The History of Richard Bland and Family

"Richard Bland of Jordan's Point" by Susan Brown

Richard Bland (1710 - 1776)

Richard Bland II was an American Founding Father and politician, representing Prince George County in the Virginia House of Burgesses for over 30 years. By trade, he was a plantation owner, inheriting the Jordan Point Plantation from his father in 1720 until he died in 1776. As a member of the House of Burgesses, Bland II was an influential figure, being on multiple subcommittees and drafting several bills that would be placed before the burgesses, such as the Two Penny Acts, which created colony-crown disputes that led to the American Revolution. In the final years of his life, Bland attended the First Continental Congress but was not in good enough health to attend the second. Although he still believed peaceful resolution was possible with Britain, his political pamphlets helped to spark resentments that led to revolution.

Early Life & Family

Richard Bland II was born on May 6^th, 1710, to Elizabeth Randolph and Richard Bland I, either at Jordan’s Point in Prince George County or in the Bland’s house in Williamsburg, VA. Due to his parents’ status as one of the First Families of the Colonies, Bland was born into a family of great influence in the colonies. At age 9, both his mother and father died, leaving him to be raised by his uncles: William & Richard.

A portrait of young Richard Bland. Source unknown

Bland II attended the College of William & Mary, which he would eventually serve on the Board of Visitors for, and finished his studies at Edinburgh University in Scotland. Bland inherited his father’s estate, which included his plantation, Jordan’s Point and 30 enslaved people.

Elizabeth Blair Bolling: the third wife of Richard Bland, and the only one with a known portrait

Richard Bland had twelve children with his first wife, Anne Poythress, who he was married to for 29 years. Following her death, he eventually married two other wives, Martha Macon Massie, and Elizabeth Blair Boiling.

House of Burgesses

Richard Bland represented Prince Goerge County in the Virginia House of Burgesses for over 30 years until its disillusionment in 1776. He penned many final copies of measures that would be placed before the House and was a part of multiple important subcommittees, including the Propositions and Grievances, Privileges and Elections, Public Claims, Committee on Religion, Committee on Trade. Oftentimes, He tended to be a cautious moderate with regard to politics. His courage of his convictions made him gain the reputation of a leader and became a respected senior member. After John Robinson passed away in 1766, Richard Henry Lee advocated for Richard Bland to replace the Speaker, but the position eventually was given to Richard Bland’s cousin Peyton Randolph. Bland was also a justice, passing the bar exam in 1746, although never practicing as a lawyer. He likely studied for the bar for the sake of better understanding and drafting proposed legislation.

One of Bland’s most important involvements in the House of Burgesses was with the Two Penny Acts of 1755 and 1758. During these two growing seasons, tobacco production was low from droughts, causing the rise of tobacco’s market price which, at the time, was used as currency by the pound. The economic hardship this brought on the colonies was not felt by the Anglican clergy, who were paid in tobacco. The clergy were set to see a 200% increase in pay from the scarcity-induced market price rise. The Two Penny Act provided temporary relief to the colonists by giving the option to pay the clergy’s salary at a rate of two pence per pound. This exchange rate compared to non-drought tobacco prices but denied the clergy from temporarily benefitting from the rise in tobacco prices.

The Two Penny Act was temporary, meant to be in effect for only a year to relieve some of this economic hardship. Richard Bland, a supporter of the act, believed it led to “clergymen’s efforts to monopolize on the inflated tobacco price, which resulted from the poor yields realized that year by the planters [...], [and] Bland was unwilling to stand by and permit the churchmen to profit unfairly on the misfortunes of the other colonists.” Due to his support, the Burgesses made Richard Bland the head of a committee responsible for drafting a temporary law that lasted only a year. After voting on it, the House persuaded crown-appointed Governor Francis Fauquier to go against his royal orders and signed the Two Penny Act into law on behalf of King George II on November 8^th, 1755.

While there was minor protest to the first Two Penny Act, the second received much more backlash from the Anglican clergymen, even calls to have members of the Burgesses hanged. In response, the clergy sent Reverend John Camm to London to get the Two Penny Acts overturned due to both laws lacking a clause which delayed their implementation until the King approved. Having heard Camm’s argument, the Privy Council decided to overturn and void the Two Penny Acts.

The overturning of the Two Penny Acts sparked protest and debate across Virginia about Britain’s power. The acts were written without a suspending clause due to their immediate nature. Delaying action to gain approval from the crown would have allowed the drought to wreak economic havoc on the colony. When the clergy sued because they were not given back pay, the debate that ensued became known as the Parsons’ Cause, a debate which made a name for the first governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry. Richard Bland contributed to the debate with his pamphlet, published in 1760, titled “A letter to the clergy of Virginia.”

Founding Father

In the years leading up to the American Revolution, Richard Bland, while not a skilled orator, was a passionate and often satirical pamphleteer, with a pen that could “charm or sting.” One of his more well-known writings, “An Inquiry Into the Rights of the British Colonies,” discussed how it is “the right of the people to inquire into the conduct of the government, [...] [that] their rights [must be] secured by natural law, [and] that the laws could not be changed without the consent of the people affected by the laws.”

Richard Bland’s status as a leader in the House of Burgesses made him a strong choice to represent Virginia to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, where he signed the Continental Association in 1774. Although he was an outspoken critic of the Crown’s powers in the colonies, he leaned relatively moderately compared to his younger, more radical peers, such as his mentee: Thomas Jefferson. Up until the final year of his life, he was against militaristic action and gaining independence and thought peaceful resolve was still possible with Britain. In 1776, he was invited to the Second Continental Congress, but due to worsening health problems, he had to decline. It was also around this time, as the colonies were on the precipice of independence, that he saw the inevitability of revolution and endorsed it.

Although he lacked radical conviction when it came to independence, Richard Bland held ideas that were surprisingly held ideas that were critical of slavery. Bland was described as being well-read, often reading Enlightenment era texts about the natural law theory of human rights. It was through his exploration of these theories that convinced him that “blacks [were] among the human community of men and women who deserved some degree of protection under the law.” According to Lineous Preston Bland III, it was with Thomas Jefferson that Richard Bland proposed a piece of legislation “that would legalize the emancipation of slaves by their owners, if it was the desire of the master to do so.” Once Richard Bland began to talk about the bill. “he was accused by his fellow legislators of being a traitor to the Colony."

The Bland family graveyard at Jordan Point in Prince George County, VA

Legacy

3 months after the signing of The Declaration of Independence, on October 26th, 1776, Richard Bland died in Williamsburg after collapsing on the street, outliving all three of his wives and leaving all twelve of his children. Richard Bland left behind a country in its infancy, barely held together by an idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Even though he did not live enough to see his ideas and beliefs, which came about through his interrogation of the Crown’s authority, reach their natural conclusion, he helped start the revolution in the minds of his fellow colonists by spreading them, as a Burgess and a pamphleteer.