Hi Anne. You wrote, "I am aware that many who owned just one or two slaves
did not treat their slaves as callously as did those who owned large
plantations especially those further south than Virginia."
Do you know what research was done on this subject? In my research in
Virginia and North Carolina I have not noted any differences in how those
with large or small numbers of slaves treated them as property. Those with
very large numbers of slaves could often divide them up evenly among their
children in their will, but those with one or two slaves would either sell
them and divide the money equally or have their executors put a price on
them and give equivalent cash to the other children. In either case, the
language does not sound much different from their references to their cattle
or horses.
Paul
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