As part of the Dred Scott discussion, Paul touched on another topic that should deserve its own discussion:

On Dec 18, 2012, at 11:42 AM, Paul Finkelman wrote:

> In Virginia before and immediately after the Revolution (I believe it was Va. -- someone may know better) a person could vote in more than one county if he owned land in more than one county.

Indeed, Paul, this is correct. I am on somewhat firmer ground on this topic. This was a big bone of contention in the 1829 -1830 Constitutional Convention. When all was said and done, landholders who held land in more than one county could still vote in each county, but lease-holders were also given the right to vote. This was a long-standing simmering issue, and the set up to West Virginia splitting off from Virginia.

I readily confess I am rusty on this topic. I did the research for part of a White Paper for the Northern Neck of Virginia Tourism Council a few years ago presented to Congress seeking to set up a Heritage District. I do not know what has become of that effort. It was being spear-headed by Paul Reber, ED of the Stratford Hall group. He never acknowledged my paper, but I do know he used it for the report. My assignment was to cover the history of the Northern Neck from 1800-1860 in ten pages or less, with footnotes. 

I included "Suffrage" as one of the topics to cover. Others were of course the War of 1812 and Slavery, and general population trends. For purposes of this effort, the lower Northern Neck counties of Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond and Westmoreland were included, and also added was King George County.

Craig
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