Political Life in Virginia

January 10, 2000 - November 13, 2000

Political life in Virginia has undergone many changes since the founding of Jamestown in 1607. The changes have often involved debates about who could vote and who could not. The enlargement of the franchise—the right to vote—from an exclusive group of landowners to all Virginians over the age of 18 reflects other changes that have affected the lives of Virginians since the founding of the colony. Being excluded from voting has not always meant being without a voice in politics, and Virginians who lacked the vote often influenced the course of politics in other ways. They made speeches, wrote pamphlets, published books, took part in parades, petitioned the General Assembly, and even engaged in riots. "A full vote, a free ballot and a fair count" examines key events and issues in Virginia's political history and charts the gradual enlargement of the franchise.

Colonial Virginia

American Revolution

Democratizing the Old Dominion

Civil War and Reconstruction

Twentieth Century

Virginia Political Leaders

TimeLine
1607 Jamestown founded	1619 General Assembly established	1624 Virginia becomes a royal colony	1676 Bacon's Rebellion	1776 Virginia Constitution Adopted	1787 United States Constitution adopted
1851 Universal white male suffrage in Virginia	1867 African American men vote in Virginia	1870 Fifteenth Amendment	1888 John Mercer Langston Elected to Congress from Virginia	1902 Virginia Constitution	1920 Nineteenth Amendment
1923 First women elected to Virginia General Assembly	1964 Twenty-fourth Amendment	1965 Voting Rights Act	1967 William Ferguson Reid elected to Virginia General Assembly	1969 Linwood Holton first Republican elected to statewide office	1971 Twenty-sixth Amendment
1985 L. Douglas Wilder elected lieutenant governor	1985 Mary Sue Terry elected attorney general	1989 L. Douglas Wilder first elected African American Governor in United States	1999 Republicans win majorities in General Assembly

Governor's Letters Received Database