Jul 18, 2022 | 18th Century, North America, Transcription
Debt Act of 1732 Jefferson’s Notes on Debt Recovery Act (1732) In his copy of Parliament’s Debt Act of 1732, Thomas Jefferson situates Britain’s latest imperial encroachment within the existing body of colonial trade restrictions already in place. In the...
Jul 18, 2022 | 18th Century, Correspondence, North America, Transcription
Slavery in the courts Governor Gooch to Mr. Popple (1736) A letter from the colonial governor of Virginia, William Gooch, explaining why the colony passed a law denying the vote to free Black colonists. About The following is a letter from the colonial governor of...
Jun 9, 2021 | 18th Century, Correspondence, England, Transcription
George III Correspondences on the Slave Trade (1778) Below are three correspondences which document King George III’s comments on the slave trade. Introduction The following are three correspondences which document George III’s comments on the slave...
May 14, 2020 | 18th Century, Pamphlet, Transcription, United States
A Lawyer’s Call St. George Tucker’s Gradual Emancipation Plan (1796) One of Virginia’s most notable lawyers in the late 18th Century, Tucker set out to provide his state with a plan to rid itself of the institution of slavery. Introduction St. George...
May 14, 2020 | 18th Century, Law, North America
Codifying Enslavement The Virginia Slave Code of 1705 As Virginia entered the new century, the legislature set out to make slavery law in a way it hadn’t before. The new law was the most detailed slave code the colony had produced yet, and would vastley...
May 1, 2020 | 18th Century, Book, North America, Transcription
A New Englander Speaks Samuel Sewall – The Selling of Joseph (1700) While not a pamphlet that would consistently continue to catch the attention of others after its publication, The Selling of Joseph represents the first published attack on slavery in New...