Archibald Cary

Archibald Cary (January 24, 1721 – February 26, 1787)Tyler, "Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography", 8.] was a public figure from the colony of Virginia.

Cary was a member of the House of Burgesses from 1756 to 1776. In 1764, he served on the committee of Burgesses that wrote resolutions against the proposed Stamp Act, but the following year he voted against Patrick Henry's Virginia Resolves as being premature and too inflammatory.

As tensions with the mother country escalated, in 1773 Cary served as a member of Virginia's committee of correspondence. When the House of Burgesses was dissolved at the outset of the American Revolution, he served as a delegate to the Virginia Conventions. At the Virginia Convention in May 1776, he served as the chairmen of the committee of the whole that adopted the celebrated resolution of independence, which instructed Virginia's delegates to the Second Continental Congress to propose a declaration of independence. After Virginia became an independent state in 1776, Cary became the first speaker of the Senate of Virginia, and remained in that position until his death.

During the American Revolutionary War, Cary was placed in charge of recruitment and supplies in central Virginia. He was asked by Thomas Jefferson, his colleague in the House of Burgesses and fellow graduate of William and Mary College, to loan the Virginia Colony the funds to underwrite the cost of the Virginia militia, on the promise by Jefferson he would be repaid later, though he never was repaid. He did fund the Virginia militia for the following reason: though he had always been loyal to the Crown (he had a Charter from the Crown for all his thousands of acres of property), he had grown tired of British attempts to continue promoting the sale of slaves in America. Although he owned some 200 slaves, he had come to the conclusion that everything about the slave trade and the owning of slaves was only going to create major problems.

He married Mary Randolph, the daughter of Richard Randolph of Curles. One of their daughters married Thomas Mann Randolph. Cary was known among Baptists for arresting many Baptists for preaching without a license. There was one incident were a Baptist preacher continued to preach from his cell window. To solve the problem, Cary put a wall around the prison.

His nickname was "Old Iron". He operated a mill which fabricated iron. He owned British thoroughbred horses and traded with England.

Notes

References

*Brock, Robert K. "Archibald Cary of Ampthill: Wheelhorse of the Revolution". Richmond, Virginia: Garrett and Massie, 1937.
*Little, Lewis Peyton. "Imprisoned Preachers and Religious Liberty in Virginia." Lynchburg, Virginia: J.P. Bell Co., 1938.
*Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. "Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography", volume 2. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1915.