The independent city of Alexandria was established in 1749, incorporated as a town in 1779, and as a city in 1852.

Legislative petitions, a practice which was carried over from British law, were used as a means to seek remedy for grievance for a number of types of actions ranging from divorce to taxation. These lists may prove invaluable in determining neighbors, comrades or kin. Though now widely available to researchers, most of these petitions were abstracted by Hamilton J. Eckenrode and published as "Calendar of Legislative Petitions, Arranged by Counties; Accomac to Bedford," in the Fifth Annual Report of the Library Board of the Virginia State Library, 1907-1908. Mr. Pippenger has used the Eckenrode abstracts as a foundation for the present work, inserted the petitions which had been erroneously omitted, and made notations regarding further documentation or outcome of the petitions. Over 205 petitions which contain signatures of more than 6,000 different petitioners.

Revolutionary Economies explores the roots of American capitalism through the archaeology and history of the Chesapeake Bay region. Thomas W. Cuddy looks at the archaeological evidence concerning revolutionary-period bakeries and bakers (some of whom had been students of Adam Smith in Scotland) in Annapolis, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia to examine the development of local production systems that characterized these important early American urban centers. Revolutionary Economies charts the stages of production from household manufacturing to larger workshops to mechanized factories and opens a window on the country's economic history. The volume's blend of archaeology, history, and economics makes it a prototypical study in historical archaeology.