I begin a blog to make Virginia history accessible to those interested in relating the state and their community to United States history. The Virginian political community are the residents represented in the General Assembly of the Old Dominion. That gives us a platform of 400 years to explore. See Research Guides at The Virginia Historian webpage.
The issues for a political history of any time period can be taken from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. These six include national and local community, justice, domestic peace, common defense, the general welfare and the blessings of liberty that are summed up in the First Amendment.
Liberty encompasses the independent, self reliant individual in political community and their free exercise of religion, personal expression by speech, communication among local, state and national publics, peaceable assembly for lawful purposes, and petitioning the government for a redress of grievances.
Residents compass everyone in the state of Virginia, as agreed to in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, understanding as we find in the first article of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, “that all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
For an explanation of just how well Virginians have performed over time to this array of mutually agreed to standards, explore the books to purchase for a personal library at the website Book Club or ask for them at your local lending library. — R. G. Zimermann, the Virginia historian