Freedom for Slaves of Robert Carter III

O-73

On 5 Sept. 1791, Robert Carter III (1728-1804), one of the wealthiest men in the United States, filed a deed of manumission at the Northumberland County Courthouse. This document eventually freed more than 500 enslaved African Americans owned by Carter in several Virginia counties. “To retain them in Slavery,” Carter wrote, “is contrary to the true principles of Religion & Justice.” The deed, structured to withstand resistance by Carter's heirs and neighbors, liberated slaves gradually in small groups. Because children were freed when they reached adulthood, the manumission took decades to complete. Many of the freed people became tenants on Carter’s land.

Department of Historic Resources, 2016

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Andrew Levy, The First Emancipator: The Forgotten Story of Robert Carter, the Founding Father who Freed His Slaves (2005) http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/carter_robert_1728-1804 Stevenson T. Walker, “Robert Carter III, 1728-1804,” Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine (2013) Thomas A. Duckenfield III, “Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited: The Legacy of Robert Carter III’s Deed of Manumission and Those Manumitted,” Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine (2012). John Randolph Barden, “Flushed with notions of freedom”: The Growth and Emancipation of a Virginia slave community 1732-1812,” (Ph.D. diss., Duke University), 1993. Rockland Rural Historic District Nomination, 2015