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At issue was whether or how to pay almost $34 million in debt that the Commonwealth of Virginia incurred when it sold bonds between 1822 and 1861 to raise money to subsidize construction of canals, toll roads, and railroads. The state sold most of the bonds during the 1850s for railroad construction and used the money to purchase stock in the corporations that the General Assembly created for constructing what at the time were called internal improvements. Most of the debt was in the form of bonds that paid 6 percent annual interest and matured in thirty-four years. The Virginia debt was by f...

Early Years John Strode Barbour was born on December 29, 1820, in Culpeper County, the eldest of five sons and second of seven children of John Strode Barbour (1790–1855) and Eliza A. Byrne Barbour. He was educated in private schools before attending the University of Virginia from 1838 to 1842. He studied law before leaving the university and was a practicing attorney in Culpeper County from 1842 until about 1851. In 1847 Barbour was elected as a Democrat to the House of Delegates. He served for four years and soon became involved with railroads. The state regularly subsidized railroad con...