After eight years as a judge on the General Court, Tucker wrote
A Dissertation on Slavery: With a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it, in the State of Virginia, which he then submitted to the
General Assembly of Virginia. It was first published as a pamphlet in 1796 and was later appended to his edition of ''Blackstone's Commentaries
. He said that the abolition of slavery was of "the first importance, not only to (Virginians')'' moral character and domestic peace, but even to our political salvation." Tucker engaged in a considerable amount of research for the
Dissertation. He wrote a number of legal scholars and practitioners in the Northern states to ask how they had ended slavery or planned to end it. Tucker's
Dissertation was also likely one of the first extensively researched treatises on the history of slavery in the British North American colonies, as well as a comprehensive description of the law of slavery in Virginia at the time.
Criticism of slavery Tucker's proposal noted that census figures at the time showed that a large number of slaves in Virginia had been emancipated, stating that the commonwealth had more "
free negroes and
mulattoes . . . than are to be found in the four New England states, and Vermont [where gradual emancipation plans had already commenced]." The
Dissertation, though, asked Virginians to take the process further and described the moral and democratic need for the commonwealth to end slavery completely: Whilst America hath been the land of promise to Europeans, and their descendants, it hath been the vale of death to millions of the wretched sons of Africa. . .Whilst we were offering up vows at the shrine of Liberty. . .whilst we swore irreconcilable hostility to her enemies. . .whilst we adjured the God of Hosts to witness our resolution to live free or die. . .we were imposing on our fellow men, who differ in complexion from us, a
slavery, ten thousand times more cruel than the utmost extremity of those grievances and oppressions, of which we complained. Civil rights, as we may remember, are reducible to three primary heads; the right of personal security; the right of personal liberty; and the right of private property. In a state of slavery, the two last are wholly abolished, the person of the slave being at the absolute disposal of his master; and property, what he is incapable, in that state, either of acquiring, or holding, in his own use. Hence, it will appear how perfectly irreconcilable a state of slavery is to the principles of a democracy, which form the
basis and
foundation of our government.
Predicted resistance from the Virginia General Assembly Tucker expected that his plan would meet strong resistance from Virginia's elite
planter society, and expected several objections from the Virginia Assembly. Abolishing slavery in Virginia would effectively eliminate a large portion of the wealth of Virginia's slaveholders, many of whom also served on the Assembly; as a side effect, a considerable share of the taxable property in Virginia would also disappear. Members of Virginia's ruling class, including Tucker, were afraid of the changes emancipation would have on their society, possibly with events such as the
Haitian Revolution in mind. Many Virginians also worried that freed slaves would not want to work in the commonwealth's fields, leaving plantations with too few workers. Furthermore, Tucker noted that white Virginians' "habitual arrogance and assumption of superiority. . .unfit
(them). . .for
equality."
Plan Tucker proposed the gradual emancipation of slaves, a process that other states, such as New York, began in the late eighteenth century, when some northern states abolished slavery altogether. After being freed under the plan, women born to slaves would be obligated to serve their former master's family until the age of 28, after which time they would receive $20, some clothes, and two blankets. Black people in Virginia would not be allowed to hold public office, nor could they own land; they would only be allowed to lease land for terms of up to 21 years. They would not be allowed to own or bear arms, except when specifically permitted by the General Assembly (and even then, Assembly authorization could only last for a three-year term). Tucker was severely disappointed by the reaction, and while he still lectured on the topic and distributed the
Dissertation in various forms, he did not make any more proposals regarding emancipation to the Assembly. In response to criticism that his plan was not bold enough, Tucker confessed to sacrificing some principles in order to increase the chances of his plan's passage. Tucker also acknowledged that he was not immune to prejudices himself; and that while he opposed banishing black people from Virginia, he sought with his plan to make conditions in the commonwealth such that they would want to leave on their own (Tucker suggested the then-Spanish territories of
Louisiana and "
the two Floridas" as possible destinations). Despite its flaws - legal historian
Paul Finkelman describes Tucker's plan as "simultaneously visionary, philanthropic, racist, vicious, utterly impractical, internally inconsistent, and hopelessly complex" - modern scholars recognize the
Dissertations significance as the first genuine effort by a Southerner to effect emancipation in his state. ==Tucker's
Blackstone==