Editing Virginia (section)

===Statehood===
{{see also|Virginia in the American Revolution}}
{{stack|float=right|margin=true|[[File:Patrick-Henry-by-Rothermel.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|In 1765, [[Patrick Henry]] led a [[Virginia Resolves|protest]] of the unpopular [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]] in the [[House of Burgesses]], later depicted in this portrait by [[Peter F. Rothermel]].|alt=Upper-class middle-aged man dressed in a bright red cloak speaks before an assembly of other angry men. The subject's right hand is raise high in gesture toward the balcony.]]}}
In the decade following the [[French and Indian War]], the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]] passed new taxes which were deeply unpopular in the colonies. In the [[House of Burgesses]], opposition to [[No taxation without representation|taxation without representation]] was led by [[Patrick Henry]] and [[Richard Henry Lee]], among others.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/declaration/bio26.htm|title=Signers of the Declaration (Richard Henry Lee)|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|date=April 13, 2006|access-date=February 2, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611071114/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/declaration/bio26.htm|archive-date=June 11, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> Virginians began to [[committee of correspondence|coordinate their actions]] with other colonies in 1773 and sent delegates to the [[Continental Congress]] the following year.{{sfn|Gutzman|2007|pp=24–29}} After the House of Burgesses was dissolved in 1774 by [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore|the royal governor]], Virginia's revolutionary leaders continued to govern via the [[Virginia Conventions]]. On May 15, 1776, the Convention declared Virginia's independence and adopted [[George Mason]]'s [[Virginia Declaration of Rights]], which was then included in a new constitution that designated Virginia as a [[commonwealth]].{{sfn|Heinemann|Kolp|Parent|Shade|2007|pp=125–133}} Another Virginian, [[Thomas Jefferson]], drew upon Mason's work in drafting the national [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].<ref name=mason>{{cite journal|last=Schwartz|first=Stephan A.|title=George Mason: Forgotten Founder, He Conceived the Bill of Rights|journal=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|issue=2|page=142|date=May 2000|volume=31}}</ref>

After the [[American Revolutionary War]] began, [[George Washington]] was selected by the [[Second Continental Congress]] in [[Philadelphia]] to head the [[Continental Army]], and many [[Virginia Line|Virginians joined the army]] and revolutionary militias. Virginia was the first colony to ratify the [[Articles of Confederation]] in December 1777.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.politico.com/story/2010/11/articles-of-confederation-adopted-nov-15-1777-045100 |title= Articles of Confederation adopted, Nov. 15, 1777 |first= Andrew |last= Glass |website= Politico |date= November 15, 2010 |access-date= April 23, 2021}}</ref> In April 1780, the capital was moved to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, who feared that Williamsburg's coastal location would make it vulnerable to British attack.{{sfn|Cooper|2007|p=58}} British forces under [[Benedict Arnold]] did take [[Portsmouth, Virginia|Portsmouth]] in December 1780, and [[Raid on Richmond|raided Richmond]] the following month.{{sfn|Ketchum|2014|pp=155}} The British army had over seven thousand soldiers and twenty-five warships stationed in Virginia at the beginning of 1781, but [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|General Charles Cornwallis]] and his superiors were indecisive, and maneuvers by the three thousand soldiers under the [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Marquis de Lafayette]] and twenty-nine allied French warships together managed to [[Yorktown campaign|confine the British]] to a swampy area of the [[Virginia Peninsula]] in September. Around sixteen thousand soldiers under George Washington and [[Comte de Rochambeau]] quickly [[Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route|converged there]] and defeated Cornwallis in the [[siege of Yorktown]].{{sfn|Ketchum|2014|pp=126–131, 137–139, 296}} His surrender on October 19, 1781, led to [[Peace of Paris (1783)|peace negotiations in Paris]] and secured the independence of the colonies.{{sfn|Heinemann|Kolp|Parent|Shade|2007|pp=131–133}}

Virginians were instrumental in writing the [[United States Constitution]]: [[James Madison]] drafted the [[Virginia Plan]] in 1787 and the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] in 1789.<ref name=mason/> [[Virginia Ratifying Convention|Virginia ratified]] the Constitution on June 25, 1788. The [[three-fifths compromise]] ensured that Virginia, with its large number of slaves, initially had the largest bloc in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. Together with the [[Virginia dynasty]] of presidents, this gave the Commonwealth national importance. Virginia is called the "Mother of States" because of its role in being carved into states such as [[Kentucky]], and for the numbers of [[American pioneer]]s born in Virginia.<ref name=Robertson/>