the North and South. Both Virginian and New Englander, in this case, entered into a contract, in which disposition was to be made of a large number of human beings, in the same spirit as if the objects in which they were trading were so many pipes of wine, casks of rum, or boxes of clothing. In the invoice which was given to Jackson, provision was made for the purchase of a certain number of boys and girls of ages that were not to fall below seven or to rise above twenty-four. These negro youths were to be landed at the wharf of Colonel Fitzhugh, and the payment of the sums agreed upon in return for them was to be secured by bonds, which were to be met within a time carefully prescribed.[1]
There is ground for thinking that the importation of slaves into Virginia through the agency of New England shipowners and merchants increased in importance as the trade with the West Indian Islands enlarged in volume. It will be shown hereafter that a vast quantity of the products of these islands was conveyed to the Colony in New England bottoms and there exchanged for tobacco, which in turn was transported to the mother country. Negroes commanded as ready a sale as rum or sugar in Virginia. It is common to find in the county records, references to the vessels in which young negroes, who had been introduced into court to have their ages adjudged, had been brought into the Colony. The names of New England ships are not infrequently mentioned as the vehicles of their importation.[2]
- ↑ Letters of William Fitzhugh, Feb. 11, 1682-1683. Jackson may have been bound for Barbadoes.
- ↑ Records of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 432, Va. State Library. The vessel in this case was the Eunice. The following is from the Middlesex Records: “Know all men by these presents that I John Endicott, Cooper, of Boston in New England, have sold unto Richard Medlicott, a Spanish Mulatto, by name Antonio, I having full power to
