Volume 2, Chapter 18, Slavery in Virginia
As tobacco plantations expanded, the extent of Negro slavery increased as well. In 1710,
there were 23,000 Negroes in Virginia among 55,000 whites. In 1750, the colony contained
101,000 Negroes and 130,000 Whites. And contrary to historical opinion, the Browns have shown
that while the larger plantations were in the Tidewater area, the proportion of slaves
was no greater in many Tidewater areas than in the Piedmont. In fact, the greatest proportion
This proportion of slaves to total population appeared in the land between the James and
Rappahannock rivers, both in the Tidewater and going back well into the Piedmont area.
Similarly, the evidence indicates that the proportion of the value of slaves in the total
assets of the planters was no greater for large than for small slaveholders.
The condition of the slaves was what we might expect where some people are owned by others
as capital. Slaves were kept in compounds where they were condemned to miserable lives
of severe labor, little food, long working hours and savage treatment. Above all, they
lived absolutely and continuously under the direction of their masters. Torture was systematically
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Legal marriages by slaves were forbidden, and unofficial slave families were often broken up.
The prevalent practice of fornication by the masters with the female slaves was regarded as
a pleasant method to secure slaves at a cheap rate.
In law, the cards were stacked against the slaves.
A slave received thirty lashes for daring to hit a white Christian.
." But any owner could kill a slave at will in the process of punishment. Runaway slaves
refusing to return could be killed, and if such a slave were killed or executed for any
other crime, the government compensated the slave owner. Many runaways committed suicide
rather than return to their owner. Along with slaves came the threat of slave rebellion,
Indeed one of the chief functions of the Virginia militia was to guard against such a menace.
In calling for an increase in the militia, Governor Spotswood frankly declared, Freedom
wears a cap which can, without a tongue, call together all those who long to shake off the
fetters of slavery, and as such, an insurrection would surely be attended with most dreadful
In 1722, a massive slave plot covering several counties was brought to light. Three slaves,
Cooper, Will and two Sams, were found guilty of conspiracy to revolt and were sentenced
to three years' imprisonment. The following spring, slaves in Middlesex and Gloucester,
counties were discovered to be plotting to gain their freedom. Seven of the leaders were
were sentenced to banishment. Governor Hugh Drysdale called upon the assembly to intensify
legal punishment of slave rebellion. You're too well acquainted with the cruel dispositions
of these creatures when they have it in their power to destroy or distress, to let slip their
fair opportunity of making more proper laws against them. The Virginia legislature was
was all too eager to comply and passed new laws forbidding all unlicensed meetings of slaves as well as the death penalty without benefit of clergy for conspiracy.
Furthermore, the crackdown touched even the few free Negroes. They were deprived of the vote, burdened with discriminatory tax rates and forbidden to possess arms.
Moreover, even voluntary manumission of slaves by masters was restricted by the legislature,
and approval was required by the governor and the council.
When twelve years later, the English Board of Trade wanted to know why free negroes could
no longer vote, Governor William Gooch, revealing the colony's great fear of negro revolts,
explained, there has been a conspiracy discovered amongst the negroes, wherein the free negroes
Negros and mulattoes were much suspected to have been concerned, which will forever be
the case, and though there could be no legal proof so as to correct them, yet such was
the insolence of the free negros that the assembly deprived them of the vote, well-knowing
they always did, and ever will adhere to and favor the slaves, and to preserve a decent
distinction between them and their betters.
Despite all the restrictions, in the year 1729 a number of Virginia slaves rebelled,
procured arms, ammunition, and agricultural equipment, and escaped west to settle in the
Blue Ridge Mountains. There the former slaves harmed no one. But the force of their example
could have been a standing reproach and a beacon light to the colony of Virginia and
and even to the entire system of slavery. Hence, Virginia mobilized a strong troop of
whites to march against the Negro settlement to destroy it, which they did after a pitched
battle. The Negroes left alive were taken back to bondage. Governor Gooch reacted by
strengthening and training the militia to prevent similar episodes in the future. Yet
Not only one year later, in 1730, slave conspiracies were again revealed and suppressed in Virginia.
An absurdly optimistic rumor spread among the slaves that the Crown had authorized the
freeing of all baptized slaves. The spread of the rumor led to numerous meetings of slaves
and loose discourses among them about individual liberty. Virginia promptly arrested and severely
A few weeks later, 200 Negro slaves of Norfolk and Princess Anne counties gathered and chose
officers for their imminent rebellion. But the plot was uncovered and four of the slave
leaders were executed. Governor Gooch smugly conveyed to the Crown his hope that the slaves
would now rest contented with their condition. During the early years of the French and
In Indian War, when defeats were being inflicted on the English west of Virginia, the slaves
took the opportunity to become rebellious. Governor Robert Dinwiddie, 1751-58, remarked
on the notorious villainy of the Negroes in any emergency of government. He ordered trial
for any Negroes guilty of seditious talk and placed a number of soldiers in each county
to suppress any Negro revolt. In late 1767, Negro slaves near Alexandria revolted by poisoning
and killing several of their overseers. In consequence, eight of the Negroes were brutally
executed and their heads exhibited in the public square. A mob of Negroes also rioted
in Frederick County in the same year. Altogether, slave revolts occurred in Virginia in the
following years, 1722, 1723, 1729, 1730, 1755, and 1767.