The Evolution of Williamsburg as a Seat of Government

Origins of Williamsburg (Middle Plantation)

The city of Williamsburg began as Middle Plantation in the early 17th century. During this time period, the town of Jamestown, located on Jamestown Island, constituted the capital of the fledgling colony of Virginia. Since 1607, Jamestown was basically the only area in Virginia that could rightfully be called a town; however, there were major issues with Jamestown. In the first few years after the founding of the first permanent English settlement in the New World, thousands of Englishmen died of disease or starvation. Many illnesses were promulgated by the horrible terrain surrounding Jamestown. The entire island was essentially a mosquito infested swampland that bred malaria and other insect borne disease. Filthy living conditions likewise contributed to unbelievable levels of death and disease. Initial dwellings in Jamestown were quite crude, and many died of unsanitary conditions alone. A large Indian threat also was a problem many residents of this area faced. As the population swelled, space became a factor as well, as there was limited dry ground suitable for building on Jamestown Island. Entirely too close to the James River, Jamestown's drinking water was often contaminated by salt. In fact, the average elevation on Jamestown Island was less than eight feet above sea level.

The Search for an Alternate Capital

Beginning in the late 17th century, prominent Virginians in the House of Burgesses began to search for an alternate capital. In 1633, a location halfway between the York and James Rivers had been established on the Peninsula as an outpost to keep invading Indians away from Jamestown. It was one of the first public service projects in America. Roughly five miles away from Jamestown, Middle Plantation constituted a perfect alternative capital. Averaging a solid 86 feet above sea level, Middle Plantation was elevated above the swampy regions surrounding Jamestown along the James River.

In the meantime, Middle Plantation continued to grow and emerge as a prosperous town, as more and more upper class people began moving to the area to escape the less pleasing environment of Jamestown Island. Bruton Parish church was completed in 1683, and the College of William & Mary was founded by James Blair ten years later. With the additional assistance of William & Mary students and James Blair, James Page began pressuring the House of Burgesses to reconsider their initial decision to keep the capital in Jamestown.  Arguing that the College would help make a permanent population in Middle Plantation, Governor Nicholson added his voice to those attempting to convince the House that the capital should be relocated. Even into the 1690s, the House of Burgesses maintained that Jamestown was a better center for trade and commerce. When this position was undermined by the development of two different ports in Middle Plantation on Queen's Creek and Archer's Hope Creek, the House of Burgesses began to seriously consider a move. When the capitol building in Jamestown burned again in 1698, the House of Burgesses took the opportunity to declare that the capital should be moved to Middle Plantation. After over twenty years of effort, the capital was officially relocated to Middle Plantation in 1699. In honor of King William III, Governor Francis Nicholson renamed the new capital city at Middle Plantation Williamsburg.
 
 

Williamsburg as the Capital of Virginia 1699-1780

The first governor of Virginia at it's new location in Williamsburg, Francis Nicholson was instrumental in the early stages of the transformation of tiny Middle Plantation into the booming capital city of Williamsburg just a short half century later. Put off by the lack of order in the way Jamestown was laid out, Nicholson set about creating a simple and orderly blueprint for the city of Williamsburg. The Governor incorporated long, broad, straight avenues and impressive public buildings in his initial plan. Designer of Annapolis, Maryland, Nicholson utilized the traditional European view of towns as central to education, religion, and politics. Mapping out a 99 foot wide, mile long avenue named the Duke of Gloucester Street running from the College of William & Mary's Wren Building down to the soon-to-be-built Capitol Building, Nicholson emphasized education, religion, and politics, as the street ran right past Bruton Parish Church and the future site of the Governor's Palace.

Above is a detailed map of the city of Williamsburg, with the Wren Building on the far left, the Capitol Building on the far right, and Bruton Parish Church, the Palace Green, and the Governor's Palace near the center. All of these aspects were carefully incorporated into the plan for Williamsburg by Nicholson.

Both the Wren Building and Bruton Parish were the only imposing structures in Williamsburg before Governor Nicholson drew up his detailed plans around the turn of the century. One of his first acts after moving the government was to authorize construction of the Capitol Building at the end of Duke of Gloucester Street. Construction began in 1701, and the structure was completed in 1705. In the interval, the House met in the Wren Building on the College campus. Nicholson unsuccessfully fought the House of Burgesses for the money to construct a Governor's Palace at the end of the Green. Despite this setback, the Governor completed his public service to the state of Virginia by pushing through the House a bill mandating that a public jail be built in Williamsburg north of the Capitol. Henry Cary drew the plans and completed this building by May 1704. The next governor of Virginia, Edward Nott, took up his successor's idea of a Governor's Palace and convinced the House of it's necessity in order to truly make an impression on the populace and establish Williamsburg as a respectable capital. Around 1705, work on the Palace began, though a lack of funds delayed work for sixteen years. The Palace was not completed until the very end of Governor Spotswood's stint as governor in 1722.

Alexander Spotswood contributed more to the area than any other individual in the early eighteenth century. Keenly interested in increasing Virginia's wealth, prestige, and influence, Spotswood led an expedition into the Shenendoah Valley to claim the beautiful territory for Virginia and England. An alternative motive for the journey was the pursuit of an enlightened Indian policy to promote peace rather than further violence. This 1716 exploratory group were called the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. He successfully negotiated a treaty with the Iroquois whereupon they agreed to remain west of the Blue Ridge, which opened up the valley for safe settlement. In order to promote this westward expansion, Spotswood offered tax exemptions to settlers who moved to this area. Back in Williamsburg, as one of the College of William & Mary's most staunch supporters, he allocated public funds to assist the College in renovations that helped make William & Mary a permanent part of Williamsburg for generations to come. Furthermore, Spotswood donated a large sum of money to Bruton Parish to help with the 1715 completion of a brand new church building. In addition, he persuaded the House of Burgesses to allocate money to build a magazine for the common defense of Williamsburg. The Magazine contained shot, powder, flints, swords, canteens, and as many as 3000 Brown Bess flintlock muskets.

Under Spotswood's rule, Williamsburg prospered. Market Square developed into a booming area of commerce and trade by 1720, and more and more aristocratic planters began building their homes in Williamsburg by this time. George Wythe and Peyton Randolph moved into the city and built impressive private homes. The Princess Anne Port was developed around this time, and ferries began running across the river to and from Williamsburg. Alexander Spotswood was well known for his dedication to improving the city of Williamsburg.

As Williamsburg continued to grow and develop into a noteworthy and important city, disaster struck the region in 1747 when the Capitol building burned. While this usually would not be so severe a problem, the House of Burgesses used this event as an excuse to begin clamoring for a move of the Virginia capital up the river. Such a move would imperil the city of Williamsburg in its 1740's position as a center of commerce and politics. The governor at the time, William Gooch, adamantly fought the measure and managed to convince enough members of the House to vote to rebuild the Capitol Building in it's current location and keep the capital in Williamsburg. Cries for a capital move subsided when the House of Burgesses narrowly voted 40-38 to reconstruct the new capital building on the foundation of the old one. Once again, the Wren Building was utilized by the legislature in the six years it took to rebuild the Capitol; however, upon its completion in 1753, the Capitol stood even more imposing than before the devastating fire. Construction in Williamsburg reached a frenzied level in the early 1750s after the citizens learned that the capital would remain in the area. The present day appearance of Colonial Williamsburg looks much as it would have at the height of it's influence in the 1760s. By the 1770s, Market Square emerged as downright prestigious, desirable, and expensive. Ironically, the city of Williamsburg was beginning to resemble an English city around the same time Virginians began to question the authority of the British crown. A combination of the Proclamation of 1763 and the Stamp Act of 1765 outraged the Williamsburg citizenry and Patrick Henry took it upon himself to push through the House of Burgesses several resolutions which condemned the British Parliament for taxing the colonists without representation and asserted that Virginians maintained the same rights and liberties entitled to British citizens. Governor Fauquier disbanded the House of Burgesses for such treasonous declarations against Britain. While he was sympathetic to patriots, Fauquier refused to tolerate such outright disloyalty against the King. Richard Henry Lee organized a mob to hang effigies of the stamp tax collector in Virginia, George Mercer. Intimidated and fearing for his life, Mercer returned to Britain soon thereafter. Once the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, things in Williamsburg quieted down enough for Governor Fauquier to concentrate on efforts to construct a Public Hospital for the mentally ill. After petitioning the House of Burgesses for years that "persons who are so unhappy as to be deprived of their reason need[ed] a place to be cured," Fauquier was finally successful in getting his plan approved in 1770, after his tenure in office had ended. The Public Hospital was completed by 1774, and the first patients were admitted in May. In addition, the Courthouse was constructed across from the Magazine in 1771, which helped to further the establishment of Williamsburg as a vital city to the fledgling colony.

While the conflict between the British and the colonies had settled down for a few years, it was reignited in 1767 with the passage of the Townshend duties, which taxed almost all imports into the colonies. Immediately, prominent Virginians began to speak out against this new tax. When British troops occupied Boston in 1768, the House of Burgesses declared a day of fasting and prayer for their fellow colonists to the north. Irritated, the new governor, Lord Botetourt, dissolved the House for their outright disloyalty to the throne. Not to be suppressed, 89 House members met secretly in the Raleigh Tavern and drew up a non importation agreement. Once again, Parliament gave in to the colonists' demands and repealed the Townshend duties in 1770; however, the conflict was far from resolved. Three years later, the Tea Act was passed, and outraged colonists from Boston to Williamsburg dumped shipments of British tea into rivers and harbors. In a widely unknown incident, several Williamsburg residents dumped several chests of tea into the York River. In 1774, the Virginia Convention was founded as a replacement to the House of Burgesses, which had been permanently dissolved by Dunmore. They passed the Virginia Resolves, which served as a non importation agreement as well as an oath of loyalty to Virginia. One year later, Governor Dunmore, sympathetic to the crown, ordered that all munitions and weapons stored in the Magazine be removed to a British war ship in the James River shortly after news of Lexington and Concord hit Williamsburg. Shortly thereafter, militias across Virginia were organized to march on Williamsburg to protest and intimidate Governor Dunmore into returning the weapons. Rather than give in to the demands of Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, Dunmore fled to a British war ship nearby. From this safe location, he attempted to regain control by offering freedom to any slaves who defected to the British side. This decry had the opposite affect intended. Fearing a slave revolt, Virginians were pushed even closer to outright rebellion by this unthinkable act of the governor. In 1775, the second Virginia Convention met in Richmond to avoid Governor Dunmore. They adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights and called on the newly formed Continental Congress to declare independence from Britain. It was here that Patrick Henry delivered his renowned speech, "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" Furthermore, they developed a detailed plan for the new state government with a new General Assembly. Finally, they elected Patrick Henry as the first elected governor of Virginia in 1776.

As the Revolutionary War began in full force in 1776, few could fathom the terrible impacts it would extoll on Williamsburg. When Thomas Jefferson was elected governor by the General Assembly in 1779, he began a campaign to move the capital from Williamsburg to Richmond. Never a supporter of Williamsburg, Jefferson was said to have described the city as nothing but, "rude, misshapen piles." As he garnered support, the old question of 1747 took over Williamsburg. Settlements up the James did not like being ruled by the gentry planter class of the Tidewater, and they argued that Williamsburg was not easily reachable from any part of the state. Others asserted that having the government in Williamsburg was simply corrupting William & Mary students. Jefferson added the fatal blow when he delivered a speech in 1779 that claimed that Virginia needed a central location that wasn't at risk for British invasion or a naval bombard from the water. The General Assembly agreed, and the capital was officially moved to Richmond in 1780. Immediately, Williamsburg began to decline in importance. Many merchants and artisans moved to Richmond with the government, and the British occupation of the city in the early 1780s effectively destroyed many of the area's fine architecture. Fires over the next few years razed most of what was left of the impressive public buildings in Williamsburg. As the population dwindled, Williamsburg was starkly different by 1800 than it was in 1770. While one last huge celebration was held in 1783 to commemorate the end of the war and independence, Williamsburg was but a shadow of it's former self. Once a booming center of trade, commerce, and political power, Williamsburg faded into obscurity until 1926 when John D. Rockefeller and Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin transformed a dream into a reality. Colonial Williamsburg was born.
 
 
 

Above is the map referred to as the Frenchman's Map. It was created in 1782 by a wounded French soldier in Williamsburg. It is the best known map of Williamsburg from the eighteenth century.
 
 

Works Consulted

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This page was created by Scott Fitzgerald, a College of William & Mary student
December 2003