little adventure; as it turned out, their tiny settlement eventually would evolve from colony into a prominent state in an entirely new nation." So begins Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607-2007 and the remarkable story behind the founding not only of the state of Virginia but of our nation. With this book, the historians Ronald L. Heinemann, John G. Kolp, Anthony S. Parent Jr., and William G. Shade collaborate to provide a comprehensive, accessible, one-volume history of Virginia, the first of its kind since the 1970s. In seventeen narrative chapters, the authors tackle the four centuries of Virginia’s history from Jamestown through the present, emphasizing the major themes that play throughout Virginia history—change and continuity, a conservative political order, race and slavery, economic development, and social divisions—and how they relate to national events. Including helpful bibliographical listings at the end of each chapter as well as a general listing of useful sources and Websites, the book is truly a treasure trove for any student, scholar, or general-interest reader looking to find out more about the history of Virginia and our nation. Timed to coincide with the 2007 quadricentennial, Old Dominion, New Commonwealth will stand as a classic for years to come.

The Old Dominion and the New Nation

The Old Dominion and the New Nation PDF

Author: Richard R. Beeman

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2021-10-21

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 0813185785

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This comprehensive study—an honorable mention in the 1971 Frederick Jackson Turner Award competition— traces the emergence and development of the Republican and Federalist party organizations in Virginia and shows how the old oligarchic system based on wealth, influence, and social prestige remained strong in that state after the formation of the new nation. The book covers details of the Virginia Antifederalists' continuing hostility to the federal Constitution, James Madison's switch from the Federalist party to the emerging Republican party, Madison's and Jefferson's attempts to coordinate Republican opposition to Federalist foreign policy, and the Republicans' successful campaign in 1800 to replace President John Adams with a Virginian. Richard R. Beeman's central concern is the style of political life in Virginia and the effect of that style on national party alignments, and his findings demonstrate that the mode of political conduct displayed by Virginia's leaders proved increasingly self-indulgent and dysfunctional by 1800.

Defending the Old Dominion

Defending the Old Dominion PDF

Author: Stuart Lee Butler

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 673

ISBN-13: 0761860398

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Defending the Old Dominion describes historical events in Virginia during the War of 1812, examining how Virginia's militia was organized, supplied, and financed by the Commonwealth. The book discusses the militia's unpreparedness in training, its lack of adequate ordnance and arms, and how that affected its ability to defend the state against British incursions during the war. Political activities of the Virginia legislature and the U.S. Congress are examined with special reference to how the state financed the war and its relationship with the U.S. government. The book includes the fascinating story of nearly two thousand former slaves who fled to British ships to fight in Virginia with British forces.

Great Britain, the Dominions and the Transformation of the British Empire, 1907–1931

Great Britain, the Dominions and the Transformation of the British Empire, 1907–1931 PDF

Author: Jaroslav Valkoun

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2021-02-15

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1000342948

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The relations of Great Britain and its Dominions significantly influenced the development of the British Empire in the late 19th and the first third of the 20th century. The mutual attitude to the constitutional issues that Dominion and British leaders have continually discussed at Colonial and Imperial Conferences respectively was one of the main aspects forming the links between the mother country and the autonomous overseas territories. This volume therefore focuses on the key period when the importance of the Dominions not only increased within the Empire itself, but also in the sphere of the international relations, and the Dominions gained the opportunity to influence the forming of the Imperial foreign policy. During the first third of the 20th century, the British Empire gradually transformed into the British Commonwealth of Nations, in which the importance of Dominions excelled. The work is based on the study of unreleased sources from British archives, a large number of published documents and extensive relevant literature.

Old Dominion Industrial Commonwealth

Old Dominion Industrial Commonwealth PDF

Author: Sean Patrick Adams

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM

Published: 2009-12-01

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 1421400510

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A look at the role of state policies in North-South economic divergence and in American industrial development leading up to the Civil War. In 1796, famed engineer and architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe toured the coal fields outside Richmond, Virginia, declaring enthusiastically, “Such a mine of Wealth exists, I believe, nowhere else!” With its abundant and accessible deposits, growing industries, and network of rivers and ports, Virginia stood poised to serve as the center of the young nation’s coal trade. By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, Virginia’s leadership in the American coal industry had completely unraveled while Pennsylvania, at first slow to exploit its vast reserves of anthracite and bituminous coal, had become the country’s leading producer. Sean Patrick Adams compares the political economies of coal in Virginia and Pennsylvania from the late eighteenth century through the Civil War, examining the divergent paths these two states took in developing their ample coal reserves during a critical period of American industrialization. In both cases, Adams finds, state economic policies played a major role. Virginia’s failure to exploit the rich coal fields in the western part of the state can be traced to the legislature’s overriding concern to protect and promote the interests of the agrarian, slaveholding elite of eastern Virginia. Pennsylvania’s more factious legislature enthusiastically embraced a policy of economic growth that resulted in the construction of an extensive transportation network, a statewide geological survey, and support for private investment in its coal fields. Using coal as a barometer of economic change, Old Dominion, Industrial Commonwealth addresses longstanding questions about North-South economic divergence and the role of state government in American industrial development.