Document Bank of Virginia
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  • Collection: Revolution and the New Nation

slavebilly.jpg
By 1775 more than half a million Black Americans, most of them enslaved, were living in the thirteen colonies. Thousands participated in the American Revolution. They gave their loyalty to the side which offered the best path to freedom from…

Freeing slaves who  served as soldiers, 1783.jpg
By 1775, approximately half a million enslaved Americans were living in the thirteen colonies. During the American Revolution, thousands of Black Americans participated. Some joined the British, while others fought with the Americans depending on who…

fauquier.jpg
Petitions to the General Assembly were the primary catalyst for legislation in the Commonwealth from 1776 until 1865. Public improvements, military claims, divorce, freeing of enslaved peoples, division of counties, incorporation of towns, religious…

Religious-Freedom-Act_1786_07_0771 01-02.jpg
When the first English settlers arrived in 1607, the Church of England served as the official church of the Virginia Colony. Under the 1689 English Act of Toleration, Protestants who were not members of the Church of England were still required to…

Petitionof James_DBVa.pdf
James Lafeyette was born enslaved about 1748. He lived on a plantation owned by William Armistead in New Kent County. Although he is sometimes identified as James Armistead, he never signed his name or self-identified as having the surname Armistead.…

George Washington statue.jpg
George Washington was born in 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to a relatively prosperous family. His father died when he was eleven and so he was not sent to school in England like his older half-brothers, but studied with tutors. He trained…

The Federalist_cover_09_1025_01.jpg
After members of the Convention of 1787 drafted a new constitution for the United States, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton wrote a series of 85 essays in support of the new government under the pen name "Publius" (a statesman who…

A Planters Address 179-_10_0562_001.jpg
In February 1790, the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, led by Benjamin Franklin, submitted a plea to Congress to debate the issue of slavery and abolish the slave trade. Congress considered the petition and formed a committee for further…

Latrobe.jpg
Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820) was born in England, where he worked for an engineer and an architect before immigrating to the United States. He became one of the young nation's most significant architects and designed the U.S. Capitol. While…

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Before the Civil War, white women of wealthy backgrounds in urban areas sometimes came together to establish charitable or religious-based organizations to aid the poor and promote virtue. Such activities were seen by some as socially appropriate…
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