In November 1775, from the safety of a British warship near Norfolk, Virginia's royal governor, the earl of Dunmore, decided to handle the explosive political situation by declaring martial law and offering freedom to enslaved people who fought for…
The Virginia Board decided that because members of the Pamunkey Indian tribe had never been allowed to vote, they were not considered citizens of the United States and thus could not be subject to the draft.
With his request for Jefferson to reprieve Billy, Mann Page included an opinion from Henry Lee and William Carr, justices who dissented from the verdict and supported Page's efforts to commute the death sentence.
W.M. Kemper, executive assistant to the governor of Virginia, wrote to Chief Custalow of the Mattaponi Indian tribe that "all persons living within the Commonwealth" must be counted in the census.