The Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Pre-Revolutionary Virginia

Abstract

E LECTIONS to the House of Burgesses, for many years overlooked by historians, now play a central role in discussions of the political culture of pre-Revolutionary Virginia. Few scholars who have written on colonial politics in recent decades have failed to take note of these important local events. Although reading different political, social, or cultural messages from elections, most portray the Virginia electoral system as static, consistent, and uniform. It has rarely been depicted as dynamically responsive to local, regional, provincial, or imperial influences. As expressed by Charles S. Sydnor, Robert E. Brown and B. Katherine Brown, Edmund S. Morgan, and others, the dominant interpretation finds a common set of electoral conventions and behaviors operative across the counties and regions of Virginia from about I 725 to about i 815. Because the legal framework for elections changed little after I735 and was minimally affected by the Revolution, the behavior of candidates and voters is assumed to have changed little. Evidence from elections in I728, 1768, or I799, for example, is used to build a composite portrait spanning nearly a century. Similarly, electoral activities are believed to have been relatively uniform across localities; evidence from Accomack County on the Eastern Shore, trans-Allegheny Augusta, tidewater Richmond County, or piedmont Hanover blends into a snapshot for the entire colony. Because the same set of electoral rules applied to every constituency, the game of politics must have been played everywhere the same.' Historians dissenting from this static image emphasize change and diversity. Prior to 1725, according to one view, voters were swept up in a series of disputes between local elites and governors and adopted an