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Virginia Statute For Religious Freedom

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was written in 1779 by Thomas Jefferson. The 793-word statute is divided into three sections. In Section 1, Jefferson argues that the concept of compulsory religion is wrong for the following reasons:
- The imposition of anything on a human mind, which God made to be free, is hypocritical and mean.
- Jesus never coerced anyone to follow him, and the imposition of a religion by government officials is impious.
- The coercion of a person to make contributions -- especially monetary -- to a religion he doesn't support is tyrannical and creates favoritism among ministers.
- Government involvement in religious matters tends to end in the restraint of religion.
- Civil rights do not depend on religious beliefs, and what a person thinks is no business of the government's. Section 2 (which remains part of Virginia law, in Article 1, Section 16 of the Constitution of Virginia) declares that: :"...no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." Section 3 declares "...that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right." The bill was made law on January 16 1786. Jefferson, proud of this achievement, had it listed on his epitaph along with his founding of the University of Virginia and the writing of the United States Declaration of Independence.

External link


- [http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/jefferson_vsrf.html Text of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom]

1779

1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar).

Events


- The Iron Bridge is completed across the River Severn in Shropshire; the first all cast-iron bridge ever constructed.
- Boulton and Watt's Smethwick Engine, now the oldest working engine in the world, is brought into service.
- The city of Tampere is founded in Finland.
- January 9 - British troops surrender to the Marathas in Wadgaon, India, and are forced to return all terrorities acquired since 1773.
- January 22 - Claudius Smith is hanged at Goshen, Orange County, New York for supposed acts of terrorism upon the people of the surrounding communities during the American Revolutionary War.
- May 13 - War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives a part of its territory that was taken from them (the Inn District).
- June 1 - American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold is court-martialed for malfeasance in his treatment of government property.
- July 16 - American Revolutionary War: United States forces led by General Anthony Wayne capture Stony Point, New York from British troops.
- July 22 - Exactly six months to the day after Claudius Smith was hanged, Mohawk Indian Chief Joseph Brant, completely wiped out the town of Goshen, New York in what was known as the Battle of Minisink leaving at least 33 living women as widows.
- December 13 - Marriage of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais to Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie.
- December 25 - Fort Nashborough, later to become Nashville, Tennessee, founded by James Robertson.

Births


- January 5 - Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (d. 1820)
- January 18 - Peter Roget, Scottish lexicographer (d. 1869)
- March 6 - Antoine-Henri Jomini, French eneral (d. 1869)
- March 15 - Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1848)
- May 28 - Thomas Moore, Irish poet (d. 1852)
- August 1 - Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and lyricist (d. 1843)
- August 20 - Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (d. 1848)
- November 14 - Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Danish poet (d. 1850)
- Giacomo Beltrami, Italian explorer (d. 1855)

Deaths


- January 3 - Claude Bourgelat, French veterinary surgeon (b. 1712)
- January 20 - David Garrick, English actor (d. 1717)
- January 22 - Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (b. 1733)
- February 7 - William Boyce, English composer (b. 1711)
- February 14 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (b. 1728)
- February 24 - Paul Daniel Longolius, German encylopedist (b. 1704)
- April 24 - Eleazar Wheelock, American founder of Dartmouth College (b. 1711)
- May 3 - John Winthrop, American astronomer (b. 1714)
- June 7 - William Warburton, English critic and Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1698)
- September 12 - Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, English politician (b. 1711)
- November 16 - Pehr Kalm, Finnish explorer and naturalist (b. 1716)
- December 6 - Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter (b. 1699)
- December 17 - Giuseppe Carcani, Italian composer (b. ?1703)
- December 23 - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (b. 1724)
- Emperor Go-Momozono of Japan (d. 1758) Category:1779 ko:1779년 ms:1779 simple:1779

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (April 13 (April 2 Old Style), 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founders of the United States. Achievements of his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). A political philosopher who promoted classical liberalism, republicanism, and the separation of church and state, he was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786), which was the basis of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. He was also the founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated American politics for over a quarter-century. Jefferson also served as second Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1795), and second Vice President (1797–1801). In addition to his political career, Jefferson was also an agriculturalist, horticulturist, architect, etymologist, archaeologist, mathematician, surveyor, paleontologist, author, lawyer, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia. Many people consider him to be among the most brilliant men ever to occupy the Presidency. President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962, saying, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

Early life and education

Jefferson was born on April 2, 1743 according to the Julian calendar ("old style") used at the time, but under the Gregorian calendar ("new style") adopted during his lifetime, he was born on April 13. Jefferson was born into a prosperous Virginia family. His father was Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor who owned a plantation in Albemarle County called Shadwell. His mother was Jane Randolph. Both parents were from families that had been settled in Virginia for several generations. Albemarle County In 1752, Jefferson began attending a local school run by William Douglas, a Scottish reverend. In 1757, when Jefferson was 14 years old, his father died. Jefferson inherited about 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land and dozens of slaves, out of which he created his home which would eventually be known as Monticello. After his father's death he was taught at the school of the learned James Maury, a reverend, from 1758 to 1760. The school was in Fredericksburg parish, twelve miles from Shadwell, and Jefferson boarded with Maury's family. There he received a classical education and studied history and natural science. At the age of nine, Jefferson began studying the classical languages of Latin and Greek as well as French. Jefferson entered the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg at the age of 16 and spent two years there, from 1760 to 1762. There Jefferson studied mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy under professor William Small, who introduced the enthusiastic Jefferson to the writings of British Empiricists, including John Locke, Bacon, and Sir Issac Newton. At William & Mary he reportedly studied 15 hours a day, perfected French, carried his Greek grammar book wherever he went, practiced the violin, and favored Tacitus and Homer. In college, Jefferson was a member of the secret Flat Hat Club, now the namesake of the college's daily student newspaper. After graduating in 1762 with highest honors, Jefferson studied law with his friend and mentor George Wythe and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767. In 1772 he married a widow, Martha Wayles Skelton (1748-82). They had six children, but only one survived to adulthood. Jefferson never remarried. In 1778, Jefferson's "Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge" led to several academic reforms at his alma mater, including an elective system of study -- the first in an American university. In 1779, at Jefferson's behest, the College of William and Mary appointed George Wythe the first Professor of Law in America. In 1783, Jefferson was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by William and Mary. As Governor of Virginia, Jefferson continued to advocate educational reforms at that college including the nation's first elective system of course study and student-policed honor code.

Political career to 1800

honor code Jefferson practiced law and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1774, he wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America which was intended as instructions for the Virginia delegates to a national congress. The pamphlet was a powerful argument of American terms for a settlement with Britain, helped speed the way to independence, and marked Jefferson as one of the most thoughtful patriot spokesmen. Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, and a source of many other contributions to American political and civil culture. The Continental Congress delegated the task of writing the Declaration to a committee which included Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The committee met and unanimously solicited Jefferson to prepare the draft of the Declaration alone. During the Revolution, Jefferson played a leading role in implementing the separation of church and state in Virginia. In Virginia, prior to the American Revolution, the Anglican Church was government sanctioned and funded, and its doctrine was made mandatory for Christians. As he wrote in his Notes on Virginia, a law was in effect in Virginia that "if a person brought up a Christian denies the being of a God, or the Trinity …he is punishable on the first offense by incapacity to hold any office …; on the second by a disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy …, and by three year' imprisonment." Prospective officer-holders, presumably including Jefferson, were required to swear that they did not believe in transubstantiation, a measure intended to exclude Roman Catholics from office. In 1779, toward the end of the Revolution, Jefferson drafted "A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom," and he regarded passage of this bill as a high achievement. However, the dis-establishment of the official church did not come easily, and Jefferson described the debates as "…the severest contests in which I have ever been engaged," because even though a majority of Virginia's citizens were dissenting Christians, Anglican churchman controlled a majority of the legislature. For Jefferson, separation of church and state was not an abstract right, but a necessary reform of a religious "Tyranny" of one Christian sect over many other Christians. He also regarded separation as being a very personal freedom, and for example he noted that individual members of a given congregation should not be compelled by law to support financially their own parish church. During the Articles of Confederation period after the end of the American Revolutionary War, Jefferson served as governor of Virginia (1779-1781), and minister to France (1785–1789). He did not attend the Constitutional Convention. He did generally support the new Constitution, although he thought the document flawed for lack of a Bill of Rights. After returning from France, Jefferson served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington (1790–1793). After battling inside the cabinet with Alexander Hamilton, Jefferson and James Madison founded and led the Democratic-Republican Party. Jefferson strongly supported France against Britain when war broke out between those powerful nations in 1793. However when the Jay Treaty proved that Washington and Hamilton supported Britain, Jefferson retired to Monticello. He was elected Vice President (1797–1801), writing [http://www.constitution.org/tj/tj-mpp.htm A Manual of Parliamentary Practice] that is still in use. With a Quasi-War with France underway (that is, an undeclared naval war), the Federalists started a navy, built up the army, levied new taxes, and readied for war. Jefferson interpreted the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 as an attack on his party more than on dangerous enemy aliens. He and Madison rallied support by anonymously writing the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions which declared that the United States Constitution only established an agreement between the central government and the states and that the federal government had no right to exercise powers not specifically delegated to it; should the federal government assume such powers, its acts under them would be void. Their importance lies in that they were later considered to be the first statements of states' rights theory that led to the concepts of nullification and interposition. Working closely with Aaron Burr of New York, Jefferson rallied his party, attacking the new taxes especially, and ran for the presidency in 1800. Federalists counterattacked Jefferson, a Deist, as an atheist and enemy of Christianity. He tied with Burr for first place in the Electoral College, leaving the House of Representatives to decide the election, and the Federalists still had some power there. Hamilton finally convinced his Federalist allies that Jefferson would be much less of a threat than Burr. The issue was resolved on February 17, 1801 when Jefferson was elected President and Burr Vice President.

Presidency

1801 Jefferson's presidency, from 1801 to 1809, was the first to start and end in the White House; it was also the first Democratic-Republican presidency. Jefferson was the only Vice President to be both elected as president, and serve two full terms as president of the United States. Jefferson's term was marked by his belief in agrarianism, individual liberty, and limited government, sparking the development of a distinct American identity defined by republicanism. During this term, Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase and commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jefferson was re-elected in the 1804 election. His second term was dominated by foreign policy concerns, as American neutrality was imperiled by war between Britain and France. Jefferson was a strict constructionist who compromised on his original principles during his presidency. He strayed from the principles of keeping a small navy, agrarian economy, strict constructionalism, and a small/weak government. A group called the tertium quids criticised Jefferson for his abandonment of his early principles.

Inauguration

tertium quids Thomas Jefferson, powerful advocate of equality and liberty, gave his inaugural address on March 4, 1801 in Washington, DC. The principles of this address can mainly be categorized as unity and strength. At the time of Jefferson’s inauguration, the country was very much divided, mainly politically among politicians, between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. The second president, John Adams, was the only Federalist president that the USA saw. Jefferson was the first Democratic-Republican president. At this point in time it became very important to unify the country under common goals and ideas. In the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution the idea that the majority couldn’t have all the power, to protect the rights of the minority, was very prominent. Jefferson largely restated these ideas in his inaugural address. Another one of his important points was that America needed to become strong in the eyes of foreign powers. He realized the tremendous implications of being looked down upon by England and the other world powers. Not having good relations would limit trade opportunities and stifle the economy’s growth, as well as make America a very weak political power. The final point Jefferson raised was that America’s citizens were not American by birth, but were American by sharing similar ideals. He said this idea would make America a great power. He also said that Americans were enlightened by a benign religion.

Events during his presidency


- Louisiana Purchase (1803)
- Creation of the Orleans Territory in 1804
- Marbury v. Madison (1803)
- Land Act of 1804
- Twelfth Amendment is ratified (1804)
- Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806)
- Creation of the Louisiana Territory (later renamed the Missouri Territory) in 1805
- Tertium quids create a divide in the Republican Party (the Democratic-Republican Party)
- Embargo Act of 1807, an attempt to force respect for U.S. neutrality by ending trade with the belligerents in the Napoleonic War
- Abolition of the external slave trade in 1808

Cabinet


Supreme Court appointments

Jefferson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
- William Johnson - 1804
- Henry Brockholst Livingston - 1807
- Thomas Todd - 1807

States admitted to the Union


- Ohio - 1803

Later life

1803] After leaving the presidency, Jefferson continued to be active in public affairs. He also became increasingly obsessed with founding a new institution of higher learning, specifically one free of church influences. After much planning, his dream was realized in 1819 with the founding of the University of Virginia, and upon its opening in 1825 it was then the first university to offer a full slate of elective courses to its students. One of the largest construction projects to that time in North America, it was notable for being centered about a library, rather than a church. In fact, no campus chapel was included in his original plans. Until his death, he invited students and faculty of the school to his home, Edgar Allan Poe among them. Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, on the same day as John Adams. He is buried on his Monticello estate. Jefferson was the first president to be buried in a grave as opposed to a crypt as both Washington and Adams were. His epitaph, written by him with an insistence that only his words and "not a word more" be inscribed, reads: :Here was buried :Thomas Jefferson :Author of the Declaration of American Independence :of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom :& Father of the University of Virginia

Personal characteristics and views

Appearance and temperament

epitaph Jefferson was six feet, two-and-one-half inches (189 cm) in height, large-boned, slender, erect and sinewy. He had angular features, very poor posture, a very ruddy complexion, strawberry blonde hair and hazel-flecked, grey eyes. In later years he was negligent in dress and loose in bearing. There was grace, nevertheless, in his manners; and his frank and earnest address, his quick sympathy (though he seemed cold to strangers), and his vivacious, desultory, informing talk gave him an engaging charm. Beneath a quiet surface he was fairly aglow with intense convictions and a very emotional temperament. Yet he seems to have acted habitually, in great and little things, on system. Though it is a biographical tradition that he lacked wit, Don Quixote and the works of Molière seem to have been his favorites; and though the utilitarian wholly crowds romanticism out of his writings, he had enough of that quality in youth to prepare to learn Gaelic in order to translate Ossian, and sent to James Macpherson for the originals. As president he discontinued the practice of delivering the State of the Union Address in person, instead sending the address to Congress in writing (the practice was eventually revived by Woodrow Wilson); he ended up giving only two public speeches during his presidency. His reluctance to speak in public is usually attributed to his taciturnity, though some historians believe it was due to a lisp. In addition, he burned all of his letters between himself and his wife at her death, creating the portrait of a man who at times could be very private.

Interests and Activities

Woodrow Wilson Jefferson was an accomplished architect who was extremely influential in bringing the Neo-Classical style he encountered in France to the United States. He felt that it reflected the ideas of republic and democracy where the prevalent British styles represented the monarchy. Jefferson designed his famous home, Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia; it included automatic doors, the first swivel chair, and other convenient devices invented by Jefferson. Nearby is the only university ever to have been founded by a President, the University of Virginia, of which the original curriculum and architecture Jefferson designed. Today, Monticello and the University of Virginia are together one of only four man-made World Heritage Sites in the United States of America. Jefferson is also credited with the architectural design of the Virginia State Capitol building, which was modeled after the Maison Carrée at Nîmes in southern France, an ancient Roman temple. Jefferson's buildings helped initiate the ensuing American fashion for Federal style architecture. Jefferson's interests included archeology, a discipline then in its infancy. He has sometimes been called the "father of archeology" in recognition of his role in developing excavation techniques. When exploring an Indian burial mound on his Virginia estate in 1784, Jefferson avoided the common practice of simply digging downwards until something turned up. Instead, he cut a wedge out of the mound so that he could walk into it, look at the layers of occupation, and draw conclusions from them. Jefferson was also an avid wine lover and noted gourmet. During his ambassadorship to France (1784-1789) he took extensive trips through French and other European wine regions and sent the best back home. He is noted for the bold pronouncement: "We could in the United States make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the same kinds, but doubtless as good." While there were extensive vineyards planted at Monticello, a significant portion were of the European wine grape Vitis vinifera and did not survive the many vine diseases native to the Americas. The Library of Congress was founded from the sale of his collection (the Library was founded in 1800; Jefferson sold his third library to Congress in 1815). The range of his interests is remarkable. For many years he was president of the American Philosophical Society.

Political philosophy

American Philosophical Society Jefferson's idea for the United States was that of an agricultural nation of yeoman farmers, in contrast to the vision of Alexander Hamilton, who envisioned a nation of commerce and manufacturing. Jefferson was a great believer in the uniqueness and the potential of the United States and is often classified as the forefather of American exceptionalism (see also exceptionalism). Jefferson was influenced heavily by the ideas of many European Enlightenment thinkers. His political principles were heavily influenced by John Locke (particularly relating to the principles of inalienable rights and popular sovereignty) and Thomas Paine's Common Sense. Jefferson believed that each individual has "certain inalienable rights." That is, these rights exist with or without government; man cannot create or take them away. It is the right of "liberty" on which Jefferson is most notable for expounding. He defines it by saying "rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." (TJ to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1819) Hence, for Jefferson, though government cannot create a right to liberty, it can indeed violate it. And, the limit of an individual's rightful liberty is not what law says it is, but is simply a matter of stopping short of prohibiting other individuals from having the same liberty. A proper government, for Jefferson, is one that not only prohibits individuals in society from infringing on the liberty of other individuals, but also restrains itself from diminishing individual liberty. Jefferson said that "a democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." As a result of his concern of pure democracy endangering individual rights, he advocated a republic where individual liberty is protected from democratic rule by a Constitution. Jefferson believed that individuals have an innate sense of morality that prescribes right from wrong when dealing with other individuals --that whether they choose to restrain themselves or not, they have an innate sense of the natural rights of others. He even believed that moral sense to be reliable enough that an anarchist society could function well, provided that it was reasonably small. On several occasions he expressed admiration for the governmentless society of the native American Indians: :"[The Indians] had separated into so many little societies. This practice results from the circumstance of their having never submitted themselves to any laws, any coercive power, any shadow of government. Their only controls are their manners, and that moral sense of right and wrong, which, like the sense of tasting and feeling in every man, makes a part of his nature. An offence against these is punished by contempt, by exclusion from society, or, where the case is serious, as that of murder, by the individuals whom it concerns. Imperfect as this species of coercion may seem, crimes are very rare among them; insomuch that were it made a question, whether no law, as among the savage Americans, or too much law, as among the civilised Europeans, submits man to the greatest evil, one who has seen both conditions of existence would pronounce it to be the last; and that the sheep are happier of themselves, than under care of the wolves. It will be said, the great societies cannot exist without government. The savages, therefore, break them into small ones." (Notes on Virginia) He said in a letter to Colonel Carrington: "I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government, enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments." However, Jefferson believe anarchism to be "inconsistent with any great degree of population." (Letter to James Madison, 30 Jan 1787). Hence, he did advocate government for the American expanse provided that it exists by "consent of the governed." In the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote: :We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Jefferson's dedication to "consent of the governed" was so thorough that he believed that individuals could not be morally bound by the actions of preceeding generations. This included debts as well as law. He said that "no society can make a perpetual constitution or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation." He even calculated what he believed to be the proper cycle of legal revolution: "Every constitution then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years. If it is to be enforced longer, it is an act of force, and not of right." He arrived at 19 years through calculations with expectancy of life tables with taking into account what he believed to be the age of "maturity" when an individual is able to reason for himself (Letter to James Madison, 6 September 1789). He also advocated that the National Debt should be eliminated. However, he did not believe that living individuals had a moral obligation to repay the debts of previous generations. He said that repaying such debts was "a question of generosity and not of right" (Letter to James Madison, 6 Sep 1789). Thomas Jefferson is considered by many historians to be the most federalist of all presidents. At first this seems to be a ludicrous assertion. How could the founder of a party known to many as the Anti-Federalist actually be one of the most federalist presidents? While Jefferson did help to found the Democratic-Republican party, many of the decisions he made in office favoured a strong central government and strong executive power, trademarks of the Federalist party. Events such as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Embargo Act in 1807, and the war with the Barbary pirates (1801-1805) all exemplify his uses of authority. However, despite these actions, Jefferson also cut back the Federal government's size and reduced its expenditure, both Republican actions by nature. Jefferson, although he did make some Republican changes to the Federal government, is widely considered to be the more federalist of his Republican Peers.

Religious views

Embargo Act.]] On matters of religion, Jefferson was sometimes accused by his political opponents of being an atheist; however, he is generally regarded as a believer in Deism, a philosophy shared by many other notable intellectuals of his time. Jefferson repeatedly stated his belief in a creator, and in the United States Declaration of Independence uses the terms "Creator", "Nature's God", and "Divine Providence". Jefferson believed, furthermore, it was this Creator that endowed humanity with a number of inalienable rights, such as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". His experience in France just before the Revolution made him deeply suspicious of (Catholic) priests and bishops as a force for reaction and ignorance. Jefferson was raised Episcopalian at a time when the Episcopal Church was the only denomination funded by Virginia tax money. Before the American Revolution, when the Episcopal Church was the American branch of the Anglican Church of England, Jefferson was a vestryman in his local church, a lay position that was part of political office at the time. Jefferson later expressed general agreement with his friend Joseph Priestley's Unitarianism. Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, but he had high esteem for Jesus' moral teachings, which he viewed as the "principles of a pure deism, and juster notions of the attributes of God, to reform [prior Jewish] moral doctrines to the standard of reason, justice & philanthropy, and to inculcate the belief of a future state." (Letter to Joseph Priestley, April 9, 1803.) Like most deists, Jefferson did not believe in miracles. He labored on an edited version of the Gospels, removing references to the miracles of Jesus and material he considered preternatural, leaving only Jesus' moral philosophy, of which he approved. This compilation was published after his death and became known as the Jefferson Bible. From 1784 to 1786 Jefferson and James Madison worked together to oppose Patrick Henry's attempts to again assess taxes in Virginia to support churches. Instead, in 1786 the Virginia General Assembly passed Jefferson's Bill for Religious Freedom, which he had first submitted in 1779, and was one of only three accomplishments he put in his own epitaph. Virginia thereby became the first state to disestablish religion. Jefferson also supported what he called a "wall of separation between Church and State", which he believed was a principle expressed within the First Amendment (see Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, 1802, and Letter to Virginia Baptists, 1808). :"Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the people and leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. :"We have solved ... the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries." :— as quoted in the Letter to the Virginia Baptists (1808). This is his second use of the term "wall of separation," here quoting his own use in the Danbury Baptist letter. This wording was cited several times by the Supreme Court in its interpretation of the Establishment Clause: Reynolds (98 U.S. at 164, 1879); Everson (330 U.S. at 59, 1947); McCollum (333 U.S. at 232, 1948). He further developed his thoughts in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779), quoted from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings (1984), p. 347: :"[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." During his presidency, Jefferson refused to issue proclamations calling for days of prayer and thanksgiving. Moreover, his private letters indicate he was skeptical of too much interference by clergy in matters of civil government. His letters contain the following observations: "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government" (Letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813), and, "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own" (Letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814). "May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government" (Letter to Roger C. Weightman June 24, 1826). Jefferson's desire to erect a "wall of separation" did not include a desire to inhibit the personal religious lives of public officials. Jefferson himself attended certain public Christian services during his presidency. He also had friends who were clergy, and he supported some churches financially. Moreover, he personally believed, as did Deist John Locke, that human rights were endowed by a God: "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever" (Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-1785 Query 18). Though not religious himself, he viewed religious opinions in others, including public officials, as a purely personal matter with which the state should not interfere: :"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State" ( Letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT, January 1, 1802).

Jefferson and slavery

Jefferson's personal records show he owned 187 slaves, some of whom were inherited at the death of his wife. Some find it hypocritical that he both owned slaves and yet was publicly outspoken in his belief that slavery was immoral. Many of his slaves were considered property that was held as a lien for his many accumulated debts. His ambivalence can be seen for example, in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, which Jefferson wrote, in which he condemned the British crown for sponsoring the importation of slavery to the colonies, charging that the crown "has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere..." This language was dropped from the Declaration at the request of delegates from South Carolina and Georgia. In 1769, as a member of the state legislature, Jefferson proposed for that body to emancipate slaves in Virginia, but he was unsuccessful. In 1778, the legislature passed a bill he proposed to ban further importation of slaves into Virginia; although this did not bring complete emancipation, in his words, it "stopped the increase of the evil by importation, leaving to future efforts its final eradication."

The Sally Hemings controversy

A subject of considerable controversy since Jefferson's own time was whether Jefferson was the father of any of the children of his slave Sally Hemings. A full account of the controversy can be found in the Sally Hemings article. Two major, mutually contradictory studies were released in the early 2000s. A [http://www.monticello.org/plantation/hemingscontro/appendixj.html study by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation] states that "it is very unlikely that Randolph Jefferson or any Jefferson other than Thomas Jefferson was the father of her children," while [http://www.cap-press.com/books/1179 a study by an independent Scholars Commmission] concludes that the Jefferson paternity thesis is not persuasive. David N. Mayer, a member of the Scholars Commission, says in [http://www.ashbrook.org/articles/mayer-hemings.html his own writings] that there is "the possibility that Jefferson's brother Randolph or one of Randolph Jefferson's five sons could have fathered one or more of Sally Hemings' children." He also states that, "Indeed, eight of these 25 Jefferson males lived within 20 miles (a half-day's ride) of Monticello—including Thomas Jefferson's younger brother, Randolph Jefferson, and Randolph's five sons, who ranged in age from about 17 to 26 at the time of Eston's birth." All of these men could have passed down the Y chromosome used as "proof". Professor Mayer's independent report also suggests that the Foundation report is flawed by biases and faulty assumptions (including the assumption that only one man fathered all of Sally Hemings' children). Significantly, everyone who has researched the issue -- regardless which side they take on the Jefferson-Hemings paternity question -- agree that there is no evidence supporting the original allegation, published by Thomas Callender in 1802, that Jefferson fathered Sally Hemings' first child in France prior to 1790. All the documentary evidence shows that Hemings' first child, Harriet, was born in 1795 -- years after the mythical child "Tom" that Callender alleged.

Monuments and memorials

Eston.]] On April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birth, the Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. The memorial combines a low neo-classical saucer dome with a portico. The interior includes a 19 foot statue of Jefferson and engravings of passages from his writings. Most prominent are the words which are inscribed around the monument near the roof: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Jefferson is one of four US Presidents (along with George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln) engraved on Mount Rushmore, near Keystone, South Dakota. Jefferson's portrait appears on the U.S. $2 bill, nickel, and the $100 Series EE Savings Bond. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church (Unitarian Universalist) is located in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Trivia


- Jefferson was ranked #64 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.
- Jefferson and Adams were the only signers of the Declaration of Independence to become presidents; they died on the same day--the 50th anniversary of the signing.

Further reading

Primary Sources


- Thomas Jefferson: Writings: Autobiography / Notes on the State of Virginia / Public and Private Papers / Addresses / Letters (1984, ISBN 094045016X) The Library of America edition; see discussion of sources at [http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=67§ion=notes]. There are numerous one-volume collections; this is perhaps the best place to start.
- Lipscomb, Andrew A. and Albert Ellery Bergh, eds. The Writings Of Thomas Jefferson 19 vol. (1907), not as complete nor as accurate as Boyd edition, but covers TJ from 1801 to his death. It is out of copyright, and so is online, at [http://www.constitution.org/tj/jeff.htm]
- Boyd, Julian P. et al, eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. The definitive multivolume edition; available at major academic libraries. 31 volumes covers TJ to 1800, with 1801 due out in 2006. See description at [http://www.princeton.edu/~tjpapers/index.html]
- The Jefferson Cyclopedia (1900) large collection of TJ quotes arranged by 9000 topics; searchable; copyright has expired and it is online at [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/foley/]
- The Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606-1827, 27,000 original manuscript documents at the Library of Congress. Online at [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/]
- Adams, Dickinson W., ed. Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels (1983). All three of Jefferson's versions of the Gospels, with relevant correspondence about his religious opinions. Valuable introduction by Eugene Sheridan.
- Bear, Jr., James A., ed. Jefferson's Memorandum Books, 2 vols. (1997). Jefferson's account books with records of daily expenses.
- Betts, Edwin Morris and James A. Bear, Jr., The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson (1986). Correspondence of Jefferson with his children and grandchildren.
- Cappon, Lester J., ed. The Adams-Jefferson Letters (1959).
- Chinard, Gilbert, ed. The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government (1926). Jefferson's legal commonplace book.
- Howell, Wilbur Samuel, ed. Jefferson's Parliamentary Writings (1988). Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice, written when he was vice-president, with other relevant papers.
- Shuffelton, Frank, ed. Notes on the State of Virginia (1999).
  - Online, Notes on the State of Virginia [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefVirg.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=14&division=div1]
- Smith, James Morton, ed. The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 1776-1826, 3 vols. (1995).
- Wilson, Douglas L., ed. Jefferson's Literary Commonplace Book (1989).

Secondary Scholarly Books


- Adams, Henry. History of the United States of America during the Administration of Thomas Jefferson (1889; http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=16§ion=notes Library of America edition 1986) famous multivolume history [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=62025192 partly online at Questia]
- Appleby, Joyce. Thomas Jefferson (2003), short interpretive essay by leading scholar.
- Beard, Charles A. Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy(1915) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=65989719 online at Questia]
- Bernstein, R. B. Thomas Jefferson. (2003) Well regarded biography.
  - Bernstein, R. B. Thomas Jefferson: The Revolution of Ideas (2004). for a middle school audience.
- Channing, Edward. The Jeffersonian System (1906) older but solid coverage of politics 1801-1811.
- Cunningham, Noble E. In Pursuit of Reason (1988) good short biography
- Dunn, Susan. Jefferson's Second Revolution: The Election Crisis of 1800 and the Triumph of Republicanism (2004).
- Elkins, Stanley and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism (1995) in-depth coverage of politics of 1790s. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=59152800 online at Questia]
- Ellis, Joseph J. American Sphinx (1996). Prize winning essays; assumes prior reading of a biography.
  - Ellis, Joseph J. "American Sphinx: The Contradictions of Thomas Jefferson." essay by leading scholar online at [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjessay1.html]
- Ferling, John. Adams Vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 (2004).
- Finkelman, Paul. Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson (2001), esp ch 6-7.
- Hitchens, Christopher. Thomas Jefferson: Author of America (2005). Short essay by journalist.
- Jayne, Allen. Jefferson's Declaration of Independence: Origins, Philosophy and Theology (2000); traces TJ's sources and emphasizes his incorporation of Deist theology into the Declaration.
- Lewis, Jan Ellen, and Onuf, Peter S., eds. Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, Civic Culture. (1999).
- McDonald, Forrest. The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson (1987) intellectual history approach to TJ's presidency
- Malone, Dumas. Jefferson and His Time, 6 vols. (1948-82). The standard scholarly multi-volume biography of TJ by leading expert; [http://members.aol.com/historiography/jefferson.html A short version is online].
- Mayer, David N. The Constitutional Thought of Thomas Jefferson (2000).
- Onuf, Peter S. Jefferson's Empire: The Languages of American Nationhood. (2000). [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.cgi?path=23482982861596 Online review]
- Onuf, Peter S., ed. Jeffersonian Legacies. (1993). Important collection of scholarly essays.
- Onuf, Peter "The Scholars' Jefferson," William and Mary Quarterly 3d Series, L:4 (October 1993), 671-699. Historiographical review or scholarship about TJ; online through JSTOR at most academic libraries.
- Onuf, Peter. [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH35/onuf1.html "Thomas Jefferson, Federalist" (1993)]
- Peterson, Merrill D. The Jefferson Image in the American Mind (1960), how Americans interpreted and remembered TJ.
- Peterson, Merrill D. Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation (1992). Standard scholarly biography; [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=82266123 online at Questia]
- Peterson, Merrill D. ed. Thomas Jefferson: A Reference Biography (1986), 24 essays by leading scholars on aspects of TJ's career.
- Schachner, Nathan. Thomas Jefferson: A Biography (1957)[http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=11882040 online at Questia]
- Sloan, Herbert J. Principle and Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt (1995). Shows the burden of debt in TJ' personal finances and poltical thought.
- Smelser, Marshall. The Democratic Republic: 1801-1815 (1968) good overview by a scholar who greatly admired TJ
- Tucker, Robert W. and David C. Hendrickson. Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson (1992) best guide to foreign policy
- [http://www.pbs.org/jefferson/archives/interviews/frame.htm PBS interviews with 24 historians]

Online sources


- [http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/historiography/tj.html] Jefferson: Man of the Millenium
- [http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/] Quotations from Jefferson
- [http://www.constitution.org/tj/tj-categ.htm] Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Ellery Bergh, ed., 19 vol. (1905). 5145KB zipped ASCII file
- [http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/tj3/writings/brf/jeflxx.htm] Selected Letters.

See also


- Jeffersonian democracy
- Clay S. Jenkinson
- Philip Mazzei
- The Rotunda (University of Virginia)
- List of places named for Thomas Jefferson

External links


-
- [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tj3.html Biography on White House website]
- [http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/biog/lj01.htm University of Virginia biogra

GoD

Gates of Discord (GoD, GOD, Gates, or simply the Gates expansion) is the seventh expansion released for EverQuest — a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The expansion focused on high-level content, providing a number of zones meant to be used by large groups of players, and many extremely powerful monsters to fight.
EverQuest: Gates of Discord
MMORPG

General information

The expansion takes place on the continent of Taelosia and introduced the Muramites, as well as the berserker character class. It features 18 zones, including many instances. It has 9 single-group instanced trials, 8 uninstanced exp zones, and 9 raid zones/instances.

Controversy

Many players and reviewers were dissatisfied by the Gates of Discord expansion; some claimed it was thus far the worst EverQuest expansion, or at least the worst since The Shadows of Luclin. Gamers perceived Gates of Discord as an unfinished product and criticized Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). The main issues were with the rushed release that had some unbeatable content, and problems with the graphics engine which was updated at the same period. Several "uberguilds" (highly powerful and influential groups of players), including Fires of Heaven, Afterlife, and Keepers of the Faith, departed from EverQuest around this time. Many of these players acted as beta testers for World of Warcraft, which was in development for release later in the year. Although by Spring of 2005 several returned, disatisfied with WoW's gameplay. In response to the overwhelming exile of players and the players' criticism towards the expansion, SOE organized a summit in the summer of 2004 to hear the main concerns of the playerbase towards Gates of Discord and EverQuest in general. The summit's guests included a handful of players from guild leaders and fan websites, among them Woody Hearn of [http://www.gucomics.com/ GU Comics].

Zones


- Abysmal Sea - location of The Queen of Thorns which serves as a city
- Barindu - The Hanging Gardens
- Ferubi - Forgotten Temple of Taelosia
- Kod'Taz - Broken Trial Grounds
- Natimbi - The Broken Shores
- Nedaria's Landing
- Qinimi - Court of Nihilia
- Qvic - Prayer Grounds of Calling
- Riwwi - Coliseum of Games
- Txevu - Lair of the Elites
- Yxtta - Pulpit of Exiles Instanced zones
- Ikkinz - Antechamber of Destruction
- Inktu'ta, the Unmasked Chapel
- Sewers of Nihilia - Emanating Crematory
- Sewers of Nihilia - Lair of Trapped Ones
- Sewers of Nihilia - Pool of Sludge
- Sewers of Nihilia - Purifying Plant
- Tacvi, Seat of the Slaver
- Tipt - The Treacherous Crags
- Uqua - the Ocean God Chantry
- Vxed - The Crumbling Caverns Category: 2004 computer and video games Category:EverQuest games and expansions Category: Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Category: PC games

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is one of the original thirteen states of the United States that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, and is part of the South. It is one of four states that use the name commonwealth. Virginia was the first part of the Americas to be colonized permanently by England. Virginia's U.S. postal abbreviation is VA, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Va. Kentucky and West Virginia were part of Virginia at the time of the founding of the United States; but the former was admitted to the Union as a separate state in 1792, while the latter broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. Virginia is known as the "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents, more than any other state. Five of them were re-elected to a second term: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and Woodrow Wilson. William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Zachary Taylor round out the list of American Presidents from the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Harrison and Taylor died while in office.)

History

Native Americans

At the time of the English colonization of Virginia, among Native American people living in what now is Virginia were the Cherokee, Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Meherrin, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottaway, Pamunkey, Pohick, Powhatan, Rappahannock, Saponi, and Tuscarora. The natives are often divided into three groups. The largest group are known as the Algonquian who numbered over 10,000. The other groups are the Iroquoian (numbering 2,500) and the Siouan. [http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/vahistory/tribes.html]

Virginia Colony: 1607–1776

At the end of the 16th century, when Great Britain began to colonize North America, Virginia was the name that Queen Elizabeth I of England (who was known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married) gave to the whole area explored by the 1584 expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh along the coast of North America, eventually applying to the whole coast from South Carolina to Maine. The London Virginia Company became incorporated as a joint stock company by a proprietary charter drawn up on April 10, 1606. It swiftly financed the first permanent English settlement in the New World, which was at Jamestown, named in honor of King James I, in the Virginia Colony, in 1607, which settlement was founded by Captian Christopher Newport and Captain John Smith. Its Second Charter was officially ratified on May 23, 1609. Jamestown was the original capital of the Virginia Colony, and remained so until the State House burned (not the first time) in 1698. After the fire, the colonial capital was moved to nearby Middle Plantation, which was renamed Williamsburg in honor of William of Orange, King William III. Virginia was given its nickname, "The Old Dominion", by King Charles II of England at the time of the Restoration, because it had remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War.

A new state

In 1780, during the American Revolutionary War, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of then-Governor Thomas Jefferson, who was afraid that Williamsburg's location made it vulnerable to a British attack. In the autumn of 1781, American troops trapped the British on the Yorktown peninsula in the famous Battle of Yorktown. This prompted a British surrender on October 19, 1781, formally ending the war and securing the former colonies' independence, even though sporadic fighting continued for two years. Patrick Henry served as the first Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779, and again from 1784 to 1786. On June 12, 1776, the Virginia Convention adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a document that influenced the Bill of Rights added later to the United States Constitution. On June 29, 1776, the convention adopted a constitution that established Virginia as a commonwealth independent of the British Empire. In 1790 both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, but in an Act of the U.S. Congress dated July 9, 1846, the area south of the Potomac that had been ceded by Virginia was retroceded to Virginia effective 1847, and is now Arlington County and part of the City of Alexandria.

American Civil War

Virginia is one of the states that seceded from the Union to become the Confederacy during the Civil War. When it did, some counties were separated as Kanawha (later renamed West Virginia), an act which was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in 1870. More battles were fought on Virginia soil than anywhere else in America during the Civil War. Virginia formally rejoined the Union on January 26, 1870, after a period of post-war military rule.

20th century

When Douglas Wilder was elected Governor of Virginia on January 13, 1990, he became the first African-American to serve as Governor of a U.S. state since Reconstruction.

Law and government

The capital is Richmond: the current Governor is Mark Warner, a Democrat. Tim Kaine, also a Democrat, is the governor-elect. Previous capitals included Jamestown (1609–1699) and Williamsburg (1699–1780). The Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond was designed by Thomas Jefferson and the cornerstone was laid by Governor Patrick Henry in 1785. In colonial Virginia, the lower house of the legislature was called the House of Burgesses. Together with the Governor's Council, the House of Burgesses made up the General Assembly. The Governor's Council was composed of 12 men appointed by the British Monarch to advise the Governor. The Council also served as the General Court of the colony, a colonial equivalent of a Supreme Court. Members of the House of Burgesses were chosen by all those who could vote in the colony. Each county chose two people or burgesses to represent it, while the College of William and Mary and the cities of Norfolk, Williamsburg, and Jamestown each chose one burgess. The Burgesses met to make laws for the colony and set the direction for its future growth; the Council would then review the laws and either approve or disapprove them. The approval of the Burgesses, the Council, and the Governor was needed to pass a law. The idea of electing burgesses was important and new. It gave Virginians a chance to control their own government for the first time. At first the burgesses were elected by all free men in the colony. Women, indentured servants, and Native Americans could not vote. Later the rules for voting changed, making it necessary for men to own at least fifty acres (200,000 m²) of land in order to vote. Founded in 1619, the Virginia General Assembly is still in existence as the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere. Today, the General Assembly is made up of the Senate and the House of Delegates. Like many other states, by the 1850s Virginia featured a state legislature, several executive officers, and an independent judiciary. By the time of the Constitution of 1901, which lasted longer than any other state constitution, the General Assembly continued as the legislature, the Supreme Court of Appeals acted as the judiciary, and the eight elected executive officers were the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, State Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration. The Constitution of 1901 was amended many times, notably in the 1930s and 1950s, before it was abandoned in favour of more modern government, with fewer elected officials, reformed local governments and a more streamlined judiciary. Virginia currently functions under the 1970 Constitution of Virginia. It is the state's ninth constitution. Under the Constitution, the State Government is composed of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch or state legislature is the Virginia General Assembly, a bicameral body whose 140 members make all state laws. Members of the Virginia House of Delegates serve two-year terms, while members of the Virginia Senate serve four-year terms. The General Assembly also selects the state's Auditor of Public Accounts. The statutory law enacted by the General Assembly is codified in the Code of Virginia. The executive branch comprises the Governor of Virginia, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and the Attorney General of Virginia. All three officers are separately elected to four-year terms in years following Presidential elections (1997, 2001, 2005, etc) and take office in January of the following year. The Governor serves as chief executive officer of the Commonwealth and as Commander-in-Chief of the State Militia. State law forbids any Governor from serving consecutive terms. The Lieutenant Governor serves as President of the Senate of Virginia and is first in the line of succession to the Governor. The Attorney General is chief legal advisor to the Governor and the General Assembly, chief lawyer of the state and the head of the Department of Law. The Attorney General is second in the line of succession to the Governor. Whenever there is a vacancy in all three executive offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, then the Speaker of the House of the Virginia House of Delegates becomes Governor. The Office of the Governor's Secretaries helps manage the Governor's Cabinet, comprised of the following individuals, all appointed by the Governor:
- Governor's Chief of Staff
- Secretary of Administration
- Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry
- Secretary of Commerce and Trade
- Secretary of the Commonwealth
- Secretary of Education
- Secretary of Finance
- Secretary of Health and Human Resources
- Secretary of Natural Resources
- Secretary of Public Safety
- Secretary of Technology
- Secretary of Transportation
- Assistant to the Governor for Commonwealth Preparedness The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Virginia Court of Appeals, the General District Courts and the Circuit Courts. The Virginia Supreme Court, composed of the chief justice and six other judges is the highest court in the Commonwealth (although, as with all the states, the U.S. Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over decisions by the Virginia Supreme Court involving substantial questions of U.S. Constitution law or constitutional rights). The Chief Justice and the Virginia Supreme Court also serve as the administrative body for the entire Virginia court system. The 95 counties and the 39 independent cities all have their own governments, usually a county board of supervisors or city council which choose a city manager or county administrator to serve as a professional, non-political chief administrator under the council-manager form of government. There are exceptions, notably Richmond, Virginia, which has a popularly-elected Mayor who serves as chief executive separate from the city council.

Political control

After William Mahone and the Readjuster Party lost control of Virginia politics around 1883, the Democratic Party held a strong majority position of state and federal offices for over 85 years. In 1970, Republican A. Linwood Holton Jr. became the first Republican governor in the 20th century. In the years thereafter, Republicans made substantial gains, and for a time, controlled both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, as well as the Governorship from 1994 until 2002.
- Republicans hold both seats in the U.S. Senate, 8 of 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, hold a majority in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate, and a Republican is Virginia's Lieutenant Governor-Elect. A republican is also temporarily serving as attorney general having been appointed to fill the seat left by Jerry Kilgore. However, the recent election for attorney general to fill the open seat has not been decided and a recount will occur to determine the election.
- Democrats control the remaining 3 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Governor and Governor-Elect are both Democrats. The Democrats have steadily been gaining seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and may soon take control, however the State Senate will likely remain under Republican Leadership. Incumbent Virginia governors cannot run for re-election under the state constitution and In the November 2005 election, the race to succeed Democratic Governor Mark Warner, Democrat Timothy M. Kaine beat Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore (Scott County), and State Senator Russ Potts (Winchester) (longtime Republican) running as an independent. Kaine will become governor of the state at his inauguration on January 14, 2006.

Geography

2006 2006 Virginia is bordered by West Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia (across the Potomac River) to the north, by Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south, and by Kentucky and West Virginia to the west. The Chesapeake Bay divides the state, with the eastern portion (called 'the Eastern Shore of Virginia'), a part of the Delmarva Peninsula, completely separate (an exclave) from the rest of the state. Geographically, Virginia is divided into the following 5 regions:
- Tidewater - Stretching from the Atlantic coast to the fall line
- Piedmont - East of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Tidewater Region
- Blue Ridge Mountains - East of the Appalachian Mountains to the Blue Ridge Mountain Region
- Valley and Ridge - Appalachian Mountains and Shenandoah Valley Region
- Appalachian Plateau - West of the Appalachian Mountains Virginia's long east-west axis means that metropolitan northern Virginia lies much closer to New York and New England than to the rural western panhandle of its own state. Conversely, Lee County, at the tip of the panhandle, is closer to 8 state capitals than it is to Richmond.

Demographics

As of 2004, Virginia's population was estimated to be 7,459,827. The state had a foreign-born population of 679,500 (9.1% of the state population), of which an estimated 100,000 were illegal aliens (15% of the foreign-born). The state's population increased by 1.3 million between 1990 and 2004, a growth of 21% Race and Ancestry
The racial makeup of the state:
- 70.2% White non-Hispanic
- 19.6% Black
- 4.7% Hispanic
- 3.7% Asian
- 0.3% Native American
- 2% Mixed race The five largest reported ancestry groups in Virginia are: African American (19.6%), German (11.7%), American (11.2%), English (11.1%), Irish (9.8%). Historically, as the largest and wealthiest colony and state and the birthplace of Southern and American culture, a large proportion (about half) of Virginia's population was made up of black slaves who worked the state's tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations. The twentieth century Great Migration of blacks from the rural South to the urban North reduced Virginia's black population to about 20 percent. Today Blacks are concentrated in the eastern and southern tidewater and piedmont regions where plantation agriculture was most dominant. The western mountains are populated primarily by people of British and American ancestry. People of German descent are present in sizable numbers in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley. And due to recent immigration, there is a rapidly growing population of Hispanics (particularly Central Americans) and Asians in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. 6.5% of Virginia's population were reported as under 5, 24.6% under 18, and 11.2% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.

Religion

The religious affiliations of the people of Virginia are:
- Christian – 84%
  - Protestant – 69%
    - Baptist – 32%
    - Methodist – 8%
    - Episcopal – 3%
    - Presbyterian – 3%
    - Other Protestant or general Protestant – 23%
  - Roman Catholic – 14%
  - Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 2%
- Non-Religious – 12%

Economy

Virginia's economy has long been regarded as one of the better-balanced in the United States with diverse sources of income, including military installations concentrated in the Hampton Roads area, tobacco and peanut farming all through Southside Virginia, manufacturing and transportation, and the location of Northern Virginia as a bedroom community for the federal government and its vendors. Virginia, arguably the wealthiest southern state before the Civil War, recovered from the civil war and the Great Depression much faster than the rest of the south. Today it is still significantly wealthier than the rest of the south, although much of that is from the northern influence around Washington D.C.

Transportation

Northern Virginia Virginia is served by a network of Interstate Highways, arterial highways, several limited access tollways, bridges, tunnels, and three bridge-tunnel complexes. The [http://www.springfieldinterchange.com/ Springfield Interchange Project] (also known as "The Mixing Bowl") and the replacement of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, two of the country's largest highway improvement projects, are taking place in the state ten miles apart. Major airports are located in these areas: Northern Virginia (Reagan-National and Dulles), Richmond-Petersburg (Richmond), Virginia Peninsula (Newport News), South Hampton Roads (Norfolk), and the Roanoke Valley (Roanoke). Virginia has extensive waterways. In addition to the lower portion of the Chesapeake Bay, navigable rivers include the Elizabeth River at Hampton Roads, the James River, the York River, the Rappahannock River, and the Potomac River. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway passes through eastern Virginia. Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains two commuter lines into Washington, D.C. The Washington Metro serves Northern Virginia as far west as Fairfax County.

Sports

Virginia is by far the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise. The reasons for this include the close proximity of Washington, D.C. which has franchises in all four major sports, and the lack of any dominant city or market within the state. An attempt to bring a National Hockey League expansion franchise to Hampton Roads in the 1990s was rejected by the NHL. A proposal to relocate the Montreal Expos to Northern Virginia was considered by Major League Baseball, but MLB eventually settled on the national capital as the Expos' new home. Virginia is home to many minor league clubs, especially in baseball and soccer.

Baseball


- Bluefield Orioles (Appalachian League)
- Bristol White Sox (Appalachian League)
- Danville Braves (Appalachian League)
- Lynchburg Hillcats (Carolina League)
- Norfolk Tides (International League)
- Potomac Nationals (Carolina League)
- Pulaski Blue Jays (Appalachian League)
- Richmond Braves (International League)
- Salem Avalanche (Carolina League)
- [http://www.winchesterroyals.com Winchester Royals] ([http://www.valleyleaguebaseball.com Valley League])

Basketball


- Roanoke Dazzle (NBDL)

Ice hockey


- Norfolk Admirals (AHL)
- Richmond RiverDogs (UHL)
- Roanoke Valley Vipers (UHL)

Indoor football


- Richmond Bandits (AIFL)

Soccer


- Chesapeke Athletic (Super Y-League)
- Hampton Roads Piranhas (W-League)
- Northern Virginia Majestics (W-League)
- Northern Virginia Royals (USL Second Division)
- Richmond Kickers (USL First Division)
- Richmond Kickers Destiny (W-League)
- Richmond Kickers Future (Premier Development League)
- Virginia Beach Mariners (USL First Division)
- Virginia Beach Submariners (Premier Development League)
- Williamsburg Legacy (Premier Development League)

Important cities and towns

Under the laws in effect in Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as cities are independent of any county. Of the 43 independent cities in the United States, 39 are in Virginia. The complete list of Virginia independent cities follows: Some other municipalities are incorporated towns, which are not independent of a county, but rather, located within one of the 95 counties in Virginia. These incorporated towns include: Finally, Arlington County, which lies across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is a completely urbanized community, much like a city, but remains organized as a county, and has no towns within its borders. There are also hundreds of other unincorporated communities (sometimes informally called villages or towns) in Virginia.

Colleges and universities

Miscellaneous information


- State motto: "Sic semper tyrannis." (Thus always to tyrants.)
- State bird: Cardinal
- State dog: American Foxhound
- State flower: Dogwood
- State tree: Dogwood
- State insect: Tiger swallowtail
- State bat: Virginia Big-Eared Bat
- State song: none; the former state song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," was retired in 1997 because some found its lyrics to be racially offensive
- State dance: Square dance
- State boat: Chesapeake Bay deadrise
- State fish: Brook trout
- State shell: Oyster
- State fossil: Chesapecten Jeffersonius
- State beverage: Milk USS Virginia was named in honor of this state.

See also


- List of school divisions in Virginia
- Lost counties, cities and towns of Virginia

Other places

There are also places named Virginia in the States of Illinois and Minnesota: see
- Virginia, Illinois.
- Virginia, Minnesota.

External links


- [http://www.virginia.gov State Government website]
- [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/raleigh.htm Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh : 1584]
- [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va01.htm The First Charter of Virginia; April 10, 1606]
- [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va02.htm The Second Charter of Virginia; May 23, 1609]
- [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va03.htm The Third Charter of Virginia; March 12, 1611]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://www.vahistorical.org Virginia Historical Society]
- [http://www.historical-markers.org Virginia's Historical Markers]
- [http://www.virginiaplaces.org/ Geography of Virginia]
- [http://www.fathersforvirginia.org/ Fathers for Virginia]
- Category:States of the United States ko:버지니아 주 ja:バージニア州

Constitution of Virginia

The Constitution of Virginia is the document that defines the powers of the government and the rights of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia, one of the original thirteen states of the United States. Like all other U.S. state constitutions, it is supreme over Virginia's law and acts of government, but must be consistent with the United States Constitution and federal law. Virginia has enacted seven constitutions during its history as a state: in 1776, 1829, 1851, 1864, 1870, 1902, and the one currently in effect, 1970. The 1970 Constitution consists of twelve Articles:
- Article I - Bill of Rights
- Article II - Franchise and Officers
- Article III - Division of Powers
- Article IV - Legislature
- Article V - Executive
- Article VI - Judiciary
- Article VII - Local Government
- Article VIII - Education
- Article IX - Corporations
- Article X - Taxation and Finance
- Article XI - Con