* 1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is declared the new capital of the Confederate States of America.

When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the Union to stay intact and despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of the Union Army.

In Martin v. Hunter's Lessee ( 1816 ), the Supreme Court confronted the Chief Justice of Virginia, Spencer Roane, who had previously declared a Supreme Court decision unconstitutional and refused to permit the state courts to abide by it.

The Supreme Court declared executing the mentally handicapped in Atkins v. Virginia,, and executing people who were under age 18 at the time the crime was committed in Roper v. Simmons,, to be violations of the Eighth Amendment, regardless of the crime.

On May 15, 1776, the Convention declared Virginia's independence from the British Empire and adopted George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was then included in a new constitution.

In the early stages of that conflict, the colonial assembly of Maryland and its neighbors in Virginia had publicly declared their support for the King.

" Recognizing the impact of sports on the island community, and believing it may be a boost to the island's tourism, the Virginia Tourism Authority ( VTA ) declared Tangier Island the biggest sports town in America, per capita.

In 1981, English was declared the official language in the state of Virginia.

" Mulattos may also be an admixture of Native American, South American native and African Americans according to Henings Statutes of Virginia 1705, which reads as follows: " And for clearing all manner of doubts which hereafter may happen to arise upon the construction of this act, or any other act, who shall be accounted a mulatto, Be it enacted and declared, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That the child of an Indigenous and the child, grand child, or great grand child, of a negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a mulatto.

Additionally, in 1967 under Loving v. Virginia, the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the " Racial Integrity Act of 1924 ", unconstitutional, thereby ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage (" anti-miscegenation laws ") in the United States.

on January 21, 1776 in the Lutheran church in Woodstock, Virginia, Reverend Muhlenberg took his sermon text from the third chapter Ecclesiastes, which starts with " To every thing there is a season ..."; after reading the eighth verse, " a time of war, and a time of peace ," he declared, " And this is the time of war ," removing his clerical robe to reveal his Colonel's uniform.

Pendleton attended the First Continental Congress alongside George Washington and Patrick Henry as Virginia's delegates and he led the conventions wherein Virginia declared independence and adopted the U. S. Constitution.

Officials declared mandatory evacuations for 24 counties in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, though in general not many left.

April 18, 2009 was declared " Ric Flair Day " in Charleston, West Virginia and he was presented with the key to the city by the mayor.

On October 19, 1998, it was declared " Ric Flair Day " in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Mayor Sharon Belton and on November 15, 2008, it was declared " Ric Flair Day " in Norfolk, Virginia.

Loving v. Virginia,, was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the " Racial Integrity Act of 1924 ", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama ( 1883 ) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.

Four slave states never declared a secession: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri, and four others did not declare secession until after the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter: Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia — after which, they were less frequently called " border states ".

After Lincoln called for troops, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina promptly declared their secessions and joined the Confederacy, but a secession movement began in western Virginia to break away and remain in the Union.

In contrast, toll turnpikes in the following states have been declared paid off, and those highways have become standard freeways: Connecticut ( Interstate 95 ), Kentucky ( part of Interstate 65 ), Maryland ( part of Interstate 95 ), Texas ( part of Interstate 30 ), Virginia ( the part of Interstate 95 between Richmond and Petersburg ), and Florida ( part of Interstate 75 ).

" Since many influential First Families of Virginia ( FFV ) claimed descent from the American Indian Pocahontas and her husband John Rolfe of the colonial era, the Virginia General Assembly declared that an individual could be considered white if having no more than one-sixteenth Indian " blood " ( the equivalent of one great-great-grandparent ).

The long-settled areas of states like Virginia and South Carolina developed the ante-bellum culture to its richest flowering, and there the memory is more precious, and the consciousness of loss the greater.

On a military mission for his native Virginia the youthful George Washington touched off the French and Indian War, then guarded his colony's frontier as head of its militia.

The active sponsor of Jefferson's measure for religious liberty in Virginia, Madison played the most influential single role in the drafting of the Constitution and in securing its ratification in Virginia, founded the first political party in American history, and, as Jefferson's Secretary of State and his successor in the Presidency, guided the nation through the troubled years of our second war with Britain.

`` I knew I was carrying on with abstraction to its very end -- for me '', he said of the two years' output in Virginia.

Steel Company of Wales, a British steelmaker, wants to bring in Virginia coal, cut down on its takings of Welsh coal in order to be able to compete more effectively -- especially in foreign markets.

Their impolitic occupation of Columbus, Kentucky on September 3, 1861, two days before Johnston arrived in the Confederacy's capital, Richmond, Virginia, after his cross – country journey, drove Kentucky from its stated neutrality and the majority of Kentuckians into the Union camp.

Land warfare in the East was inconclusive in 1861 – 62, as the Confederacy beat back Union efforts to capture its capital, Richmond, Virginia, notably during the Peninsular Campaign.

* 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sayler's Creek – Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.

The Northern Bobwhite, Virginia Quail or ( in its home range ) Bobwhite Quail ( Colinus virginianus ) is a ground-dwelling bird native to the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

* Virginia has been known as the " Commonwealth of Virginia " since before joining the United States, and is referred to as a Commonwealth in its constitution.

The city has served as the capital of Nevada since statehood in 1864 and for much of its history was a hub for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, although the tracks were removed in the 1950s.

" The FBI is in process of moving its Records Management Division, which processes Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) requests, to Winchester, Virginia.

( Note, however, that the term " powder magazine ", a store for gunpowder, as e. g. in the town of Williamsburg, Virginia, restored to its colonial form, would be well understood by current English speakers, though recognized as an archaicism.

On April 7, 1972 the Virginia General Assembly enacted legislation which separated George Mason College from its parent institution, the University of Virginia.

The university opened its Arlington campus in 1982, two blocks from the Virginia Square-GMU station in Arlington.

Some of this gas was used in the world's first helium-filled airship, the U. S. Navy's C-7, which flew its maiden voyage from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Bolling Field in Washington, D. C., on December 1, 1921.

* In 2011, IKEA and its Swedwood affiliate came under criticism for its treatment of workers at a U. S. factory in Danville, Virginia and its decision to hire the law firm Jackson Lewis, which is often employed by companies to counter labor demands, to consult with IKEA on attempts to form a union at Danville.

* 1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking ; the survivors go on to found a new colony there.

Stuart was promoted to captain on April 22, 1861, but resigned from the U. S. Army on May 3, 1861, to join the Confederate States Army, following the secession of Virginia.

On hearing of South Carolina's secession from the United States, Sherman observed to a close friend, Professor David F. Boyd of Virginia, an enthusiastic secessionist, almost perfectly describing the four years of war to come:

The battle also inspired more vocal protests in the Western part of Virginia against secession.

A few days later in Wheeling, the Wheeling Convention nullified the Virginia ordinance of secession and named Francis H. Pierpont governor.

In 1871, the U. S. Supreme Court decided Virginia v. West Virginia, upholding the secession of West Virginia, including Berkeley and Jefferson counties, from Virginia.

In 1871, the U. S. Supreme Court decided Virginia v. West Virginia, upholding the secession of West Virginia, including Berkeley and Jefferson counties, from Virginia.

The battle also inspired more vocal protests in the Western part of Virginia against secession.

A few days later in Wheeling, the Wheeling Convention nullified the Virginia ordinance of secession and named Francis H. Pierpont governor.

Buckhannon was part of the Commonwealth of Virginia until the secession of West Virginia on June 20, 1863 during the American Civil War.

Stromberg, says Taylor's role in calling for Virginia's secession in 1798 and his role in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, " show how seriously he took the reserved rights ( nullification ) and secession of these primary political communities States.

On April 27, after Virginia and North Carolina had also passed ordinances of secession, the blockade was extended to include their ports also.

When news of the secession reached Richmond, Anderson promptly joined the army of Northern Virginia, achieving general's rank.

Both sides believed that the first side to use force would lose precious political support in the border states, whose allegiance was undetermined ; before Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, five states had voted against secession, including Virginia, and Lincoln openly offered to evacuate Fort Sumter if it would guarantee Virginia's loyalty.

Lee disapproved of secession, but refused to bear arms against his native state, Virginia, and resigned to accept the position as commander of Virginia forces.