[A]n act, passed on January 25, 1806, ... provided that "all slaves emancipated after May 1, 1806, must leave the state within twelve months after the act of emancipation, or be sold for the benefit of the literary fund." ... Because of its passage hundreds of petitions were addressed to the legislature by Negroes asking to be exempted from the penalty of the law. In these documents individuals were forced to show that their residence would not be injurious to the state... .
--Race Relations in Virginia and Miscegenation in the South, 1776-1860, James Hugo Johnston, pg. x
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