The particular law Janet refers to below is the first act from the January 1639/40 session. It is perhaps the earliest "comprehensive" legislation concerning tobacco because it deals with production quotas, mandated prices, and quality control -- i.e. inspection. This law is particularly interesting because you won't find the text of it in Hening. 1 Hening 224-229, which records this session of the assembly, is a title-only catalog of the acts which Hening derived from Jefferson's "Virginia manuscript collection." In fact it comes from the abstract of 17th century records probably created by Richard Hickman, a clerk in the Council Office about 1722 and subsequently bound into what is now referred to as the Bland Manuscript, yet another late 17th or early 18th century collection of transcripts of 17th century Virginia records. The Bland manuscript survives at the Library of Congress -- Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, series 8, volume 7. Although it has never been printed in it's entirety, it is available on-line at LC, and is really a magnificent piece of work [ http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mtjhtml/mtjser8.html]. Note, LC has renumbered the volumes as presented on the web, because one is missing due to it's condition, with the result that the web lists Bland as volume 6. We do have the full text of the laws of this session thanks to the work of Conway Robinson, some-time clerk in the Virginia Supreme Court, lawyer, legal scholar and one of the founders of the Virginia Historical Society. In 1829 Robinson discovered a copy of these laws while rummaging around in the papers of the Virginia Supreme Court, which of course included most of the books from the colonial Council Office. Robinson had a transcript made which he presented to Governor Giles as part of his attempt to get the Commonwealth to produce a supplement to Hening based on all of the additional materials in the attic of the Supreme Court Building. Unfortunately, Giles and the legislature didn't pony up the money and the project never got off the ground. And I really need to underscore that "unfortunately" because these papers were all destroyed in the fire of April 1865 which leveled much of Richmond on the night of the evacuation of Lee's army. Virtually all that we know of that lost treasure is a result of Robinson's various notes made in the late 1820s and early 1830s -- which like his transcript of the laws of 1639/40 do survive. The transcript, which is now at the Library of Virginia was published in it's entirety in the William and Mary Quarterly -- 4W2 (1924), 16-35,145-162. The tobacco law covers pp 17-31. John Baughe (sic) is indeed an inspector from Henrico. Peter V. Bergstrom, PhD Manager, Information Systems, Lighthouse Institute Archivist, Illinois Addiction Studies Archive Chestnut Health Systems 720 W. Chestnut St. Bloomington, IL Webmaster http://www.chestnut.org -----Original Message----- From: Janet Hunter [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, 19 June 2003 4:44 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Tobacco regulation in Colonial Virginia -- 1600s In a message dated 6/19/2003 1:50:13 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > Maybe we need a bumper sticker that reads: > "Virginia: Prosperity Based on Government Regulation Since 1722" > Hello Jon and all, I have followed the discussion with much interest and enjoyment, but I would amend the above bumper sticker to read "since 163X". I am in California 3,000 miles from all of my files, and the quite fine Long Beach library doesn't have Swem's, but in Hening's Statutes volumes in the 1630s (maybe1640s) there is a list of "inspectors" to make sure that nobody grows too much tobacco, and the actual law that was promulgated for this is there in its full glory (and it would be dandy if someone could access that). One of the inspectors is John Baugh for "Connecocke" in Henrico Co., if memory serves on the spelling. This is all from memory, but in the citation there is specific reference to the fact that the "adventurers" (or maybe planters?) need to get a return on their investment (so they'll be happy and rich because that was what Virginia was all about in case any of you settlers forgot!), and , again from memory, it seems that back then, only 20 years give or take of settlement, the colonies had alot of eager beavers entrepreneurs planting too much tobacco, driving the price down, etc. Anyone who has access to the Virginia Historical Index/Henings can find the text really quickly! However, I don't recall if it mentioned suckers or not, just the limitations on plants themselves. When I read it the first time I had visions of perhaps some of the settlers clearing out a few acres in the forests that nobody knew about and getting around the "crop controls" (sort of like the folks that grow marijuana in the northwest). I can't honestly say that I have read all the emails, so if this has been mentioned I apologize. With best regards, Janet (Baugh) Hunter 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