Description:

Slavery -
Slave accused of rape in colonial Williamsburg! William Gooch who served as Governor signs




Cream paper inscribed in flowing black script with Williamsburg impressed crown seal attached via linen tape at bottom. Large and clear "William Gooch" signature appears at bottom right. Docket at back reads "Commission of Oyer and Terminer to try, Eliza. Everage's Peter". In very good condition with expected wear including worn or torn creases, many of which have been professionally repaired using archival tape and infilling. Wording is dark and sharp throughout. Document measures 15.125" x 15.875". Ex Richards Goldman with copies of original provenance from Paul C. Richards Autographs (Templeton, MA) June 26, 1978 sale listing this item as Lot 56 of Catalog No. 81.

Document dated June 26, 1739 and issued by "his Majesty's Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia" William Gooch from Williamsburg, Norfolk County, Virginia to fifteen gentlemen and potential justices. Gooch requests that any four or more of these men serve as judges in a rape investigation to be conducted before July 26, 1739. "Peter, a Negro Man Slave belonging to Elizabeth Everage of Norfolk County" was accused of raping a local widow named Martha Mairskull.

Gooch cites a May 9, 1723 legal precedent "directing the Trial of Slaves Committing Capital Crimes and for the more effectual Punishing Conspiracies and Insurrections of them and for ... Government of Negroes Mulattoes and Indians bond or free". Justices were charged to investigate "Treasons or Misprisions thereof Felonies Murders or other Offences or Crimes whatsoever Committed or Perpetrated within the said County of Norfolk" and "to pass Judgment as the Law directs for the like Crimes and on such Judgment to award Execution or otherwise him to acquit as of Right ought to be done".

While Peter is permitted the same rights as a free Englishman, that is the right to a trial conducted by an outside party, he belongs to a demographic class of outcasts including other slaves, free blacks, individuals of mixed race, and Indians. In this way, the justices who investigated rape allegations were not among Peter's peers. Significantly, any crimes committed by non-whites were perceived as potentially part of larger, more sinister intentions or trends. Thus, any misdemeanors committed by non-whites could lead down a slippery slope to "conspiracies and insurrections".

Anxiety over the control of enslaved populations in colonial America was pervasive. In some Southern colonies, where whites were outnumbered by enslaved blacks and Indians, the fear of insurrection was even more acute. In the early 1730s, two slave revolts rocked the Caribbean in Jamaica and St. John respectively. The Stono Rebellion would take place in neighboring South Carolina three months after Gooch commissioned this investigation.

William Gooch (1681-1751), a career soldier who saw action in European, North American, and Caribbean theaters, served as de facto governor of Virginia between 1727-1749. He signed this document almost ten years into his tenure as leader of one of the most powerful British colonies.

Gooch's injunction to the justices to sentence the defendant fairly suggests that it is not a foregone conclusion that Peter will be convicted of rape because he is a slave. Nevertheless, rape was among crimes in colonial America punishable by execution.

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June 14, 2017 10:30 AM EDT
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