The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Spring 5-2013 Second Families of Virginia: Professional Power-Brokers in a Revolutionary Age, 1700-1790 Wesley Thomas Joyner University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Joyner, Wesley Thomas, "Second Families of Virginia: Professional Power-Brokers in a Revolutionary Age, 1700-1790" (2013). Dissertations. 744. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/744 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi SECOND FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA: PROFESSIONAL POWER-BROKERS IN A REVOLUTIONARY AGE, 1700-1790 by Wesley Thomas Joyner Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2013 ABSTRACT SECOND FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA: PROFESSIONAL POWER-BROKERS IN A REVOLUTIONARY AGE, 1700-1790 by Wesley Thomas Joyner May 2013 Between 1700 and 1790, a diverse assortment of merchants, lawyers, doctors, soldiers, and various other specialists forged a prominent position in Virginia that was integral to the colony’s planter-elites. These professionals complicated Virginia’s social hierarchy and affected numerous decisions planters made on personal business ventures, urban development, military conflicts, and political policies. Consequently, as Virginia planters struggled to maintain a sense of socioeconomic dominance, political influence, and familial solidarity, this upper-middling, professional contingent forced planters to compromise their seemingly exclusive modes of behavior. Accounting for the perspectives of professionals and planters, this study addresses how and why this occurred, as well as what it indicated about the deceptively open and fluid nature of a colonial society that many historians continue to view as overwhelmingly hierarchical and static. Prior to 1700, the colony’s great planters monopolized most of the tasks that professionals eventually controlled. Additionally, planters created and perpetuated a culture of exclusivity in Virginia which, despite its aristocratic demeanor, was largely based on false hereditary entitlements and genteel posturing. However, by 1750, many Virginia professionals were challenging such pretensions and becoming successful in the ii same ways that planters had in the previous century, just with different occupations. In addition to being as well-educated as Virginia’s planters, professionals became crucial to planters’ business dealings, married into planter families, and even earned enough income to make tobacco planting a secondary pursuit. Such developments propelled Virginia’s professionals to higher status; and by the American Revolution, planters were increasingly welcoming professionals into their ranks and preparing some of their sons to pursue full-time occupations outside of plantation management. By doing this, planters kept pace with changing socioeconomic conditions, avoided a catastrophic loss of political power, and salvaged their cultural respectability as plantation-masters. Moreover, as many professionals parlayed their accomplishments and wealth into the purchase of land, slaves, and/or fine homes, the planter-professional relationship was mutually beneficial. Professionals who successfully defied the exclusionist antics of planter-elites became the next major beneficiaries of Virginia’s relatively open society. Yet, Virginia planters still retained the old vestiges of their power and culture well into the nineteenth century. iii COPYRIGHT BY WESLEY THOMAS JOYNER 2013 The University of Southern Mississippi SECOND FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA: PROFESSIONAL POWER-BROKERS IN A REVOLUTIONARY AGE, 1700-1790 by Wesley Thomas Joyner A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved: Kyle F. Zelner________________________ Director Max Grivno__________________________ Andrew Haley________________________ Andrew Wiest________________________ Warren Hofstra_______________________ Susan A. Siltanen_____________________ Dean of the Graduate School May 2013 DEDICATION To Mom, Dad, and Amber iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer wishes to thank many people who have been instrumental in making this dissertation possible. First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents and extended family for their undying love and unwavering support. Despite all the tribulations that have accompanied nearly eight years of master’s and doctoral study, my family never once stopped believing in me or encouraging me to finish what I started. Especially in the case of my parents, I can never begin to repay them for what they have so selflessly given to me. I would also like to thank the entire faculty and office staff of the USM History Department, most notably my advisor and dissertation chair Dr. Kyle Zelner. Ever since Dr. Zelner convinced me to leave Virginia and attend Southern Miss in 2007, his kind mentorship has never ceased to stimulate my growth and development as a historian and writer. For that, I am eternally grateful. I am additionally indebted to Dr. Max Grivno for giving me advice on the dissertation project in its formative stages and Dr. Louis Kyriakoudes for recommending and introducing me to the esteemed members of the St. George Tucker Society, many of whom offered excellent insight on my topic of study. Drs. Andrew Haley and Andrew Wiest also warrant particular acknowledgement for serving on my defense committee and offering their critiques and suggestions. Likewise, I am thankful for all the support, advice, and friendship that my closest graduate school colleague Dr. Christian Pinnen gave me throughout the process of researching and writing my dissertation. Beyond my USM professors and colleagues, thanks are also due to numerous others who have personally assisted me with my dissertation. Dr. Gordon Wood was v kind enough to discuss the project idea with me in its earliest stages, and it was he who initially encouraged me to pursue my questions and ideas further. Dr. Jack Greene offered similar help by pushing me to reformulate several key components of my working hypothesis, all of which ultimately added greater clarity and cohesion to many of the observations I had made during my research. Dr. Warren Hofstra also deserves special thanks for accepting my request to serve on my committee as an outside reader. It is no small thing for me to have such a distinguished Virginia scholar reading and critiquing my work, and I sincerely appreciate Dr. Hofstra’s willingness to sacrifice his time and effort on my behalf. I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. William Pencak as well, particularly since he played such a pivotal role in steering me towards a terrific fellowship opportunity with the International Center of Jefferson Studies at Monticello. Lastly, I wish to thank all the staff members of repositories where I conducted research, namely those at The Library of Virginia, The Virginia Historical Society, Colonial Williamsburg’s Rockefeller Library, The University of Virginia’s Alderman Library, and The Jefferson Library at Monticello. Researching and writing a dissertation is no easy task. However, it is much easier when you have such knowledgeable and helpful librarians at your disposal. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………………iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………...v CHAPTERS I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 Thesis and Historical Background Historiography Definitions and Methodology II. RECONCILING THE IRRECONCILABLE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA: SOCIAL MOBILITY, CLASS EXCLUSIVITY, AND THE DECEPTIVE NATURE OF PLANTER CULTURE……………………23 III. UNCOVERING THE “WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, AND WHY” OF VIRGINIA’S PROFESSIONAL TRANSFORMATION…………...55 IV. CRADLES OF PROFESSIONAL GROWTH: VIRGINIA’S CAPITAL, PORT CITIES, AND MIDDLING TOWNS DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY……………………………………………...95 V. “BROUGHT UP TO PROFESSIONS AS ARE MOST SUITABLE TO THEIR GENIUS:” OCCUPATIONAL PROFESSIONALIZATION IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VIRGINIA....................………………………………………………..114 VI. ADVANCEMENT THROUGH SERVICE: THE EXPERIENCES OF VIRGINIA’S PROFESSIONALS IN WAR……………………….147 VII. INEXTRICABLY BOUND: THE CHANGING DYNAMIC OF PLANTER-PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS IN LATE COLONIAL VIRGINIA……………………………………………………………...180 VIII. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………235 Richmond after the Revolution: Microcosmic Reflections on the Place and Influence of Professionals in Eighteenth-Century Virginia Society vii Closing Remarks REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………251 viii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Thesis and Historical Background Between roughly 1700 and 1790, a diverse assortment of merchants, lawyers, doctors, manufacturers, professional soldiers, and various other specialists forged positions of power and influence in Virginia which proved integral to the colony’s class of ruling planter-elites.