accept would have been to capitalize the homage and reverence paid
him by the people of the South.

Along with the instinct of pride and the spirit of chivalry in the
Virginia planters developed the power of commanding men. Among the
immigrants of the 17th century leadership was distinctly lacking, and
during almost all the colonial period there was a decided want of
great men. Captain John Smith, Governor William Berkeley, Nathaniel
Bacon and Alexander Spotswood are the only names that stand out amid
the general mediocrity of the age. If we look for other men of
prominence we must turn to Robert Beverley, Philip Ludwell, William
Byrd II, James Blair. These men played an important part in the
development of the colony, but they are practically unknown except to
students of Virginia history.

What a contrast is presented by a glance at the great names of the
latter part of the 18th century. The commonplace Virginia planters had
then been transformed into leaders of men. When the Revolution came it
was to them that the colonies looked chiefly for guidance and command,
and Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Mason, the Lees and many other
Virginians took the most active part in the great struggle that ended
in the overthrow of the sway of England and the establishment of the
independence of the colonies. Washington was the great warrior,
Jefferson the apostle of freedom, Henry the orator of the Revolution.
And when the Union had been formed it was still Virginia that
furnished leaders to the country. Of the first five presidents four
were Virginia planters.

This transformation was due partly to the life upon the plantation.
The business of the Virginia gentleman from early youth was to
command. An entire community looked to him for direction and
maintenance, and scores or even hundreds of persons obeyed him
implicitly. He was manager of all the vast industries of his estate,
directing his servants and slaves in all the details of farming,
attending to the planting, the curing, the casing of tobacco, the
cultivation of wheat and corn, the growing of fruits, the raising of
horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. He became a master architect, having
under him a force of carpenters, masons and mechanics. Some of the
wealthiest Virginians directed in every detail the construction of
those stately old mansions that were the pride of the colony in the
18th century. Thus Thomas Jefferson was both the architect and builder
of his home at