This query came to Va-Hist, and as I happen to know the answer to it, I
will post the question and the answer together. BT

 

 

Help me on this please. I thought under an act of Manumission you were
able to liberate a slave from bondage and give him freedom. It was my
understanding they had to leave the state though.

How far off target is this?

Douglas Burnett

Satellite Beach

FL

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Virginia laws after the American Revolution began (I can't speak to the
laws of other states, but there were probably similarities and
differences) allowed owners to free slaves by deed or will. A Virginia
law of 1806 required that any person freed after that date had to leave
the state within one year or be re-enslaved. Legislative and judicial
records contain a substantial number of pleas for exemptions from
enforcement of that law, some of which were granted. It is also quite
clear if you trace the names of free blacks through local records that
the law was irregularly enforced and that many freed black Virginians
remained in the state regardless of the 1806 law. The Virginia
Constitution of 1851 imposed more restrictions on the freeing of slaves.

 

Brent Tarter

The Library of Virginia

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Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov

 


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