Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Accomack County (Va.) Tax list related to Revolutionary War debt, 1786 circa. Local government records collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Accomack County. Photolab number 13_1159.

Historical Information

Accomack County was named for the Accomac Indians, who lived on the Eastern Shore at the time of the first English settlement in Virginia. One of the original eight shires established in 1634, Accomac County (spelled without a k) became Northampton County in 1643. The present county was formed from Northampton about 1663. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the county's present spelling.

Various Congressional requisitions between 1781 and 1787 to the states attempted to pay off the considerable public debt generated by the struggle for independence against England. In addition, the states had accrued debts of their own and enacted various Acts of Assembly to collect and settle both these debts and those of the federal requisitions. For more detailed information on revolutionary-era public finance, see The Power of the Purse by E. James Ferguson (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1961) and other economic histories.

An indent is a certificate issued by the government of the United States at the close of the Revolution for the principal or interest of the public debt.

Scope and Content

Accomack County (Va.) Tax list related to Revolutionary War debt, 1786 circa, is a list in more or less alphabetical order of various persons from Saint George's Parish. It records names, including many of women, and then has three columns labeled Specie Warrants, Tobacco, and Indent. Numbers in pounds, shillings and pence are recorded in the Specie Warrants and Indent columns, with the Specie Warrant numbers always being roughly double that of the numbers in the Indent columns. No amount of money is recorded in the Tobacco columns. Final tally numbers are listed on the reverse of the second page, although this information is incomplete due to damage to the document. This list is probably related to taxes taken to pay down the public debt accrued during the Revolutionary War, but whether for state or federal debt is unclear.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Accomack County (Va.). Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Debts, Public -- United States -- 18th century.
• Debts, Public -- Virginia -- 18th century.
• Finance, Public -- United States -- 18th century.
• Finance, Public -- Virginia -- 18th century.
• Taxation -- Virginia -- Accomack County.

Geographical Names:

• Accomack County (Va.) -- History -- 18th century.
• Accomack County (Va.) -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783.
• United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Economic aspects.
• Virginia -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Economic aspects.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Accounts -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Requisitions -- United States.
• Tax and fiscal records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Tax records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.