1792-Feb.-27: James Innis wrote to Governor Lee of Virginia to report on the mounting anxieties regarding the “contagion” of unrest among the enslaved from the

1792-Feb.-27: James Innis wrote to Governor Lee of Virginia to report on the mounting anxieties regarding the “contagion” of unrest among the enslaved from the West Indies. He noted that the news from Saint-Domingue was being followed with intense interest by the state’s enslaved population, leading to fears of a localized uprising. Innis suggested that the “example of the French islands” was the primary catalyst for a new spirit of defiance observed among the enslaved in the tidewater region. This correspondence helped prompt the Virginia legislature to consider more restrictive measures on the mobility and assembly of the enslaved. It illustrated how North American enslavers directly linked Caribbean events to domestic security.