Line 108:
Henry invested some of his earnings in frontier lands, in what is now the western part of Virginia, as well as in present-day West Virginia and Kentucky. He claimed ownership though many of them were controlled by the Native Americans, and he sought to get the colonial (and, later, state) government to recognize his claims. This was common among Virginia's leading citizens, such as [[George Washington]]. Henry foresaw the potential of the [[Ohio River|Ohio Valley]] and was involved in schemes to found settlements. Income from land deals in 1771 enabled him to buy [[Scotchtown (plantation)|Scotchtown]], a large plantation in Hanover County, which he purchased from John Payne, the father of [[Dolley Madison]]—she lived there for a brief time as a child. Scotchtown, with 16 rooms, was one of the largest mansions in Virginia.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=72–73}}
Owning estates such as Henry's meantchose owningto slaves;be Henrya was alifelong slaveholder from the time of his marriage at age 18.{{sfn|Kidd|p=15}} Despite this, Henry believedclaimed that slavery was wrong and hoped for its abolition, but he had no plan for doing so nor for the multiracial society that would result, for he did not believe schemes to settle freed slaves in Africa were realistic, "to re-export them is now impracticable, and sorry I am for it."{{sfn|Kukla|pp=100–102}} He wrote in 1773, "I am the master of slaves of my own purchase. I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living here without them. I will not, I cannot justify it."{{sfn|Kukla|p=124}} But the number of slaves he owned increased over time and as a result of his second marriage in 1777, so that at his death in 1799, he owned 67 slaves.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=15–16}} In 1778, Henry and othersother soughtplanters, believing there to endbe theira surplus of slave labor in Virginia, easily brought the transatlantic importation of new enslaved Africans to an end.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Broadwater |first=Jeff |title=Madison, James and Slavery |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/madison-james-and-slavery/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |language=en-US}}</ref> The aggressively pro-slavery planters supported the effort to limit slave imports for their own economic reasons and succeededfor infear 1778of slave rebellions.<ref>{{Cite Theyweb assumed|last=McBurney that|first=Christian |date=2020-09-14 |title=The First Efforts to Limit the African Slave Trade Arise in sothe doing,American theyRevolution: werePart fighting2 slaveryof 3, butThe Middle and Southern Colonies |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/09/the-first-efforts-to-limit-the-african-slave-trade-arise-in-the-american-revolution-part-2-of-3-the-middle-and-southern-colonies/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Journal of the generationAmerican afterRevolution independence|language=en-US}}</ref> slaveWith birthsa greatlysurplus exceededof deaths,slaves and the ability to import more African slaves cut off, Virginia later became a source of slaves sold south in the [[coastwise slave trade]].{{sfn|Kukla|p=125}}
===Renewed involvement and First Continental Congress (1773–1775)===
|
Article Images