Manumission in Virginia: A Christian Witness

While uncommon, slave manumissions occurred in the United States of America. Manumissions were voluntary releases of slaves through legal documents such as wills and deeds. While manumissions happened in many states prior to and during the Civil War, the Commonwealth of Virginia had the most manumissions. Varied reasons were given for the freeing of slaves, some of them religious. This article explores many of the explicitly Christian reasons given for the freeing of slaves, seeking to illustrate the connection between people’s political and legal action and their identities as followers of Christ, doing all things before the face of God. Through primary source analysis, readers will see the Christian witness of individual manumitters, as well as how the Word of God was brought to bear on the political and legal aspects of eighteenth and nineteenth century Virginian life. These legal documents and their exploration will provide further insight into the relatively unexplored world of manumissions and contribute to the literature on historical Christian political action in Virginia.