Inventory of Virginian's Property Including a Slave, to Help Pay for War of 1812

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Inventory of Virginian's Property Including a Slave, to Help Pay for War of 1812:
$1350.00

Inventory of Southwestern Virginians property including a slave, for tax to help pay for war of 1812.
This inventory of Richard Price’s property including land, houses, and slaves in 1815, comes from Russell County, in extreme southwestern Virginia, near Tennessee and modern West Virginia. This list was probably made for the purposes of the federal direct tax on lands, houses, and slaves to help fund the war of 1812.
Slavery. Manuscript document, inventory of Richard Price’s Property, April 1, 1815, Russel County, Virginia. 1p., 7.75x6.5. Expected folds; irregular cuts on two sides; very good.
Excerpts:“List of land lots of ground with their improvements dwelling houses and a slave owned by Rich’d Price on the first dy of April 1815, lying and being within the first district of Virginia within the county of Russell one farm on mockerson Creek containing one hundred acres having thereon one dwelling house of wood one story and half high 24 in lenth 18 depth one stable, one smokehouse on oald kitchen, one corne crib one hen house [&?] Male 6 years oald.
May the 13th 1815Valued at five hundred $500Slave valued at two hundred dollars $200
Historical background:To fund the war of 1812, the federal government desperately needed money. Among the items it decided to tax directly were land, houses, and slaves. In 1813, Congress survived an earlier tax it operated from 1798 to 1802 that taxed each slave 12 to 50, at a rate of $.50 per slave. Congress increase the taxes on houses, lands, and slaves in 1815 and 1816 and repealed it in 1817.
On December 21, 1814, The Virginia General assembly passed 1815 personal property tax to raise money to protect Virginians from the British in the war of 1812. According to the law, the tax collector, often the sheriff, what’s the list of taxpayers and his or her taxable property.
Just over a week later, Congress also passed a personal property tax law. The federal tax apply to all household furniture that exceeded $200 in value and $1 for each saddle or carriage horse, $2 for every gold watch and $1 for every silver watch. Neither the Virginia nor the federal laws considered slaves to be personal property for taxation purposes.
Richard Price (1781-1855) married Frances Johnson (ca. 1784-1875), And they had 11 children. At the time of their deaths in 1803 and 1804, Richard Price’s father Thomas Price and uncle Richard Price owned more than 27,000 acres in Russell County, Virginia, and Knox County, Tennessee.