ENTRY

Landon Carter (1710–1778)

SUMMARY

Landon Carter was a prominent member of the House of Burgesses (1752–1768) and perhaps the most prolific published Virginia writer of his generation—the author of four major political pamphlets, nearly fifty newspaper essays, and a revealing personal diary. Carter was the son of the powerful landowner Robert “King” Carter and for a time managed some of his father’s land. Upon King Carter’s death, Landon Carter inherited a substantial Richmond County estate and built his home, Sabine Hall, there. After three failed attempts, Carter was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1752 and was rewarded with powerful committee appointments. He publicly defended the House in published pamphlets and newspaper essays until he was defeated in his bid for reelection in 1768. The first to raise the alarm in Virginia over the Stamp Act, Carter was chair of the Richmond County Committee (1774–1776) and a wholehearted supporter of independence during the American Revolution (1775–1783). He died at Sabine Hall in 1778.

Planter

Carter was born on August 18, 1710, the son of Robert “King” Carter and his second wife, Elizabeth Landon Willis Carter, who was a wealthy widow at the time of their marriage. Landon Carter was born probably at Corotoman, the family’s seat in Lancaster County. His father was one of the most prominent public figures of his generation and was probably the wealthiest man in Virginia at the time of his death. Carter’s elder half brother John Carter became secretary of the colony and a member of the governor’s Council, and his elder brother Charles Carter represented King George County in the House of Burgesses for many years. When he was nine years old, Landon Carter accompanied two of his elder brothers to London, where at the private school of Solomon Low he received the classical education of a young English gentleman. He demonstrated a strong inclination for learning and was allowed to stay for four years after his brothers returned to Virginia in 1723 and 1724. When Carter returned in May 1727, his father found him well qualified for any business and at first thought of apprenticing him to a London counting house for a career as a Virginia merchant but instead taught him plantation management. After a brief stay at the College of William and Mary, Carter returned to Corotoman and managed some of his father’s land in Northumberland County.

Sabine Hall

In 1732 Carter married Elizabeth Wormeley, a member of a Virginia family almost as wealthy and as well connected as his own. They had three sons and one daughter before her death in January 1740. Carter’s father died in 1732 and left him a very large estate, much of it in Richmond County. Carter settled there during the winter of 1733–1734 and spent the remainder of his life as a successful plantation owner, improving his estate and establishing himself as one of the county’s leading men. On September 22, 1742, he married Maria Byrd, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the councillor and writer William Byrd II. They had one daughter. Carter’s second wife died in November 1745. Early in 1747 he married a neighbor, Elizabeth Beale. They had five daughters, two of whom survived childhood, before she died late in the 1750s. Each marriage increased Carter’s landholdings. Sometime late in the 1730s or early in the 1740s he built Sabine Hall, a Georgian dwelling overlooking six gardened terraces and the Rappahannock River. It is listed on the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

Public Citizen

Like his father and brothers, Carter early assumed an important role in public life. In September 1734 he became a justice of the peace and member of the quorum of the county court. From this position he helped to dispense justice and administer the county until his death forty-four years later. Sometime in the 1740s the vestry of Lunenburgh Parish elected him a member, which he remained for the rest of his life. About the same time Carter became county lieutenant in command of the militia. He continued as head of the militia until new regulations that decreased his control over the troops caused him to resign early in 1776. Carter was less immediately successful in securing elective office. Richmond County voters rejected him three times between 1735 and 1748 before finally electing him in 1752 to represent them in the House of Burgesses.

Carter was one of the most prominent members of the House. At his first session he was appointed to two powerful standing committees, on Privileges and Elections and on Propositions and Grievances, and from 1757 until 1761 he chaired the Committee for Courts of Justice. An inexhaustible writer, he prepared numerous formal addresses and became a public defender of the House by publishing pamphlets and newspaper essays upholding its stand during its controversy with Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie over the pistole fee and also by defending the assembly’s issue of paper currency and its passage of the Two Penny Acts in 1755 and 1758. Carter’s legislative career lasted until 1768, when he lost an election, a defeat he attributed in part to his constituents’ perception that “I did not familiarize myself among the People.”

Stamp Act Spoon

Along with his brother Charles Carter, Landon Carter was named in 1756 as one of the directors to oversee the colony’s financing of troops to protect the Virginia frontier from French and Indian incursions. A strong advocate of vigorous measures during the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), Carter also consistently opposed British encroachments on American rights after 1763. He claimed the distinction of first raising the alarm against the Stamp Act in Virginia by inspiring the House to protest it in the autumn of 1764, six months before Patrick Henry‘s famous resolutions of May 1765. During the following decade Carter poured forth a steady stream of essays supporting the American cause. From December 1774 through the middle of 1776 he chaired the Richmond County Committee. Though he disagreed with Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, preferring to be compelled to independence rather than to seek it actively, he gave wholehearted support to the Revolutionary War until his death.

Carter was probably the most prolific published author of his generation in

A Letter from a Gentleman in Virginia

Virginia. He produced at least four major political pamphlets: A Letter from a Gentleman in Virginia to the Merchants of Great Britain Trading to that Colony (1754), A Letter to a Gentleman in London, from Virginia (1759), A Letter to the Right Reverend Father in God, the Lord B——p of L——n (1760), and The Rector Detected, Being a Just Defense of the twopenny Act, Against the Artful Misrepresentations of the Reverend John Camm (1764). Carter also wrote nearly fifty essays for the Virginia Gazettes, the Maryland Gazette, and other newspapers in both England and America. A dedicated improver, he acquired a large library and composed scientific papers that won him election to the American Philosophical Society in 1769 and to the Virginian Society for the Promotion of Usefull Knowledge in 1774.

From 1752 to 1778 Carter kept a diary, one of the most revealing personal documents for mid-eighteenth-century Virginia. When he wrote his will in 1770, he made ample provisions for his children, giving large dowries to his four surviving daughters and large estates to his three sons. Including property transferred to his sons before his death, his estate consisted of nearly 50,000 acres of land, as many as 500 slaves, and a large capital investment in buildings, livestock, and personal possessions—a fortune few Virginians of his generation could match. Landon Carter died at Sabine Hall on December 22, 1778, and was buried there.

Major Works

  • A Letter from a Gentleman in Virginia to the Merchants of Great Britain Trading to that Colony (1754)
  • A Letter to a Gentleman in London, from Virginia (1759)
  • A Letter to the Right Reverend Father in God, the Lord B——p of L——n (1760)
  • The Rector Detected, Being a Just Defense of the twopenny Act, Against the Artful Misrepresentations of the Reverend John Camm (1764)

MAP
TIMELINE
August 18, 1710
Landon Carter is born, probably at Corotoman, the family's seat in Lancaster County, the son of Robert "King" Carter and his second wife, Elizabeth Landon Willis Carter.
1719—1720
Landon Carter accompanies two of his elder brothers to London, where at the private school of Solomon Low he receives the classical education of a young English gentleman.
May 1727
Landon Carter returns to Virginia having received a gentleman's education in London. He studies briefly at the College of William and Mary before managing some of his father's land in Northumberland County.
1732
Landon Carter marries Elizabeth Wormeley, a member of a Virginia family almost as wealthy and as well connected as his own. They have three sons and one daughter.
1733—1734
After the death of his father, Landon Carter inherits a very large estate, much of it in Richmond County, and settles there during the winter.
September 1734
Landon Carter becomes a justice of the peace and member of the quorum of the county court of Richmond County.
1735—1748
Landon Carter runs three times for the House of Burgesses and three times Richmond County voters reject him.
ca. 1738—ca. 1743
Sometime late in the 1730s or early in the 1740s, Landon Carter builds Sabine Hall, a Georgian dwelling overlooking six gardened terraces and the Rappahannock River.
January 1740
Elizabeth Wormeley Carter, first wife of Landon Carter, dies.
September 22, 1742
Landon Carter marries his second wife Maria Byrd, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the councillor and writer William Byrd II. They have one daughter.
November 1745
Maria Byrd, daughter of the councillor and writer William Byrd II, and second wife of Landon Carter, dies.
1747
Early in the year, Landon Carter marries his third wife, his neighbor Elizabeth Beale. They have five daughters, two of whom survive childhood, before she dies late in the 1750s.
1752
Richmond County voters elect Landon Carter to represent them in the House of Burgesses. He is appointed to two powerful standing committess, on Privileges and Elections and on Propositions and Grievances.
1752—1778
Landon Carter keeps a diary, one of the most revealing personal documents for mid-eighteenth-century Virginia.
1757—1761
In the House of Burgesses, Landon Carter chairs the Committee for Courts of Justice.
1764
During the autumn, Landon Carter is the first to raise the alarm against the Stamp Act in Virginia by inspiring the House of Burgesses to protest it.
1768
Landon Carton loses his reelection bid to the House of Burgesses, a defeat he attributes in part to his Richmond County constituents' perception that "I did not familiarize myself among the People."
1769
Landon Carter is elected to the American Philosophical Society.
1774
Landon Carter is elected to the Virginia Society for the Promotion of Usefull Knowledge.
December 1774
Landon Carter assumes the chair of the Richmond County Committee, a position he holds until the middle of 1776.
Decemember 22, 1778
Landon Carter dies at Sabine Hall and is buried there.
FURTHER READING
  • Greene, Jack P. “Carter, Landon.” In The Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 3, edited by John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tarter, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, 76–78. Richmond: Library of Virginia, 2006.
  • Isaac, Rhys. Landon Carter’s Uneasy Kingdom: Rebellion and Revolution on a Virginia Plantation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Greene, Jack & Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Landon Carter (1710–1778). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/carter-landon-1710-1778.
MLA Citation:
Greene, Jack, and Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Landon Carter (1710–1778)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 05 Oct. 2023
Last updated: 2021, December 22
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