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Virginia’s Revolutionary Conventions

There was nothing new for the people of Williamsburg to see as a group of gentlemen made their way to the Capitol building on the morning of August 1. For decades, legislators had met at the eastern end of town. It was routine. Even mundane. In August 1774, the same group of people gathered in the same place. But despite all outward appearances, this meeting was dramatically different.

This was not a session of the House of Burgesses, Virginia’s legislative body. It was a convention. An unauthorized meeting with no formal lawmaking capacity, it was created to manage the affairs of Britain’s largest colony during the ongoing imperial crisis.1 The conventions mirrored the electoral and parliamentary procedures of the House of Burgesses, which lent legitimacy to these unsanctioned meetings. Over the next two years, Virginia's revolutionary conventions became Virginia’s governing body and drove Virginia, and the nation, toward independence.

The First Virginia Convention

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  • August 1-6, 1774
  • Capitol Building, Williamsburg

Calling for the First Virginia Convention was an act of defiance. Governor Dunmore had dissolved the House of Burgesses to punish it for protesting the Coercive Acts. One outcome of Dunmore’s dissolution was that a group of Burgesses called for a meeting of elected representatives, unauthorized by the royal government, in Williamsburg beginning August 1.2

At the First Virginia Convention, delegates responded to British overreach by adopting the Virginia Association, a plan for non-importation, and eventually non-exportation, intended to pressure Britain to repeal its taxes. They also created local committees to enforce the agreement.3

The convention had no legal authority, and so they had no official means of enforcing the boycott. But they authorized local committees to publicly name offenders, and they would “thereafter consider such Person or Persons as inimical to this Country, and break off every Connection and all Dealings with them.”4 In the absence of a legal means of enforcement, they turned to social pressure.

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The First Virginia Convention

Learn more about the key players at the First Virginia Convention and the actions they took.

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Patrick Henry delivered his famous “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” speech at the Second Convention. Image: Library of Congress.

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The Second, Third, and Fourth Conventions all met at St. John’s Church in Richmond. Image: Library of Congress.

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Between the second and third conventions, the Gunpowder Incident led to the collapse of royal government in Virginia.

The Second through Fourth Conventions

In 1775, royal government collapsed in Virginia. After Governor Dunmore fled to Norfolk and threatened to bombard the city the Virginia Conventions became responsible for governing and defending the colony. What began as an unofficial meeting became Virginia’s governing body.

    • March 20-27, 1775
    • Henrico Parish Church (now called St. John’s Church), Richmond

    At the Second Virginia Convention, delegates conducted mostly routine business. They chose a convention president, read aloud and approved the proceedings of the Continental Congress, and considered instructions from counties.5

    The convention’s biggest moment came during a debate about whether the colony should “be immediately put into a posture of Defense,” or in other words, raise a militia to defend themselves against a British invasion.6 During a spirited debate over the proposal, Patrick Henry gave a rousing speech that left one listener “sick with excitement.”7 Though Henry’s speech was not recorded verbatim, the most complete account describes him thundering, “Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!... I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”8

    The convention voted the measure through, making a first step toward creating and overseeing an army, and Patrick Henry’s words became a rallying cry echoing through generations.

    • July 17-August 26, 1775
    • Henrico Parish Church (now called St. John’s Church), Richmond

    Between the Second and Third Conventions, royal government in Virginia had all but collapsed. Delegates to the Third Convention walked a fine line between acting as the de facto government for the colony and having no legal authority to legislate.

    Most of the convention’s business was routine. They considered letters from county committees of correspondence, promoted the manufacturing of saltpeter for making gunpower, determined eligibility for future elections and pay for delegates, elected delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, passed and rescinded a non-exportation agreement, and issued paper money for paying the military.9

    Most significantly, they formed a military structure for the defense of the colony and created an eleven-member Committee of Safety, which would serve as an executive branch for the colony and operate between conventions. Virginia had now formed its own legislature, executive, treasury, and military.10

    • December 1, 1775- January 20, 1776
    • Henrico Parish Church, Richmond (now called St. John’s Church); moves to the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg

    Days before the Fourth Virginia Convention, Governor Dunmore issued a proclamation offering freedom to enslaved people who ran from Patriot enslavers and joined him. Weeks later, Loyalists and Patriots met at the Battle of Great Bridge.11

    In the aftermath the convention focused on drawing lines: who was friend, and who was foe? What should be done with their enemies?

    The convention considered this question many times over. What should they do with the many Loyalist prisoners languishing in Williamsburg’s public gaol, or violators of the Continental Association? What about the Black men and women who were recaptured after fleeing to Dunmore and his Proclamation’s promise of freedom?12

    As they navigated these questions, they further transformed themselves into a government by establishing courts, expanding the military, and broadening the Committee of Safety’s powers.13

The Fifth Virginia Convention

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Final Meeting of the House of Burgesses, 1776. Library of Virginia.

  • May 5-July 6, 1776
  • Capitol Building, Williamsburg

By the time the Fifth Virginia Convention met in May 1776, many Virginians had abandoned their hopes of reconciliation and come to believe that independence was the only path forward. Just before the convention began, a final meeting of the House of Burgesses, which had met intermittently after being dissolved by Governor Dunmore in 1774, voted to “let that body die.” The secretary ended the Journal of the House of Burgesses with the word “FINIS.” Virginians were one step closer to separating themselves from Great Britain.14

The business of the Fifth Virginia Convention resembled that of previous conventions. But the real work began two weeks into the convention, when they took up the question of independence. After two days of debate, they passed a resolution instructing their delegates to the Continental Congress to propose independence and creating a committee to author a constitution for Virginia and a Declaration of Rights.15

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Through these actions, Virginia set independence in motion. Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress Richard Henry Lee brought a resolution on independence on June 7, which prompted the creation of a committee to draft a declaration of independence.16

Virginia also made itself independent by adopting a Virginia Constitution and appointing Patrick Henry as governor. The Fifth Virginia Convention would be the last Virginia Convention, and would be replaced by an Assembly authorized by Virginia’s new constitution.

The Virginia Conventions formed a bridge between colonial and state governments. As British government in Virginia collapsed, Virginians had to ask themselves: under what authority could a new government form? While relying on the traditions and practices they had used for centuries, Virginians forged a path forward for themselves and a new nation.

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The Road to Independence

The Virginia Conventions were part of a years-long road to independence.

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Robert Carter Nicholas

As a moderate patriot, Nicholas was the sole delegate at the Fifth Virginia Convention to push back on independence, worrying that Virginia was not strong enough to defend itself against Great Britain.

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Revolutionary Documents

The United States is one of the first nations in the world with a rich, well-preserved record of its birth. What can these documents tell us?

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Sources

  1. John E. Selby, The Revolution in Virginia, 1775–1783 (Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988), 9.
  2. Selby, The Revolution in Virginia, 8-9.
  3. Robert L. Scribner, ed., Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence, Vol. 1, Forming Thunderclouds and the First Convention, 1763–1774 (University Press of Virginia, 1973), 231.
  4. “Convention Association,” in Scribner, ed., Revolutionary Virginia, vol. 1, 234.
  5. Proceedings of the Second Virginia Convention, in Robert L. Scribner, ed., Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence, Vol. 2, The Committees and the Second Convention, 1773-1775 ( University Press of Virginia, 1975), 347-381.
  6. Scribner, ed., Revolutionary Virginia, vol. 2, 366.
  7. Quoted in Scribner, ed., Revolutionary Virginia, vol 2, 369.
  8. William Wirt, Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry (James Webster, 1817), 123.
  9. Robert L. Scribner, ed., Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence, Vol. 3, The Breaking Storm and the Third Convention, 1775  (University Press of Virginia, 1977), 313-497.
  10. Selby, The Revolution in Virginia, 49-54.
  11. Selby, The Revolution in Virginia, 64-66, 70-74.
  12. Robert L. Scribner, ed., Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence, Vol. 4, The Class of Arms and the Fourth Convention, 1775-1776 (University Press of Virginia, 1979), Selby, The Revolution in Virginia, 399, 406, 423.
  13. Selby, The Revolution in Virginia, 76-79.
  14. “Final Meeting of the House of Burgesses (“Finis” Document), May 6, 1776,” Library of Virginia, link.
  15. Resolutions of the Virginia Convention Calling for Independence, May 15, 1776, in David John Mays, The Letters and Papers of Edmund Pendleton, 1734-1803 (University Press of Virginia, 1967), 178-179.
  16. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Vol. 5, 1776, June 5–October 8 (Government Printing Office, 1906), 425, link.