In our third look at social history in this series, we examine five books addressing religion in Revolutionary Virginia. “Founders on God and Government” shows how religious beliefs influenced views of the republic. “Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion assesses the transformation of Virginia and other colonies from Christian commonwealths to secular republican governance....
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In our next social history look at the American Revolution in Virginia, we feature four books on African American history. “Slavery and Freedom” investigates the results of the Revolution on slave and free black families in the Chesapeake and elsewhere and the development of autonomous black communities. “Water from the Rock” describes the social and military...
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In this second blog on the American Revolution in Virginia, we again turn to the political. Later we will look at its social history in three blogs, and military history in one. The most singular document of the period is certainly the Declaration of Independence, and the process that brought it about is described in...
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We begin our look at the American Revolution in Virginia with six blogs, beginning with political histories (2), then social (3) and military (1). “Founding of a Nation” surveys the internal politics of all thirteen colonies and Britain, especially the three largest: Virginia, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. “Revolution in Virginia” describes the politics and war campaigns...
Virginia Colonial Wars are introduced with two volumes focusing on English and Native American conflict with “Dominion and Civility” and “Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough”. Bacon’s Rebellion both as Indian war and colonial rebellion is described in “Tales from a Revolution”, and it is put in context of Virginia’s early colonial wars in the social history, “The...
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The Virginia Historian introduces Late Colonial Virginia with six histories. The first is the political history of “Colonial Virginia” early and late periods, from 1607 to 1780; here the review describes the book’s Late Colonial narrative. The second is “Tobacco Coast”, a maritime history emphasizing 1660 to 1763, and extending into the Revolutionary era....
Early Colonial Virginia is classically marked out between 1607-1689 in “The Southern Colonies in the 17th Century”, with Virginia center stage as the largest colony along with the study of Maryland and Carolina. “Indians and English” treats the encounter between the two cultures. “The Old Dominion in the 17th Century” uses interpretive essays to introduce...
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Early Colonial Virginia is introduced with seven histories that focus on political developments and colonial economic classes. The first is the political history of “Colonial Virginia” early and late periods, from 1607 to 1780. “The Barbarous Years” charts the expulsion of Native Americans in the British North American colonies. “Colonial Chesapeake Society” is a social...
Virginia’s Gilded Age New South is introduced in five books. New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, encompasses American political, economic, and cultural history 1865 to 1905, then Origins of the New South looks at the time period as a political history including Virginia, and The Promise of the New South treats economic and cultural...
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Here are four histories of free Blacks in Virginia highlighting self reliant communities in a slave society. Of course, Virginia’s free African Americans have a history dating from 1619 with their importation as “servants” with subsequent freedom and voting rights in the 1600s. But these focus on the era of their substantial expansion and integration...
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