My sense, including from detailed readings of the Virginia Gazettes of
the colonial period, was that such "vicious persecution" took place
earlier, 1740-1760s.
Roger Mellen
On 11/9/10 9:18 AM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Jon, in your response to Paul Finkelman, you say "not sure I would
> characterize *1780s* as a period of 'vicious persecution' of any denomination in
> VA." Does your uncertainty have to do with your sense of the degree of
> the persecution that does seem to have existed? More than one religious
> historian has maintained that it was the treatment of Baptists and others by
> both government authorities and general population that helped produce our
> national position on religious tolerance and freedom. Similarly, Thomas
> Jefferson's concept of separation of church and state seems to have been
> influenced by his perception of ill treatment of such folk as the Baptists.
>
> Thoughts?
>
>
>
> In a message dated 11/9/2010 9:05:49 A.M. Mountain Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> When described in detail, the oaths taken by 18th-c VA officeholders were
> typically described as "the Oaths appointed to be taken by Act of
> Parliament* followed by a statement about "repeat[ing] and subscrib[ing --
> i.e., signing] the Test"**
>
> {Language quoted from William Nelson's assumption of governorship in
> October
> 1770 in Van Horne ed Nelson Correspondence 37-38n}
>
> *Act I George I stat 2 cap XIII - oath of allegiance to George I and
> succession of his Protestant heirs
> ** The Test was a repudiation of transubstantion required by the Test Act
> of
> 1673
>
> At the beginning of a general assembly session and when new burgesses
> entered the Assembly from by-elections, the journals refer more succinctly
> to the oaths....
>
> George Washington signed a Test Act Oath about May 22, 1754 - the document
> is extant, or at least preserved by published photographs......
>
> And in 1777 VA adopted its own (secular) Test Act requiring "free male
> inhabitants of this state above a certain age to give assurance of
> allegiance to the same [i.e. to the commonwealth]." - Hening Statutes 9:
> 281-83.
>
> PS to original query : not sure I would characterize *1780s* as a period of
> " vicious persecution" of any denomination in VA
>
> Jon Kukla
> ________________
> www.JonKukla.com<http://www.jonkukla.com/>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 10:28 AM, Henry Wiencek
> <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> According to the "Industrial and historical sketch of Fairfax County,
>> Virginia," (1907), in colonial times all county officials were
>> required to take the "Test Oath" denying belief in the
>> Transubstantiation of the Eucharist, a clause no Roman Catholic could
>> swear to.
>>
>> Henry Wiencek
>>
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