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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