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Phillip Gowen, Petition for Release from Servitude, 1675

CONTENT WARNING

Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation. 

Context

Phillip Gowen (whose surname sometimes appears as Cowen or Corven) was the son of a freed African servant. He was bound out as an indentured servant late in the 17th century. He was, like all indentured servants at that time, required to serve a landowner for a specific length of time before being granted freedom. By the 1620s, a standard system had been put into place whereby servants negotiated the terms of their indentures with a merchant, ship's captain, or other agent before sailing to Virginia. Their indentures were then sold to planters when the servants arrived in the colony. By the 1650s, they made up half of the workforce in Virginia and the Assembly passed laws to standardize terms of service for most servants. When their contracts ended, servants were to receive a pre-determined quantity of corn and clothing and possibly other goods. Indentured servants, both white and Black, were subject to exploitation by their masters, but they retained the right to submit complaints about their treatment to the court.

In 1675, Phillip Gowen petitioned Governor Sir William Berkeley and the council for his release from servitude claiming that his rights had been violated by his master. The petition describes his situation as a servant for Anne Beazley, who transferred his indenture to her cousin by her will. After eight years of service Phillip was supposed to be freed and be given three barrels of corn and clothes. The petition documents how his indenture was transferred from the cousin to a Mr. Lucas who used threats and fraud to force Phillip into a new contract for 20 more years. The council ordered him freed and compensated with three barrels of corn and invalidated the fraudulent indenture.

This document was probably written on behalf of Phillip Gowen by someone familiar with the laws in Virginia because it follows the traditional form of petitions at the time, with which Gowen himself probably would not have been familiar. His petition illustrates the precarious situation of African Virginians as racial slavery developed in the colony during the 17th century.

Citation: Undated petition of Phillip Gowen to Governor Sir William Berkeley, ca. 1675, Colonial Papers, Folder 19, No. 2, Record Group 1, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Standards

USI.1 USI.5 VS.1 VS.3 VS.4 VUS.1 VUS.3

Suggested Questions

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