Posted on 09/04/2009 11:54:59 PM PDT by BGHater
Robert Carter III of Virginia was one of the richest men in Revolutionary America. (He would have ranked near the top of the Forbes 400 List if they would have had one then.) He owned 16 plantations, 70,000 acres, numerous mansions, and several companies involved in shipping, manufacturing, and banking. He was the second largest slaveholder in Virginia owning almost 500 slaves.
Robert's fortune had been handed down to him from his grandfather and then his father. His grandfather had been so rich and powerful in Virginia that he had been given the nickname King Carter.
Robert was born in 1728. He was raised with wealth, privilege, and the Anglican religion and enjoyed his lavish lifestyle until he was close to fifty years old.
Two things, however, began to change Robert. 1) He was influenced by the ideas of personal freedom and liberty as the American colonists began to talk about independence from England. During the War of Independence, Carter sided with the revolutionaries. For Carter, however, it didn't make sense to determine freedom by skin color.
2) One of Carter's slaves was his half-brother who was 3 years older than him and is referred to in Carter's journals as Baptist Billy. In his late 40's Carter began to attend a very unusual Baptist church where slaves, free blacks, and whites worshiped together. On July 12, 1777, Robert Carter wrote in his journal: "I doubted till very lately of the divinity of Jesus Christ. I thank Almighty God that, that doubt is removed". He got saved and his salvation began to change his beliefs, his behavior, and his lifestyle. Another journal entry states: "On March 15, 1778, Robert Carter and his servant Negro Sam, received tokens and the both did Commune".
As Carter begin to enjoy fellowship with his slaves as his brothers in Christ, his heart began to change toward them. He wrote in his journal: "Man is more than a mere inanimate statue". And: "Tolerating slavery indicates great depravity".
As the founding fathers wrote eloquently about personal freedom, Carter tried to influence them to give freedom to the slaves of America. He wrote: "I apprehend that an act should pass here, declaring that all persons, male and female, were free from the date of the Act of Parliament declaring that the thirteen united states were free and independent states". Eventually the northern states began to gradually free their slaves, but the southern states ignored his call. Carter later wrote: "My plans and advice have never been pleasing to the world".
Finally in 1791 Carter acted independently against the protests of many of his friends. He wrote a document to provide freedom to his 442 slaves called The Deed of Gift and filed it with the state of Virginia. He began by saying: "I have for some time past been convinced that to retain persons in Slavery is contrary to the true Principles of Religion and Justice, and therefore it was my Duty to manumit them." This was by far the largest emancipation in American history until Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation.
Later that year, John Rippon wrote in a newspaper called Baptist Register: "It is said that Mr. Robert Carter of Nomini, Virginia has emancipated 442 slaves, if this be true, vote him a triumph, crown him with laurels, and let millions listen while he sings -- 'I would not have a slave to till my ground'". Instead of listening to Robert Carter III, America ignored and forgot him, his Christian salvation, and his wonderful document of freedom -- The Deed of Gift. He was even persecuted in his home state and finally moved to Baltimore.
Robert Carter was America's greatest founding father because he applied the principles of freedom to all people. Had his example been followed by the other founding fathers American history would have been radically changed and millions of Americans would not have had to suffer the cruel drudgery, bondage, and torture of slavery.
The governement (the true slave masters here on earth) would have taken your familys’ wealth (sadly) long before you have seen 1 red cent of it (remember the modern progressives who run our government believe you don’t really own your familys’ wealth, ~neither does God, in their opinon, who is really master and owner~, you only get your wealth by privilage of the government according to THEM)!
His half-brother was a slave. Wow.
At another time, a poet wrote,
“The deed of gift was many deeds of war.”
Beautiful story. “King” Carter married into my grandmother’s family tree. He is my first cousin (in-law) 9x removed. I had nothing on his grandson Robert III. Thank you for posting.
Was this his first wife, Judith Armistead, or his second, Elizabeth Landon?
If Landon, howdy cousin. No idea how far removed, though.
Thanks for the ping Pharmboy. What a great man!
And Wildbill, I was a history major as well - at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) - and never heard of him either.
No, it was ‘King’ Carter’s first wife, Judith Armistead. Judith was the niece of my 8th ggmother, Catherine Beverley.
Make that the niece of my 7th ggmother (Catherine Beverley).
Beverly Plantation on the James was/is no slouch, either. Same family?
Ol’ Tippecanoe (President William Henry Harrison) was born there.
Related to him, too?
In the aftermath of the Civil War, a lot of things were written out of the history books. The victors get to write them, you know.
My screen name refers to what was once recognized as the beginning of the American Revolution. Then-famous quotes from that 1760’s “war” were attributed to New Englanders. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was written off as a fraud. The good ladies of Edenton, NC, with their Tea Party, were ignored.
And, the most amazing snub of all, is that Jamestown, VA is overlooked in favor of Plymouth Rock, despite being established nearly twenty years earlier.
I try to pull such events, figures and even places from historical obscurity, whenever possible. We should know our real history, and not some sanitized, regionally biased account, based upon old grudges, from old wars.
The Revolution was won in the Carolinas and Virginia, with a big nod of thanks to backwoods “Over The Mountain Men” from a region that would soon be ceded by NC to form the great state of Tennessee in 1796. You don’t see that admitted very much, either, despite the rather obvious historical accounts that cannot be avoided.
What ever works to keep them in office. They can play the race and class cards equally skillfully from either side of the deck. It's easy to do that if you have no principle but the lust for power.
They’re all in my tree, but I’m not descended from them.
Robert Beverly, the historian who wrote the definitive history of Virgina in the early 1700s, was my 9th ggf. I don’t believe he was the owner the plantation.
IIRC (without checking my tree) King Carter and Judith Armistead’s daughter Judith married Mann Page of Rosewell Plantation. The home has quite an interesting history:
http://www.rosewell.org
I believe one of their daughters married into the Harrison family and the presidents are descended from them.
If you like my article about Robert Carter III that was posted here by BGHater, check out my facebook page for links to more of my articles: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/steve.simms2?ref=profile
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