Hening's "Statutes at Large," published in 1823, is an eminently valuable collection of the laws of colonial Virginia, beginning with the Assembly of 1619. Hening's own quotation from Priestley, "The Laws of a country are necessarily connected with everything belonging to the people of it: so that a thorough knowledge of them and of their progress would inform us of everything that was most useful to be known," indicates the range and weight of his thirteen volumes.
William Stith's "The History of the Discovery and First Settlement of Virginia" (1747) gives some valuable documents and a picture of the first years at Jamestown.
Alexander Brown's "Genesis of the United States", 2 vols. (1890), is a very valuable work, giving historical manuscripts and tracts. Less valuable is his "First Republic in America" (1898), in which the author attempts to weave his material into a historical narrative.
Philip A. Bruce's "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century", 2 vols. (1896), is a highly interesting and exhaustive survey.
The same author has written "Social Life of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century" (1907) and "Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century", 2 vols. (1910).
John Fiske's "Virginia and Her Neighbors," 2 vols. (1897), and John E.
Cooke's Virginia (American Commonwealth Series, 1883) are written in lighter vein than the foregoing histories and possess much literary distinction.
On Captain John Smith there are writings innumerable. Some writers give credence to Smith's own narratives, while others do not. John Fiske accepts the narratives as history, and Edward Arber, who has edited them (2 vols., 1884), holds that the "General History" (1624) is more reliable than the "True Relation" (1608). On the other side, as doubters of Smith's credibility, are ranged such weighty authorities as Charles Deane, Henry Adams, and Alexander Brown.
Thomas J. Wertenbaker's "Virginia under the Stuarts" (1914) is a painstaking effort to set forth the political history of the colony in the light of recent historical investigation, but the book is devoid of literary attractiveness.
MARYLAND
"The Archives of Maryland", 37 vols. (1883-) contain the official documents of the province. John L. Bozman's " History of Maryland", 2 vols. (1837), contains much valuable material for the years 1634-1658.
J. T. Scharf's "History of Maryland", 3 vols. (1879), is a solid piece of work; but the reader will turn by preference to the more readable books by John Fiske, "Virginia and Her Neighbors", and William H. Browne, "Maryland, The History of a Palatinate " ("American Commonwealth Series," 1884).
Browne has also written "George and Cecilius Calvert "(1890).
THE CAROLINAS
"The Colonial Records of North Carolina", 10 vols. (1886-1890), are a mine of information about both North and South Carolina.
Francis L. Hawks's "History of North Carolina", 2 vols. (1857-8), remains the most substantial work on the colony to the year 1729.
Samuel A. Ashe's "History of North Carolina" (1908) carries the political history down to 1783.
Edward McCrady's "History of South Carolina under the Proprietary Government" (1897) and "South Carolina under the Royal Government" (1899) have superseded the older histories by Ramsay and Hewitt.
GEORGIA
The best histories of Georgia are those by William B. Stevens, 2 vols. (1847, 1859), and Charles C. Jones, 2 vols. (1883). Robert Wright's "Memoir of General James Oglethorpe" (1867) is still the best life of the founder of Georgia.
In the "American Nation Series" and in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America", the reader will find accounts of the Southern colonies written by specialists and accompanied by much critical apparatus. Further lists will be found appended to the articles on the several States in "The Encyclopaedia Britannica", 11th edition.
