gave
an address to the representatives reminding them of their state's dominant
position in the Revolutionary War:
In recurring to our past history, we recognize the State
of Virginia as the leader in the first great struggle for independence;
foremost not only in the vindication of her own rights, but in the
assertion and defence of the endangered liberties of her sister colonies;
and by the eloquence of her orators and statesmen, as well as by the
courage of her people arousing the whole American people in resistance
to British aggression. 4
Not only did Anderson hail Virginia's leadership in the nation's
history, he continued by entreating Virginia to secede from the Union
and thus become the leader of the Southern Confederacy declaring, "The
Southern people, under your lead, will again be united, and liberty,
prosperity and power, in happy union, will take up their abode in the
great Southern Republic…These are the noble gifts which Virginia can
again confer on the country…."5
An editorial from The Alexandria Gazette, on the other hand, argued
for the antithesis of Anderson's speech, viewing Virginia's prominence
in the Union as a reason for remaining in it: "Who can contemplate Virginia
as she is…possessing and wielding, if she will only choose to exert
it, a controlling influence in this government - and then view her as
the tail of a Southern Confederacy, standing as a guard, and playing
patrol for 'King Cotton?'"6 This same type of argument appeared in another
editorial in which the author proclaimed that Virginia's, whose role
in the founding of the nation was so great, should not break ties with
the Union based on its recent actions in regard to the South, but rather
should struggle to protect it.7 Clearly, both