Browse Items (19 total)
- Collection: Expansion and Reform
Pamunkey Indian Tribe, Counter Petition, 1843
After a public notice appeared in a Richmond newspaper in October 1842 that a petition would be presented to the Virginia General Assembly to sell King William County property known as "Indian town lands," members of the Pamunkey tribe took action.…
Petition of King William County Freeholders, 1843
On January 20, 1843, a petition from residents of King William County was presented to the House of Delegates. The men who signed it asked the General Assembly to sell the lands that the royal government had set aside for the Pamunkey Indians by…
Phillis, Commonwealth Cause, Accomack County, 1824
Commonwealth causes are criminal cases filed by a county's prosecuting attorney (commonwealth's attorney) against individuals who violate Virginia law. Prior to the abolition of slavery in Virginia in 1865, criminal offenders and victims included…
Portrait of Black Hawk, 1833
Black Hawk, born in 1767 and known in his native language as Makataimeshekiakiak, was a Sauk warrior and tribal leader. The Sauk lived on the Rock River, a tributary of the Mississippi, in what is now Illinois, and fought against the United States…
The United States, Map, 1816
Completed in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France. In it, the United States acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River from French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte for…
Union Burial Ground Society Constitution, 1848
Beginning in the 18th century, cemeteries in Richmond were racially segregated. Deceased residents of African descent were interred in the Burial Ground for Negroes (also known as the African Burial Ground) alongside the city’s Shockoe Creek. The…
Virginia Springs - Summer Arrangement, Broadside, 1855
Western Virginia's mineral-spring resorts were extremely popular in the 19th century. Travelers from throughout the United States, especially from the southern region, visited the resorts. There people would drink or bathe in the spring water, which…
War of 1812 Caricatures
After the American Revolution, relations between the United States and Great Britain remained strained. In its long war with France, Britain imposed a blockade on neutral countries, including the United States, that disrupted shipping and trade.…
William Albright, Runaway Slave Record, Kanawha County, 1834
Virginia's economy was based on slavery until the Civil War and emancipation. In 1860, Virginia was home to 500,000 enslaved people, more than any other state. Although most Virginians were not enslavers, farmers and planters used enslaved laborers…