Chapter IV: Part 4

"Wherever the voice of your people has been heard since the
agitation of this question, it has sustained your determination and
called for the present enquiry. I have heard of county meetings,
county petitions, and county memorials; I have heard from the North,
the East, and the South. They are all, with one voice, against the
continuance of slavery. None for it. The press, too, that mirror of
public sentiment, that concentrated will of a whole community, has
been heard from one extremity of the state to the other. Its power
is with us, its moral force is united, efficient and encouraging. In
this city, the capital of the Old Dominion, the heart of the
commonwealth, which by one ventricle receives and through the other
discharges the life blood of intelligence and public spirit
throughout your empire, aye, and from a quarter and from many
quarters where such a voice was least expected its tones have been
firm, manly, and intrepid. Honor, sir, to those who dare speak the
truth in the worst of times."

In conclusion he said:

"In the language of the wise and prophetic Jefferson, 'you must
approach it, you must bear it, you must adopt some plan of
emancipation, or worse will follow.'"[134]

James McDowell, speaking as a representative from Rockbridge County,
on the 21st of January, in the same debate, said:

"Sir, you may place the slave where you please—you may dry up to
your uttermost the fountains of his feelings, the springs of his
thought—you may close upon his mind every avenue of knowledge and
cloud it over with artificial night—you may yoke him to your labors
as the ox which liveth only to work and worketh only to live—you
may put him under any process, which, without destroying his value
as a slave, will debase and crush him as a rational being—you may
do this and the idea that he was born to be free will survive it
all. It is allied to his hope of immortality—it is the ethereal
part of his nature which oppression cannot reach; it is a torch lit
up in his soul by the hand of the Deity and never meant to be
extinguished by the hand of man."[135]

Thomas Jefferson Randolph, speaking as a representative from Albemarle
County, on the 21st of January, in the same debate, said:

"Does slavery exist in any part of civilized Europe? No, sir, in no
part of it. America is the only civilized Christian nation that
bears the opprobrium. In every other country where civilization and
Christianity have existed together they have erased it from their
codes."[136]

Philip A. Bolling, speaking as a representative from Buckingham
County, on the 25th of January, in the same debate, said:

"Mr. Speaker, it is vain for gentlemen to deny the fact that the
feelings of society are fast becoming adverse to slavery. Moral
causes which produce that feeling are on the march and will on until
the groans of slavery are heard no more in this else happy country.
Look over this world's wide page—see the rapid progress of liberal
feelings—see the shackles falling from nations who have long
writhed under the galling yoke of slavery. Liberty is going over the
whole earth, hand in hand with Christianity."[137]

-----

Footnote 130:

_Virginia Slavery Debate_, 1832, White, Speech of Thomas Marshall,
p. 6.

Footnote 131:

_Idem_, Speech of J. A. Chandler, p. 3.

Footnote 132:

_Idem_, Speech of William H. Broadnax, p. 10.

Footnote 133:

_Idem_, Speech of Henry Berry, p. 2.

Footnote 134:

_Idem_, Speech of C. J. Faulkner, p. 5 and p. 22.

Footnote 135:

_Idem_, Speech of James McDowell, p. 20.

Footnote 136:

_Idem_, Speech of T. J. Randolph, p. 15.

Footnote 137:

_Idem_, Speech of Philip A. Bolling, p. 15.

XV

THE ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS OF PROMINENT VIRGINIANS (Concluded)

The period from 1833-1860 witnessed, as we have seen, the rise and
progress of the abolition movement at the North and the growth of
pro-slavery sentiment in Virginia and the South. These conditions are
reflected in the deliverances of many prominent anti-slavery
Virginians, and by a growing indisposition on the part of others of
this element to publicly declare their sentiments or to take part in
the discussions, which, with growing bitterness, marked the times.

ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS FROM 1833-1860

George Washington Parke Custis, speaking on the 21st of January, 1833,
before the American Colonization Society, said:

"Some alarmists tell us that the slave population is to be freed.
And, sir, does any one regret that the hope is held out, that with
our own consent, we shall one day see an end of slavery? Should this
Society be, as I doubt not it will, the happy means of producing
this result, it will be renowned as having done one of the greatest
and best deeds that have blessed the world."[138]

The following extract from a speech of William C. Rives serves not
only to illustrate his anti-slavery sentiments, but the rise of the
two antagonistic parties—the Abolitionists in the North and the
Pro-slavery men in the South. The speech of Dr. Ruffner, delivered ten
years later, also indicates the same condition and the fresh
difficulties with which the cause of gradual emancipation in Virginia
was thus confronted.

William C. Rives, speaking in the United States Senate on the 6th day
of February, 1837, after deprecating the action of Mr. Webster in
presenting abolition petitions as precipitating controversy over a
subject with respect to which Congress had no jurisdiction, then
replied to the position of Mr. Calhoun, that slavery was a beneficent
institution, as follows:

"But, sir, while I have been thus prepared and determined to defend
the constitutional rights of the South at every hazard, I have not
felt myself bound to conform my understanding and conscience to the
standard of faith that has recently been set up by some gentlemen in
regard to the general question of slavery. I have not considered it
a part of my duty as a representative from the South, to deny, as
has been done by this new school, the natural freedom and equality
of man; to contend that slavery is a positive good; that it is
inseparable from the condition of man; that it must exist in some
form or other in every political community; and that it is even an
essential ingredient in Republican government. No, sir, I have not
thought it necessary, in order to defend the rights and institutions
of the South, to attack the great principles which lie at the
foundation of our political system, and to revert to the dogmas of
Sir Robert Filmer, exploded a century and a half ago by the immortal
works of Sidney and Locke....

"In pursuing this course I have the satisfaction of reflecting that
I follow the example of the greatest men and purest patriots who
have illustrated the annals of our country—of the Fathers of the
Republic itself.

"It never entered into their minds, while laying the foundation of
the great and glorious fabric of our free government, to contend
that domestic slavery was a positive good—a great good. Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, the brightest names of my own state,
are known to have lamented the existence of slavery as a misfortune
and an evil to the country, and their thoughts were often anxiously,
however unavailingly, exercised in devising some scheme of safe and
practical relief, proceeding always, however, from the states which
suffered the evil....

"In following such lights as these, I feel that I sin against no
principle of republicanism, and against no safeguard of Southern
rights and Southern policy when I frankly say in answer to the
interrogatory of the gentleman from South Carolina, that I do regard
slavery as an evil—an evil not uncompensated, I know, by collateral
effects of high value on the social and intellectual character of my
countrymen; but still in the eye of religion, philanthropy and
reason, an evil."[139]

Charles Fenton Mercer, in his work, _An Exposition of the Weakness and
Inefficiency of the Government of the United States_, published in
1845, said:

"How shall we approach the horrid subject of slavery, the blackest
of all blots, the foulest of all deformities? Here are a people
descended from the very centre of civilization and free institutions
of Europe, bearing with them the full tide of liberal principles,
and the very cap and essence of liberty, and boasting not only of
their descent, but that they are more than worthy of their
ancestors, that have sanctioned slavery in its most abject form, and
now, by actual enumeration, have upwards of three millions of
them."[140]

R. R. Howison, the Virginia historian, in his _History of Virginia_,
published in 1848, alluding to slavery in the state, said:

"We apprehend that in general, the people of Virginia hold slavery
to be an enormous evil, bearing with fatal power upon their
prosperity. This sentiment has been gaining ground during many
years.... Under these circumstances, we hail with pleasure any
indications that this part of our population (the slave portion) is
decreasing in number and that the time shall come when Virginia
shall be a free state."[141]

Dr. Henry Ruffner, President of Washington College, delivered in 1847
an address which was printed in pamphlet form and widely distributed,
dealing with the subject of slavery and emancipation. Referring to the
attitude and efforts of the Abolitionists and the effect upon
anti-slavery sentiment in the state, he said:

"But, fellow-citizens, shall we suffer this meddlesome sect of
Abolitionists to blind our eyes to the evils of slavery and to tie
up our hands when the condition of the country, and the welfare of
ourselves and our children, summon us to immediate action?...

"Having failed in their first mode of action by denunciatory
pamphlets and newspapers, and by petitions to Congress, the most
violent class of Abolitionists have now formed themselves into a
political party aiming to subvert the Federal Constitution which
guarantees the rights of slaveholders, and to destroy the Federal
Union which is the glory and safeguard of us all. Thus they have
armed against themselves every American patriot; and what is most
remarkable, they have met from the opposite extreme those Southern
politicians and ultra pro-slavery men—called 'Chivalry' and
'Nullifiers,' who so often predict and threaten a dissolution of the
Union."[142]

Matthew F. Maury, writing in 1851, said:

"I am sure you would rejoice to see the people of Virginia rise up
to-morrow and say, 'From and after a future day, say January 1st,
1855, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in
Virginia.' Although this would not strike the shackle from off a
single arm nor command a single slave to go free, yet it would
relieve our own loved Virginia of that curse."[143]

Bishop William Meade in 1854, writing of slavery, said:

"While we must acknowledge that the advantage of the African trade
notwithstanding the cruelties accompanying it has been on the side
of that people both temporally and spiritually; yet we can never be
brought to believe that the introduction into, and the
multiplication of slavery in Virginia has advanced either her
religious, political, or agricultural interests. On the contrary we
are confident that it has injured all."

In 1857, alluding to the foregoing statement, he wrote:

"I have been for the last fifty years, and more especially for the
last thirty, travelling much the length and breadth of Virginia,
making observations for myself, conversing with intelligent farmers,
politicians, ministers of the gospel, and other Christians on the
subjects referred to above. ... I have not only reconsidered them
myself, but freely conversed with many sound-minded persons
concerning the views there presented; and the result has been an
increased conviction that they are correct and have been in time
past, and still are held by the great body of our citizens,
Christians, and statesmen."[144]

The statement of Howison, made in 1848—that, "in general, the people
of Virginia hold slavery to be an enormous evil, bearing with fatal
power upon their prosperity," is confirmed by these conclusions of
Bishop Meade, expressed ten years later.

Robert E. Lee writing in December, 1856, said:

"In this enlightened age, there are few, I believe, but will
acknowledge that as an institution slavery is a moral and political
evil in any country. It is useless to expatiate on its
disadvantages. I think it, however, a greater evil to the white than
to the black race, and while my feelings are strongly enlisted in
behalf of the latter, my sympathies are strongly for the former...."

"While we see the course of the final abolition of slavery is
onward, and we give it the aid of our prayers and all justifiable
means in our power, we must leave the progress as well as the result
in His hands, who sees the end and chooses to work by slow
influences."[145]

RESULTS OF ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS

If it be urged that despite the foregoing anti-slavery sentiments the
institution remained intrenched in the laws of Virginia, and supported
by a strong body of public opinion, it may be replied that the views
of these Virginians, and others of like mind, were nevertheless
productive of far-reaching and beneficent results. They were effective
in robbing slavery of many of its most abhorrent and oppressive
incidents. Under the public opinion thus generated the institution in
Virginia assumed, as a rule, the patriarchal character—master and
slave being bound by ties of mutual obligation and affection. Many of
the legal hardships inseparable from the system were reduced to a
minimum. Thus the breaking up of families, by sale of their members,
was confined as nearly as possible to the distribution of estates and
the collection of debts by process of law. In all the category of
disreputable callings, there were none so despised as the
slave-trader. The odium descended upon his children and his children's
children. Against the legal right to buy and sell slaves for profit,
this public sentiment lifted a strong arm, and rendered forever odious
the name of "Negro-trader." The good results of these conditions were
evidenced in the higher measure of character, courtesy and capacity,
which, as a whole, distinguished the negroes of Virginia.

NUMBER OF EMANCIPATIONS IN VIRGINIA

The position of these Virginians was also of great importance in
keeping before the mind of the people the conception that slavery was
an abnormal institution, and that with her growth in wealth and white
population, Virginia could and would free herself from what Robert E.
Lee described as "a moral and political evil." Furthermore these
sentiments were productive of an actual emancipation, the character
and extent of which has been little appreciated. If devotion to the
cause is to be measured by the actual manumissions effected, then
Virginia's emancipators could contemplate with pride their record.
George Wythe liberated his slaves at the close of the Revolution.
Robert E. Lee, executor of George Washington Parke Custis, left his
place at the front with the Army of Northern Virginia to emancipate
the slaves of his testator as directed by the latter in his will.[146]
Between these two there stretches a long line of emancipators, who,
without compensation, liberated thousands of slaves. Mr. Ballagh
estimates this number as high as one hundred thousand.[147] These
slaveholders incurred not only the pecuniary loss of this great
emancipation, but in many instances the expense of colonization. When,
too, it is remembered that their communities were often thus further
burdened by the problems incident to the presence of an increasing
body of freedmen, the full import of the beneficence is better
appreciated. That many of these ex-slaves, despite statutes and the
efforts of masters and others to settle them at points beyond the
state, remained in Virginia is attested by the Federal census, from
which it appears that in 1860 there were still fifty-eight thousand
and forty-two free negroes within her borders.

-----

Footnote 138:

See _Proceedings of Sixteenth Annual Meeting of American
Colonization Society_, January, 1833, p. XVII.

Footnote 139:

_Congressional Debates_, Vol. XIII, part I, p. 717.

Footnote 140:

_An Exposition of the Weakness and Inefficiency of the Government of
the United States_, p. 167.

Footnote 141:

_History of Virginia_, Howison, Vol. II, p. 519.

Footnote 142:

_The Ruffner Pamphlet_, Lexington, 1847.

Footnote 143:

_Life of Matthew F. Maury_, Corbin, p. 131.

Footnote 144:

_Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia_, Vol. I, pp.
89-90, note.

Footnote 145:

_Life of R. E. Lee_, Fitzhugh Lee, p. 64.

Footnote 146:

_Will Book No. 4_, p. 267, Clerk's Office, Alexandria County,
Virginia.

Footnote 147:

_History of Slavery in Virginia_, Ballagh, p. 144.

XVI

SPECIMENS OF DEEDS AND WILLS EMANCIPATING SLAVES

An examination of a few of the great number of deeds and wills which
are to be found on record throughout Virginia will serve to illustrate
the motives of her emancipators and the many difficulties which
confronted them. These emancipations may be grouped in three
periods,—from 1782 to 1806, from 1806 to 1833, and from 1833 to the
outbreak of the Civil War. Each of these periods had its peculiar
characteristics with reference to the problem of emancipation in
Virginia. From 1782 to 1806 the law permitted emancipation without
qualification, and public opinion, in the state, while deploring the
existence of slavery was willing to permit the slaveholders to
control, in large measure, the times and methods of its abolition. The
period from 1806 to 1833 marked the years when anti-slavery sentiment
showed increasing strength. The antipathy, however, to the presence of
the free negro was equally pronounced and resulted in the laws which
required his removal from the state within a year after his
emancipation. This requirement invested emancipation with new,
practical, as well as ethical difficulties. This period opened with
the act which denied to slaveholders the unqualified right of
emancipation—and it ended with the Nat Turner Insurrection and the
futile attempts of the General Assembly to successfully meet the
difficulties of the situation. The years from 1833 to 1860 were
burdened with all the difficulties of the previous periods, as well as
with the embarrassments growing out of the efforts of the
Abolitionists beyond the state and of the pro-slavery advocates within
her borders.

An examination of the following extracts from the deeds and wills of
emancipators will serve to illustrate the truth of these views.

SPECIMENS OF DEEDS AND WILLS, 1782-1806

Extract from deed of Joseph Hill, of Isle of Wight County, dated March
6th, 1783:

"I, Joseph Hill, of Isle of Wight County in Virginia, after full and
deliberate consideration, and agreeable to our Bill of Rights, am
fully persuaded that freedom is the natural life of all mankind, and
that no law, moral or divine, hath given me a just right or property
in the persons of any of my fellow-creatures, and desirous to fulfil
the injunction of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, by doing to
all others as I would be done by in a like situation ... do hereby
emancipate and set free all and every of the above named slaves,
&c."[148]

Extract from deed of Charles Moorman, of Campbell County, dated
September 1st, 1789:

"I, Charles Moorman, from mature consideration and the conviction of
my own mind, being fully persuaded that freedom is the natural right
of all mankind, and that no law, moral or divine, has given me a
right to or property in the persons of any of my fellow-creatures,
and being desirous to fulfil the injunction of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ, by doing to others as I would be done by—do therefore
declare that having under my care twenty-eight slaves, (naming
them), I do for myself, my heirs, executors and administrators,
hereby release unto them the said slaves all my rights, interest,
claims or pretensions of claims whatsoever to their persons or any
estate they may acquire, &c."[149]

Extracts from deeds of Robert Carter, of Westmoreland County, each
dated the 1st day of January, 1793:

"Whereas the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia did in
the year seventeen hundred and eighty-two enact a law entitled 'An
Act to Authorize the Manumission of Slaves,' know all men by these
presents that I, Robert Carter, of Nomony Hall, in the County of
Westmoreland, do under the said act for myself, my heirs, executors
and administrators, emancipate and forever set free from slavery the
following slaves." (Here follow the names of the slaves,
twenty-seven in number.)[150]

And on the same day a similar deed emancipating thirty slaves.[151]

Extract from deed of Francis Preston, of Washington County, dated the
20th day of September, 1793:

"Whereas my negro man, John (alias) John Broady, claims a promise of
freedom from his former master, General William Campbell, for his
faithful attendance on him at all times, and more particularly while
he was in the army in the last war, and I who claim the said negro,
in right of my wife, daughter of said General William Campbell,
feeling a desire to emancipate the said negro man John as well for
the fulfilment of the above mentioned promise as the gratification
of being instrumental of promoting a participation of liberty to a
fellow-creature, who by nature is entitled thereto, do by these
presents, for myself, my heirs, executors and administrators, fully
emancipate and make free, to all intents and purposes, the said
negro man John (alias) John Brody from me and my heirs
forever."[152]

Extract from the will of Richard Randolph, Jr., admitted to record in
Clerk's Office of Prince Edward County, April 8th, 1797:

"In the first place—to make retribution as far as I am able to an
unfortunate race of bondsmen over whom my ancestors have usurped and
exercised the most lawless and monstrous tyranny, and in whom my
countrymen by their iniquitous laws in contradiction of their own
Declaration of Rights ... have vested me with absolute property; ...
to exculpate myself to those who may perchance think or hear of me
after death from the black crime which otherwise would be imputed to
me of voluntarily holding the above mentioned miserable beings in
the same state of abject slavery in which I found them on receiving
my patrimony at lawful age; to impress my children with just horror
at a crime so enormous and indelible, and to adjure them in the last
words of a fond father never to participate in it ... I do declare
that it is my will and desire, nay, most anxious wish, that my
negroes, all of them, be liberated, and I do declare them by this
writing free and emancipated to all intents and purposes
whatsoever."[153]

Extract from the will of George Washington, dated July 9th, 1799,
recorded in the Clerk's Office of Fairfax County:

"Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the
slaves whom I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom. To
emancipate them during her life would, though earnestly wished by
me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties on account of
their intermixture by marriage with the dower negroes as to excite
the most painful sensations, if not disagreeable consequences to the
latter, while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same
proprietor; it not being in my power under the tenure by which the
dower negroes are held to manumit them."

The will further provides that all slaves who at the time of their
emancipation are unable, by reason of old age, bodily infirmities, or
youth, to support themselves shall be cared for out of his estate, the
testator declaring:

"I do moreover most pointedly and most solemnly enjoin it upon my
executors hereafter named, or the survivors of them, to see that
this clause respecting slaves and every part thereof be religiously
fulfilled at the epoch at which it is directed to take place without
evasion, neglect or delay, after the crops which may then be in the
ground are harvested, particularly as it respects the aged and
infirm; seeing that a regular and permanent fund be established for
their support as long as there are subjects requiring it."[154]

Extract from the will of Jesse Bonner, of Dinwiddie, dated 8th April,
1797, and admitted to probate 17th April, 1803:

"Item: I leave the use of the plantation whereon I now live and my
New Survey adjoining it to my beloved wife, Rebecca Bonner, during
her life or widowhood; also all the negroes belonging to me.

"Item: My will and desire is that all the above negroes which I have
lent to my beloved wife, Rebecca Bonner, namely (here the slaves,
fifteen in number, are named), with all their increase from this
day, be emancipated and go free at the death or marriage of my
beloved wife, Rebecca Bonner.

"Item: My will and desire is that if I have no child the plantation
whereon I now live together with my New Survey, be given to my
negroes and their heirs forever, after the death or marriage of my
beloved wife, Rebecca Bonner." [155]

The reader will observe, that in many of the foregoing extracts the
anti-slavery sentiments of the emancipators are freely and vigorously
expressed and the act of emancipation is, in many instances, based
upon the conviction that slavery was repugnant alike to the political
institutions of the state and the principles of the Christian
religion.

SPECIMENS OF DEEDS AND WILLS, 1806-1833

During the time from 1806-1833 there seems to have been a diminution
in the number of emancipations, especially in the earlier years of
that period. This was doubtless to be accounted for by the
difficulties, resulting from the law, which required the removal of
the slave from the state within twelve months next succeeding his
emancipation. However, with the increase in the facilities of travel,
some of these practical difficulties were overcome, and during the
latter years of the period the number of emancipations annually made
were as large as, if not larger than, previous to the enactment of the
law.

Extract from the will of Charles Ewell, of Prince William County,
dated 8th October, 1823, and admitted to probate 3rd November, 1823:

"It is my will that all the increase of my negroes named shall be
free at the age of twenty-five, and their increase, if any, to be
free at the same age (those only who were born before their parents
arrived at the age of twenty-four), those born after to be liberated
with their mothers,"[156]

Extract from the will of John Smith, of Sussex County, dated 9th
November, 1825, and admitted to probate 2nd March, 1826:

"At the death of my beloved wife, I direct that all of my negroes,
without regard to age, sex or condition, with all their future
increase, be, by my executor, sent to the African Colonization
Settlement, established for the removal of free black persons of
color from the United States; and believing freedom to be the
natural birthright of all persons and having spent many of my best
days in defense thereof, I do hereby declare all of my said slaves
or negroes, with their future increase ... to be emancipated and
free ... from and after the death of my said wife. And I do hereby
give and grant to each of said negroes so emancipated, without
regard to age, sex or condition, one good serviceable hat, one pair
shoes and stockings, blanket and one year's provisions, exclusive of
ship provisions on board, to carry with them.... I hereby direct my
executors to pay all expenses of removing said emancipated slaves
out of any money that may be in their hands belonging to my
estate."[157]

Extract from the will of John Ward, Sr., of Pittsylvania County, dated
the 30th day of July, 1826 and recorded the 20th of November, 1826:

"It is my will and desire that all my slaves now living or which may
be living at the time of my death be free and I do hereby bequeath
to each and every one of them their freedom immediately upon my
death in as full and unlimited a manner as the laws of Virginia will
admit of. But should any of my slaves choose not to avail themselves
of this bequest of their freedom with the conditions which the law
may annex, then it is my will and desire that they have the
privilege of choosing their master who may take them at the
valuation of two good men, to be chosen by my executors, and should
the females thus electing choose to keep any of their children with
them it is my will that said children be at liberty to obtain their
freedom at the age of twenty-one years in the same manner.... I give
to all my slaves over fifteen years at the time of my death each the
sum of twenty dollars—excepting Davy and Nancy, having already
given them one hundred and fifty dollars each."[158]

Extract from the will of Martha E. Peyton, of Prince William County,
dated the 30th June, 1831, and admitted to probate October 3rd, 1831:

"Secondly, I do hereby will and direct that after my debts are paid
in the manner aforesaid that all my negroes without exception shall
be emancipated and have their freedom; they having served me during
my life and as I am unwilling for them to be kept in slavery or
owned by any person after my death."[159]

Extract from the will of Aylette Hawes, of Rappahannock County, dated
the 9th August, 1832, and admitted to probate 7th October, 1833:

"I do hereby free and emancipate all my slaves that I may own at my
death, that I may not hereafter dispose of; such of the said slaves
that are old and infirm, I wish to have the liberty of choosing
their place of residence with any of my relations, and to receive
from my estate such assistance as, with the work they are able to
do, will render them profitable without being an encumbrance where
they live; and to Jack, who, besides being old and infirm, is also
afflicted in his legs, I leave fifty dollars. Such of my said slaves
as are so nearly white as to render it unsafe for them to go to
Liberia I desire may be sent to the State of Ohio, or where slavery
is not tolerated, at the expense of my estate. I desire my said
slaves thus sent at the expense of my estate to Ohio, to be put
under the protection and patronage of David S. Dodge and his family
and that the said David S. may be amply compensated from my estate
for any trouble or expense he may be at in patronizing the said
slaves. I desire all my other slaves to be transferred to the proper
agent of the African Colonization Society, with twenty dollars each,
for their transportation to Liberia."[160]

Extract from will of John Randolph of Roanoke, dated May, 1819,
admitted to probate in 1833:

"I give to my slaves their freedom, to which my conscience tells me
they are justly entitled. It has a long time been a matter of
deepest regret to me that the circumstances under which I inherited
them and the obstacles thrown in the way by the laws of the land
have prevented my emancipating them in my lifetime, which it is my
full intention to do in case I can accomplish it."

The will makes provision for the purchase of land in some one of the
free states and for removing the ex-slaves, some three hundred and
fifty in number, to their new homes to be provided for them thereon,
the same to be equipped with farming utensils, etc.[161]

Extract from will of William H. Fitzhugh of Ravensworth, Fairfax
County, dated March 21, 1829:

"After the year 1850 I leave all my negroes unconditionally free,
with the privilege of having the expenses of their removal to
whatever places of residence they may select, defrayed. And as an
encouragement to them to emigrate to the American Colony on the
coast of Africa, where I believe their happiness will be most
permanently secure, I desire not only that the expense of their
emigration may be paid but that the sum of fifty dollars shall be
paid to each one so emigrating on his or her arrival in Africa."

The will makes provision for a fund to carry out the foregoing
directions.[162]

-----

Footnote 148:

_Deed Book No. 15_, p. 122, in Clerk's Office, Isle of Wight County,
Virginia.

Footnote 149:

_Deed Book No. 2_, p. 418, in Clerk's Office, Campbell County,
Virginia.

Footnote 150:

_Deed and Will Book No. 18_, p. 213, in the Clerk's Office,
Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Footnote 151:

_Idem_, p. 244.

Footnote 152:

_Deed Book for Year 1793_, in Clerk's Office of Washington County,
Abingdon, Virginia.

Footnote 153:

See _Will Book_ for 1797, Clerk's Office, Prince Edward County,
Farmville, Virginia.

Note: Mr. Randolph explained in his will that he did not emancipate
his slaves by deed because at the date his will was written they
were still bound for certain debts of his father from whom he
inherited them. In accordance with his will they were all, some two
hundred in number, finally set free. Richard Randolph was the
brother of John Randolph of Roanoke and a stepson of St. George
Tucker.

Footnote 154:

_Life of Washington_, Irving, Vol. V, p. 439.

Footnote 155:

See _Will Book for Year 1803_, Dinwiddie Court-House, Virginia.

Footnote 156:

See _Will Book M._, p. 103, Prince William County, Virginia.

Footnote 157:

See _Will Book K._, p. 322, Clerk's Office of Sussex County.

Note: The inventory of Smith's estate shows that he owned
forty-three slaves at the time of his death. Testator was a soldier
in the Revolutionary Army.

Footnote 158:

See _Will Book No. 1_, p. 109, Clerk's Office, Pittsylvania County,
Virginia.

Footnote 159:

See _Will Book N._, p. 383, Prince William County, Virginia.

Footnote 160:

See _Will Book A._, p. 16, Clerk's Office, Rappahannock County,
Virginia.

Note: Hawes was for many years a member of Congress from Virginia
and the inventory of his estate shows that at the time of his death,
he owned one hundred and five slaves.

Footnote 161:

_Life of John Randolph_, Garland, Vol. II, p. 149.

Footnote 162:

_Will Book No. 1_, p. 57, Clerk's Office, Fairfax County, Virginia.
Mr. Fitzhugh was the maternal uncle of Mrs. Robert E. Lee.

XVII

SPECIMENS OF DEEDS AND WILLS EMANCIPATING SLAVES (Concluded)

SPECIMENS OF DEEDS AND WILLS, 1833-1860

The deeds and wills during the period from 1833 to the Civil War made
increasingly large provisions for the removal and colonization of the
freedmen. It may be also noted that arraignments of slavery became
very rare during that period. The same influences which almost hushed
the voice of anti-slavery orators in Virginia, were effective in
banishing from the deeds and wills of emancipators expressions which
might give aid and comfort to the men who were daily denouncing the
civilization and morality of the state. Though these arraignments
might almost stop the discussion of slavery in Virginia, yet they
could not destroy the sentiment in favor of emancipation. The
liberation of slaves continued without diminution down to the outbreak
of the Civil War. It may be also noted that these instances of
emancipation go far to disprove the charge that the Virginia friends
of negro colonization were inspired simply by a desire to remove the
free negroes from the state in order to make more sure the tenure by
which they held their slaves. John Randolph of Roanoke, General
Blackburn, Bishop Meade, William Henry Fitzhugh and George Washington
Parke Custis were all leaders in the colonization movement, and all of
them emancipated their slaves.

Extract from the will of Samuel Blackburn of Bath County, dated the
30th of October, 1834:

"That all the slaves of which I may die seized and possessed,
without distinction of age or sex, be, and they are hereby, declared
free and forever emancipated, &c.... And as soon as the necessary
arrangements can be made by my executors they shall be transported
to the American Colony in Liberia and the expense of transportation
be charged upon my estate, real and personal. It is, however,
expressly and implicitly understood that if any of my slaves
aforesaid refuse to accept this boon it will be the duty of my
executors and they are hereby requested so to do, to sell to the
highest bidder in terms of the sale all who thus refuse and
persevere in refusal, as slaves for life. And here let me admonish
and warn these people how they let slip this golden moment of
emancipating themselves and their posterity forever from that state
of slavery and degradation in which I found them and in which many
of them have long served me."

By a codicil the testator provided that with respect to any slaves who
might refuse to accept their freedom upon condition that they be
transported to Liberia, his executors should not sell them separately
but in families and by private sale to considerate masters.[163]

Extract from the will of Carter H. Edlow of Prince George County,
dated the 20th of March, 1838, and admitted to probate the 13th of
August, 1844:

"I desire that my estate shall be kept together and cultivated to
the best advantage until a sufficient sum can be raised to pay my
debts, should there be any deficiency in the amount of money on hand
and debts due me, and to raise a sufficient sum to pay for the
transportation of my slaves to any free state or colony which they
may prefer and give to each slave fifty dollars on their
departure.... It is not my wish to force them away without their
consent; in the event of any of them preferring to remain in slavery
they must take the disposition hereinafter directed."

The testator then devises the residuum of his estate to his nieces,
along with such of his slaves as refuse to accept freedom.[164]

Extract from deed of William Meade, of Clarke County, dated the 29th
of April, 1843:

"Know all men by these presents that I, William Meade, of the County
of Clarke and State of Virginia, with a view of preparing a certain
female mulatto slave, named Lucy, for the enjoyment of the freedom
hereinafter bestowed upon her, have ... bound the said female, Lucy,
now about seventeen years of age, to a certain J. W. Stockton,
residing in the State of Pennsylvania, until the said Lucy arrives
at the age of twenty-one years, &c. ... do give and grant unto the
said Lucy her freedom forever and do hereby manumit her from my
service, forever, &c."[165]

Extract from the will of Thacker V. Webb, of Orange County, admitted
to probate August 28th, 1843:

"I will and direct that at and after my death, my slaves, James,
Joseph, Kendall, Judy and all the remainder of them both old and
young (not enumerated and specified by their respective names) and
all the future increase of all the females be, and they are hereby
fully and entirely liberated, and forever emancipated and set free
from the involuntary service of all and every person or persons
whatsoever; and that no operation of any law whatsoever shall be
allowed, or in any wise prevent the said slaves from receiving and
enjoying their full, entire and complete freedom and emancipation, I
will and direct that my executor or administrator hereinafter named,
shall procure a home for the slaves, or persons above liberated, in
some non-slaveholding state, and for this purpose I hereby
appropriate the sum of four thousand dollars, to be laid out in
land, farming utensils, and bearing their expenses, and if any
overplus shall remain, I direct it to be equally divided among them
all, and given to the fathers and mothers for their joint use and
benefit."[166]

Extract from will of Albert Early, of Madison County, dated the 25th
of May, 1839, admitted to probate 25th day of November, 1847:

"I give and bequeath unto my above named executors all the negro
slaves that I now own or may own ... I do most solemnly and
seriously request and exhort them to do with my said negro slaves as
I now prescribe, that it is my wish that they ... should be
liberated so that they may enjoy all the liberties and blessings of
a free and independent people, and not approving the custom of
liberating slaves to remain in the United States, I would recommend
to my said executors to select for their residence some section of
country which ... may supply them, the above named negro slaves,
with all the comforts and necessaries that may render their lives as
agreeable and easy as possible."

The will further authorizes the executors to sell so much of the lands
and other property of the testator as may be necessary to pay his
debts and then to apply so much of the proceeds as the above named
"executors may think proper for the removal and settlement of my above
named negro slaves."

The will concludes:

"That it is owing to no malignity of feelings towards my relations
that I have thus disposed of my negro slaves, but because I think
they own enough of them without mine and I think that they are a
general evil and withal I deprecate the principle."[167]

Extract from the will of John Warwick, of Amherst County, admitted to
probate March 20th, 1848:

"I, John Warwick, of the County of Amherst, ... do make, publish and
declare this my last true will and testament....

"First: The future condition of my slaves has long been a subject of
anxious concern with me, and it is my deliberate intention, wish,
and desire that the whole of them be manumitted and set free as soon
after my demise as the growing crops shall be safe and the annual
hires terminated, not later than the end of the year of my death, to
be removed, or so many of them as I do not manumit and send to a
free state during my life, with the exception hereinafter named, and
settled in one or more of the free states of this Union under the
care and direction of my executors, hereinafter appointed. Indiana
is my choice.

"Second: To carry out the above bequest ... next to the payment of
any debts I may owe, my funeral expenses, and the charges of
administration of my estate, I hereby declare that it is my wish and
intention that my slaves shall on being emancipated have the whole
of my estate now in being, or hereafter to be acquired, ... for the
purpose of creating a suitable fund in the hands of my executors for
their comfortable clothing, outfit, travelling expenses and
settlement in their new homes".[168]

Extract from the will of Frances Eppes of Henrico County, admitted to
probate February 7th, 1848.

"It is my will and desire that all my slaves shall be emancipated
and set free—and I do hereby emancipate and set free the following
slaves, and the increase of the females among them, namely—" (Here
follow the names of the slaves, twenty-seven in number)—"And with a
view to accomplish this my intention in an effectual manner it is my
will and desire that at my decease all my slaves of every
description be committed to the special care and trust of my friends
Joseph J. Pleasants of the County of Hanover, in this state, and
Joseph Jones of the State of Ohio....

"It is my will and desire that after all my just debts are paid, all
the property of every description of which I may die seized, or the
proceeds arising therefrom as may seem best to my executors
hereinafter named, be divided among the said slaves so emancipated
in such manner as the executors may deem fair and proper."[169]

Extract from the will of Sampson Sanders, of Cabell County, admitted
to probate July 9th, 1849:

"It is my will and desire that all my slaves of every age and sex be
free at the time of my death from all involuntary servitude....

"I hereby direct my executors ... to collect so much of my estate as
may be necessary to buy land for my said slaves in the State of
Indiana or some one of the free states of the United States of
America as may be necessary for their comfortable support ...
assigning each head of a family their proper proportion of land ...
binding the heads of families and other young men for the
comfortable support of the old and decrepit or weakly slaves during
their natural lives. I hereby give and bequeath to my said slaves
$15,000.00 to be paid out of my estate by my executors
aforesaid."[170]

Extract of will of Joseph Early, of Madison County, dated 22nd of
December, 1852, and admitted to probate August 24th, 1854:

"My will is that my executors hereinafter named send my negroes that
I now have to Liberia—give each of the men,—three in number—fifty
dollars each and Verindy and all her children, one hundred dollars,
to take with them, besides getting them out, and bacon enough to
last them six months after they get to Liberia."[171]

Extract from the will of William D. Jennings, of Henrico County,
admitted to probate August 1st, 1853:

"I hereby manumit, emancipate and set free all the rest and residue
of my slaves, viz.:" (Here follow the names of the slaves,
thirty-four in number) "and request that they shall be sent to and
settled in Africa, in some good location, to be approved by my
executor, after conference with the agent of the American
Colonization Society, at Washington City."

The will further provides that after paying the debts of the estate
the balance shall be applied:

"To the expenses of removal to, and settling in Africa, of all the
slaves hereby emancipated. After defraying the expenses of their
said removal to Africa, it is my will and desire that the whole
surplus of my estate then remaining (after paying debts and
legacies) shall be divided among my said emancipated slaves as
follows, viz.:—" (Here follow the names of the slaves).[172]

Extract from the will of Traverse D. Herndon, of Fauquier County,
dated the 2nd of December, 1854, and admitted to probate 25th of
December, 1854:

"Third: I desire that the servants formerly the property of Col.
George Love, whose names and number have been sent on to the
Colonization Society (The number thus designated were forty-eight,
two have since been born) shall be sent to Liberia, so as to carry
out the arrangements made with that society for their liberation,
and I further wish that their expenses shall be paid to Baltimore,
Md., and that my wife shall give them such an amount of money as she
may think advisable."[173]

Extract from the will of Arthur B. Davies, of Amherst County, admitted
to probate March 21st, 1853:

"It is my will and desire that all my slaves, fifteen in number and
named as follows,—" (Here follow their names) "together with their
future increase, shall be liberated and become invested with their
freedom at my death, and for the purpose of removing them to some
free state if that be lawful, or to Liberia if that shall become
necessary, it is my will and desire that the debt now due to me by
Charles S. Brown be collected and be used as a fund to effect that
object. It is my further wish that in case any of my said slaves
shall of their own free will and accord prefer remaining in slavery
rather than accepting freedom under the provisions of this clause,
then it is my desire that they shall be permitted to choose masters
amongst any of my legatees hereinafter mentioned, and thereafter to
become their slaves for life—the parents in such case to choose
also for such of their infant children as may not be capable of
making their own election."[174]

Extract from the will of Philip Lightfoot, of Culpeper County,
admitted to probate May 21st, 1855:

"I hereby emancipate and set free all the slaves I may possess or be
entitled to at the time of my decease, who are to enjoy their
freedom as fully as if they had been born free. I give to each of my
said slaves, without distinction of age or sex, the sum of one
hundred dollars, to be paid to them respectively when my executor
shall deliver to them their discharge from service. Moreover my
executor is required to clothe each of them well, furnishing to each
the necessary quantity of blankets and cause them to be moved to
some place, or site, where they can enjoy their freedom, and I
desire the clothing and expenses attending their removal to be paid
out of my estate with the money on hand or money that can be first
collected.

"My old and infirm negroes (if any) are to be supported in a
suitable manner by my estate."[175]

Extract from the will of William Smith, of Orange County, admitted to
probate September 28th, 1857:

"It is my will and desire that my house servant, Maria, my man,
Paul, and my woman, Celia, be allowed to choose their masters or
mistresses or either, and when they have made such selection, I
hereby give and bequeath them to such person or persons as they may
respectively select, provided the person or persons, so selected by
them, will take them as their property, but if they cannot be thus
disposed of, then my executors are to select suitable places for
them where they will be well clothed and taken care of upon the most
reasonable and best terms they can, paying out of my estate such
sums of money as may be necessary for this purpose."[176]

Extract from the will of George Washington Parke Custis, of Fairfax
County, admitted to probate December 7th, 1857:

"And upon the legacies of my four granddaughters being paid, and my
estates that are required to pay the said legacies being free of
debt, I give freedom to my slaves, the said slaves to be emancipated
by my executors in such manner as to my executors may seem most
expedient and proper, the said emancipation to be accomplished in
not exceeding five years from the time of my decease.

"I do constitute and appoint as my executors, Lieut.-Col. Robert
Edward Lee, Robert Lee Randolph, of 'Eastern View', Right Rev.
Bishop Meade and George Washington Peter."[177]

Extract from deed of Eliza W. Cocke, of Smithfield, dated January 5th,
1857:

"Know all men by these presents that I, Eliza W. Cocke, of the Town
of Smithfield, in the County of Isle of Wight, in the State of
Virginia, from motives of benevolence have manumitted and set free
from slavery, &c."[178]

Extract from the will of Louisa Muschett, of Prince William County,
dated 19th March, 1856, and admitted to probate on the 12th February,
1858:

"I will and desire all my servants to be hired out for three years,
and at the end of that time, to be free, each grown servant to have
fifty dollars, and each child to have twenty-five dollars."[179]

Extract from the will of Robert Tinsley, of Amherst County, dated
March 12, 1859, and admitted to probate January 20, 1862:

"It is my will and desire that the residue of my slaves and future
increase be emancipated and removed at the expense of my estate to
one of the free states of this Union. Although there are some legal
impediments, I suppose with the provisions I intend for them they
can be settled in Ohio, or some other of the Western States. I wish
them settled in families upon tracts of land to be purchased and
secured to them to the amount of one hundred dollars a head, and
furnished with a substantial suit of clothes suitable to the season
and plain provisions sufficient for a year's supply, and this is to
be done as soon as sufficient funds can be raised from collection of
debts in aid of any money I may leave on hand....

"If the slaves cannot be settled in Ohio, or some other free state
of this Union, I wish them properly equipped and sent to Liberia at
the expense of my estate."[180]

No attempt has been made to present extracts from all the great number
of deeds and wills which are to be found of record in the various
clerks' offices throughout Virginia but the foregoing have been
selected as fairly representative, both with respect to the time of
their execution, the different sections of the state in which they are
to be found, and the social position of the emancipators. They are
also illustrative of the great number of emancipations and of the
difficulties and expenses incurred by Virginia slaveholders in
effectuating that result.

-----

Footnote 163:

_Will Book No. 14_, p. 263, Clerk's Office, Bath County, Virginia.

Footnote 164:

_Will Book No. 1_, p. 90, New Records, Clerk's Office, Prince George
County, Virginia.

Footnote 165:

_Deed Book B._, p. 467, Clerk's Office, Clarke County, Virginia.

Note: William Meade was the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
Virginia from 1829 to 1862.

Footnote 166:

_Will Book No. 10_, p. 17, Clerk's Office, Orange County, Virginia.

Footnote 167:

See _Will Book No. 8_, p. 202, Clerk's Office, Madison County,
Virginia.

Footnote 168:

See _Will Book No. 11_, p. 577, Clerk's Office, Amherst County,
Virginia.

Note: The appraisement of Mr. Warwick's estate showed that he owned
seventy-four slaves at the time of his death, and his executor, Dr.
David Patteson, removed them to the State of Ohio.

Footnote 169:

_Will Book No. 12_, p. 495, Clerk's Office, Henrico County,
Virginia.

Footnote 170:

_Will Book A._, p. 391, Clerk's Office, Cabell County, West
Virginia.

Footnote 171: