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A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790
Contributor(s): Evans, Emory G. (Author)

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ISBN: 0813927900     ISBN-13: 9780813927909
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
OUR PRICE: $41.48  

Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: April 2009
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Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States - State & Local - South (al,ar,fl,ga,ky,la,ms,nc,sc,tn,va,wv)
- History | United States - Colonial Period (1600-1775)
- Political Science
Dewey: 305.520
LCCN: 2008043124
Physical Information: 1" H x 6.3" W x 9" L (1.15 lbs) 288 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 17th Century
- Chronological Period - 18th Century
- Geographic Orientation - Virginia
Features: Bibliography, Dust Cover, Illustrated, Index, Maps, Table of Contents
Review Citations: Chronicle of Higher Education 06/12/2009 pg. 21
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2009 pg. 61
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

A "Topping People" is the first comprehensive study of the political, economic, and social elite of colonial Virginia. Evans studies twenty-one leading families from their rise to power in the late 1600s to their downfall over one hundred years later. These families represented the upper echelons of power, serving in the upper and lower houses of the General Assembly, often as speaker of the House of Burgesses. Their names--Randolph, Robinson, Byrd, Carter, Corbin, Custis, Nelson, and Page, to note but a few--are still familiar in the Old Dominion some three hundred years later.

Their decline was due to a variety of factors--economic, social, and demographic. The third generations showed an inability to adapt their business philosophies to the changing economic climate. Their inclination was to mirror the English landed gentry, living off the income of their landed estates. Economic diversification was the norm early on, but it became less effective after 1730. Scots traders, for example, introduced chain stores, making it more difficult to continue family-run stores. And land speculation was no substitute for diversification. An increase in population resulted in the creation of new counties, which weakened the influence of the Tidewater region. These leading families began to spend more than they earned and became heavily indebted to British mercantile firms. The Revolution only served to make matters worse, and by 1790 these families had lost their political and economic status, although their social status remained.

A "Topping People" is a thorough and engrossing study of the way families came to gain and, eventually, lose great power in this turbulent and progressive period in American history.

 
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