1763 to 1825

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British taxation—introduced to pay for a British military presence in America—was unexpected and resented by much of the Virginia elite, who began to view British policy as a plot against their liberty. Virginians played leading roles in the Continental Congresses that debated independence, in the fighting of the American Revolution, and in the conception and implementation of a new government. Virginia also provided four of the new nation’s first five presidents. However, while Virginia leaders advocated equality for all, they ultimately did not extend the same freedoms to women or African Americans.