Something you've all been very keen to see I'm sure. Virginia is the oldest colony, the oldest dominion and the oldest monarchy in British America and I had a lot of fun creating all of this. Credit to Dave's Redistricting App for letting me draw the electoral districts, it took a while.
I hope you all enjoy it:
The
Kingdom of Virginia is a British constituent country located in continental North America, bordered by the Commonwealth of Columbia and the Confederation of the Ohio Country to the north, the Union of Louisiana to the west, the Dominion of Carolina to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Virginia is one of only two Home Nations to have the title of “kingdom”, the other being England, which relates to their historic status as independent crowns of the British monarch.
Inhabited for millennia by Aboriginal American tribes, the area of modern Virginia along Chesapeake Bay was the site of some of the earliest English colonial settlements in continental North America. Despite failed attempts by the Spanish and English in the 16th century, the first permanent European settlement to be established in modern-day Virginia was Jamestown, named after King James I & VI, in 1607. Several wars were fought between the English settlers and the native Powhatan people, and in 1624 Virginia formally became a Crown colony. During the English Civil War and the Commonwealth period of the mid 17th century, Virginia sided with the Crown, becoming known as the "Old Dominion" after the Restoration. In 1693 the College of William and Mary was established in Williamsburg, and shortly afterwards the colonial capital relocated there from Jamestown. Throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Virginia had extended its colonial boundaries across the Appalachian Mountains to encompass regions that are now part of Western Virginia and the Ohio Country.
1737 would prove to be the watershed year in the history of colonial America, when late in the year the newly created Frederick, Prince of Chesapeake, his pregnant wife and only daughter, arrived in Williamsburg. Officially the prince was there to serve as Lord Lieutenant of Britain-in-America, the king's vice-regal representative to the colonies, but in reality he had been sent into exile by his father. Frederick's presence would make Virginia the centre of colonial society, and he established a Court-in-Exile of colonial notables, amongst them many of Virginia's aristocratic families such as the Washingtons and Lees. Although Frederick and his family would relocate to the purpose built city of Fredericksburg in neighbouring Maryland, and the grand Palace of Chesapeake, Virginia would remain the heart of the developing colonial consciousness, and upon his father's death in 1751, delegates from every colony met at the White Palace in Fredericksburg to proclaim him Emperor of All Britain.
In gratitude for their support in his exile, King-Emperor Frederick I, upon his return to London in 1752, proclaimed that Virginia was to be granted the status of Kingdom, and the
Crown of Virginia Act was passed the following year. The outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754 saw Virginia and the other colonies drawn into conflict with the French colony of New France over the issue of colonial ownership of the Ohio Country. Virginia, emboldened by its new status as a kingdom, and seeking to establish itself as the premier power amongst the British colonies, sought to dislodge the French and their claims to the regions along the Ohio River by establishing a series of forts to secure Virginia's north-western border. The war saw France evicted from its colonial holdings east of the Mississippi and Virginia claiming all the territory that is now western Virginia and the Ohio Country, however the Royal Proclamation of 1763 saw settlement heavily restricted beyond the Ohio River, although Virginia would
de facto control the territory that would become Wabash and Sciotoshire.
During both the Colonial Unrest of the late 18th century and the Republican Rebellion of the mid-19th century, Virginia remained loyal to the Crown, although some parts of society agitated for revolution and secession. As the oldest colony in British America, and having been internally self-governing since 1753, Virginia wielded a great deal of influence in the Colonial Congress and the support of First Minister Robert Hunter for the Anglo-American Compromise and the Second American Reform Act is credited with American acceptance of the post-rebellion political reality. Virginia was granted formal self-government under a constitution in 1864 and was the second dominion to ratify the 1876 Acts of Union, joining the United Empire on 4 July 1876. Throughout the late-19th and early-20th centuries, Virginia experienced significant economic and industrial growth, and during both World Wars the nation served as an important military and naval training base for British Americans.
In the 21st century, Virginia has the tenth largest economy in the United Empire, which has diversified from its traditional coal mining base, partly due to the policies of the Thatcher government, and now focuses on the service, technology, tourism and military defence industries. Ethnically dominated by Anglo-Celtic and European immigrants, Virginia has a well-integrated Black British minority, a legacy of the nation having never experienced racial segregation to the same extent as Carolina or Louisiana. Culturally Virginia is unique in Britain-in-America, seen as aristocratic European traditions mixed with New World democracy and patriotic sentiment.
The
2016 Virginian general election was held on 6 June 2016 to elect, under the mixed member majoritarian system, the 190 members of the House of Delegates, 100 from single-member districts and 90 from a nationwide proportional party list.
The incumbent
Labour–
Liberal coalition government, led by First Minister Joe Manchin and Liberal Party leader Tim Kaine, were re-elected with a net loss of zero seats, although Labour and the Liberals gained and lost one seat respectively, and retained their majority in the House. The opposition
Conservatives, under leader Andy Barr, lost 2 seats whilst their traditional allies, the
Christian Values party led by Ken Cuccinelli, gained 3 seats despite a decline in their share of the vote. The left-wing
Agrarian People’s Alliance (APA) lost a seat whilst the right-wing populist
United Virginia held their 3 list seats.
Key issues in the election were transportation infrastructure, healthcare and the agricultural industry. Labour campaigned on a promise to improve transportation to spur job creation, whilst the Conservatives focused on tax cuts, reducing funding to the Works Project Agency in Virginia, as well as expanding opportunities for veterans and improving the infrastructure at Virginia's ports. Although polls suggested a swing towards the Conservatives, the rising support for Labour amongst suburbans voters led to a centre-left victory. However the shift away from Labour's traditional base of blue collars workers is causing friction in the party between the socially liberal wing, dominated by new members, and the more traditional democratic socialists, led by leader Joe Manchin. In the aftermath of the result Liberal leader Tim Kaine announced his intention to step down after the party had elected a replacement.
The
Virginia General Assembly is the legislative branch of the Kingdom of Virginia, and the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World, which was established on 30 July 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 190 members, and an upper house, the Virginia House of Lords, with 40 members. The General Assembly meets in Virginia's capital of Richmond. When sitting in Richmond, the General Assembly holds sessions in Shockoe Hall, designed by First Minister Thomas Jefferson, later Lord Jefferson, in 1788 and expanded in 1904. The official residence of the First Minister of Virginia, Madison House, is located across the street directly east of the building.
The Virginia House of Lords is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The House of Lords is composed of 40 Lords Temporal, 28 of which are life peers appointed by the Lord Governor while the other 12 are hereditary peers. The House of Lords is the modern-day successor to the earlier Virginia Governor's Council, which was the Colonial upper house and consisted of up to 12 executive counselors appointed by the Colonial Royal Governor as advisers and jurists.
The twelve hereditary peers who have retained their right to sit in the Lords are: the Marquess of Mount Vernon, the Earl of Ashland, the Earl of Lexington, the Viscount Fairfax, the Viscount Harrison, the Viscount Randolph, the Lord Jefferson, the Lord Monroe of Trenton, the Lord Brookneal, the Lord Tyler, the Lord Lee of Westmoreland, and the Lord Lee of Stratford.
The Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 190 members elected every four years under the mixed member majoritarian voting system, with 100 members representing single seat constituencies and the remaining 90 chosen from party lists. The House of Delegates is the modern-day successor to the Virginia House of Burgesses, which first met at Jamestown in 1619, and as such is considered the oldest legislative body in the New World.
The
Monarchy of Virginia is the oldest currently surviving monarchy in the Americas and the oldest title of the British Crown in America. The monarchy of Virginia was established in 1753 when the Colony of Virginia was raised to the status of Kingdom by Frederick I in gratitude for their support of him and his family during his 14 year exile in the colonies. The monarchy is the foundation of the executive (Queen-in-Council), legislative (Queen-in-Parliament), and judicial (Queen-on-the-Bench) within the nation. The Virginian sovereign is the personification of the Virginian state and is Virginia as a matter of constitutional law. The current Virginian monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952. Charles, Prince of Chesapeake and Wales is the heir apparent followed by his son William, Prince of Appalachia.
The
Lord Governor of Virginia is the viceregal representative of the British monarch in their capacity as King or Queen of Virginia. As the person of the sovereign is shared equally with the other Home Nations and the Commonwealth realms, but resides predominantly in the British Home Isles, the Queen, on the advice of her Virginian First Minister, appoints a lord governor to carry out most of her constitutional and ceremonial duties. The current lord governor is John Warner, Lord Warner, who has served since 8 April 2009.