Mea culpa by a year.
I replied to this thread while out of the office. I was off by a year.
The Va. Constitution, 1852, Art IV
Provides that "slaves hereafter emancipated shall forfeit their freedom by remaining in the commonwealth more than twelve months after they become actually free, and shall be reduced to slavery ...
other sections prohibit legislative manumission and allow the legislature to pass laws to remove all free blacks from the state.
Thus, while people could legally manumit a slave in Virginia, if the former slave remained for more than 12 months s/he would be reenslaved.
It is likely that some manumitted slaves remained in the state for more than 12 mos and some slaves were allowed to "live free" after this with local authorities ignoring their status; but for most slaves in Va, after 1852 manumission meant exile from friends and family.
*************************************************
Paul Finkelman, Ph.D.
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, NY 12208
518-445-3386 (p)
518-445-3363 (f)
[log in to unmask]
www.paulfinkelman.com
*************************************************
________________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Alexander Colvin [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 4:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] status of children born of slave mothers in 1858
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/geography/slave_laws_VA.htm Appears the
author looked at the codes themselves. Interesting. Nothing about
prohibited manumissions in 1851. (or thereafter).
On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 11:26 AM, Craig Kilby <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> There was no such law, but freed slaves were legally required to leave the
> commonwealth within one year, though that was not usually enforced.
>
> Craig Kilby
>
> On May 30, 2012, at 10:42 AM, John Philip Adams wrote:
>
> > There may have been a law passed in 1851 in Virginia to prohibit freeing
> of
> > slaves.
>
>
> ______________________________________
> 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
|
