Lesson 15
Imagine You Are a Rich Virginia Slaveowner: Will You Free Your Slaves?
Imagine You Are a Rich Virginia Slaveowner: Will You Free Your Slaves?
Robert Carter III and his wife Frances Ann Tasker Carter are not just rich, they own more slaves than Jefferson and Washington combined. They free their slaves. They do it intelligently, so that the former slaves will be able to find work. Their slave-owning neighbors are outraged. Some go to court to try to stop them. Their names get erased from most history books (not mine). Which is why you may have never heard of them. Who were they? Robert Carter III was the grandson of Virginia’s legendary “King” Carter, who was a governor of Virginia and a very rich landowner. When King Carter dies in 1732 he leaves his family 300,000 acres of land, 3,000 slaves, and a whole lot of cash; it gets divided among his 15 children. (King Carter’s descendants include General Robert E. Lee and James Robinson, a wealthy African American known as “Gentleman Jim,” which tells you something about the interconnections among Southern families.) Robert Carter III is four when his grandfather dies. Then his father dies. Young Robert Carter III inherits a lot of money and land and slaves. He can’t touch the money until he is 21. As soon as he has that birthday he takes off for England with George Washington’s brother. In London Carter buys himself fancy clothes and has his portrait painted in a gilded outfit. After that he manages to offend a lot of Londoners with his spoiled rich boy behavior. When he comes home he doesn’t act much better. Hardly anyone likes him. And then he marries Frances Ann Tasker. She is the daughter of Maryland’s governor. She is very intelligent and she reads a lot. Robert Carter says she has read more books than anyone he knows. (He has a house in Williamsburg and knows some impressive people.) Carter and his wife are very much in love. They live at Nomini Hall, a 70,000 acre plantation on Virginia’s Northern neck (where the Potomac River and Rappahanock Rivers run into Chesapeake Bay). Ships pulled up to their docks to load and deliver goods. Nomini Hall has handsome buildings, spacious lawns, gardens, terraces, and beautiful rooms filled with furniture and china ordered in London. It holds a big library. The Carters, who have 17 children, hire a tutor/teacher to come to Nomini Hall. That tutor, Philip Fithian, keeps a journal; it will make him famous (hooray for journal writers). Fithian, who has been educated at Princeton, uses the journal to describe the family and the way they live; future historians will be fascinated by what he writes. (You can find it on the web.) Fithian is surprised by life in the South. He is surprised to find Virginians gracious and literate. He likes the Carter family. Here’s a bit from his famous journal: Monday 13. Mr Carter is preparing for a Voyage in his Schooner, the Hariot, to the Eastern Shore in Maryland, for Oysters: there are of the party, Mr Carter, Captain Walker, Colonel Richd Lee, & Mr Lancelot Lee. With Sailors to work the vessel—I observe it is a general custom on Sundays here, with Gentlemen to invite one another home to dine, after Church; and to consult about, determine their common business, either before or after Service—It is not the Custom for Gentlemen to go into Church til Service is beginning, when they enter in a Body, in the same manner as they come out; I have known the Clerk to come out and call them in to prayers.—They stay also after the Service is over, usually as long, sometimes longer, than the Parson was preaching—Almost every Lady wears a red Cloak; and when they ride out they tye a white handkerchief over their Head and face, so that when I first came into Virginia, I was distress'd whenever I saw a Lady, for I thought She had the Tooth-Ach!—The People are extremely hospitable, and very polite both of which are most certainly universal Characteristics of the Gentlemen in Virginia—some swear bitterly, but the practise seems to be generally disapproved…Mr Carter is practising this Evening on the Guittar He begins with the Trumpet Minuet. He has a good Ear for Music; a vastly delicate Taste; and keeps good Instruments, he has here at Home a Harpsichord, Forte-Piano, Harmonica,[91] Guittar, Violin, & German Flutes, & at Williamsburg, has a good Organ, he himself also is indefatigable in the Practice. . . Fithian has a girlfriend back home, so he won’t stay in Virginia as long as he might have otherwise. As for Robert Carter III, almost 20 years after Fithian wrote his journal, on August 1, 1791, he signs a legal document saying that all the slaves that he and his wife own are to be freed. They have thought carefully about this and come up with a gradual plan that considers state law and the age and ability of the people involved to find work. Some of their Northern Neck neighbors get very angry. Some of the Carter children try to break the will and stop freeing blacks. Carter and his wife move from Nomini Hall to Baltimore. But it will happen: close to 600 people will be freed. Why did they do it? What makes some people behave nobly and others act mean? Money has a lot to do with it Slaves are a form of wealth for those who own them. But Frances and Robert Carter are looking for something more valuable than money. They are trying to find the meaning of life. That has sent them searching for God. They visit one church after another. They listen to sermons. This is a time in American history known as the Great Awakening: public and religious life is changing. Some preachers become rock stars. Most Americans belong to the Anglican Church, which is the Church of England. But the colonies will soon break away from England and much of the movement in that direction comes from people who leave the English church. Presbyterians and Baptists and Methodists are among the preachers who lead big outdoor festival-like prayer sessions. Some are in Virginia’s Northern Neck. People camp out, sometimes for days. Sometimes blacks and whites pray together. That inspires some people, it horrifies others. Great Awakenings will appear in waves for years to come. They will help create a social revolution in the new nation that is being born. They will influence plantation owners like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson when they sit down to write a constitution for a new democratic nation. But Frances and Robert Carter will get forgotten. Are they important American heroes? Why? Why not? Write about them. |