William Henry Brodnax was born about 1786 in Brunswick County, the son of William Brodnax, a lawyer, and Frances Belfield Walker Brodnax. About 1804 or 1805 he attended Hampden-Sydney College, which awarded him an honorary MA in 1830. After studying law in Petersburg, Brodnax established a lucrative practice in that city and in neighboring Brunswick, Dinwiddie, and Greensville counties. Eventually he became very prosperous, married Ann Eliza Withers, and lived on the 1,600-acre Kingston plantation in Dinwiddie County. The couple had four sons and two daughters.
Brodnax represented Greensville County in the House of Delegates for the session of 1818–1819 and served on the Committees for Courts of Justice and on Propositions and Grievances. The assembly elected him a brigadier general of the state militia on January 24, 1824, and later that year detailed him to lead the welcoming escort when the marquis de Lafayette entered Virginia on his triumphal return to the United States. Brodnax was also a presidential elector for William H. Crawford in 1824.
In 1830 the voters of Dinwiddie County elected Brodnax to the first of three consecutive one-year terms in the House of Delegates. During his first term he served again on the Committee for Courts of Justice and also on the Committees of Privileges and Elections and of Schools and Colleges. During his second and third terms he chaired the Committee for Courts of Justice.
Brodnax owned or had a life interest in more than 100 slaves, according to his estate inventory. He condemned abolitionists for seeking to violate the property rights of slaveholders but expressed equal disdain for apologists for slavery. In a long speech begun in the House of Delegates on January 19, 1832, Brodnax characterized slavery's influence on Virginia as "a mildew" and called it "the incubus which paralyzes her energies and retards her every effort at advancement."
Brodnax emphatically supported the southern states' rights political philosophy all of his public life. Like many other Virginia political leaders he condemned Andrew Jackson's handling of the Nullification Crisis early in the 1830s and thereafter allied himself with the evolving Whig Party. In his last political act Brodnax sent to a meeting of Petersburg Whigs a public letter dated October 14, 1834, and printed ten days later in the Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser. Perhaps fearful of an outbreak of cholera in the area, he excused his absence on the basis of his poor health but used the opportunity to denounce Jackson for betraying the principles of 1776 and the promises he made when elected. Despite his precautions, Brodnax contracted cholera and died at his Kingston plantation on October 23, 1834. He was buried in the cemetery at Dinwiddie Court House.
Time Line
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ca. 1786 - William H. Brodnax is born in Brunswick County, the son of William Brodnax and Frances Belfield Walker Brodnax.
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1804 or 1805 - William H. Brodnax attends Hampden-Sydney College.
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1818–1819 - William H. Brodnax represents Greensville County in the House of Delegates.
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January 24, 1824 - The General Assembly elects William H. Brodnax a brigadier general of the state militia.
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May 1829 - William H. Brodnax wins election as a delegate to the state constitutional convention. He is one of four representatives of a district comprising Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Lunenburg, and Mecklenburg counties.
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1830–1833 - William H. Brodnax represents Dinwiddie County in the House of Delegates.
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1830 - Hampden-Sydney College awards William H. Brodnax an honorary MA.
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August 21–22, 1831 - Nat Turner, a slave preacher and self-styled prophet, leads the deadliest slave revolt in Virginia's history, which in just twelve hours leaves fifty-five white people dead in Southampton County.
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December 12, 1831 - The House of Delegates asks a select committee, already assigned to examine the governor's suggestions regarding slavery, to investigate the possibility of colonizing free blacks.
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January 16, 1832 - The House of Delegates' select committee issues a report, declaring it "inexpedient for the present to make any legislative enactments for the abolition of slavery."
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January 19, 1832 - In a speech to the House of Delegates, William H. Brodnax characterizes slavery's influence on Virginia as "a mildew."
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January 25, 1832 - The House of Delegates votes not to legislate on emancipation, deeming "that a further action for the removal of the slaves should await a more definite development of public opinion."
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October 14, 1834 - William H. Brodnax writes an open letter denouncing President Andrew Jackson for betraying the principles of 1776.
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October 23, 1834 - William H. Brodnax dies of cholera at his Kingston plantation in Dinwiddie County. He is buried at the cemetery at Dinwiddie Court House.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Freehling, A. G., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. William H. Brodnax (ca. 1786–1834). (2016, February 25). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Brodnax_William_H_ca_1786-1834.
- MLA Citation:
Freehling, Allison Goodyear and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "William H. Brodnax (ca. 1786–1834)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, 25 Feb. 2016. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: January 7, 2015 | Last modified: February 25, 2016
Contributed by Allison Goodyear Freehling and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography.