Early Years
Spotswood was born in the English colony of Tangier, Morocco, in 1676, where his father, Robert Spotswood, was a surgeon for the English garrison. Alexander's mother, Catherine Spotswood, brought the young boy to England in 1683; his father died in 1688. In 1693 Spotswood began his military career as an ensign in the earl of Bath's infantry regiment in Flanders; he rose through the ranks to lieutenant colonel. Spotswood was seriously wounded at the Battle of Blenheim (1704) during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714); legend has it that he was struck by a four-pound cannonball, which he kept as a souvenir and liked to show his guests. In 1708 he was taken prisoner in the Battle of Oudenarde, but John Churchill, duke of Marlborough, negotiated his release. By September 1709 Spotswood had become disappointed by failed promises of promotion and sought advancement outside the military, though he retained an interest in military matters throughout his life. On February 18, 1710, Queen Anne commissioned Spotswood as lieutenant governor of Virginia—a position he obtained either through Marlborough or through his friendship with George Hamilton, earl of Orkney and governor of Virginia (1704–1737).
Lieutenant Governorship
Not all of Spotswood's policies were so vehemently opposed. He sent the Virginia militia to the North Carolina border when Tuscarora Indian uprisings in 1711 and 1712 threatened that colony, and he took an aggressive stand against pirates, who were wreaking havoc on colonial trade in Virginia and North Carolina. It was Spotswood who in 1718 dispatched the force that killed the notorious Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, in Ocracoke. Spotswood also strengthened and expanded the colony's western frontier by leading an expedition in the summer of 1716 across the Blue Ridge Mountains and down into the Shenandoah Valley. He claimed these lands for the king, and in the 1730s the area was settled as a buffer against French and Indian aggression. Similarly, he established a fortified settlement at Germanna on the Rapidan River as a frontier outpost.
Removal from Office
Spotswood learned too late that he had several masters to please, each with a different set of interests: English merchants, imperial bureaucrats, and the Virginia planter elite. The last were so well connected to Britain and the Privy Council that they brought considerable pressure on policies that did not meet their favor. Indeed, by 1717 the imperial government had disallowed the Tobacco Inspection Act and the Indian Trade Act. Though the governor tried a number of schemes to increase his power—appointing judges for his newly created court of oyer and terminer, calling for new elections, trying to remove certain members of the Council (including Byrd), insisting he could appoint new parish ministers without consulting the local vestry—his political position had been sorely weakened. As a soldier, Spotswood was accustomed to commanding and being obeyed. As a governor, he had discovered that he could not overcome the increasing power of Virginia planters as exhibited through the House of Burgesses and Council.
Spotswood and the Council achieved a détente on April 29, 1720, when both parties resolved "to act for the future as cordial friends in the administration of the government." Central to this change was Spotswood's commitment to becoming a permanent Virginia resident. Later that year, as part of a series of land grants awarded to settlers to create a buffer against the French, the Council granted Spotswood 86,000 acres in the newly created Spotsylvania County. In a letter dated June 11, 1722, Spotswood wrote to the Board of Trade that the "angry proceedings of the Assembly in 1718" were "balanced by their good agreement in 1722."
Later Years
In 1724, Spotswood returned to England to secure title to his lands in Virginia and to determine the taxes on the vast grants. That same year he married Anne Butler Brayne of St. Margaret's Parish, Westminster, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. With the final confirmation of his large grants and clarification of his taxes in February 1729, Spotswood was able to return to Virginia in the same year with his wife and her sister. In 1730, imperial officials appointed him to a ten-year term as deputy postmaster general for North America. In addition to bringing postal service as far south as Williamsburg (it had previously extended only to Philadelphia), he selected Benjamin Franklin as Philadelphia postmaster in 1737.
Time Line
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1676 - Alexander Spotswood is born in the English colony of Tangier, Morocco, to Robert and Catherine Spotswood.
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October 1683 - Catherine Spotswood and her son Alexander move from Tangier, Morocco, to England.
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1693 - Alexander Spotswood joins the British military, beginning his career as an ensign in the earl of Bath's infantry regiment in Flanders.
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August 13, 1704 - Alexander Spotswood is wounded at the Battle of Blenheim during the War of Spanish Succession.
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July 11, 1708 - The French take Alexander Spotswood prisoner during the Battle of Oudenarde during the War of Spanish Succession. John Churchill, duke of Marlborough, negotiates Spotswood's release.
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February 18, 1710 - Queen Anne signs Alexander Spotswood's commission as lieutenant governor of Virginia.
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June 21, 1710 - The new lieutenant governor, Alexander Spotswood, lands in Jamestown.
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June 23, 1710 - Alexander Spotswood publishes the royal commission outlining his power and authority as governor of Virginia, and assumes his post as lieutenant governor.
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1710–1722 - Construction of the Governor's Palace, in Williamsburg, begun in 1705, is completed with the encouragement of Alexander Spotswood.
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1710–1716 - Alexander Spotswood helps to rebuild the College of William and Mary, which was damaged in a 1705 fire.
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1710 - Alexander Spotswood proposes the construction of a new Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg.
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1711–1712 - Alexander Spotswood sends the Virginia militia to the North Carolina border in response to that colony's request for help quelling Indian uprisings.
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November 1713 - Alexander Spotswood introduces the Tobacco Inspection Act, which requires that tobacco be inspected before entering the European market. The act incorporates a patronage scheme, creating forty tobacco inspectorships worth £250 a year. Spotswood will award twenty-nine of these inspectorships to sitting burgesses.
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December 1714 - Alexander Spotswood endorses the Indian Trade Act, which gives the Virginia Indian Company a twenty-year monopoly on American Indian trade and charges the company with maintaining Fort Christanna, a settlement in southern Virginia for smaller Indian tribes.
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1715 - A powder magazine, the construction of which is supported by Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood, is completed in Williamsburg.
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September 7, 1715 - Alexander Spotswood dissolves the House of Burgesses after a five-week session, calling them "a Set of Representatives, whom Heaven has not generally endowed with the Ordinary Qualifications requisite to Legislators."
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1716 - Alexander Spotswood takes up residence in the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg.
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1716 - Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood promotes expansion into the Blue Ridge Mountains when his "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" expedition crosses into the Shenandoah Valley. He and a party of about fifty gentlemen, possibly including William Dandridge, embark on the expedition; German and Scots-Irish families from Pennsylvania soon follow.
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1717 - In response to pressure from influential Virginia politicians, the Privy Council disallows the Tobacco Inspection Act and the Indian Trade Act, both sponsored by Alexander Spotswood.
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November 22, 1718 - The pirate Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, is killed in a fight with a party of soldiers and sailors, led by Robert Maynard and commissioned by Virginia lieutenant governor Alexander Spotswood.
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April 29, 1720 - Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood and the governor's Council end a ten-year period of tense relations by resolving "to act for the future as cordial friends in the administration of the government."
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December 1720 - The governor's Council awards Alexander Spotswood 86,000 acres in the newly created Spotsylvania County.
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1721 - James Blair leaves on a third trip to England to lobby for the removal of an executive, this time Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood. While abroad Blair arranges for the publication of a five-volume collection of his sermons.
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April 3, 1722 - Hugh Drysdale is appointed lieutenant governor of Virginia after the king's ministers decide to replace Alexander Spotswood.
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1724 - Alexander Spotswood sails to England to secure title to his Virginia lands and to settle taxation issues.
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1724 - Alexander Spotswood marries Anne Butler Brayne in England. They will have two sons and two daughters.
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February 1729 - Spotswood returns to Virginia with his wife, Anne Spotswood, and his sister-in-law, Dorothea Brayne.
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1730 - Alexander Spotswood is appointed deputy postmaster general of North America for a ten-year term. During his tenure, he extends postal service south to Williamsburg and appoints Benjamin Franklin postmaster of Philadelphia.
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1739 - The British decide to use colonial troops in their military campaign against Spanish provinces in the Americas. Alexander Spotswood is appointed brigadier general and quartermaster general of troops in America.
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June 7, 1740 - On a trip to Annapolis, Maryland, to raise troops and consult with colonial governors in preparation for an attack on the Spanish in Cartagena, Colombia, Alexander Spotswood dies after a brief illness. His burial site is unknown.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Shrock, R. Alexander Spotswood (1676–1740). (2014, December 31). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Spotswood_Alexander_1676-1740.
- MLA Citation:
Shrock, Randall. "Alexander Spotswood (1676–1740)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 31 Dec. 2014. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: July 25, 2011 | Last modified: December 31, 2014
Contributed by Randall Shrock, a professor of history at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.