Editing Fredericksburg, Virginia (section)

===Colonial===
Located on the [[Rappahannock River]] near the head of navigation at the [[Atlantic Seaboard fall line|fall line]], Fredericksburg developed as the frontier of [[Colony of Virginia|colonial Virginia]] shifted west from the [[Atlantic coastal plain|coastal plain]] into the Piedmont. The land on which the city was founded was part of a tract patented in 1671. The [[Virginia General Assembly]] established a fort on the Rappahannock in 1676, just downriver of the present-day city. In 1714, Lieutenant Governor [[Alexander Spotswood]] sponsored a German settlement called [[Germanna]] on the [[Rapidan River]], a tributary of the Rappahannock upstream from the future site of the city. In 1716, he led an [[Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition|exploratory expedition]] westward over the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]].

As interest in the frontier grew, the colonial assembly formed [[Spotsylvania County, Virginia|Spotsylvania County]] in 1720, named after Royal Lieutenant Governor [[Alexander Spotswood]]. In 1728, Fredericksburg was declared a port for the county, of which it was then a part. Named for [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n120 131]}}</ref> son of King [[George II of Great Britain|George II]], the colonial town named its streets after the members of the royal family. The county court was moved to Fredericksburg in 1732. Hence, the community served as [[county seat]] until 1780. The court was then moved to [[Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia]]&nbsp;– closer to the geographical center of Spotsylvania County. In 1781, Fredericksburg was incorporated as a [[town#Virginia|town]] with its own court, council, and mayor. It received its charter as an independent city in 1879 and under Virginia law, was separated from Spotsylvania County. The city adopted its present city manager/council form of government in 1911.

The city has close associations with [[George Washington]], whose family in 1738 moved to [[Ferry Farm]] in [[Stafford County, Virginia|Stafford County]] near the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg. Washington's mother, [[Mary Ball Washington|Mary]], later moved to the city, and his sister [[Elizabeth Washington Lewis|Betty]] lived at [[Kenmore (Fredericksburg, Virginia)|Kenmore]], a plantation house then outside the city. Several citizens played active roles during the [[American Revolution]] (1763–1781). For example, a number of locals signed the Leedstown Resolves, which formed an association to protest the Stamp Act in the 1760s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Leedstown Resolves (also known as the Westmoreland Resolves) |date=February 27, 1766 |work=Road to Revolution: Northern Neck Roads and Waterways |department=Part of a lesson plan |url=https://edspace.american.edu/menokin/wp-content/uploads/sites/125/2015/04/Leedstown-Resolves.pdf |publisher=The Menokin Foundation |access-date=January 24, 2019 |via=American University EdSpace |archive-date=January 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125183146/https://edspace.american.edu/menokin/wp-content/uploads/sites/125/2015/04/Leedstown-Resolves.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the 1770s, [[Fielding Lewis]], owner of Kenmore Plantation and brother-in-law to [[George Washington]], also operated an arms factory for the Continental Army. Other significant early residents include the Revolutionary War generals [[Hugh Mercer]] and [[George Weedon]], naval war hero [[John Paul Jones]], and future U.S. president [[James Monroe]]. Thomas Jefferson wrote the [[Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom]] in Fredericksburg.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cas.umw.edu/cprd/jefferson-lecture-on-religious-freedom/ |title=Jefferson Lecture on Religious Freedom |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2017 |website=[[University of Mary Washington]] |access-date=August 21, 2024 |quote=In January of 1777, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Thomas Jefferson met with a small group to draft what would become the Bill to Establish Religious Freedom in Virginia.}}</ref>