The Commonwealth of Northern Virginia?

The People’s Republic of Northern Virginia.  There’s a reason why we call it northern Virginia, those south of Fredericksburg will chuckle.  After all, isn’t that the reason why we put the Welcome Center on the right side of the Rappahannock?

Talk is anew about splitting California into as many as five states.  We hear this all the time from certain quarters, as state secessionist movements exist in places such as Washington State, Oregon, Colorado, South Dakota, Texas, New York, etc.  I won’t bore you with all the details, but states have long split to form new states in our federal Union.  Certainly, Virginia’s long history of ceding her western territories (Virginanensis Superior as I would prefer to call it) in order to forge the United States is an ennobling example of the sacrifices made by the Old Dominion on behalf of the nation she gave life to.  Other instances, such as the formation of Occupied Virginia — the legal fiction stolen by the B&O Railroad otherwise known as “West” Virginia — states were forced in order to rend Virginia powerless and humble.

Sometimes, portions of states merely want to break off and join existing ones, such as the three counties along the West Virginia panhandle.  The movement to form a new state amalgamated from counties in northeastern Colorado, Wyoming, and parts of Nebraska is unique.

Then there is the argument that states ought not to be too big, that good government requires smaller entities — perhaps 5 million people or so — in order to truly represent the people.  California is a behemoth, itself resting as one of the largest economies in the world.  It becomes more interesting when you think of a metropolis such as New York, whose size and wealth alone make it more a Greek city state than a member of the Jeffersonian “empire of liberty” as it were.

Of course we joke about northern Virginia as something distinct and separate.  Overrun by Yankees, too close to Washington, with its own sophistication aped at by cities such as Charlottesville, Richmond, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach and overwhelmingly imposed upon by poorer rural localities.  Very little of “the Waahr” (as it is kindly termed by Fredericksburg natives) was fought in northern Virginia proper, with the notable exception of Manassas Junction.  The ravages of war and marauding Yankee cavalry did not impact that part of Virginia in quite the same way.  The provisional government of Virginia still held sway 150 years ago.

Proximity to Washington in the modern era matters a great deal, as the Cold War collected the nation’s best and brightest administrators and military personnel to the District of Columbia.  Northern Virginia has her Founding Fathers not only in men such as George Mason, but the Founding Father in George Washington.  Northern Virginia’s architecture is distinctly different than the more Jeffersonian influenced designs of the Piedmont and the colonial influences of the Williamsburg elite.

…and then there is the long forgotten history of the Fairfax Land Grant, and the Northern Virginia Proprietary.

The truth is, northern Virginia much unlike the rest of the Commonwealth had a far different start and history.  Five families owned the Northern Neck as a gift of King Charles II in 1660 in reward for their loyalty.  Most of this land was gifted to Thomas Colepeper, and through marriage and acquisition the Northern Neck Proprietary had fallen to Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron by 1719.

This arrangement never made the good folks at Jamestown or Williamsburg very happy, as feuds between the General Assembly and Lord Fairfax as to the boundary line of the Fairfax Land Grant were ultimately settled in Fairfax’s favor by Privy Council (imagine that).

Thus the Fairfax line grew rich.  By 1779, the American government confiscated what remaining portions were not bought, and by 1781 the Fairfax family was divested of his proprietary — being a loyal Tory in a time of revolution does have its downside.

We’ve already reviewed the history of this part of Virginia and it’s experiences through 1861-1865.  While many parts of Virginia were burnt out, northern Virginia remained spared a great deal of the torment inflicted upon the Commonwealth in the final months of the conflict.  The Second World War followed by the Cold War left yet another distinct impression, as the federal government brought in college-educated workers, their children, and their values.

By the 21st century, the distinctions are stark.  Fredericksburg and points north have more in economic commonality with Washington than it does with Richmond.  In fact, the distinction is made very stark by the way money travels.  A dollar spent in Virginia Beach has more likelihood to be spent in Hot Springs than it does being spent in Washington.  Similarly, a dollar spent in Washington is more likely to be spent in Kilmarnock than Richmond.

Don’t believe me?  Check it out.

Now if you look close enough, you see those blue lines?  Amazingly enough, they roughly correspond to the boundaries of the Fairfax Land Grant:

So is there an argument to be made that Northern Virginia is a culturally, geographically, historically, and economically distinct and separate part of Virginia?  Absolutely.

Are the difference to such a degree that they warrant the creation of a new commonwealth?

This is all musing at this point.  There might be a better case made for a new state to be forged among the counties west of Roanoke, for all the attention Richmond gives them (or doesn’t) at this stage.  Tidewater could have an argument — but Williamsburg nails the lands of Jefferson and Nelson together.

In fact, one might go so far as to argue that West Occupied Virginia has more in connection with Virginia proper than the Northern Neck Proprietary does — both in culture and history.

Of course, financially the creation of a Commonwealth of Northern Virginia would be an economic disaster for Virginia proper, not only in terms of what Virginia has invested in terms of infrastructure, but in terms of what our northern counties provide to the rest.  Parallels between Fairfax in the 20th century and Martinsville in the 19th century are apt indeed in terms of what they provided and provide to the well-being of Virginia’s economic renaissance at the end of both centuries.  Who knows?  In 80 years, we could be speculating on the Tidewater snapping off due to its incredible energy reserves and production for the Eastern Seaboard?  Or perhaps state secession catches on and Virginia as we know it fades into three or four laboratories for democratic capitalism, just as Jefferson envisioned?

…or nothing will happen at all.  Virginians are fond of tradition, as such.  But if smaller populations are the key to successful states, and if California does manage to bifurcate (quintfurcate?) itself into smaller constituent parts, it’d surely be an interesting question to have over cigars and scotch.