The English Act of toleration came in 1689 after the Glorious
Revolution. Virginia's General Assembly cited the English Act of
Toleration in a 1699 statute, by which time burgesses had long since
made concessions to Quakers in Virginia, such as allowing them to affirm
rather than swear oaths in court. 

Blair was certainly a force to be reckoned with, but his position as
Commissary of the Bishop of London gave him only limited authority in
church matters. Divinity students from the College of William and Mary
had to go to England for ordination, and Blair did not have the ability
to consecrate churches, confirm the newly catechized, control vestries,
or regulate colonial clergy. 

Linda H. Rowe
Historical Research
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
757-220-7443

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