February 1676/77 session
Virginia penalizes servants who joined Bacon’s Rebellion despite its pardon legislation
Green Spring, colonial Virginia
After Bacon’s Rebellion, Virginia’s Assembly directed that servants who had joined the rebels be punished under runaway-servant laws and compensate their masters for lost service. It also allowed prosecution for plunder after their terms ended. The session’s pardon act expressly preserved servants’ liability for lost time and damages.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
The session began on 20 February 1676 Old Style, or 1677 with a January-start year; this is not an established assent day. These provisions concern service and restitution, not a universal emancipation or a simple pardon for all white servants. Criminal pardon, additional service and return to enslavement were different questions. Hening marks both acts as repealed by proclamation on 8 July 1680. See the separate Bacon’s Rebellion entry for the surrender account.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 3; supplied pp. 39–58 and bibliography pp. 690–691, edition/year unidentified
- Hening, Statutes at Large, vol. 2, pp. 366–373: session heading and act I, especially servants proviso on pp. 372–373 ↗
- Hening, vol. 2, p. 395, act XII, An act concerning servants who were out in rebellion; repeal annotation ↗