The Present State of Virginia

In Short

Written by a former professor at the College of William and Mary, this 1724 treatise offers a detailed direct observation of colonial Virginia's environment, institutions, and diverse population. The text moves from speculative theories regarding the origin of Native Americans to practical descriptions of tobacco cultivation, local governance, and urban design in Williamsburg. It culminates in a series of administrative proposals aimed at reforming the local clergy, expanding higher education, and diversifying the colonial economy. The book remains an indispensable historical source for its precise, unvarnished portrait of early American plantation society and imperial policy.

The Story

The argument begins with an attempt to place the American continent and its inhabitants within a biblical framework. Observing fossilized sea life buried deep inland, the treatise attributes these remains to the Noahic deluge and views Native Americans as descendants of ancient Canaanite populations living in a primitive state. It highlights the geopolitical friction between British holdings and French settlements along the St. Lawrence and Mississippi rivers, praising Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood’s expedition over the Appalachian Mountains to secure English interests against French-aligned Native groups.

Transitioning to geography and settlement patterns, the narrative charts the maritime approach from Europe across the Atlantic to the Capes of Virginia. It delineates the colony's four primary river systems—the James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac—explaining how these waterways enable direct trade with British merchants right at individual plantation docks. The text details Williamsburg as the political and cultural center, noting the structure of local government where elected Burgesses and the Governor’s Council craft laws tailored to colonial needs while remaining subject to royal oversight.

The focus then turns to the human infrastructure and agricultural engine of the colony. It describes the daily routines, social habits, and intellectual tendencies of Virginia planters, noting their preference for practical affairs over abstract academic study. The labor force is broken down into indentured servants, transported convicts, and enslaved African laborers who perform the arduous work of clearing timber and tending tobacco crops. The text notes how the intense focus on tobacco as a main currency draws energy away from local manufacturing and alternative trades.

Finally, the treatise addresses structural reforms necessary for long-term colonial prosperity. It proposes a formal academic system for the College of William and Mary, including defined degree paths and scholarships to English universities. It urges the Church of England to resolve disputes between parish vestries and ministers, advocating for stable salaries and well-qualified clergy who fit the moderate religious character of the population. The narrative concludes with economic schemes to drain coastal marshes, erect paper mills, establish commercial fisheries, and moderate the slave trade in favor of structured labor that would better integrate Virginia into the broader economic power of the British Empire.

How It Unfolds

Mapping the realm and its origin The text opens by examining the natural environment and native inhabitants through a theological lens, treating inland fossil shells as remnants of the biblical flood. It warns against French expansion behind the Appalachians and celebrates Governor Spotswood’s expedition across the mountains to establish English claim over the interior.

Navigating the rivers and towns Navigational details show how transatlantic ships easily enter the Chesapeake Bay to navigate four major rivers. Houses and plantations sit along these tidal waters, allowing landowners to trade directly with English ports without inland freight costs.

Examining colonial society and labor The narrative surveys daily life, explaining the cultivation of tobacco and the varied classes of laborers, including indentured servants, transported felons, and enslaved Africans. It details how local government operates through parish vestries, county courts, and the General Assembly in Williamsburg.

Reforming education and the church The focus shifts to institutional improvement, outlining a rigorous governance structure for the College of William and Mary to educate local youth. It simultaneously addresses tension within the Anglican church, arguing for royal presentation rights to settle disputes between local vestries and ministers.

Building an economic future The book closes with concrete proposals for industrial expansion, including marsh drainage, paper manufacturing, and river fisheries. It advocates moderating the import of enslaved labor to encourage skilled trades, ensuring the colony's enduring profitability for the Crown.

The People

• Hugh Jones wants to provide an accurate, practical account of Virginia to inform English authority and improve colonial institutions. He sees the colony's immense potential but remains frustrated by superficial education, neglected church governance, and a reliance on single-crop agriculture. He ends his account as an outspoken advocate for systematic reform in education, religion, and trade.
• Governor Alexander Spotswood seeks to secure the western frontier against French encroachments and promote internal development. He leads an expedition over the Appalachian Mountains, founding the "Tramontane Order" to encourage western settlement, and consistently defends the rights of the Anglican clergy against contentious local vestries.
• The Virginia Planters desire wealth and independence through tobacco farming, preferring practical business and quick affairs over deep academic study. Their strict focus on their primary crop makes them resistant to new manufacturing projects, though they maintain a distinct, self-reliant political culture within the British Empire.
• The Enslaved and Indentured Laborers form the primary workforce driving the plantation economy. Convicts and indentured servants work off their terms under varying conditions, while enslaved Africans perform the heaviest physical labor under an absolute system of legal ownership that keeps them bound to the land.

In Its Own Voice

"I have a much truer and clearer Notion of the Canaanites, Hebrews, &c. since I have seen the Indians, than I could have before, who afford living Examples of the primitive Savages, and Idolaters."

(On comparing Native American societies to ancient biblical accounts.)

"They are more inclinable to read Men by Business and Conversation, than to dive into Books, and are for the most Part only desirous of learning what is absolutely necessary, in the shortest and best Method."

(Describing the intellectual habits and pragmatic temper of native-born Virginians.)

"Upon this Account they think it Folly to take off their Hands (or Negroes) and employ their Care and Time about any thing, that may make them lessen their Crop of Tobacco."

(Explaining why the plantation economy resists branching out into manufacturing.)

What It's Really About

Beneath its descriptive inventory of trees, rivers, and crop yields, the book is an argument for rational imperial planning. It addresses how a distant colony can balance local self-governance with loyalty to the Crown, and how an economy built entirely on raw agricultural export might evolve into a diversified, self-sustaining society. The text constantly weighs the tension between private profit and public order, questioning how church authority and higher education can maintain stability in a rapidly expanding frontier. It also reflects the uncritical 18th-century European assumptions regarding providence, racial hierarchy, and the right of empire to reshape foreign landscapes and populations for institutional gain.

Why Read It Today

This work appeals to readers of early American history, historical geography, and colonial literature who want an unvarnished, firsthand look at 1720s North America. It offers a rare, granular snapshot of Williamsburg just as it grew into a political center, providing crisp details on everything from swamp drainage and hominy mortars to high-stakes parish politics.

The reading experience is direct, observational, and surprisingly clear. Rather than relying on ornate prose, the text moves forward with the matter-of-fact tone of a practical administrator outlining a plan.

Modern readers must navigate period attitudes that are often jarring. The author views Native Americans through an ethnocentric biblical lens and accepts chattel slavery as an unexamined economic reality, offering justifications for forced labor that reveal the casual brutality of the era's colonial mindset. Yet it is precisely these unfiltered perspective markers that make the text so valuable: it preserves the exact assumptions, economic calculations, and social structures that built the early Atlantic world.