Virginia DelegatesArchives n.p. |
Virginia
Image: National Archives, Records of Exposition, Anniversary, and Memorial
Commissions Scion of a prominent Virginia family, Blair was born at Williamsburg in 1732. He was the son of John Blair, a colonial official and nephew of James Blair, founder and first president of the College of William and Mary. Blair graduated from that institution and studied law at London's Middle Temple. Thereafter, he practiced at Williamsburg. In the years 1766-70, he sat in the Virginia House of Burgesses as the representative of William and Mary. From 1770 to 1775, he held the position of clerk of the colony's council. An active patriot, Blair signed the Virginia Association of June 22, 1770, which pledged to abandon importation of British goods until the Townshend Duties were repealed. He also underwrote the Association of May 27, 1774, calling for a meeting of the colonies in a Continental Congress and supporting the Bostonians. He took part in the Virginia constitutional convention (1776), at which he sat on the committee that framed a declaration of rights as well as the plan for a new government. He next served on the Privy Council (1776-78). In the latter year, the legislature elected him as a judge of the General Court, and he soon took over the chief justiceship. In 1780, he won election to Virginia's high chancery court, where his colleague was George Wythe. Blair attended the Constitutional Convention regularly, but never spoke or served on a committee. He usually sided with the position of the Virginia delegation. In the commonwealth ratifying convention, Blair helped win backing for the new framework of government. In 1789, Washington named Blair as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, where he helped decide many important cases. Resigning that post in 1796, he spent his remaining years in Williamsburg. A widower, his wife (born Jean Balfour) having died in 1792, he lived quietly until he died in 1800. He was 68 years old. His tomb is in the graveyard of Bruton Parish Church.
Virginia Image: From the Collection of Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa The oldest of 10 children and a scion of the planter aristocracy, Madison was born in 1751 at Port Conway, King George County, VA, while his mother was visiting her parents. In a few weeks, she journeyed back with her newborn son to Montpelier estate, in Orange County, which became his lifelong home. He received his early education from his mother, from tutors, and at a private school. An excellent scholar though frail and sickly in his youth, in 1771 he graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton), where he demonstrated special interest in government and the law. However, considering the ministry for a career, he stayed on for a year of postgraduate study in theology. Back at Montpelier, still undecided on a profession, Madison soon embraced the patriot cause, and state and local politics absorbed much of his time. In 1775, he served on the Orange County committee of safety. The next year at the Virginia convention, which advocated various Revolutionary steps and framed the Virginia constitution. In 1776-77, he served in the House of Delegates and in 1778-80 he served in the Council of State. His ill health precluded any military service. In 1780, Madison was chosen to represent Virginia in the Continental and Confederation Congresses (1780-83 and 1786-88). Although originally the youngest delegate, he played a major role in the deliberations of that body. Meantime, in the years 1784-86, he had again sat in the Virginia House of Delegates. He was a guiding force behind the Mount Vernon Conference (1785), attended the Annapolis Convention (1786), and was otherwise highly instrumental in the convening of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He had also written extensively about deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation. Madison was clearly the preeminent figure at the convention. Some of the delegates favored an authoritarian central government; others, retention of state sovereignty. Most occupied positions in the middle of the two extremes. Madison, who was rarely absent and whose Virginia Plan was in large part the basis of the Constitution, tirelessly advocated a strong government, though many of his proposals were rejected. Despite his poor speaking capabilities, he took the floor more than 150 times, third only after Gouverneur Morris and James Wilson. Madison was also a member of numerous committees, the most important of which were those on postponed matters and style. His journal of the convention is the best single record of the event. He also played a key part in guiding the Constitution through the Confederation Congress.
Playing a lead in the ratification process in Virginia, too, Madison defended
the document against
such powerful opponents as Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Richard Henry
Lee. In New
York, where Madison was serving in the Confederation Congress, he collaborated
with Alexander
Hamilton and John Jay in a series of essays that in 1787-88 appeared in the
newspapers and were
soon published in book form as
In the U.S. House of Representatives (1789-97), Madison helped frame and
ensure passage of the
Bill of Rights. He also assisted in organizing the executive department and
creating a system of
federal taxation. As leaders of the opposition to Hamilton's policies, he
and Jefferson founded the
Democratic-Republican Party.
In 1794, Madison married a vivacious widow who was 16 years his junior,
Dolley Payne Todd,
who had a son; they were to raise no children of their own. Madison spent
the period 1797-1801
in semiretirement, but in 1798 he wrote the Virginia Resolutions, which
attacked the Alien and
Sedition Acts. While he served as Secretary of State (1801-9), his wife
often served as President
Jefferson's hostess.
In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson. Like the first three Presidents,
Madison was enmeshed in
the ramifications of European wars. Diplomacy had failed to prevent the
seizure of U.S. ships,
goods, and men on the high seas, and a depression wracked the country.
Madison continued to
apply diplomatic techniques and economic sanctions, eventually effective to
some degree against
France. However, continued British interference with shipping, as well as
other
grievances, led to the
War of 1812.
The war, for which the young nation was ill prepared, ended in stalemate in
December, 1814,
when the inconclusive Treaty of Ghent, which nearly restored prewar conditions,
was signed. Thanks mainly to Andrew Jackson's spectacular victory at the
Battle of New
Orleans (Chalmette)
in January, 1815, most Americans believed they had won. Twice tested,
independence had
survived, and an ebullient nationalism marked Madison's last years in office,
during which period
the Democratic-Republicans held virtually uncontested sway.
In retirement after his second term, Madison managed Montpelier, but continued
to be active in
public affairs. He devoted long hours to editing his journal of the
Constitutional Convention,
which the government was to publish 4 years after his death. He served as
co-chairman of the
Virginia constitutional convention of 1829-30 and as rector of the University
of Virginia during
the period 1826-36. Writing newspaper articles defending the administration
of Monroe, he also
acted as his foreign policy adviser.
Madison spoke out against the emerging sectional controversy that
threatened the existence
of the Union. Although a slaveholder all his life, he was active during his
later years in the
American Colonization Society, whose mission was the resettlement of slaves
in Africa.
Madison died at the age of 85 in 1836, survived by his wife and stepson.
Image: National Archives, Records of Exposition, Anniversary, and Memorial
Commissions
Mason was born to George and Ann Thomson Mason in 1725. When the boy
was 10
years old, his father died, and young George's upbringing was left in the care
of his uncle, John
Mercer. The future jurist's education was profoundly shaped by the contents
of his uncle's
1500-volume library, one-third of which concerned the law.
Mason established himself as an important figure in his community. As owner
of Gunston Hall he
was one of the richest planters in Virginia. In 1750, he married Anne Eilbeck,
and in 23 years of
marriage they had five sons and four daughters. In 1752, he acquired an
interest in the Ohio
Company, an organization that speculated in western lands. When the crown
revoked the
company's rights in 1773, Mason, the company's treasurer, wrote his first
major state paper,
Extracts from the Virginia Charters, with Some Remarks upon Them.
During these years, Mason also pursued his political interests. He was a
justice of the Fairfax
County court, and between 1754 and 1779, Mason was a trustee of the city of
Alexandria. In
1759, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. When the Stamp Act
of 1765 aroused
outrage in the colonies, George Mason wrote an open letter explaining the
colonists' position to a
committee of London merchants to enlist their support.
In 1774, Mason again was in the forefront of political events when he assisted
in drawing up the
Fairfax Resolves, a document that outlined the colonists' constitutional
grounds for their
objections to the Boston Port Act. Virginia's Declaration of Rights, framed
by Mason in 1776,
was widely copied in other colonies, served as a model for Jefferson in the
first part of the
Declaration of Independence, and was the basis for the federal Constitution's
Bill of Rights.
The years between 1776 and 1780 were filled with great legislative activity.
The establishment of
a government independent of Great Britain required the abilities of persons
such as George
Mason. He supported the disestablishment of the church and was active in the
organization of
military affairs, especially in the West. The influence of his early work,
Extracts from the
Virginia Charters, is seen in the 1783 peace treaty with Great Britain,
which fixed the
Anglo-American boundary at the Great Lakes instead of the Ohio River. After
independence,
Mason drew up the plan for Virginia's cession of its western lands to the
United States.
By the early 1780s, however, Mason grew disgusted with the conduct of public
affairs and retired.
He married his second wife, Sarah Brent, in 1780. In 1785, he attended the
Mount Vernon
meeting that was a prelude to the Annapolis convention of 1786. Though
appointed, he did
not go to Annapolis.
At Philadelphia, in 1787 Mason was one of the five most frequent speakers at
the
Constitutional Convention. He exerted great influence, but during the last
2 weeks of the
convention he decided not to sign the document.
Mason's refusal prompts some surprise, especially since his name is so closely
linked with
constitutionalism. He explained his reasons at length, citing the absence of
a declaration of rights
as his primary concern. He then discussed the provisions of the Constitution
point by point,
beginning with the House of Representatives. The House he criticized as not
truly representative
of the nation, the Senate as too powerful. He also claimed that the power of
the federal judiciary
would destroy the state judiciaries, render justice unattainable, and enable
the rich to oppress and
ruin the poor. These fears led Mason to conclude that the new government was
destined to either
become a monarchy or fall into the hands of a corrupt, oppressive aristocracy.
Two of Mason's greatest concerns were incorporated into the Constitution. The
Bill of Rights
answered his primary objection, and the
11th amendment addressed his
call for
strictures on the
judiciary.
Throughout his career, Mason was guided by his belief in the rule of reason and
in the
centrality of the natural rights of man. He approached problems coolly,
rationally, and
impersonally. In recognition of his accomplishments and dedication to the
principles of the Age
of Reason, Mason has been called the American manifestation of the
Enlightenment. Mason died
on October 7, 1792, and was buried on the grounds of Gunston Hall.
McClurg was born near Hampton, VA, in 1746. He attended the College of
William and
Mary and graduated in 1762. McClurg then studied medicine at the University
of Edinburgh and
received his degree in 1770. He pursued postgraduate medical studies in Paris
and London and
published Experiments upon the Human Bile and Reflections on the Biliary
Secretions (1772) in
London. His work and writings were well-received and respected by the medical
community, and
his article was translated into several languages. In 1773, McClurg returned to
Virginia and served
as a surgeon in the state militia during the Revolution.
Before the end of the war, the College of William and Mary appointed McClurg
its professor of
anatomy and medicine. The same year, 1779, he married Elizabeth Seldon. James
McClurg's
reputation continued to grow, and he was regarded as one of the most eminent
physicians in
Virginia. In 1820 and 1821, he was president of the state medical society.
In addition to his medical practice, McClurg pursued politics. In 1782, James
Madison advocated
McClurg's appointment as secretary of foreign affairs for the United States,
but was unsuccessful.
When Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry declined to serve as representatives
to the
Constitutional Convention in 1787, McClurg was asked to join Virginia's
delegation. In
Philadelphia, McClurg advocated a life tenure for the President and argued
for the ability of the
federal government to override state laws. Even as some at the convention
expressed
apprehension of the powers allotted to the presidency, McClurg championed
greater
independence of the executive from the legislative branch. He left the
convention in early August,
however, and did not sign the Constitution.
James McClurg's political service did not end with the convention. During
George Washington's
administration, McClurg served on Virginia's executive council. He died in
Richmond, VA, on
July 9, 1823.
Image: National Archives, Records of Exposition, Anniversary, and Memorial
Commissions
Randolph was born in Tazewell Hall, Williamsburg,
VA, on August 10, 1753. His
parents were Ariana Jenings and John Randolph. Edmund attended the College of
William and
Mary and continued his education by studying the law under his father's
tutelage.
When the Revolution broke out, father and son followed different paths. John
Randolph, a
Loyalist, followed the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, to England, in 1775.
Edmund then lived
with his uncle Peyton Randolph, a prominent figure in Virginia politics.
During the war, Edmund
served as an aide-de-camp to General Washington and also attended the
convention that adopted
Virginia's first state constitution in 1776. He was the convention's youngest
member at age 23.
Randolph married Elizabeth Nicholas in 1776.
Randolph continued to advance in the political world. He became mayor of
Williamsburg and
Virginia's attorney-general. In 1779, he was elected to the Continental
Congress, and in
November 1786 Randolph became Governor of Virginia. In 1786, he was a delegate
to the
Annapolis Convention.
Four days after the opening of the federal convention in Philadelphia, on
May 29, 1787, Edmund
Randolph presented the Virginia Plan for creating a new government. This
plan proposed a
strong central government composed of three branches, legislative, executive,
and judicial, and
enabled the legislative to veto state laws and use force against states that
failed to fulfill their
duties. After many debates and revisions, including striking the section
permitting force against a
state, the Virginia Plan became in large part the basis of the Constitution.
Though Randolph introduced the highly centralized Virginia Plan, he fluctuated
between the
federalist and anti-federalist points of view. He sat on the Committee of
Detail that prepared a
draft of the Constitution, but by the time the document was adopted, Randolph
declined to sign.
He felt it was not sufficiently republican, and he was especially wary of
creating a one-man
executive. He preferred a three-man council since he regarded "a unity in the
Executive" to be the
"foetus of monarchy." In a Letter . . . on the Federal Constitution,
dated October 10, 1787,
Randolph explained at length his objections to the Constitution. The old
Articles of Confederation
were inadequate, he agreed, but the proposed new plan of union contained too
many flaws.
Randolph was a strong advocate of the process of amendment. He feared that
if the Constitution
were submitted for ratification without leaving the states the opportunity
to amend it, the
document might be rejected and thus close off any hope of another plan of
union. However, he
hoped that amendments would be permitted and second convention called to
incorporate the
changes.
By the time of the Virginia convention for ratification, Randolph supported
the Constitution and
worked to win his state's approval of it. He stated his reason for his
switch: "The accession of
eight states reduced our deliberations to the single question of Union or no
Union."
Under President Washington, Edmund Randolph became Attorney General of the
United States.
After Thomas Jefferson resigned as Secretary of State, Randolph assumed that
post for the years
1794-95. During the Jefferson-Hamilton conflict, he tried to remain unaligned.
After retiring from
politics in 1795, Randolph resumed his law practice and was regarded as a
leading figure in the
legal community. During his retirement, he wrote a history of Virginia. When
Aaron Burr went
on trial for treason in 1807, Edmund Randolph acted as his senior counsel.
In 1813, at age 60 and
suffering from paralysis, Randolph died while visiting Nathaniel Burwell at
Carter Hall. His body
is buried in the graveyard of the nearby chapel.
Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
The eldest of six children from his father's second marriage, Washington
was born into the
landed gentry in 1732 at Wakefield Plantation, VA. Until reaching 16 years of
age, he lived there
and at other plantations along the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, including
the one that later
became known as Mount Vernon. His education was rudimentary, probably being
obtained from
tutors, but possibly also from private schools, and he learned surveying.
After he lost his father
when he was 11 years old, his half-brother Lawrence, who had served in the
Royal Navy, acted as
his mentor. As a result, the youth acquired an interest in pursuing a naval
career, but his mother
discouraged him from doing so.
At the age of 16, in 1748, Washington joined a surveying party sent out to
the Shenandoah Valley
by Lord Fairfax, a land baron. For the next few years, Washington conducted
surveys in Virginia
and present West Virginia and gained a lifetime interest in the West. In
1751-52, he
also accompanied Lawrence on a visit he made to Barbados, West Indies, for
health reasons just
before his death.
The next year, Washington began his military career when the royal governor
appointed him to an
adjutantship in the militia, as a major. That same year, as a gubernatorial
emissary, accompanied
by a guide, he traveled to Fort Le Boeuf, PA, in the Ohio River Valley, and
delivered to French
authorities an ultimatum to cease fortification and settlement in English
territory. During the trip,
he tried to better British relations with various Indian tribes.
In 1754, winning the rank of lieutenant colonel and then colonel in the
militia, Washington led a
force that sought to challenge French control of the Ohio River Valley, but
met defeat at Fort
Necessity, PA - an event that helped trigger the French and Indian War
(1754-63). Late in 1754,
irked by the dilution of his rank because of the pending arrival of British
regulars, he resigned his
commission. That same year, he leased Mount Vernon, which he was to inherit
in 1761.
In 1755, Washington reentered military service with the courtesy title of
colonel, as an aide to
Gen. Edward Braddock, and barely escaped death when the French defeated the
general's forces
in the Battle of the Monongahela, PA. As a reward for his bravery, Washington
rewon his
colonelcy and command of the Virginia militia forces, charged with defending
the colony's
frontier. Because of the shortage of men and equipment, he found the
assignment challenging.
Late in 1758 or early in 1759, disillusioned over governmental neglect of
the militia and irritated
at not rising in rank, he resigned and headed back to Mount Vernon.
Washington then wed Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow and mother of
two children.
The marriage produced no offspring, but Washington reared those of his wife
as his own. During
the period 1759-74, he managed his plantations and sat in the Virginia House
of Burgesses. He
supported the initial protests against British policies; took an active part
in the non-importation
movement in Virginia; and, in time, particularly because of his military
experience, became a Whig
leader.
By the 1770s, relations of the colony with the mother country had become
strained. Measured in
his behavior, but strongly sympathetic to the Whig position, and resentful of
British restrictions and
commercial exploitation, Washington represented Virginia at the First and
Second Continental
Congresses. In 1775, after the bloodshed at Lexington and Concord, Congress
appointed him as
commander in chief of the Continental Army. Overcoming severe obstacles,
especially in supply,
he eventually fashioned a well-trained and disciplined fighting force.
The strategy Washington evolved consisted of continual harassment of British
forces while
avoiding general actions. Although his troops yielded much ground and lost a
number of battles,
they persevered even during the dark winters at Valley Forge, PA, and
Morristown, NJ. Finally,
with crucial aid of the French fleet and army, he won a climactic victory at the
Battle of Yorktown,
VA, in 1781.
During the next 2 years, while still commanding the agitated Continental Army,
which
was underpaid and poorly supplied, Washington denounced proposals that the
military take over
the government, including one that planned to appoint him as king, but
supported army petitions
to the Continental Congress for proper compensation. Once the Treaty of Paris
(1783) was
signed, he resigned his commission and returned once again to Mount Vernon.
His wartime
financial sacrifices and long absence, as well as generous loans to friends,
had severely impaired
his extensive fortune, which consisted mainly of his plantations, slaves, and
landholdings in the
West. At this point, however, he was to have little time to repair his finances, for his retirement
was brief.
Dissatisfied with national progress under the Articles of Confederation,
Washington advocated a
stronger central government. He hosted the Mount Vernon Conference (1785) at
his estate after
its initial meetings in Alexandria, though he apparently did not directly
participate in the
discussions. Despite his sympathy with the goals of the Annapolis Convention
(1786), he did not
attend. The following year, encouraged by many of his friends, he
presided over the
Constitutional Convention, whose success was immeasurably influenced by his
presence and
dignity. Following ratification of the new instrument of government in 1788,
the electoral college
unanimously chose him as the first President.
The next year, after a triumphal journey from Mount Vernon to New York City,
Washington took
the oath of office at Federal Hall. During his two precedent-setting terms,
he governed with
dignity as well as restraint. He also provided the stability and authority
the emergent nation so
sorely needed, gave substance to the Constitution, and reconciled competing
factions and
divergent policies within the government and his administration. Although not
averse to
exercising presidential power, he respected the role of Congress and did not
infringe upon its
prerogatives. He also tried to maintain harmony between his Secretary of
State, Thomas Jefferson,
and Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, whose differences typified
evolving party
divisions from which Washington kept aloof.
Yet, usually leaning upon Hamilton for advice, Washington supported his plan
for the assumption
of state debts, concurred in the constitutionality of the bill establishing
the Bank of the United
States, and favored enactment of tariffs by Congress to provide federal
revenue and protect
domestic manufacturers.
Washington took various other steps to strengthen governmental authority,
including suppression
of the Whisky Rebellion (1794). To unify the country, he toured the Northeast
in 1789 and the
South in 1791. During his tenure, the government moved from New York to
Philadelphia in 1790, and
he supervised the planning for its relocation to the District of Columbia.
He laid the cornerstone
of the Capitol in 1793.
In foreign affairs, despite opposition from the Senate, Washington exerted
dominance.
He fostered United States interests on the North American continent by
treaties with Britain and
Spain. Yet, until the nation was stronger, he insisted on the maintenance of
neutrality. For
example, when the French Revolution created war between France and Britain,
he ignored the
remonstrances of pro-French Jefferson and pro-English Hamilton.
Although many people encouraged Washington to seek a third term, he was weary
of politics and
refused to do so. In his "Farewell Address" (1796), he urged his countrymen
to forswear party
spirit and sectional differences and to avoid entanglement in the wars and
domestic policies of
other nations.
Washington enjoyed only a few years of retirement at Mount Vernon. Even
then,
demonstrating his continued willingness to make sacrifices for his country in
1798 when the
nation was on the verge of war with France, he agreed to command the army,
though his services
were not ultimately required. He died at the age of 67 in 1799. In his will,
he emancipated his
slaves.
Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Wythe, the second of Thomas and Margaret Wythe's three children, was
born in 1726 on
his family's plantation on the Back River in Elizabeth City County, VA. Both
parents died when
Wythe was young, and he grew up under the guardianship of his older brother,
Thomas. Though
Wythe was to become an eminent jurist and teacher, he received very little
formal education. He
learned Latin and Greek from his well-educated mother, and he probably
attended for a time a
grammar school operated by the College of William and Mary.
Wythe's brother later sent him to Prince George County to read law under an
uncle. In 1746, at
age 20, he joined the bar, moved to Spotsylvania County, and became associated
with a lawyer
there. In 1747, he married his partner's sister, Ann Lewis, but she died the
next year. In 1754, Lt.
Gov. Robert Dinwiddie appointed him as acting colonial attorney general, a
position that he held
for only a few months. The next year, Wythe's brother died and he inherited
the family estate. He
chose, however, to live in Williamsburg in the house that his new
father-in-law, an architect,
designed and built for him and his wife, Elizabeth Taliaferro. They married
in 1755, and their only
child died in infancy.
At Williamsburg, Wythe immersed himself in further study of the classics and
the law and
achieved accreditation by the colonial supreme court. He served in the House
of Burgesses from
the mid-1750s until 1775, first as delegate and after 1769 as clerk. In 1768,
he became mayor of
Williamsburg, and the next year he sat on the board of visitors of the College
of William and
Mary. During these years he also directed the legal studies of young scholars,
notably Thomas
Jefferson. Wythe and Jefferson maintained a lifelong friendship, first as
mentor and pupil and later
as political allies.
Wythe first exhibited revolutionary leanings in 1764 when Parliament hinted to
the colonies that it
might impose a stamp tax. By then an experienced legislator, he drafted for
the House of
Burgesses a remonstrance to Parliament so strident that his fellow delegates
modified it before
adoption. Wythe was one of the first to express the concept of separate
nationhood for the
colonies within the British empire.
When war broke out, Wythe volunteered for the army, but was sent to the
Continental
Congress. Although present from 1775 through 1776, Wythe exerted little
influence and signed
the Declaration of Independence after the formal signing in August 1776. That
same year, Wythe,
Jefferson, and Edmund Pendleton undertook a 3-year project to revise
Virginia's legal code. In
1777, Wythe also presided as speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates.
An appointment as one of the three judges of the newly created Virginia high
court of chancery
followed in 1778. For 28 years, during 13 of which he was the only chancellor,
Wythe charted the
course of Virginia jurisprudence. In addition, he was an ex officio member of
the state superior
court.
Wythe's real love was teaching. In 1779, Jefferson and other officials of the
College of
William and Mary created the first chair of law in a U.S. institution of
higher learning and
appointed Wythe to fill it. In that position, he educated America's earliest
college-trained lawyers,
among them John Marshall and James Monroe. In 1787, he attended the
Constitutional
Convention but played an insignificant role. He left the proceedings early
and did not sign the
Constitution. The following year, however, he was one of the Federalist
leaders at the Virginia
ratifying convention. There, he presided over the Committee of the Whole and
offered the
resolution for ratification.
In 1791, the year after Wythe resigned his professorship, his chancery duties
caused him to move
to Richmond, the state capital. He was reluctant to give up his teaching,
however, and opened a
private law school. One of his last and most promising pupils was young Henry
Clay.
In 1806, in his eightieth year, Wythe died at Richmond under mysterious
circumstances, probably
of poison administered by his grandnephew and heir, George Wythe Sweeney.
Reflecting a
lifelong aversion to slavery, Wythe emancipated his slaves in his will. His
grave is in the yard of
St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond.
Archives n.p.
|