Pass Permitting Travel by an Enslaved Man from Montpelier

This handwritten pass, dated June 1, 1843, permits the enslaved Benjamin McDaniel to travel from Montpelier, the Orange County plantation then owned by Dolley Madison, to the town of New Market in Shenandoah County. Enslaved people had to carry a pass or tag giving them permission to travel outside the plantation where they lived; if stopped and found to be without such a formal pass or tag, they were subject to arrest.