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Antebellum Southampton County, Virginia, 1840-1860, Richard Tyler Kanak

Master's Theses

This thesis is a descriptive account of life in antebellum Southampton. Established by the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1749, Southampton County gained notoriety as the site of Nat Turner's slave rebellion. Fears of another armed slave revolt prompted the Virginia General Assembly to enact a series of stringent slave codes, which remained in effect until the Civil War. Primary sources consulted in the preparation of this thesis include corporate records, church manuscripts, court order books, reports of county and state officers, tax journals, and personal papers of the county's contemporary citizens.