African History Commons^™

Virginia Society's Response/ Fancy Fantasy, Peighton Lynsey Young

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Virginia Society’s Response to Revolution Era Manumission and Emancipation Legislation Through Petitions, 1782-1806 Using manumission petitions filed by or on behalf of enslaved Virginians seeking freedom, pro-manumission and emancipation petitions proffered by religious organizations, and anti-emancipation petitions submitted by local enslavers and politicians, this study examines how Virginians, both White and Black, free and enslaved, responded to Virginia’s 1782 manumission act. This law facilitated the liberation of thousands of people in bondage during the first twenty-four years of the early republic period. My analysis highlights a contentious period in Virginia’s early history – a period that began with tenuous hopes …