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Virginia

The Old Dominion - ratified Constitution 23 Jun 1788
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Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Mountains. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" due to its status as the first English colonial possession established in mainland North America and "Mother of Presidents" because eight U.S. presidents were born there, more than any other state. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The state's estimated population as of 2017 is over 8.4 million.

Geographical type: Territory

Latitude: 37.5° N — Longitude: 79° W

Area: 110,786 km²

ISO 3166-2 code: US-VA

Other Places

Patrick Henry, Governor, 1776-1779 and 1784-1786

Birthplace of

Anthony Gregory, in Fairfax, on 3 Jan 1981
Patrick Henry, in Studley, Hanover County, on 29 May 1736
Thomas Jefferson, in Shadwell, on 13 Apr 1743
James Madison, in Port Conway, on 16 Mar 1751
John Marshall, in Germantown, on 24 Sep 1755
George Mason, in Fairfax County, on 11 Dec 1725
George Washington, in Popes Creek Plantation, Westmoreland County, on 22 Feb 1732
Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, in Staunton, on 28 Dec 1856

Home To

The Future of Freedom Foundation, Fairfax
George Mason University, Fairfax
Institute for Humane Studies, Arlington
Institute for Justice, Arlington
Libertarian Party, Alexandria
National Taxpayers Union, Alexandria
Students For Liberty, McLean
Libertarian Party of Virginia, Richmond

Deathplace of

David Boaz, in Arlington, on 7 Jun 2024
James M. Buchanan, in Blacksburg, on 9 Jan 2013
Patrick Henry, in Red Hill, Charlotte County, on 6 Jun 1799
Karl Hess, in Charlottesville, on 22 Apr 1994
Thomas Jefferson, in Monticello, on 4 Jul 1826
James Madison, in Montpelier, on 28 Jun 1836
George Mason, in Gunston Hall, Mason Neck, on 7 Oct 1792
JoAnn Rothbard, on 29 Oct 1999
Joseph Sobran, in Fairfax, on 30 Sep 2010
George Washington, in Mount Vernon, on 14 Dec 1799
Walter E. Williams, in Fairfax, on 1 Dec 2020

Measures of Freedom

Freedom in the 50 States 2015-2016 | Virginia | Cato Institute
2014: Overall rank: 21, fiscal policy rank: 12, regulatory policy rank: 23, personal freedom rank: 34, economic freedom rank: 15
LP State-by-State Membership Numbers [PDF], Libertarian Party News, Apr 2006
31 Dec 2005: Number of Members: 658

Articles

The Constitution Within, by Sheldon Richman, The Goal Is Freedom, 18 Aug 2006
Questions the validity of constitutions by relating how James Madison behaved during the debates over the U.S. document and later after his introduction in the first Congress of the amendments that would become the Bill of Rights
Many members of the Virginia ratifying convention ... wanted approval of the Constitution to be contingent on the adoption of amendments to safeguard individual rights. They would have had Virginia stay out of the union until a bill of rights was added. The proposal for contingent approval was defeated, but a majority of the delegates approved 40 amendments that they wanted the new Congress to include. One of them would have denied the national government the power to tax, as the Articles of Confederation had. Madison disliked many of the proposed amendments, including the one on taxation ...
Drug War Dementia, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Nov 1996
Details various police, military and school actions and legislation in the government's war on users of certain banned substances, and the generally unrecognized side effects of these policies
Alexandria, Virginia, enacted a law imposing up to a two-year prison sentence for people who loiter on streets for fifteen minutes and "have at least two face-to-face contacts with others that last less than two minutes and involve motions 'consistent with an exchange of money or other small objects.'" The ACLU argued that the law could justify arresting a lawyer for handing out business cards ... In Fairfax County, Virginia, a thirteen-year-old girl was suspended ... for a week and forced to attend a drug-abuse prevention program because a teacher saw she had allergy medication in her purse.
The Eminent-Domain Origin of Shenandoah National Park, by Bart Frazier, Freedom Daily, Sep 2006
The bill that Coolidge signed stipulated that no federal funds could be used to acquire the land the park would comprise. The job of obtaining the land therefore fell to the Commonwealth of Virginia. The idea of buying the land from the owners was immediately ruled out, as it was thought too difficult an undertaking.
Notes on the State of Virginia, by Thomas Jefferson, 1782
Written in 1781, corrected and enlarged in 1782 and published 27 Feb 1787; presented as a series of 23 questions and answers covering geographic, demographic, economic, legal, historic and other details of the state
Virginia is bounded on the East by the Atlantic: on the North by a line of latitude, crossing the Eastern Shore through Watkins's Point, being about 37 degrees.57' North latitude; from thence by a streight line to Cinquac, near the mouth of Patowmac; thence by the Patowmac, which is common to Virginia and Maryland, to the first fountain of its northern branch; thence by a meridian line, passing through that fountain till it intersects a line running East and West, in latitude 39 degrees.43'.42.4" which divides Maryland from Pennsylvania, and which was marked by Messrs. Mason and Dixon ...
Roads, Cars, and Responsibility, by Scott McPherson, 7 Apr 2004
Discusses the status of car transportation around the Washington, DC metropolitan area and suggests private road ownership as a solution
Northern Virginia alone has more than 1.4 million cars, which an AAA ... spokesman recently described as "a transportation crisis" that robs people "of hours every day they could spend with their families but now have to spend behind the wheel." The impact goes beyond gridlock. Fairfax County is ranked 12th-worst in the nation for air pollution ... Arlington, Prince William, and Stafford counties likewise received failing grades ... Environmentalists even joined Republicans in opposing a 2002 transportation referendum in Virginia, indicating the failed vision of current political leaders.
The schism organism: The Life of the Party, part three, by Thomas L. Knapp, Rational Review, 19 Feb 2003
Delves into ethical controversies within the Libertarian Party, describing in particular the tension between Jacob Hornberger and Jim Lark, and the effect this had on the former's candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat in Virginia in 2002
Hornberger fell into a habit of making accusations regarding the conduct of a fellow Virginia Libertarian ... unsupported by the facts ... The victim of those accusations was ... now-former LP chair Jim Lark ... When Hornberger announced his intention to seek the LPVA's nomination for U.S. Senate, Lark objected ... It was only the absolute dedication of these two ... that prevented complete schism in the LPVA. Hornberger withdrew his bid for the LPVA nomination and ran as an independent. The LPVA didn't nominate its own candidate, which left LP activists free ... to support his candidacy.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights, by George Mason, 26 May 1776
This first draft was handwritten by Mason ca. 20-26 May; the page has links to images of the original document
The Virginia Convention met in Williamsburg on May 6, 1776, and by May 15th had passed a resolution calling for the Virginia delegates at the Continental Congress to move for independence. At the same time they formed a committee for drafting a bill of rights and a constitution for Virginia. George Mason took the lead on this project and his notes below are considered the first draft. To this draft eight additional propositions were added by the committee before it was read to the Convention on May 27, 1776. After debate, and several changes, the Declaration of Rights was passed unanimously on June 11, 1776.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights, by George Mason, 12 Jun 1776
This is the final version, mostly based on Mason's draft, adopted unanimously by the Virginia Convention of Delegates
A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS made by the Representatives of the good people of VIRGINIA, assembled in full and free Convention; which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of Government. ...
Adopted unanimously June 12, 1776
Virginia Convention of Delegates

Interviews

Interview with James Buchanan, by James M. Buchanan, The Region, Sep 1995
Topics include The Calculus of Consent, public choice theory, monetary policy and the Federal Reserve
Buchanan: ... When Warren Nutter and I joined the faculty of the University of Virginia in 1957, we had already discussed the fact that we needed some place, ... some research program that would be more of a return to the emphasis of classical political economy ... When we got that opportunity we set up what we called, at that time, the Thomas Jefferson Center for Political Economy at Charlottesville, University of Virginia. We set up a graduate program ... So we made an impact on the profession in terms of making the Virginia product a little different, a little unique.

The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Virginia" as of 31 Oct 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.