The Origins of the Revolution in Virginia: A Reinterpretation

Abstract

LL America look up to Virginia to take the lead on the present A occasion, the Philadelphia committee of correspondence informed the House of Burgesses in June 1774. You are ancient, you are respected, you are animated in the cause.' The Old Dominion stood in the forefront of the opposition to Britain; other provinces copied its resolutions, and its statesmen numbered among the leaders of the colonial congresses. Any broad interpretation of the American Revolution must consider Virginia as a crucial test case and must explain the nature of that colony's Revolutionary movement. Since i900 two paradigms-the Progressive and Neo-Whig-have shaped studies of the Old Dominion. Shortcomings in both these explanations suggest the need for a new approach to the coming of the Revolution in Virginia, as well as in the other colonies. During the first decades of this century, Progressive historians investigating the Revolution in the southern colonies emphasized one major theme, the economic burdens of links with Great Britain, and one minor theme, the activities of the underrepresented lower classes. (For the northern colonies, these historians stressed the same two elements but reversed their importance.) The Progressives argued that economic grievances propelled Virginians toward Independence. In a discussion of the Chesapeake region, Charles Beard stated that it is generally known the debts due to British merchants and other private citizens constituted one of the powerful causes leading to the Revolution. 2 Scholars such as Ar-