VIRGINIA. One of the thirteen original United States.
The name was given to the colony in honor of Queen Elizabeth. In 1606, James I. granted letters patent planting colonies in Virginia. The gov ernment prescribed was that each should have a council, consisting of thirteen persons, appointed by the king, to govern and order all matters according to laws and instructions given them by the king. There was also a council in England, of thirteen persona, appointed by the crown to have the super vising, managing, and direction of all matters that should concern the government of the colonies. This charter was followed by royal instructions dated the 20th November, 1606. See 1 Hening, Va. Stat. 76, 671. Under this charter a settlement was made at Jamestown in 1607, by the first colony. Upon the petition of the company, a new charter was granted by king James, on the 23d May, 1609, to the treasur er and company of the first (or southern) colony for the further enlargement and explanation of the privileges of that company. 1 Hening, Stat. 80. This charter granted to the company in absolute property the lands extending from Cape or Point Comfort (at the mouth of James River) along the sea-coast two hundred miles to the northward, and from the same point along the sea-coast two hun dred miles to the southward, and up into the land throughout, from sea to sea, west and northwest, and, also, all islands lying within one hundred miles of the coast of both seas of the precinct aforesaid. A new council in England was established, with power to the company to fill all vacancies therein by election.
On the 12th of March, 1611/12, king James granted a third charter to the first company, enlarging its do main so as to include all islands within three hun dred leagues from its borders on the coast of either sea. In 1612, a considerable proportion of lands pre viously held and cultivated in common was divided into three-acre lots and a lot appropriated in abso lute right to each individual. Not long afterwards, fifty acres were surveyed and delivered to each• of the colonists. In 1618, by a change of the constitu tion of the colony, burgesses elected by the people were made a branch of the legislature. Up to this time the settlement had been gradually increasing in number, and in 1624, upon a writ of quo warranto, a judgment was obtained dissolving the company and revesting its power in the crown. In 1651 the plan tation of Virginia came, by formal act, under the obedience and government of the commonwealth of England, the colony, however, still retaining its former constitution. A new charter was to be grant ed, and many important privileges were secured. In 1680 a change was made in the colonial govern ment, divesting the burgesses of the exercise of judicial power in the last resort, as had before that time been practised by that body and allowing ap peals from judgments of the general courts, com posed of the governor and council, to the king in council, where the matter in controversy exceeded the value of £300 sterling. Marshall, Col. 163 ; 1
Campb. 337.
By the treaty of 1763, all the conquests made by the French in North America, including the terri tory east of the Mississippi, were ceded to Great Britain.
The constitution of the colonial government of Virginia seems never to have been precisely fixed and accurately adjusted in any written memorials that are now accessible. The powers exercised by the burgesses varied at different periods. The peri ods of their election and the length of time they con tinued in office it is difficult to ascertain from the records of colonial history, and the qualifications of voters to elect them varied much at different peri ods. See Rev. Code 38, Leigh'e note ; 2 Burk, App. 1. On the 12th of June, 1776, a declaration of rights pertaining to the people, as a basis and foundation of government, was adopted by the convention. This declaration still remains a part of the Virginia Code. On the 29th of June, 1776, Virginia adopted a constitution by a unanimous vote of the convention. The Articles of Confederation were not finally adopt ed by congress until the 15th of November, 1777, and were adopted, subject to the ratification of the states. These articles were laid before the Virginia Assembly on the 9th of December, 1777, and on the 15th unanimously assented to. In compliance with the recommendation of congress, by a resolution of September 6, 1780, Virginia, by an act passed the 2d of January, 1781, proffered a cession of her western lands. The cession was finally completed and ac cepted in 1784. Virginia as early as 1785 prepared to erect Kentucky into a state, and this was finally effected in June, 1792.
The state constitution framed and adopted by Vir ginia in 1776 gave way to a second that was framed in convention, adopted by the people, and went into operation in 1830. This second constitution was superseded by a third, which was framed in con vention of 1851, and, being adopted by the people, took effect in 1852.
A convention assembled at Alexandria February 13, 1864, composed of delegates from such portions of Virginia as were then within the lines of the Union army and had not been Included in the recently formed state of West Virginia. This convention adopted a constitution April 11, 1864, but it was not submitted to the people for ratification. A con stitution of the state was framed by a convention called under the reconstruction act of congress I which met at Richmond and completed its labors in 1868. Under the authority of an act of congress ap proved April 10, 1869, the instrument was submitted to the vote of the people and adopted. The present constitution was adopted in 1902.
As to litigation between Virginia and West Vir ginia, see WEST VIRGINIA.