ing
privilege. For that act declares "that no free negro shall hereafter
have any vote at the election."[203] Perhaps they had had a vote
previous to this time; but it is mere conjecture, unsupported by
historical proof. Being denied the right of suffrage did not shield
them from taxation. All free Negroes, male and female, were compelled
to pay taxes.[204] They contributed to the support of the colonial
government, and yet they had no voice in the government. They
contributed to the building of schoolhouses, but were denied the
blessings of education.

Free Negroes were enlisted in the militia service, but were not
permitted to bear arms. They had to attend the trainings, but were
assigned the most servile duties.[205] They built fortifications,
pitched and struck tents, cooked, drove teams, and in some instances
were employed as musicians. Where free Negroes were acting as
housekeepers, they were allowed to have fire-arms in their
possession;[206] and if they lived on frontier plantations, as we have
made mention already, they were permitted to use arms under the
direction of their employers.

In a moral and religious sense, the slaves of the colony of Virginia
received little or no attention from the Christian Church. All
intercourse was cut off between the races. Intermarrying of whites and
blacks was prohibited by severe laws.[207] And the most common
civilities and amenities of life were frowned down when intended for a
Negro. The plantation was as religious as the Church, and the Church
was as secular as the plantation. The "white christians" hated the
Negro, and the Church bestowed upon him a most bountiful amount of
neglect.[208] Instead of receiving religious instruction from the
clergy, slaves were given to them in part pay for their ministrations
to the whites,--for their "use and encouragement."[209] It was as late
as 1756 before any white minister had the piety and courage to demand
instruction for the slaves.[210] The prohibition against instruction
for these poor degraded vassals is not so much a marvel after all. For
in 1670, when the white population was forty thousand, servants six
thousand, and slaves two thousand, Sir William Berkeley, when inquired
of by the home government as to the condition of education in the
colony, replied:--

"The same course that is taken in England out of
towns,--every man according to his ability instructing his
children. We have forty-eight parishes,