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Time Period
1764 to 1824
Image
![StJohnsChurchBell.1900.5.jpg StJohnsChurchBell.1900.5.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/fp_landscape_768x576/public/StJohnsChurchBell.1900.5.jpg.webp?itok=ijgmT4eZ)
British taxation—introduced to pay for a British military presence in America—was unexpected by the Virginia gentry and resented. Those Americans began to view British policy as a plot against their liberty. They 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. Virginia leaders advocated equality for all but they never considered extending it to women and African Americans.