800-VISIT-VA
www.virginia.org

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#   Entered Union   Year Settled

10th       June 25, 1788     1607

 

Nickname

The Old Dominion

 

Rank      Population

12th       7,769,089

 

Rank      Square Miles

35th       42,774

 

State Bird

Northern Cardinal

 

State Flower

American Dogwood

 

State Tree

Flowering Dogwood

 

State Motto

Sic semper tyrannis         Thus always to tyrants

 

The Virginia Company founded the first permanent English colony at Jamestown in 1607. One of the original 13 states (it entered the Union in 1788), Virginia was named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen of England.

 

Virginia holds an important place in American history, as it was home to many of the founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason, and Patrick Henry. Four of America's first five presidents were Virginians.

 

During the Civil War, Richmond, Virginia's capital, was the capital of the Confederacy. Today, Virginia is a popular tourist spot where people can visit historic places such as Alexandria, Williamsburg, and Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate. Dogwood is the state flower and the cardinal is the state bird of the "Old Dominion."

 

European nations came to the Americas to increase their wealth and broaden their influence over world affairs. The Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore the New World and the first to settle in what is now the United States.

 

By 1650, however, England had established a dominant presence on the Atlantic coast. The first colony was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Many of the people who settled in the New World came to escape religious persecution. The Pilgrims, founders of Plymouth, Massachusetts, arrived in 1620.

 

In both Virginia and Massachusetts, the colonists flourished with some assistance from Native Americans. New World grains such as corn kept the colonists from starving while, in Virginia, tobacco provided a valuable cash crop. By the early 1700s enslaved Africans made up a growing percentage of the colonial population. By 1770, more than 2 million people lived and worked in Great Britain's 13 North American colonies.

 

Pocahontas

Pocahontas, born 1596, was the daughter of Powhatan, an important chief of the Algonquian Indians (the Powhatans) who lived in the Virginia region. Her real name was "Matoaka." "Pocahontas" was a nickname meaning "playful" or "mischievous one."

 

Pocahontas is most famous for reportedly saving the life of English Captain John Smith. Throughout her short life (she died at the age of 22), however, she was important in other ways as well. Pocahontas tried to promote peace between the Powhatans and the English colonists. She even converted to Christianity and married John Rolfe, a Jamestown colonist, a union which helped bring the two groups together. Her untimely death in England hurt the chance for continued peace in Virginia between the Algonquians and the colonists.

 

Patrick Henry

Have you ever heard someone speak so passionately that the speech moved you to do something? Even as a young man, Patrick Henry had that kind of influence in the American Colonies. Born on May 29, 1736, Henry, a natural leader and a brilliant speaker, believed in individual rights and independence from the British government.

 

As a young lawyer, he astonished his courtroom audience in 1763 with an eloquent defense based on the idea of natural rights, the political theory that humans are born with certain inalienable (incapable of being surrendered) rights. The idea of natural rights is central to the Declaration of Independence.

 

Does this sentence from the Declaration sound familiar to you? "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

 

It was in St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, that Patrick Henry delivered his most famous speech. With war against Great Britain looming, Henry proclaimed, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

 

As the first governor of Virginia and as a state legislator, Henry continued to have profound influence on the development of the new nation. He worked for the addition of the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Known as the Bill of Rights, they guarantee certain freedoms, such as the freedom of speech and religion. Can you imagine the U.S. without such rights?

 

Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

Every year on the Fourth of July, people from many different countries come to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, to become United States citizens. The process of becoming a U.S. citizen is called naturalization. After living in the U.S. for a certain number of years, an immigrant can apply for citizenship by petitioning for naturalization.

 

Thomas J. Michie, Judge of the U.S. District Court of Western Virginia, began the Independence Day naturalization ceremonies at Monticello in 1963. The ceremony opens with a concert of patriotic American music. The petitioners for naturalization, their family, friends, and guests are welcomed; an invited guest reads the beginning of the Declaration of Independence; and a guest speaker delivers remarks before the new citizens take an oath. After the formal proceedings, the day ends with a Fourth of July picnic.

 

In 2000, the ceremonies were especially significant. The guest speaker was Madeleine K. Albright, the secretary of state at the time. She is not only the first female secretary of state, but also an immigrant. Albright followed in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson who served as the first Secretary of State, in 1790-1793.

 

The Second Battle of Manassas

For Major General John Pope, the Second Battle of Manassas became a race against time. On August 30, 1862, that battle ended a long campaign in northern Virginia. The events leading up to it show strategies and fierce fighting typical of the Civil War. It started when Pope's Union forces attempted to invade the Southern capital of Richmond and were defeated just miles from the city. After the defeat, Pope's scattered Union troops clashed repeatedly with Southern forces led by Major General "Stonewall" Jackson.

 

In the August 9 Battle of Cedar Mountain, Jackson's Confederates outnumbered the Union soldiers two-to-one. After an easy victory, Jackson led his men from the battlefield. Union reinforcements arrived, and Pope's men turned to face the troops of General Robert E. Lee along the Rappahannock River. Meanwhile, Jackson's army managed to maneuver around to Pope's rear to cut off his supply lines. The race was on for Pope to find and destroy Jackson before Lee could march his men to Jackson's aid.

 

On August 28, the Second Battle of Manassas began. Pope marched his men right into Jackson's waiting forces near the town of Manassas, where the Confederates had won a battle a year earlier. They fought until night fell.

 

In the morning, Pope's Northerners broke through the Confederate defenses, which moved back. Pope hoped they had planned to retreat. Instead, General Lee had arrived with 30,000 reinforcements. The Union was forced to retreat--the battle was lost. They would have to try again later. The presence of the Union in Northern Virginia, however, had a positive effect: it gave many slaves the opportunity to escape to the North.