1763 to 1825

After 1763, Great Britain underestimated the economic and political maturity of the American colonists. To help fund the expense of defending America, Great Britain passed the Stamp Act (1765), which taxed paper, and the Townshend Act (1767), which taxed imports, tea, and glass. Massachusetts colonists responded by boycotting British merchandise and dumping tea into Boston Harbor (the “Boston Tea Party”). They argued that taxes could not be levied on them by a Parliament in London in which they had no representation. Virginian colonists rallied in kind, declaring a "Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer" in sympathy with Boston colonists, enacting their own boycotts, and performing their own, smaller, Yorktown Tea Party in 1774.

Choosing Sides

Loyalists were colonists who remained loyal to the British crown. They were also called Tories and Royalists, and numbered about 500,000 or 15 to 20 percent of the American population. Some Virginia planters––like Ralph Wormeley––remained Loyalist throughout the Revolution. Others, though initially inclined toward moderation, shifted to the patriot cause even when faced with family division. Edmund Pendleton stated in 1774, “we utterly disavow [independence].” Carter Braxton was criticized because his wife and father-in-law were Loyalists. Both Pendleton and Braxton ultimately signed the Declaration of Independence.

The British repeatedly offered freedom to enslaved people who would join their side; between 20,000 and 100,000 did so across the colonies over the course of the war. Virginia's last Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, issued the first official order of this kind in November 1775. Thomas Jefferson estimated that 30,000 enslaved people escaped during the brief British invasion of Virginia in 1781, including twenty-three of his own. In the peace treaty ending the war, the British agreed to leave “without carrying away any Negroes.” Despite this, some 9,000 to 10,000 black Loyalists found refuge in Canada.

While the British army represented liberty to many African Americans, others chose to fight for the American Revolutionaries. One of the most famous examples from Virginia was James Fayette (also known as James Lafayette), and enslaved man who served as a spy at the Battle of Yorktown for the Marquis de Lafayette, a French general who was instrumental to the success of the Continental Army. Though James was initially denied his freedom after the war, Lafayette wrote a testimonial supporting James's pursuit of freedom. After Virginia granted James this freedom in 1787, he took the last name Fayette in honor of Lafayette's support. 

Indigenous people in Virginia also found themselves on both sides of the conflict. Some individuals, such as Pamunkey Tribe member Robert Marsh/Mursh, joined the Continental Army. On Virginia's western frontier, large numbers of Cherokee and Shawnee warriors sided with the British in an attempt to stop the flow of new settlers onto their lands. However, indigenous nations were comprised of many different individuals & groups who often disagreed on political and military strategy, making it difficult to generalize their wartime decision-making. 

Virginia Objects to Stamp Act Taxation

The outrage of Virginia planters––whose standard of living rested on the price of tobacco in England and prices merchants charged them for goods––found expression in Patrick Henry’s “Virginia Resolves to the Stamp Act.” Henry quoted the 1606 Virginia colony charter that promised “all the Priviledges, Franchises & Immunities that have at any Time been held, enjoyed, & possessed by the People of Great Britain.”

Wealth and Population of the American Colonies

Most elite white southerners were twice as rich as the other colonists—not only did they own enslaved people, but they also owned twice as much land. Virginians were the wealthiest. In 1780, Virginia’s total population was 538,000; Pennsylvania and Massachusetts were next at 327,000 and 268,000. Unlike in other colonies, wealthy Virginians did not grow or make much of what they used, but instead depended on British trade.