Robert Carter III, dressed for a costume ball. Photo courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society.
There stands a lonely highway marker at State Route 202 and State Route 626 in Hague, Westmoreland County, Virginia, just about a mile from the location of what was once Nomini Hall until it burned down in 1850. The house was a fine colonial mansion. Oddly, the weather-worn marker simply describes its owner, Robert Carter III, as a celebrated “councillor.” It also indicates that Philip Fithian was a tutor at Nomini between 1773-74, where he wrote his journal.
The humble marker of Nomini Hall. H&H photo by Erickson.
Describing Robert Carter III as a “councillor” is a grand irony. It is like describing President Abraham Lincoln as a country lawyer, Thomas Jefferson as a writer, or George Washington as a surveyor. While it is true these men once held those jobs, they all moved on to great accomplishments. Robert Carter III, although hardly known for his achievements, ranks right up there with his friends Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, James Madison and Patrick Henry, all members of the Revolutionary-era elite.
Robert Carter III was only four years old when his father died. He attended the Grammar School at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg at the age of nine years. This was two years earlier than most students. His matriculation was not a reflection of his brilliance, more likely it was a place he could be sent to get him out from underfoot of his mother and stepfather. Carter was not an enthusiastic scholar. He returned home early and was not placed under the care of a tutor, as was the custom of wealthy colonial-era children. At the age of 21, he inherited one hundred slaves and 70,000 acres, spread out across the Northern Neck, Winchester and Alexandria, plus a track along the Shenandoah River.
Just four months after attaining his majority (the legal age of 21), when he was considered an adult, Carter promptly sailed for Liverpool, England. His traveling companion was Lawrence Washington, George Washington’s half-brother. In London, Carter was accepted to the Honorable Society of the Inner Temple, perhaps the most prestigious law school in England. However, he never took a class, never stood for the bar and did little studying. Obviously, he wasted his time in London and returned home with a bad reputation. His contemporary, John Page, described Carter as “confused” as well as “vicious.” Page’s father said of Carter, “Yet another example of a young man ruined by London.” It is no wonder that in 1752, when he ran for the House of Burgesses, he finished last of three candidates. When he ran again in 1754, he did even worse. Stung by his election losses, Carter had by then caught the liberty fever spreading in Williamsburg at the House of Burgesses. Carter suddenly, in the spring of 1754 and at the age of 25, started a process of self-education and reinvention. He also married Frances Tasker of Baltimore, the beautiful and well-read 16-year-old daughter of one of Maryland’s most influential men, Benjamin Tasker.
Francis Tasker Carter, wife of Robert Carter III. Photo courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society.
Robert Carter III undoubtedly inherited a natural affinity for business. His political fortunes changed in 1758, when he was named to a seat on the Governor’s Council. By 1791, he had moved to Williamsburg, where he grew intellectually and socially. He was one of the richest aristocrats in the South at the time, and he had accumulated a library to compete with the library of his friend Thomas Jefferson. He dined with the likes of George Washington and loaned money to Thomas Jefferson.
How is it that his name is far from being nearly as well-known as those of his peers? What, one might ask, is the mystery which conceals the life of Robert Carter III? Perhaps it was because of his actions, four decades later, when he took an unprecedented turn. He created what he called his Deed of Gift. Carter’s Deed of Gift was essentially several pages listing the names of some 452 slaves. On August 1, 1791, he signed his Deed of Gift, which was then recorded in the Northumberland District Court on September 5. He wrote, “I have for some time past been convinced that to retain [these people] in slavery is contrary to the true principles of Religion and Justice and that therefore it was my duty to manumit [to release from slavery] them.”
Deed of Gift, written by Robert Carter III, detailing the freeing of his slaves. On file at the Northumberland County District Court.
Over the years, Carter had become a prolific reader of the classics. He investigated several religions including the Baptists. In January 1788, he became enamored with the anti-slavery writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and joined the Swedenborg church in Baltimore. Carter’s epiphany was deeply influenced by the last will and testament of Francis Fauquier, who stipulated his slaves be given “the liberty to choose their own Master” and forbade his executors from separating mothers and their children. It should be noted that in 1768 in Virginia it was illegal to free slaves in most cases. Carter had a deep attachment to family, and in a special way, he considered his slaves as family. Ironically, he had more slaves than just about anyone in Virginia, and he would eventually free more slaves than anyone.
His heirs did not take well to the idea of his giving away what one day would be their “property.” Nor did his neighbors and peers agree, especially when he also joined the Morattico Baptist Church, which had a mixed congregation of white and black, free people and slaves. When Robert Carter died in 1804, members of his family filed an injunction in Frederick County Court in an attempt to stop Carter’s manumissions. The case went to the Virginia Court of Appeals, which ruled that the freeing of Carter’s slaves was allowed even after his death. Some historians believe as many as 600 men, women and children were eventually freed by Carter’s Deed of Gift.
It is important to note that Carter directed his slaves to be released over a period of several years and only when they reached a certain age. The idea was to free no more than 30 slaves in any one year for their own wellbeing. In addition, Virginia law intended to prevent unscrupulous owners from just unloading the young, old and infirm. The law specified that freed slaves must be sound in mind and body and be between the ages of 18 and 45 if females, and 21 and 45 if males. All others, if manumitted, had to be maintained at the expense of their previous owners. While he tried to keep former slave families together and went to great lengths to provide them with housing and acreage to farm, there were hardships that resulted. The fact that a slave could not be freed before the age designated meant that mothers were freed while their children were not. This created a situation that proved painful to many slaves who were separated from their families.
Nomini Hall, home of Robert Carter III, Westmoreland County, Virginia. Drawing by R. Collins. Courtesy of The Library of Congress.
Although very few slave owners shared Carter’s view, there were some who shared his religious beliefs and were troubled over slavery. Most could not deal with the economics of abolition. Five years after Carter’s Deed of Gift, a book appeared, A Dissertation on Slavery: With A Proposal for the Gradual Abolition Of it, in the State of Virginia. The book was published in 1796 by St. George Tucker, a law professor at the College of William and Mary. It was presented to the General Assembly, but totally ignored.
Philip Vickers Fithian, was a tutor who lived at Nomini Hall between 1773 and 1774. He taught the Carter children. Fithian kept a journal in which he noted day to day experiences of what he observed was happening at the Carter Plantation. In his journal he wrote, in the writing style of the time, this of Robert Carter III: “And Mr. Carter is allow’d by all, & from what I have already seen of others, I make no Doubt at all but he is, by far the most humane to his Slaves of any in these parts. Good God! are these Christians?” This is a poignant eyewitness testimony from a man who knew Carter well. He, like Carter, was witness to the inhumanity of slavery.
Fithian's journal.
Fithian talks about an overseer named Morgan who worked for nearby plantation owner Mr. George Lees. In his journal, Fithian recalls Morgan recommending how to treat slaves for “Sullenness, Obstinacy, or Idleness.” Morgan’s suggestions were brutal, and would easily fit the definition of torture by today’s standards. Certainly, Carter knew of, and was troubled by, these atrocities and others Fithian documented. In his book, The First Emancipator, Andrew Levy points out that while other slave owners expected their slaves to sleep on the dirt floors of their slave cabins, Robert Carter had shelves built 18 inches above the ground for them to sleep on.
The story of Sarah, a slave on the Carter Plantation, illustrates the plight of many. The story is brought to life by Ms. Sheila Arnold Jones, who portrays Sarah and other slaves in her live presentations across the country. She is the CEO and lead performer of History’s Alive! (www.mssheila.org) Through History’s Alive!, Sheila has given more than 600 presentations for schools, churches, professional organizations and museums in 26 states. In addition, she contracts with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to present historic character interpretation and to teach teachers at their Summer Teachers Institute.
Her portrayal of the former slave Sarah explains in vivid detail the anguish slaves endured even after they were freed. Carter slave “Sarah” was set free in 1793, but continued to serve the family while she waited for her children to be freed.
Why, one wonders, has Carter’s Deed of Gift been all but forgotten? Obviously, he was one of the few slave owners who acted on the notion that slavery was wrong. George Washington wrote in his will that his slaves should be freed after his wife’s death, which she believed put her life in danger. Others had good intentions they never carried out. However, it was Robert Carter III who had the courage of his convictions and actually did freed his slaves. He did it without much fanfare, quietly and determinedly. Some people believe his contemporaries wanted to avoid giving attention to what he had done because it shamed them. It is interesting to note that even one of the highway markers for Nomini Hall describes Carter as a “councillor” rather than the emancipator who authored the incredible Deed of Gift.
It would seem appropriate that instead of a humble road marker at Nomini Hall, there should be erected on the site a grand marble monument with a bronze bust of Robert Carter III and the inscription cast in shiny bronze letters that reads: “Robert Carter III, a slave owner who became enlightened regarding slavery and had the faith and courage to do the right thing when all about him opposed his freeing of slaves.”
It should be noted, that Robert Carter III owned his half-brother Baptist Billy, and he always knew it. Perhaps this fact weighed heavily on Carter’s mind over the years and may have contributed to his decision to eventually free all his slaves.
The First Emancipator, written by Andrew Levy, published by Random House, tells the incredible story of how the man who had more slaves than anyone in Virginia decided to free his slaves.