Digital Commons Network^™

"Freedom Wears A Cap": The Law, Liberty, And Opportunity For British Convict Servants In Virginia, 1718-1788, Daniel Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Great Britain’s passage of the Transportation Act of 1718 was intended to relieve Great Britain of an unwanted criminal element while at the same time providing much needed labor for her North American colonies. This thesis argues that the legislative body of Virginia initially responded by passing legislation intended to limit the dangers presented by the introduction of convict servants into the colony. However, the significant demand for labor in Virginia resulted in the colony receiving a substantial share of those convicts transported to North America. Contemporaries argued that the importation of convict servants led to an increase in crime. …