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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