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The War for American Independence was finally over, and Fredericksburg looked forward to a period of rebuilding. A new start for Fredericksburg--the 1780s Date published: 5/31/2003 By Gwen Woolf Part 12 of a series EVEN AS THE STIRRING events at Yorktown were taking place in October 1781, the Virginia House of Delegates was reconvening in Richmond, having sat at Charlottesville and then briefly at Staunton after fleeing the Capitol in May. In view of the wartime crises that clamored for the attention of the delegates, it might seem strange that their first act on Nov. 5 was the incorporation of Fredericksburg. By the fall of 1781, the citizens of Fredericksburg, perhaps more than most Virginians, had experienced fear of invasion, ruinous inflation, and appropriation of their produce, horses, and wagons to supply the troops now fighting on Virginia soil. Under these extreme conditions, Fredericksburg had also been without a court since May 1780, when the military pre-empted the courthouse. (The justices had moved to temporary quarters at Holladay's tavern, awaiting the completion of their courthouse on the Po River.) Fredericksburg's problems were deemed sufficiently urgent to be given immediate attention once the delegates returned after their five-month exile from the Capitol. Legislation was the speediest way to remedy the lack of court service and other problems for the unhappy residents. A law incorporating Fredericksburg was passed only two weeks after the British surrender at Yorktown. The brief act called for the election of 12 councilmen, who were to choose from among themselves a mayor and a recorder and four council members designated as aldermen. These gentlemen were authorized to hold a Court of Hustings on the third Monday of each month. That court would have the authority to hear cases originating within the town "in the same manner as the county courts may do." The Common Council had the authority to pass ordinances and assess the citizens for the repair of the roads. Its principal charge was to hold a market twice a week, to be managed by a Clerk of the Market. What the act did not make explicit was that the town was in shambles. When the first elections were held in March 1782, there was not a public building fit for the council to meet in. It was convened in the Coffee House at the corner of Caroline and Amelia streets.
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