About

Robert Carter Nicholas (1729–1780) was a member of a privileged, elite Virginia family, prominent lawyer, tobacco planter, leading member of the House of Burgesses, treasurer, churchman, and active participant in the political dramas that led to independence. His life allows us to see how men and women of the upper classes lived; how they depended on slavery for their wealth and social status; how they were surrounded by enslaved people almost all of the time; how they brought up and educated their children; how the complex international tobacco economy on which they depended operated; how the institutions of government, such as the legislature and the courts, functioned; and how members of elite families dominated the politics of the time. Tracing the life of this one Virginian illuminates the experiences of other Virginians during two decades of profoundly important challenges and changes, which culminated in the decision of elite leaders like Nicholas-who at first glance appear to have had nothing to gain and much to lose by risking a revolution-to vote for independence from Great Britain in 1776.

Brent Tarter is a founding editor of the Library of Virginia’s Dictionary of Virginia Biography and a cofounder of the annual Virginia Forum. He is the author of numerous books, including The Grandees of Government: The Origins and Persistence of Undemocratic Politics in Virginia; Virginians and Their Histories; Vignettes of Colonial Virginia: Remarkable Stories from the Founding of America; and Virginia’s Forgotten Founder: The World of Robert Carter Nicholas.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.