He took pride in his ancestors, particularly Carter Braxton (who signed the Declaration of Independence) at whose ancestral estate Chericoke in King William County, Virginia he spent most of his childhood.

[4] He supported the convention's mostly successful efforts to erase the gains in civil rights for African-Americans made during Reconstruction, and also effectively disenfranchised half of the Commonwealth's poor white voters.

Braxton promoted the commission as an independent agency that would balance the interests of consumers and common carriers, subject to review only by the Virginia Supreme Court.

In particular, Braxton considered the Fifteenth Amendment an abomination aimed at the South; and thus justified the poll tax and other methods to limit black citizens' voting rights.

[8] In preparation for the constitutional convention, Braxton wrote to Booker T. Washington concerning how much education the commonwealth should provide to black children, suggesting that not much "book-learning" was required.