Notes for William Brockenbrough, Judge: Brief summary: Long distinguished in public life; represented Essex in the house of Delegates, 1802-1803, appointed member of the Council, May, 1803; judge of the General Court, February 7, 1809; Judge of Court of Appeals.
The Rise of Campaigning Colonial political ideals held that gentlemen should not campaign for public office; the voters on election day would know the character of their neighbors well enough to decide. Most men confined their persuasion to "treating" with food and alcohol on election day, but good taste dictated that the feasting be as non-partisan as possible. The birth of the United States marked the beginning of a new style of politics in Virginia. Congressional seats spanning four or more counties replaced the county House of Delegates slots as the top political prize. A man could not count on his good reputation extending outside of his own county and had to make himself known. The spread of newspapers brought better informed voters who were interested in how a man stood on the national issues of the day. Political parties were forming, adding yet another new dimension to elections. Gentlemen had to work for office as they never had before. By the early 1800s, winning elections in Essex required time and effort far beyond what had been necessary as little as ten years before. Twenty four year old William Brockenbrough gave an excellent description of his campaign for the Essex seat in the House of Delegates in 1801: "There were four candidates besides myself. I was therefore obliged to be active.. Two months before the election were almost exclusively appropriated to electioneering. I traversed every part of the county and became acquainted with almost the whole of the people, with whom before that time I was wholly unacquainted." "I had a good opportunity of observing the state of their manners & sentiments. Many of them I found to be ignorant, brutified, and almost totally indifferent to the exercise of their most important rights.
The Debate Over a Women's Place A young Essex intellectual, William Brockenbrough, was among a handful of thinkers who challenged ancient concepts of women. Elected by Essex to the House of Delegates in 1802 at age twenty-three, Brockenbrough practiced law in Richmond after serving his term and joined a circle of progressive thinkers that included several other county natives. Known informally as the "Rainbow" group, these gentlemen wrote a series of essays in the early 1800s calling for greater democracy, public schools, and various other far-reaching reforms. Brockenbrough was probably viewed as a radical when his piece "On the Condition of Women" appeared in the Richmond Enquirer in 1804. The first line of the essay advanced a view that almost every American male denied: "The superiority which was insolently assumed by the male sex, has almost entirely vanished before the light of reason." The bold essay demanded an end to laws that gave all of a women's property of her husband upon marriage. Countless women had no legal protection when greedy husbands squandered away their wives' dowries, leaving them penniless. In an even more daring move, Brockenbrough coupled a plea for female legal rights with a sympathetic look at extending political privileges: "Although many cogent reasons may with great propriety be urged in favor of an extension of the elective franchise to the female sex, I do not mean at this time to advocate such a revolution in our political systems. All that I at present contend for is, that women ought to have the same legal rights as men and that the legislature ought to extend the same opportunities of intellectual improvement to one sex as the other." Although most of Brockenbrough's proposals would succeed only in the distant future, his adventurous stand marked a sharp break with entrenched attitudes.
More About William Brockenbrough, Judge: Fact 1: Bet. 1801 - 1803, Represented Essex county in the House of Delegates 1801-02, 1802-03. Fact 2: Bet. 1807 - 1809, Rep. Hanover 1807-08, 1808-09. Fact 3: May 1803, Appointed member of Council. Fact 4: February 07, 1809, Judge of the General Court. Fact 5: Later Judge of the Court of Appeals.
More About William Brockenbrough, Judge and Judith Robinson White: Marriage: 1806
Children of William Brockenbrough, Judge and Judith Robinson White are:
William Brockenbrough, Judge (b. July 10, 1778, d. December 10, 1838)
Notes for William Brockenbrough, Judge: