Ninety-three Augusta County residents assert that free people of color "are an unprofitable class, both to themselves and others." Free blacks add nothing to the community; they derive their sustenance from sources other than their own labor; and they exert "an injurious influence" on the slave population and public morals. The government should remove "such free negroes as may be willing to emigrate" to Liberia. If it were inexpedient to make an appropriation now, perhaps an additional property tax could be levied in the future. A tax should also be assessed at a lesser rate on non-slaveholding whites, a tax they deem equitable. "Property holders," they note, "are not the only persons whose interests are injuriously affected by this class of our population--the mechanic--the day laborer--all indeed, whose capital consists in their labor suffer by the competition of Free Negroes." There should be restrictions on free blacks moving from county to county, prohibitions against owners freeing slaves without providing for their removal, and the forcible removal of virtually all free people of color within five years.
Result: Laid on the table.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
