May Day 1699

Five Student Speeches - by Harold B. Gill Jr.

EVEN BEFORE the statehouse at Jamestown burned in 1698, some thought that Virginia’s seat of government should be moved to a more healthful location. Middle Plantation, situated on the high ground between the James and York Rivers, was considered a likely place. It was no accident that the College of William and Mary was located there. Just before Francis Nicholson’s second term as governor began, he—no doubt in cahoots with James Blair, president of the college, John Page II, and others—put pressure on the House of Burgesses to agree to move the capital to Middle Plantation. Having the seat of government near the college, Blair reasoned, would improve the intellectual life of the students. Page would gain because he owned land where the new town would be.