Virginia's Forgotten Founder
The first biography of a neglected but crucial revolutionary figure and a fascinating window into his world
Study the American Revolution and you might miss the name Robert Carter Nicholas; study Robert Carter Nicholas and you will see the entire revolution. This is the first biography of the Virginia patriot who served in the House of Burgesses and has gone down in history as an opponent of Patrick Henry’s—though the reality is more complicated.
In reconstructing Nicholas’s life, Brent Tarter recovers late colonial Virginian society in all of its complexity, showing how men and women of the upper classes lived; how they depended on slavery for their wealth and social status; how they were surrounded by enslaved people almost all of the time; how they brought up and educated their children; how the complex international tobacco economy operated; and how the institutions of government functioned.
The life of Robert Carter Nicholas illustrates like few others how a decade of profoundly important challenges and changes culminated in the decision of elite leaders—who at first glance appear to have had nothing to gain and much to lose by risking a revolution—to vote for independence from Great Britain in 1776.
- Cynthia A. Kierner, George Mason University, author of The Tory’s Wife: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary AmericaGracefully and accessibly written. Tarter has an impressive command of early Virginia law, politics, and constitutional history, as well as an enviable ability to explain complex situations and concepts.
- Phillip Hamilton, Christopher Newport University, author of Justifying Revolution: Law, Virtue, and Violence in the American War of IndependenceBrent Tarter has done a great service to scholars and enthusiasts of Virginia history for his wonderful new biography of Robert Carter Nicholas. Although rarely considered as one of the Old Dominion’s revolutionary heroes, Nicholas proved to be a strong advocate for the patriot cause. His more moderate views, moreover, likely reflected the difficult choices most Virginia politicians confronted throughout these years. Tarter’s deep knowledge and understanding of eighteenth-century Virginia shines throughout this excellent work. Indeed, those who read Virginia’s Forgotten Founder will have a much fuller appreciation of both the man and the era.
Brent Tarter, a founding editor of the Library of Virginia’s Dictionary of Virginia Biography project, is the author of numerous books, including Virginians and Their Histories.
