Writing on behalf of freed person of color Edmund Briggs, residents of Monroe County ask the legislature to reconsider their decision to reject, "by a small majority," Briggs's request to remain in the state. The petitioners say that it is their understanding that the petition was rejected because the justices "declared that they would oppose the grant of such a privilege to any emancipated slave, however, meritorious his conduct & life might have been." The petitioners make a special case for Briggs by describing him as "very old, a man of sobriety, honesty, and integrity, a loyal and devoted slave for nearly seventy years.
Result: Referred to committee for courts of justice.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
