In this May 22, 1797, freedom suit, Ned, a man enslaved by Elizabeth Pleasants, pleads his claim to freedom. A 1795 law allowed enslaved persons to plead a claim to freedom before a judge. Because the facts and law involved in Ned’s case were the same as those involved in Pleasants v. Pleasants, Ned’s case was joined with the Pleasants case.
In this March 16, 1798, injunction, Chancellor George Wythe orders the defendants in Pleasants v. Pleasants not to take their enslaved individuals out of the state pending resolution of the case.
This is a record of a 1798 decision made by the High Court of Chancery, on the legality of the wills of John Pleasants III and his son Jonathan Pleasants that freed their enslaved laborers. Chancellor George Wythe ruled in favor of Robert Pleasants and the enslaved people included in the will. Pleasants’ family members, the defendants, appealed this decision and the case was heard by the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
