With the excuse of my second sewing class tomorrow with the Costume Design Center, the kids and I drove to Colonial Williamsburg for a day of fun…and to pick up my tickets for the sewing class.
For a hint of what to expect in the next post, read about my first class here.
Although the day was exceedingly cold, the skies were an azure blue, which made the perfect backdrop for pictures.
The centerpoint of our day revolved around the Capitol, where I’ve heard amazing stories of America’s history for years.
Why doesn’t anyone explain how central this building is to American history?
For years I’ve been wanting to assemble all the fascinating bits of history tied to this building that were never in my history text books.
Pithy statements in textbooks left out the broader context and meaning to our country’s beginnings.
Prompted by these gorgeous pictures that gave us an ah-ha moment as we closely examined the cupula, I’ve written the amazing story of how Virginia’s story is America’s story.
Capitol cupula of British origin
While waiting for the Capitol tour my son took amazing photos he gave to me to share.
Always curious about exactly what is on the cupula, we had time to sit and analyze and try to get close-up shots.
The weathervane with British Union Jack obviously proclaim the Crown.
On the base of the cupula is the Latin phrase: Semper Eadem, which was a motto of Queen Elizabeth I, which means always the same.
According to this website which shares her motto:
Semper Eadem, which is Elizabeth I’s motto, expresses stability, integrity and serenity. In other words, “Whatever the vicissitudes, in times good and bad, I remain the same. Whether you are rich or poor, noble or simple, in mercy or in disfavour – it makes no difference to me”. Elizabeth I is still beloved by the British people for her contribution to the nation.
The Ceremonial Mace…more British tradition
In 1700 a ceremonial silver mace was presented to the House of Burgesses by Royal Governor, Colonel Francis Nicholson.
Derived from a medieval weapon, the ceremonial mace was carried by high officials to represent authority…a British tradition.
Williamsburg Capitol built
The Virginia statehouse, which was originally located in Jamestown, burned and was rebuilt three different times. For the fourth time, a 1698 fire destroyed yet another statehouse building.
Since Jamestowne was surrounded by swamps, the burgesses decided it was time to move Virginia’s seat of government to Middle Plantation.
Rising to the occasion, Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg, in honor of King William III of England.
As the burgesses temporarily relocated at the newly built College of William and Mary, the building of the new statehouse began a mile down the road.
Herny Cary, the contractor for the nearly completed college, sought and won the contract to build the new statehouse.
Despite little documentation, it is thought Cary might have had some influence in the design of the Capitol.
Our tour began in the General Court, on the lower floor of the west side of the building (far left).
From there we walked up the stairs to the second level Council Chamber, where representatives appointed by and for the Crown met.
Walking through a hallway between the east and west extension, that spans a portico beneath, we arrived on the east side of the building where the committee rooms lie.
The hallway between the two extensions cross over a portico.
From there we walked downstairs to the House of Burgesses.
Although the legislature moved into the Capitol in 1704, the construction culminated a year later.
This building is the first in America to be called Capitol.
Burgesses represented the local Virginians
Established under British Common Law in1619 Jamestowne, the burgesses became the first legislative body in America.
According to British Common Law, the people had a right to local representation, which provides a check on the king’s power.
The right of the people to keep the king in check began in 1215, when King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta after his string of tyrannical acts.
Capitol Entertainments
Often used in-between legislative sessions for various entertainments, the capitol was a festive use of space for dances, musical concerts, etc.
Soon came a change in the air…
Patrick Henry’s Caesar-Brutus Speech at the Capitol
After the king imposed tyrannical taxes on the colonis to pay for the French and Indian War, a young legislator debuted in the Williamsburg Capitol.
On May 29, 1765, Patrick Henry warned the other burgesses:
Caesar had his Brutus — Charles the First, His Cromwell — And George the Third” — (“Treason!” cried the Speaker — “Treason, treason!” echoed from every part of the house). Henry faultered not for an instant, but rising to a loftier attitude, concluded thus – “may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.
From Angel in the Whirlwind by Benson Bobrick:
Thomas Jefferson, then a student at the College of William and Mary, was standing in the doorway and heard Henry speak. “I well remember the cry of treason,” Jefferson wrote afterward, “the pause of Mr. Henry at the name of George III, and the presence of mind with which he closed his sentence, and baffled the charge vociferated.” To Jefferson it seemed as if Henry “spoke as Homer wrote”.
Lord Dunmore echoes Oliver Cromwell
In 1774, the royal governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, echoed Cromwell who dissolved parliament in 1653.
In retaliation for the Tea Party, Britain shut Boston harbor in May 1774, which threatened innocent people in town, especially women and children.
On the evening of May 23, Thomas Jefferson met in the Capitol with several burgesses including Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and Francis Lightfoot Lee.
Jefferson’s diary records: …agreeing that we must boldly take an unequivocal stand in the line with Massachusetts. We were under conviction of the necessity of arousing our people from the lethargy into which they had fallen as to passing events.
Accessessing the library in the Governor’s Council room, the burgesses referenced John Rushworth’s Historical Collections, a history book of Cromwell and the Puritans during the English civil wars.
After reading about the action the House of Commons took, the burgesses proposed a day of fasting, Humiliation, and prayer for June 1, 1774…to implore heaven to avert from us the evils of civil war, to inspire us with firmness in support of our rights, and to turn the hearts of the King—parliament to moderation—justice, Jefferson penned into his diary.
Thus the burgesses carefully planned the assembling in the chamber in the morning and proceeding as a body, led by the Speaker and accompanied by the Mace, to Bruton Parish Church for prayers and a Sermon, suitable to the Occasion, wrote Jefferson.
Hearing of these plans on May 26, 1774, the royal governor dissolved the burgesses.
Independence declared from the Capitol
Two years later, the burgesses unanimously voted while in the Capitol to separate from Great Britain on May 15, 1776.
Soon receiving news from Williamsburg to pursue independence, Virginia burgess Richard Henry Lee took the first step forward in the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
On June 7, 1776, Lee introduced the resolution for independence: that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states.
George Mason pens the Virginia Declaration of Rights at the Capitol
Delayed by chronic illness, George Mason of Fairfax arrived at the Capitol a few days after the burgesses unanimously voted for Independence.
Virginia now needed its own Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
While others wrote their drafts, George Mason scribbled his own version in the Raleigh Tavern, while drawing upon ancient British documents: the Magna Carta, the English Petition of Right of 1628, and England’s 1689 Bill of Rights.
On June 12, 1776, George Mason’s Declaration of Rights passed in the Virginia Convention.
From his document familiar phrases resound:
That all men are by nature equally free and independent…
That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people…
That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community…
That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
George Mason writes the Virginia Constitution
Before the approval of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, Mason began composing the Virginia Constitution.
While Thomas Jefferson continued serving the Second Continental Congress, he corresponded with Mason, sending his drafts of the Virginia Constitution, and of a preamble to the Virginia Constitution.
One of the delegates sent to Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia a copy of the submitted Virginia Constitution with a note: the inclosed (sic) printed plan was drawn by Colo. G. Mason and by him laid before the committee.
Passed unanimously and signed on June 29, the Virginia Constitution declared the former colony would be called the Commonwealth of Virginia, because power is derived from the people.
Furthermore, the Virginia Constitution replaced the term burgesses with delegates, whom continue to represent Virginia, today.
A Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business
Years later, John Adams remembered persuading Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence: Reason first — You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business.
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.
These well-read statesmen who knew their history put into action the ideals of independence written by others.
