The Virginia Gentry: America's Only Aristocracy and What We can Learn from Them

In this episode, Will discusses the history, formation, and immense accomplishments of the Virginia Gentry with J Burden. The two cover why the Virginian planter class was different from the planters of the Deep South and the WASPs of the North, making it the only real American aristocracy. They then cover how the famed "Virginia Cavalier" migration wave was true in a sense, and how it brought the concept of state, church, and property being unified to the Old Dominion.

Building on that, they discuss how the leading men of Old Virginia built their local power and sovereignty through a "cursus honorum" that combined the best aspects of aristocracy and democracy to build a tremendously competent leadership class in Colonial Virginia and Early Republic America.

Finally, the two then discuss what we can learn from the Virginia gentry to rebuild effective political, social, and economic power as a counter-elite.

Listen ad-free here: https://www.theamericantribune.news/p/the-virginia-gentry-americas-only

Sources Referenced in this Episode:

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A "Topping People": The Rise and Decline of Virginia's Old Political Elite, 1680-1790 By Emory G. Evans, ⁠https://amzn.to/4o7ILN0⁠

Albion's Seed By David Hackett Fischer, ⁠https://amzn.to/4fHA89R⁠

Colonial Virginia: Its People and Customs By Mary Newton Stanard, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e2nT4W⁠

Colonial Virginia, Volume I and II By Richard L. Morton, ⁠https://amzn.to/3SjTUy8⁠

American Revolutionaries in the Making By Charles S. Sydnor, ⁠https://amzn.to/4dZsPaZ⁠

Old Virginia by William M. S. Rasmussen, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e2mueG⁠

The Age of Federalism By Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, ⁠https://amzn.to/3QfnQuR⁠

The First Gentlemen of Virginia By Louis B. Wright, ⁠https://amzn.to/43dW3Oh⁠

The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 By Rhys Isaac, ⁠https://amzn.to/4e4YZSs⁠

Tobacco Culture By T. H. Breen,⁠https://amzn.to/43N4FLY⁠