Jon, I want to thank you for reminding us of the sad state of public opinion ca. 1780s in Virginia and must admit I found it downright uncomfortable. Surely MY ancestors weren't like that! (sob).
Yes, Jurretta, I agree that "Henry, Kevin, Gregg, Bland, and others deserve thanks for pushing this discussion in such interesting directions", and so do you!
Joanne
Jon Kukla <[log in to unmask]> wrote: A minor footnote to an entirely fascinating dialogue about the Founding
generation via-a-vis slavery.
Discussion of what Washington’s generation should or might have done in
the 1780s, it seems to me, also needs to be aware of the full context
of public opinion at the time, and especially of public opinion among
those eligible to vote at the time. Clearly there many Virginians who
opposed or disliked slavery based on revolutionary or religious
principle. As to emancipation, manumission, and slavery, the edited
texts of “Early Proslavery Petitions in Virginia,” published by
Fredrika Teute Schmidt and Barbara Ripel Wilhelm in the William and
Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 30, No. 1 (Jan., 1973): 133-146
illuminate another segment of the population. For some reason,
however, Virginia historians of the revolution seem to be as squeamish
about acknowledging the existence of the following documents (published
in the WMQ nearly a quarter of a century ago) as commentators on Notes
on Virginia have been about certain of its unsavory passages.
In their useful introduction to these petitions (originals of which
reside in the archives at the Library of Virginia along with their
better-known contemporary siblings on religion and the state), Teute
and Wilhelm noted that efforts in Virginia in the 1780s either to
rescind OR to expand provisions for manumission and emancipation were
both defeated. When Methodists Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury
“initiated circulation of the 1785 petition for a general
emancipation,” it “was unanimously rejected by the legislature, but not
without an avowed patronage of its principle by sundry respectable
members. A motion was made to throw it under the table” { a
parliamentary expression of contempt } “which was treated with as much
indignation on one side, as the petition itself was on the other.”
In 1784 and 1785, according to the editors’ introduction, the Virginia
legislature received petitions from eight counties signed by 1,244
citizens. There were five basic texts, which Teute and Wilhelm
transcribed. The most concise and representative of the five, I think,
is Teute and Wilhelm’s transcription of this petition from Amelia
County, November 10, 1785, with 22 signatures that was also submitted
from Mecklenburg County, November 8, 1785, with 223 signatures, and
from Pittsylvania County, November 10, 1785, with 54 signatures.
:
To the honourable the General Assembly of Virginia, the Remonstrance and
Petition of the Free Inhabitants of Amelia County.
Gentlemen,
When the British Parliament usurped a Right to dispose of our Property
without our Consent, we dissolved the Union with our Parent Country, and
established a Constitution and Form of Government of our own, that our
Property might be secure, in Future. In Order to effect this we risked our
Lives and Fortunes, and waded through Seas of Blood. By the favourable
Interposition of Providence our Attempt was crowned with Success. We were
put in the Possession of our Rights of Liberty and Property: And these
Rights as well secured, as they can be by any human Constitution or Form
of Government. But notwithstanding this, we understand a very subtle and
daring Attempt is made to dispossess us of a very important Part of our
Property. An Attempt set on Foot, we are informed, by the Enemies of our
Country, Tools of the British Administration, and supported by certain Men
among us of considerable Weight, To WREST FROM us OUR SLAVES, by an Act of
the Legislature for a general Emancipation of them. An Attempt unsupported
by Scripture or sound Policy.
It is unsupported by Scripture. For we find that under the Old Testament
Dispensation, Slavery was permitted by the Deity himself. Thus, Leviticus
Ch. 25. Ver. 44, 45, 46. “Both thy Bond Men and Bond Maids, which thou
shalt have, shall be of the Heathen that are round about you; of them
shall ye buy Bond Men and Bond Maids. Moreover, of the Children of the
Strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their
Families that are with you, which they beget in your Land, and they shall
be your Possession, and ye shall take them as an Inheritance, for your
Children after you, to inherit them for a Possession; they shall be your
Bond-men forever.” This Permission to buy and inherit Bond-men and
Bond-maids, we have Reason to conclude, continued through all the
Revolutions of the Jewish Government, down to the Advent of our Lord. And
we do not find, that either he or his Apostles abridged it. The Freedom
promised to his Followers, is a Freedom from the Bondage of Sin and Satan,
and from the Dominion of Mens Lusts and Passions; but as to their Outward
Condition, whatever that was before they embraced the Religion of Jesus,
whether Bond or Free, it remained the same afterwards. This St. Paul
expressly asserts I Cor. Chap. 7. Ver. 20. where he is speaking directly
to this very Point, 'Let every Man abide in the same Calling, wherein he
is called'; and Ver. 24. 'Let every Man wherein he is called, therein
abide with God! Thus it is evident the said Attempt is unsupported by
scripture.
It is also exceedingly impolitic. For it involves in it, and is productive
of Want, Poverty, Distress, and Ruin to the Free Citizen; Neglect, Famine
and Death to the black Infant and superannuated Parent; The Horrors of all
the Rapes, Murders, and Outrages, which a vast Multitude of unprincipled,
unpropertied, revengeful, and remorseless Banditti are capable of
perpetrating; inevitable Bankruptcy to the Revenue, and consequently
Breach of public Faith, and Loss of Credit with foreign Nations; and,
lastly, sure and final Ruin to this now flourishing free and happy
Country. We therefore, your Petitioners and Remonstrants, do solemnly
adjure and humbly pray you that you will discountenance and utterly reject
every Motion and Proposal for emancipating our Slaves; that as the Act
lately made, empowering the Owners of Slaves to liberate them, hath
produced, and is still productive of, very bad Effects, you will
immediately and totally repeal it; and that as many of the Slaves,
liberated by that Act, have been guilty of Thefts and Outrages, Insolences
and Violences, destructive to the Peace, Safety, and Happiness of Society,
you will make effectual Provision for the due Government of them.
And your Petitioners shall ever pray, etc. etc.
========================================
Dr. Jon Kukla, Executive Vice-President
Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial
1250 Red Hill Road
Brookneal, Virginia 24528
www.redhill.org
---------------------------------
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