The reaction in the revolution in Virginia began in 1783, with the establishment of peace, and it had gained great strength by the fall of 1784. War had compelled the conservatives to make concessions they had not dreamed of in 1775, but the return of peace awoke the desire for an ordered and more or less aristocratic state of society akin to that which had existed in the colonial era. The conservatives, however, did not plan in a narrow and intolerant spirit. They simply lacked faith in democracy, and accordingly wished to return to former conditions as far as possible, making due allowance for the changes wrought by the Revolution. The establishment had been an important factor in the old social and political order, and the conservatives aimed at reviving it in a new and more liberal form, largely for the aid it would afford them in maintaining their threatened position. The evangelical sects had exerted a democratic influence in politics and society; the Revolution, with its denial of authority, had greatly encouraged the spread of liberal ideas. As a consequence, the mass of the population was tending to become alienated from the old political leaders and the old political and social caste, and to assert itself in political questions.
from pages 91-92, Separation of Church and State