Tom, The legislature is a body. It is not the specific people in it. It is The Government. It is The Commonwealth of Virginia. It speaks for All of the people (or at least those allowed to vote). It speaks to All of the People (even if they don't vote). It is the body politic. If not the Virginia Legislature, who should apologize. Surely not the slaveholders themselves. They went to their graves lamenting that the feds didn't pay them for the value of their slaves, disregarding that in truth the feds should have CHARGED them to pay the slaves for their labor. It is a small thing being asked. An apology. Not a repayment for all the labor that was used, not all the lives that were forfeited, not all the families that were destroyed. Virginia would not be what it was today had it not been for the labor of the slaves! Get over it! Apologize, as asked. It is the least you can do. Anne Anne Pemberton [log in to unmask] http://www.erols.com/stevepem http://www.erols.com/apembert http://www.educationalsynthesis.org To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html