Richard Bland (May 6, 1710 – October 26, 1776), sometimes referred to as Richard Bland II or Richard Bland of Jordan's Point, was an American

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

, planter and statesman from Virginia. A cousin and early mentor of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the nati ...

, Bland belonged to one of the colony's leading families. He served more than 30 years in the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

, Virginia's colonial legislative assembly. In 1766, Bland wrote an influential pamphlet, ''An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies'', questioning the right of the British Parliament to impose taxes on colonists without their consent. He later served in the

First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States. It met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the British Nav ...

where he signed the

Continental Association The Continental Association, also known as the Articles of Association or simply the Association, was an agreement among the American colonies adopted by the First Continental Congress on October 20, 1774. It called for a trade boycott against Br ...

, a trade embargo adopted in October 1774 in opposition to Parliament's so-called

Intolerable Acts The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure ...

. Bland retired from the

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named " United Colonies" and in ...

due to his age in August 1775, two months after the creation of the Continental Army. However, he remained active in Virginia politics and helped draft a constitution for the newly-formed state in June 1776. Bland was named to Virginia's House of Delegates when it was formed in October 1776, the same month as his death.

Family and early life

His father, Richard Bland I, was a member of one of the patriarchal

First Families of Virginia First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg ...

and was related to many of the others. This branch of the Bland family first came to Virginia in 1654, when Theodorick Bland of Westover, emigrated from London and Spain. After the death of his older brother

Edward Bland Edward Osmund Bland (July 25, 1926–March 14, 2013) was an American composer and musical director. Biography Bland was born on the South Side of Chicago to Althea and Edward Bland. His father was a postal worker but also a self-taught liter ...

in 1653, Theodorick moved to Virginia to take over management of the family mercantile and shipping enterprises there. Theodorick established

Berkeley Plantation Berkeley Plantation, one of the first plantations in America, comprises about on the banks of the James River on State Route 5 in Charles City County, Virginia. Berkeley Plantation was originally called Berkeley Hundred, named after the Berkel ...

and

Westover Plantation Westover Plantation is a historic colonial tidewater plantation located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. Established in c. 1730–1750, it is the homestead of the Byrd family of Virginia. State Route 5, ...

, both properties survive still, side by side, as working plantations on the banks of the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Ches ...

. Theodorick served several terms in the House of Burgesses and was its speaker in 1660 when he married Anna Bennett, the daughter of Virginia Governor Richard Bennett. Before he died in 1671 Theodorick and Anna had three sons: Theodorick, Richard I, and John. *Mary Bland (1703), married Capt. Henry Lee I *Elizabeth Bland (1706), married William Beverley *Richard Bland II (1710) *Anna Bland (1711) (married Robert Munford) * Theodorick (1718)

Marriage and Issue

Bland married Anne Poythress (December 13, 1712 – April 9, 1758), the daughter of Colonel Peter and Ann Poythress, from Henrico County, Virginia. The couple married at Jordan's Point on March 21, 1729, and made it their home. Together they had twelve children: *Richard Bland(b. 20 February 1731) *Elizabeth Bland (b. 17 March 1733) *Ann Bland (b. 15 August 1735) *Peter Bland (b. 2 February 1737, d.16 February 1781) *John Bland (b. 19 October 1739) *Mary Bland (b. 15 January 1741) *William Bland (b. 26 December 1742) *Theodorick Bland (b. 28 September 1744) *Edward Bland (b. 16 December 1746) *Sarah Bland (b. 19 September 1750) *Susan Bland (b. 20 February 1752) *Lucy Bland (b. 22 September 1754). After Anne's death, Richard married twice more. On January 1, 1759, Bland married Martha Macon Massie, the widow of William Massie, who died eight months after their marriage. In 1760 he married for a third time to Elizabeth Blair Bolling, widow of John Bolling and sister of councilor John Blair. Elizabeth died late in April 1775. Richard Bland survived all of his wives. There were no children of the 2nd and 3rd marriages.

Early political career

Bland served as a justice of the peace in Prince George County and was made a militia officer in 1739. In 1742, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he served successive terms until it was suppressed during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...

. Bland's thoughtful work made him one of its leaders, although he was not a strong speaker. He frequently served on committees whose role was to negotiate or frame laws and treaties. Sometimes described as a bookish scholar as well as farmer, Bland

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under th ...

and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1746. He did not practice before the courts but collected legal documents and became known for his expertise in Virginia and British history and law. Bland often published pamphlets (frequently anonymously), as well as letters. His first widely distributed public paper came as a result of the

Parson's Cause The "Parson's Cause" was a legal and political dispute in the Colony of Virginia often viewed as an important event leading up to the American Revolution. Colonel John Henry, father of Patrick Henry, was the judge who presided over the court case ...

, which was a debate from 1759 to 1760 over the established church and the kind and rate of taxes used to pay the Anglican clergy. His pamphlet ''A Letter to the Clergy on the Two-penny Act'' was printed in 1760, as he opposed increasing pay and the creation of a bishop for the colonies. An early critic of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, though a slaveholder, Bland stated "under English government all men are born free", which prompted considerable debate with John Camm, a professor at Bland's alma mater, the College of William & Mary.

Colonial rights advocate

When the Stamp Act created controversy throughout the colonies, Richard Bland thought through the entire issue of parliamentary laws as opposed to those that originated in the colonial assemblies. While others, particularly James Otis, get more credit for the idea of "

no taxation without representation "No taxation without representation" is a political slogan that originated in the American Revolution, and which expressed one of the primary grievances of the American colonists for Great Britain. In short, many colonists believed that as they ...

", the full argument for this position seems to come from Bland. In early 1766, he wrote ''An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies,'' which was published in Williamsburg and reprinted in England. Bland's ''Inquiry'' examines the relationship of the king, parliament, and the colonies. While he concludes that the colonies were subject to the crown and that colonists should enjoy the

rights of Englishmen The "rights of Englishmen" are the traditional rights of English subjects and later English-speaking subjects of the British Crown. In the 18th century, some of the colonists who objected to British rule in the thirteen British North American ...

, he questions the presumption that total authority and government came through parliament and its laws. Jefferson described the work as "the first pamphlet on the nature of the connection with Great Britain which had any pretension to accuracy of view on that subject...There was more sound matter in his pamphlet than in the celebrated Farmer's letters." In September 1774, the Virginia Burgesses sent Bland to the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Some of the views expressed in ''An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies'' found their way into the first session of the Congress and were included in the Declaration of Rights. Bland was elected to the Second Continental Congress, serving until August 12, 1775, when he declined another term because of his age.

Founding the state of Virginia

In 1775, as revolution neared in Virginia, the Virginia Convention replaced the Burgesses and the council as a form of ad-hoc government. That year he met with the Burgesses and with the three sessions of the convention. In March 1775, after

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first ...

's " Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech, he was still opposed to taking up arms. He believed that reconciliation with England was still possible and desirable. Nevertheless, he was named to the committee of safety and re-elected as a delegate to the national Congress. In May, he travelled to

for the opening of the Second Continental Congress, but soon returned home, withdrawing because of the poor health and failing eyesight of old age. However, his radicalism had increased, and by the convention's meeting in July, he proposed hanging

Lord Dunmore Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. History The title was created in 1686 for Lord Charles Murray, second son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. He was made Lord Murray of Blair, Moulin and Tillimet (or Tullimet) and ...

, the royal governor. In the first state convention meeting of 1776, Richard Bland declined a re-election to the Third Continental Congress, citing his age and health. However, he played an active role in the remaining conventions. He served on the committee which drafted Virginia's first constitution in 1776. When the House of Delegates for the new state government was elected, he was one of the members.

Death and legacy

Bland died while serving in the state House on October 26, 1776, at Williamsburg. In November he was buried in the family cemetery at Jordan's Point in Prince George County. Virginia's Bland County and

Richard Bland College Richard Bland College is a public junior college associated with the College of William & Mary and located in Prince George County, Virginia. Richard Bland College was established in 1960 by the Virginia General Assembly as a branch of the Colleg ...

, junior college of the College of William & Mary, are named in his honor.

Notes

References

External links

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Richard Bland
at

Encyclopedia Virginia Virginia Humanities (VH), formerly the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is a humanities council whose stated mission is to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating learning opportunities f ...

Richard Bland, Revolutionary Philosopher
Press Release by Marjorie Solenberger (July 1994) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bland, Richard 1710 births 1776 deaths College of William & Mary alumni People from Prince George County, Virginia American people of English descent Huguenot participants in the American Revolution Continental Congressmen from Virginia 18th-century American politicians House of Burgesses members

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

Randolph family of Virginia American planters Members of the Virginia House of Delegates American slave owners Signers of the Continental Association