Robert Carter III Freed Hundreds

American planter and politician Robert Carter III, influenced by his Baptist beliefs, carried out the largest manumission, or voluntary freeing of enslaved people, in U.S. history before the Civil War, gradually emancipating more than 500 people he enslaved. He began the process by recording a Deed of Gift in Northumberland County, Virginia, in 1791, despite strong opposition from relatives and neighbors. Carter later settled many of the freed people on land he gave them and offered wages to those who continued working for him.

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