ral preeminence among the
colonies, the course which it should take in this crisis was watched
with extraordinary attention. John Adams said, at the time, "We all
look up to Virginia for examples."[241] Besides, in Virginia itself,
as well as in the other colonies, there was an unsettled question as
to the nature of the state governments which were then to be
instituted. Should they be strongly aristocratic and conservative,
with a possible place left for the monarchical feature; or should the
popular elements in each colony be more largely recognized, and a
decidedly democratic character given to these new constitutions? On
this question, two strong parties existed in Virginia. In the first
place, there were the old aristocratic families, and those who
sympathized with them. These people, numerous, rich, cultivated,
influential, in objecting to the unfair encroachments of British
authority, had by no means intended to object to the nature of the
British constitution, and would have been pleased to see that
constitution, in all its essential features, retained in Virginia.
This party was led by such men as Robert Carter Nicholas, Carter
Braxton, and Edmund Pendleton. In the second place, there were the
democrats, the reformers, the radicals,--who were inclined to take the
opportunity furnished by Virginia's rejection of British authority as
the occasion for rejecting, within the new State of Virginia, all the
aristocratic and monarchical features of the British Constitution
itself. This party was led by such men as Patrick Henry, Richard
Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, and George Mason. Which party was to
succeed in stamping its impress the more strongly on the new plan for
government in Virginia?

Furthermore, it is important to observe that, on this very question
then at issue in Virginia, two pamphlets, taking opposite sides, were,
just at that moment, attracting the notice of Virginians,--both
pamphlets being noble in tone, of considerable learning, very
suggestive, and very well expressed. The first, entitled "Thoughts on
Government," though issued anonymously, was soon known to be by John
Adams. It advocated the formation of state constitutions on the
democratic model; a lower house elected for a single year by the
people; this house to elect an upper house of twenty or thirty
members, who were to have a negative on the lower house, and to serve,
likewise, for a single year; these two houses to elect a governor, who