People

Virginia delegate who introduced the resolution for independence in the Continental Congress on June 7, 1776. Lee's political career was shaped by years of service in the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg, where he became one of the most outspoken critics of British policy.

Virginia's most electrifying revolutionary orator, whose speeches in the House of Burgesses against the Stamp Act and later cry of "Give me liberty, or give me death" helped galvanize colonial resistance. He served as the first and sixth governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The last royal governor of Virginia, whose seizure of the colony's gunpowder from the Williamsburg magazine in April 1775 provoked an armed confrontation with Patrick Henry's militia. Dunmore's flight from the Governor's Palace marked the effective end of royal authority in Virginia.

Author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, a document that influenced both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Mason was a reluctant public figure whose political philosophy shaped the nation's founding documents more than most Americans realize.

America's first law professor, who taught Jefferson, Marshall, and Clay at the College of William & Mary. Wythe signed the Declaration of Independence and shaped Virginia's legal system. His influence on American law came through his students as much as his own public service.

Williamsburg's most prominent political figure in the years before independence, Randolph served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses and was elected the first president of the Continental Congress in 1774. His death in 1775 removed a moderating voice at a critical moment.

An enslaved man who served as a double agent for the Continental Army, infiltrating British camps and providing intelligence to the Marquis de Lafayette during the 1781 Virginia campaign. His espionage contributed to the American understanding of British troop movements before Yorktown. He was granted freedom by the Virginia legislature in 1787.

Wife of the president of the College of William & Mary, who navigated the disruption of wartime Williamsburg as the college struggled to maintain operations. Her household, like many in the town, absorbed the consequences of political upheaval and military presence during the Virginia campaigns.