The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830, painted by George Catlin, 1957.39 The convention met to address demands by western Virginians for equal representation in the state legislature––where age-old arguments for either low taxation or increased spending for internal improvements and education would be debated. Easterners, who needed neither roads nor schools and who feared a threat to their perpetuation of slavery, refused the demands.

Conestoga wagon (Full), about 1830, stenciled by its maker on its back door, “J. B. Kiger/Sperryville, Va.,”1993.48 The Conestoga wagon (developed near Conestoga, Pennsylvania) was designed for hauling freight up and down steep slopes: contents would settle at the middle of its curved bed rather than shift to one end or the other. A lightweight, flat variant carried pioneers from Missouri to the West Coast.

Conestoga wagon (Back), about 1830, stenciled by its maker on its back door, “J. B. Kiger/Sperryville, Va.,”1993.48 The Conestoga wagon (developed near Conestoga, Pennsylvania) was designed for hauling freight up and down steep slopes: contents would settle at the middle of its curved bed rather than shift to one end or the other. A lightweight, flat variant carried pioneers from Missouri to the West Coast.

Conestoga wagon (Detail), about 1830, stenciled by its maker on its back door, “J. B. Kiger/Sperryville, Va.,”1993.48 The Conestoga wagon (developed near Conestoga, Pennsylvania) was designed for hauling freight up and down steep slopes: contents would settle at the middle of its curved bed rather than shift to one end or the other. A lightweight, flat variant carried pioneers from Missouri to the West Coast.

John Randolph dueling pistol Dueling pistols owned by John Randolph of Roanoke, about 1820, 1961.35 John Randolph may have used these pistols in his 1826 duel with Henry Clay.

William Henry Harrison by Alonzo Chappel

Black Hawk (Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak), Sauk war chief When Black Hawk was defeated, he was briefly incarcerated at Fort Monroe, where Robert Matthew Sully painted this portrait.

John Tyler’s death mask, 1862, 1976.10 The mask reputedly was broken by Union soldiers during the Civil War.

“Lake of the Dismal Swamp” by John Gadsby Chapman, 1825, 1995.120 By 1800, tobacco production had exhausted the soil of eastern Virginia, causing some to compare its decay to that of the Dismal Swamp.

“Churches, Blacksmith Shop, and College: A View of Salem in Virginia” by Edward Beyer, 1995.131 Farmers in the Valley and Piedmont produced an abundance of corn and wheat, enabling Virginia to remain the leading agricultural state in the South.