Patrick Henry: Letter to Robert Pleasants, a Quaker, Concerning Slavery

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

As with most of the Virginia gentry in the latter part of the eighteenth century, Henry was a slave owner. He recognized that slavery was unjustifiable on principle, and he was well aware of the inconsistency of insisting upon civil liberties for some while denying them to others. At the same time, Henry recognized his own unwillingness to make the difficult financial sacrifices that would be necessary to do away with slavery.

Others, most notably Quakers, were beginning to raise an outcry against both the slave trade and slave ownership in general. In a letter written on January 18, 1773, to a Quaker friend, Robert Pleasants, Henry recognized the moral reprehensibility of slavery while acknowledging his own failings. While he would never take action to discourage the institution, Henry's letter is an excellent example of the growing tension felt by many Patriot leaders as they fought for their own liberty from Britain while most grossly denying liberty to others. As Henry explained, it was “amazing” that the practice could continue in Virginia, “a Country above all others fond of Liberty.” The exchange with Robert Pleasants followed Henry's successful effort to obtain an exemption from militia muster for Quakers, a success that was compromised during the difficult war years of the Revolution. While Henry recognized the problems with slavery, he continued to own slaves and years later, during the debates over the adoption of the Constitution, used the specter of federal authority over slavery and the threat of federal emancipation in an effort to encourage slaveholders to oppose the Constitution.