THIS has been a GREAT discussion!  Thanks to all!

Dan

On Dec 17, 2007, at 12:31 AM, Hardin, David wrote:

> If 20 slaves was the threshold for a "plantation," there would have  
> been very few of them in Virginia.  The idea of a slave-number- 
> threshold seeps back down into the colonial period by way of the  
> antebellum cotton South and studies thereof.  I went round and  
> round about this in my master's thesis defense with a member of the  
> committee who has studied antebellum plantations and modern  
> neoplantations for decades.  I agree with Harold Gill:  the only  
> distiction in Virginia was whether one "planted" tobacco - and thus  
> a plantation - or whether one "farmed" corn or wheat - and thus a  
> farm.  Washington - who raised tobacco and other crops with  
> considerably more than 20 slaves - began calling himself a farmer  
> when he started raising large amounts of wheat.
> ___________________________________________
>
> Dr. David S. Hardin
> Assistant Professor of Geography
> Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
> Longwood University
> Farmville, Virginia 23909
> Phone: (434) 395-2581
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> ********************
> "For as Geography without History
> seemeth a carkasse without motion,
> so History without Geography
> wandreth as a Vagrant without a
> certaine habitation."
> John Smith, 1627
> ________________________________________
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [VA- 
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Finkelman  
> [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 12:42 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: definition of a planter
>
> most scholars consisder a "planatation" as a farm with 20 or more
> slaves; otherwise the term becomes meaningless.  After call, Rhode
> Island was known as "Prividence Plantation" but no one thinks of the
> whole colony as a plantation.
>
> Paul Finkelman
> President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
>      and Public Policy
> Albany Law School
> 80 New Scotland Avenue
> Albany, New York   12208-3494
>
> 518-445-3386
> [log in to unmask]
>>>> [log in to unmask] 12/15/07 7:04 PM >>>
> In most records before about 1800 the word plantation was used in
> Virginia
> wills to mean any property which was planted. Testators with no slaves
> and
> less than 50 acres referred to their property as their plantation.  
> Some
> referred to their "plantation and its crop of peas and corn," so
> whatever
> the actual definition, Virginians did not necessarily follow it.
>
> Also, it was common for the courts to order the churchwardens to  
> bind an
> indigent child to become a "planter or sawyer." Early Registers of  
> Free
> Negroes referred to the bearer as being a "planter."
>
> Starting about 1820 some testators referred to their property as their
> farm
> regardless of its size and how many slaves they owned, and it was  
> common
> for
> the the courts to order the overseers of the poor to bind out an
> indigent
> child "to be a planter or farmer."
> Paul
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the  
> instructions
> at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the  
> instructions at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the  
> instructions at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html