Thus, the population of the Old Dominion was composed
of sundry strains, all virile; and as the race pushed Westward
they carried with them the distinctive civilization which still
shows today along the lines they traveled, leaving its impress
in Kentucky, Tennessee, Southern Ohio, Missouri and sections
of many other States, and materially affecting all of them.
For the civilization of the Old Dominion, while naturally more
clearly preserved within her own borders, is not limited to her
own long-shrunken confines. As the oldest, wealthiest and
strongest Colony, she, during the Colonial period, most strongly
influenced the life of all the Colonies; leading them finally in
their action of breaking the ties which bound them to the
Old Country.
    She inspired the ideas, encouraged her sister Colonies;
supplied the statesmen who led the movement and the Chief
who led the Revolutionary Armies to final Victory.
    It was by no mere accident that George Washington,
Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson; the Lees; the Harrisons;
the Nelsons; the Randolphs; the Blands and other leaders of
the Revolutionary movement came from the shores of the
rivers which pour into the Chesapeake. They were the product
of the life established on those shores.
    Then when Independence was achieved, she led the move-
ment to establish a more permanent Union by the adoption of
the Constitution of the United States, to effect which she
surrendered her vast Northwest Territory which her sons had
conquered. And having effected this, it was under one of
her sons that the great Louisiana Territory was secured, and
under another that the loose bonds of the Constitution were
welded to make the whole homogeneous and effective.
    The place where this Colony planted itself was so strategic
that it became the battle ground in almost every war which
followed in which America bore a part. Hampton Roads and
the Chesapeake into which it pours, where now lie represen-
tatives of the navies of the world have been the scene of many
of the important engagements of modern warfare.



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