Second Baptist Church was built at the corner of Franklin and Adams Streets in 1906. The building was designed by Wiliam C. Noland, one of the best-known architects of the period and founder of the firm Noland and Baskervill (still operating in Richmond as Baskervill). Noland designed several other religious buildings on Franklin Street, including Beth Ahabah Synagogue and St. James Episcopal Church. Second Baptist Church is considered one of the best still-standing examples of a neoclassical style temple with a peristyle columned portico, a continuous line of columns around the building, and the use of simple geometric forms.
In 1977, Second Baptist became part of the Franklin Street City Old & Historic District. In 1987, the historic district was expanded to protect many important historic civic buildings and residences in the area. Second Baptist is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a federally run program administered by the National Park Service with the goal of identifying, preserving, and protecting historic sited throughout the country.
Second Street Baptist was sold in 1990 to the owners of The Jefferson Hotel, which is also located of Franklin Street. Less than two years later, the hotel owners sought permission from the city to demolish the historic sanctuary, as well as the education building next door to the church to create a parking lot. In 1992, the Richmond City Commission of Architectural Review prevented the demolition, but the Richmond City Council gave permission for the demolition to move forward. In the end, the sanctuary building was saved through a community effort which included preservationists and concerned residents. The education building was torn down and is now used as a surface parking lot for hotel guests.
The former church was used as a storage area for many years, and in 2021 the hotel owners requested permission to demolish the building as a result of structural probblems and a lack of economically viable uses for the building. The efforts to preserve Second Baptist Church are part of an ongoing effort in in the local community and national historic preservation communities.
Citation: Postcard of Second Baptist Church, Visual Studies Collection, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
History: CE.1, CE.3, GOVT.1, GOVT.8, GOVT.9
Art: 5.14, 7.12, AI.3, AI.6
Science: PH.1, PH.4
Preview Activity
Look at It: Look at the image on the postcard. What makes this style building stand out? Why would the architect chosen to use this style when designing the building?
Post Activities
STEM STAT: You are working with historic preservationists to find alternative uses for the sanctuary of Second Baptist Church. What would you suggest based on the design and structure of the building? How would you go about redesigning the structure to accommodate 21st century needs? What resources would be needed to achieve the desired outcome?
Be the Journalist: You are writing an article about the issues surrounding Second Baptist Church. Create on outline for your article in which you describe who you would interview for your article, why you would interview these individuals, and what information you hope the potential interviewees will share.
Social Media Spin: Create a social media post in which describe the situation with Second Baptist Church. Be sure to include any information you feel is relevant to understanding the ongoing debate.
Virginia's Fifth Revolutionary Convention met at the Capitol in Williamsburg from May 6 to July 5, 1776, and declared independence from Great Britain. The delegates also voted to prepare a constitution for Virginia as well as a statement of rights. Fairfax County delegate George Mason led the effort and drafted a document that outlined such rights as the ability to confront one's accusers in court, to present evidence in court, protection from self-incrimination, the right to a speedy trial, the right to a trial by jury, and the extension of religious tolerance. Other delegates suggested additional individual rights and the draft was debated for several weeks. The final version of the Virginia Declaration of Rights was adopted unanimously on June 12, 1776. It consisted of sixteen sections with additional rights including protections for the press, striking down of ex post facto laws (retroactively criminalizing an action that had previously been legal), banning excessive bail, and disallowing cruel and unusual punishment of the incarcerated.
The language in the Declaration of Rights changed as several drafts were written. For example, one such revision included prohibitions placed on enslaved people. In this draft written by George Mason, he stated “That all Men are created equally free & independent, & have certain inherent natural Rights, of which they cannot by any Compact, deprive or divest their Posterity….” However, the final version was changed to read “That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural rights, of which when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity….” This statement by definition excluded enslaved people who were not considered in "a state of society" by most white Virginians.
Virginia’s Declaration of Rights was the first state declaration establishing the fundamental human liberties that government was created to protect, and it had a profound impact on America’s founding documents. Thomas Jefferson drew upon it when writing the Declaration of Independence and James Madison expanded on Mason’s ideas of guaranteed rights when he wrote the amendments to the United States Constitution that became known as the Bill of Rights.
In 1778, George Mason prepared this copy of his first draft of the Declaration of Rights from memory to indicate what he had initially proposed.
Citation: George Mason, Declaration of Rights, 1776, Accession 51818, Personal Papers Collection, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Related Document: Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution
VS.6, VUS.5, USI.6, CE.2, CE.7, GOVT.2, GOVT.3
Preview Activity
Scan it: Scan the document. What words or phrases stand out to you?
Post Activities
Analyze: Why would George Mason consider these rights vital to free society? Why were these rights considered by some to be revolutionary?
State your Case: You are an attorney representing Black Virginians. Write a brief argument in which you defend your client explaining how the language of the final draft of the document limits the expectation of Black Virginians to protections as written under the Declaration of Rights.
Virginia Validation: The Virginia Declaration of Rights was an influential document. How are the ideas found in the document relevant today?
The struggle for the ratification of the United States Constitution convinced some political leaders that amendments were needed to protect individual liberties from the strengthened national government created by the Constitution. During the First Congress, Federalist James Madison, who had supported ratification, proposed several amendments modeled on the Virginia Declaration of Rights that had been written by George Mason in 1776. Congress approved twelve amendments that were sent to the states for ratification or rejection in 1789. This document is the actual copy sent by Congress to the Virginia General Assembly and therefore includes the twelve amendments. The General Assembly ratified amendments three through twelve on December 15, 1791. Virginia was the eleventh state needed for ratification, and these ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights specifies the rights of Americans in relation to their government. It guarantees individual civil rights and liberties, including the freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and the press; the right to petition the government for redress of grievances; the right to keep and bear arms; the right of the people not to have troops quartered in their homes; the right to protection against unreasonable government searches and seizures; the right to jury trials in civil and criminal cases and of a grand jury in criminal cases; a prohibition on government taking private property without just compensation; a prohibition on excessive bail and fines and on cruel and unusual punishments. The Fifth Amendment states that no one shall be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." The Ninth and Tenth Amendments state that powers not specifically granted to the federal government remained with the people and state governments and that the enumeration of specific rights in the Constitution did not limit what rights were protected so that non-enumerated rights also remained with the people and the states.
The Bill of Rights is one of the most important living history documents in the United States. For example, one of Madison's proposed amendments considered in 1789 concerning the salary increases of congressmen, was revived during the 1980s and was ratified as the Twenty-seventh Amendment in 1992. The Bill of Rights continues to be a model for other countries around the world.
Citation: Records of the General Assembly, Executive Communications, Record Group 78, Library of Virginia.
Related entries
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Portrait of James Madison
Preview Activity
Scan it: Scan the document. What word or phrases stand out to you? List 3 things you know about the Bill of Rights just by scanning the document.
Post Activities
Think about it: Select three amendments from the Bill of Rights and describe rights included in the amendment. Keep in mind some amendments may include more than one right.
Another Perspective: Often people find the amendments difficult to understand as they include complex ideas. Select two amendments and rewrite them to be more user friendly and easily understood. Be sure to include all the rights included in the amendments.
Virginia Validation: The Bill of Rights reflected the difficulties in creating a federal government. How did Virginia governance and politicians influence the shaping of the Bill of Rights?
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 pay taxes and support the clergymen of the Church of England. Marriage ceremonies were also required to be performed by ministers of the Church of England to be considered legal. During the 18th century, Baptists, Presbyterians, and other dissenters campaigned for the recognition of their denominations and for the freedom of all Virginians to practice their faith as they chose.
Following American Independence, key political leaders in Virginia pursued the disestablishment of the Church of England as the formal church denomination of the young state. Initially introduced in 1776 by George Mason in the Virginia Declaration of Rights, religious tolerance came to fruition in the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, which is commonly known as the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. First drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777, it was passed by the Virginia General Assembly on January 16, 1786. Virginians were no longer "compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever" and were "free to profess . . . their opinions in matters of Religion . . . ."
The act is one of the most important laws adopted by the assembly. It opens with an eloquent vindication of religious and intellectual freedom and closes with specific guarantees of religious liberty and belief. The Virginia law was one of the sources that Congress drew on when drafting the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution in 1789 in which free exercise of religion was granted and Congress was prohibited from abridging the freedom of religion. The guarantees established in the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom became part of the second Virginia Constitution which was adopted in 1830.
Citation: An Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1786, Special Collections, Library of Virginia.
Preview Activity
Scan it: Scan the document, original and transcribed version, identify how many acts are contained in the document, and list two or three phrases which stand out to you in each act.
Post Activities
Analyze: What can you infer about the power of the Church of England in Virginia prior to 1786?
Virginia Validation: Which amendment to the United States Constitution contains language similar to the Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom? How are the rights described in the U.S. Constitution different from the rights guaranteed by the Virginia act?
Current Connection: Does the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom still have relevance today? Why or why not?
Circulated in Staunton, Virginia, the broadside dates to sometime between 1900 and 1919. In it, the women of Staunton asked the men in their community to vote in favor of prohibition or the legal elimination of alcohol consumption and sale. The women, who could not vote at that time, pleaded with the male voters appealing to the traditional masculine “duty” to care for the women and their families. In stating their case, the women used their positions as wives, mothers, and protectors of the domestic sphere to give them authority. As the broadside stated, their “boys” were those supporting the liquor business and partaking in alcohol consumption. The women expressed that their sons were “too precious to be sacrificed upon the altar of the saloon.” The broadside demonstrates the common concern at the time about alcoholism and the potential effects that excessive drinking had on society. The women of Staunton argued that men who spent their time and money drinking in the saloons neglected to care for their families, thereby shirking their familial responsibilities as men.For much of the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century, women reformers dominated the prohibition movement which was considered an appropriate cause for women to champion. Women were bore the responsibility of educating their children in morality and maintaining the homefront.
The Staunton women may have been inspired by the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), which was founded in 1874 in Ohio. The organization was in favor of prohibition and was active in promoting their beliefs to the public. Many of its members were also involved in other reform movements, such as women's voting rights, which may have been the case in Staunton as well. The broadside may indicate that Staunton women may have had suffrage in mind when expressed emphatically “PROTECT OUR OWN HOMES AND OUR OWN BOYS.” Without the vote, women were dependent on male voters to protect home and society.
Citation: Appeal of the women of Staunton, Staunton, Va. s.n., between 1900 and 1919. Broadside 1900 .A7 BOX, Lab #08_0785_10, Manuscripts & Special Collections, Library of Virginia
Preview Activity
Take a Look: Look at the broadside. Notice words and phrases that are in bold typeface or otherwise emphasized. If you had to guess, what is the context for this broadside? What do you think is the appeal of the women of Staunton?
Post Activities
Artistic Exploration: How would you redesign this broadside for a more artistic and bold appeal? Design a poster or sign to replace the broadside. As an extra challenge, research popular artistic styles of the time period and incorporate their distinguishing characteristics into your work.
Analyze: Why do you think this group of women from Staunton supported prohibition? What does their appeal tell you about their concerns?
Another Perspective: Do you think all women in that area would have felt the same way about prohibition? Why or why not? Women in the period could support prohibition and suffrage. Why might this be the case?
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 examination. The committee debated what was and was not within their powers to change. Ultimately, they decided not to act on the petition. Although the petition was rejected, this document written by "A plain planter" expresses his anger that the petition was referred to committee in violation of the Constitution. He argues that the limits on Congressional powers described in Article 1, Section 9, should have prevented such debate. He was referring in particular to the clause stating that the importation of enslaved persons would be legal until 1808. "A plain planter" contends that forming the committee and the subsequent debate set a potentially dangerous precedent of Congress overstepping its authority. He also feared that such public debate could generate ideas of resistance among enslaved people or even lead to the general emancipation of slaves.
The author of this broadside is unknown. The name Francis Corbin is handwritten at the top, but there is no indication that he was the writer. Francis Corbin (1759 or 1760–1821) studied law and owned a plantation in Middlesex County, which he represented in the House of Delegates (1784–1794). He also served in the Convention of 1788 that ratified the U.S. Constitution, of which he was a strong supporter. He enslaved dozens of laborers on his plantation, but for much of his adult life he objected to slavery on both moral and economic grounds and considered moving to a northern state.
Broadsides are single sheets of paper with printed matter intended to be distributed in public. They could be posters announcing events or proclamations, advertisements, or a written argument (often describing political views).
Preview Activity
Context Clues: Look for phrases or words in the broadside that give you clues about the concerns of the author. List two of the concerns mentioned in the broadside.
Post Activities
Analyze: What fears does the author express? Use the author's targeted fears to consider who might have written such an address. Considerations might include age, occupation, race, or place of residence of the author.
Up for Debate: The following text originates from Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution: "The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person."
With a partner, discuss whether or not Congress, by considering the submitted petition, violated the Constitution. Keep in mind what Congress has the power to change and what lies outside of their powers.
Lynchburg native Desmond T. Doss (1919-2006) was the first conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. A conscientious objector is one who is opposed to serving in the armed forces and/or bearing arms on the grounds of moral or religious principles. By law, only U.S. service members who distinguish themselves “through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” can receive the medal.
Corporal Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist, objected to killing and refused to carry a weapon. He served as an Army medical corpsman, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry Medical Detachment, 77th Infantry Division. Doss is credited with saving the lives of at least 75 wounded soldiers. Part of his citation states, "Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty."Preview Activity
Look at It: Look at the photograph. What do you think is happening in the photograph? What do you notice about the man who is the subject of the photograph?
Post Activities
Think About It: Corporal Doss was a conscientious objector and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions as and Army Medic. Why might someone become choose to be a conscientious objector? Why might the be allowed in a time of war?
Current Connections: Today and throughout the last decade, there have been military actions taken around the world. Although being a conscientious objector is still permitted in all branches of military service, the public may not be aware of this option or how often it is used. Why might this be the case? Explain.