Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Department of Historical Research
Williamsburg, Virginia
,
1984
Historians and Interpreter are all too familiar with the famous, perhaps infamous, speeches that Patrick Henry delivered in the House of Burgesses in 1765 concerning the evils of taxes imposed in an arbitrary and capricious manner. If not in 1765, certainly by 1775, many Virginians would count Imperial exactions among the many grievances that pushed them towards their ultimate act of protest. It should surprise none of us to learn that unjust and unwise tax measures were also a public concern at the time of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. Likewise, arbitrary exactions were included in the catalogue of complaints that led to the forcible removal of Governor Harvey in 1635. Even the most cursory examination of the evidence shows that many Virginians believed that they were over-taxed, but if we as historians and interpreter are to set this belief in the proper context for our visitors, several more fundamental questions must be addressed and answered. First, we need to know what kinds of taxes were actually imposed upon colonial Virginians. Then we need to know how great was the combined burden of these taxes. Finally, we must consider what was the real impact of the tax burden on the average Virginian's annual income. As we consider these questions in turn, note that the underlined words in the text are further defined in the glossary of terms at the end of this article.
2During the century and a half between the royalization of the Virginia Company in 1624 and the outbreak of the Revolution in 1775, Virginians faced a variety of public assessments and dues which can be grouped into four broad categories: 1) imposts, export duties, and port charges 2) royal quit-rents 3) poll taxes 4) special taxes levied for the support of paper currency. As we shall see, these taxes varied greatly both in size and kind, and their combined impact changed over the course of time.
This category of taxes are all related to trade and shipping. Some were imposed by the Colony of Virginia for the support of the central or colonial government. Most, however, were imposed by Britain for the regulation of imperial trade. It was when these British imposts and customs ceased to be regulatory and instead were used by Parliament to supplement England's revenues, that Henry, and others like him began to cry foul.
Many products which were exported from Britain to Virginia had to pay an export or customs duty (tonnage and/or poundage) when they were shipped from England or Scotland. So far as the Virginians were concerned, these duties were "unnoticed", because they were simply included within the mark-up, or "advance" charged by British 3 merchants upon the wholesale price of their wares when they were sold in Virginia. It is virtually impossible to say how much the "average Virginian" might have paid for these duties since it all depended upon how many dutied goods he or she bought. Since most manufactured goods, woolens, and other cloth products were subject to poundage, nearly all Virginians must have been affected by these duties in a manner proportionate to their spending patterns.
Like exports from Britain, many colonial products were subject to import duties or imposts when they arrived on the other side of the Atlantic. So far as Virginians were concerned, the most important of these duties were those upon tobacco. The tobacco duties (a combination of the Old Subsidy and the New Subsidy) increased from two pence per pound in 1660 to 7 and 1/3 pence per pound by 1758. These duties formed the largest single component of the cost of marketing tobacco. About 60% of the British wholesale price was lost to the Virginia planter through the payment of these duties. Of course, if the tobacco were not sold in Britain but instead were re-exported to the continent, these duties could be recovered through the drawback. Other Virginia exports subject to English duties included iron (before 1750), lumber, and wheat. In fact it was the duty upon wheat that made its sale in Britain unprofitable in all but the poorest harvest years.
In 1672, Parliament directed that thereafter Virginia tobacco would pay a Plantation Duty of one pence per pound when shipped to other British colonies. Virginians did not 4 find this duty onerous, however, for after 1692, all of the proceeds (less the costs of collection) were given to the College of William and Mary. At about the same time, Virginia imposed a similar duty upon exported skins and furs, to provide additional support for the College. Unfortunately, the fur and skin trades diminished rapidly in Virginia after 1720, and this duty ceased to provide significant revenue.
The most considerable revenue raised by the colonial government of Virginia came from the impost upon tobacco. From 1658 until the Revolution, a duty of two shillings was levied on every hogshead of tobacco exported from the colony. From this fund were paid the Governor, the Council (when it sat as the General Court), the Clerk of the Council, the colony's Solicitor or agent in London, as well as a portion of the salaries of the Attorney General and the Commissary of the Bishop of London. This revenue also provided the funds needed for the upkeep of the Governor's residence (the Palace), salaries for minor officers, and any other "contingent charges."
From 1685 until the Revolution, Virginia maintained an almost continuous duty upon alcoholic beverages. Rum, brandy, beer, hard cider, and various other alcoholic drinks imported into Virginia (excluding those produced in Britain) paid duties of one to three pence per gallon. At first 5 these duties were ear-marked for special projects such as the rebuilding of the capital at Jamestown and then in Williamsburg, the building of the Palace, and the building of the Magazine. Later, they were simply paid into the general fund supervised by the Treasurer of Virginia.
The duties levied on slaves imported into the colony were used both to raise a revenue, and to try (albeit unsuccessfully) to limit the growth of slavery. From 1699 until 1730 a duty of two pounds current money per slave was to be paid by the importer. When the last renewal of this Act was disallowed by the Crown as harmful to British commercial interests, Virginia simply changed the law so that the duties were thereafter paid by the local purchasers. This post 1730 legislation also changed the duty to five percent of the purchase price of each slave. Clearly the slave duties did raise a revenue for the colonial government. Their effect in limiting slavery is far less certain. To the extent that slave imports appear to have increased during those periods when there were no duties being charged, these laws apparently did help to curb importations of more Africans. However, there is sufficient evidence to show that reported imports, and the accounts of the reported collections of the slave duties are considerably less than the probable number of Africans brought into Virginia. Whether this was the result of deliberate attempts to avoid the payments of slave duties, or whether some in government were siphoning off 6 portions of these duties for their own uses is unclear, but it is certain that the surviving evidences concerning slave importations are inconsistent and incomplete.
Finally, in this first category of taxes, we must mention the Castle Duty. Beginning in 1631 and continuing in one form or another until the Revolution, this tax was designed to raise a fund to help pay for coastal defenses in the colony. In the early years it was collected in kind--in powder and shot-- but by 1680 it became standardized at 1 shilling and 3 pence per ton levied upon every vessel arriving in and sailing from Virginia. At various times Virginia built and owned vessels were exempted from this duty -- a move designed to encourage local ship building. There is little evidence, however, to suggest that this "carrot" speeded the construction of very many ships in the Old Dominion. Moreover, judging by the several disastrous Dutch invasions of the seventeenth century, it was not successful in aiding the cause of coastal fortifications. After 1680, the Castle Duty, which had originally been paid directly to the Commander of the fort at Old Point Comfort, was collected by the Naval Officer and added to the general fund for governmental expenses which included the 2 shilling impost, and was supervised by the Receiver General and the Auditor General.
In addition to the Castle Duty, a Port Charge of six pence was charged upon every passenger entering the colony 7 on each incoming vessel. To call this a passenger tax is really somewhat of a misnomer, for it applied to servants and slaves as well as to free immigrants, travelling Englishmen and Virginians returning from abroad. Only the officers and crew of the entering vessels were exempt from this tax. Like the Castle Duty, it was collected by the Naval Officer and turned over to the Receiver to be added to the general fund.
By the letter of the law, no one but the Crown owned land in Virginia. The king had gained it by right of discovery -- the Indians didn't count in the eyes of the English in the 17th century-- and the king granted the rights to its use to his subjects in return for a feudal due called a quit-rent. In actual practice, so long as a Virginian paid his quit-rents each year, he could sell, trade, or give away his rights to land just as though he owned it outright. It is safe to assume that, by the early 18th century, most if not all Virginians believed that they owned their land, even if they did not. Virginia real estate laws were written and enforced as though the colonials did own the land either in fee simple -- meaning they could do with it as they wished -- or in fee tail -- meaning that it had to be transferred (sold or bequeathed) according to the wishes of the person who established the entail. Entails, of course, could be and were broken by action of the legislature. From the point of view of taxes, 8 we can think of the quit-rent as a sort of real estate tax -- though technically it was not -- and remember that so long as it was paid, the land upon which it was due remained in the unquestioned possession of its "owner."
All land in Virginia south of the Rappahannock River was subject to the royal quit-rent. It amounted to 2 shillings per hundred acres, or about one farthing (¼ pence) per acre per year, due on April 25. The Crown demanded that this due be paid in sterling money, and only grudgingly accepted the reality that since there was little or no sterling available in the Colony, it would have to settle for foreign silver, or more often tobacco. In spite of these problems of collections in kind, the Crown realized about £10,000 per year from the quit-rents by 1775.
That part of Virginia north of the Rappahannock River -- known then as now as the Northern Neck -- was not subject to Royal quit-rents. The land, and thus the right to its rents, had been granted to a syndicate headed by Lords Arlington and Culpeper in 1649. After several re-grants and sales of interests, it came to the Fairfax family by the early 18th century, and continued to be held as the Fairfax Grant until the Revolution. In terms of civil government the grant meant nothing, but in terms of rents and other land dues, it meant that these went to the Fairfax family instead of the Crown. The rates that the Proprietors charged were in most cases the same as those charged by the Crown. The basic quit-rent was the same -- 2 shillings per hundred acres. But for the privilege of 9 collecting and pocketing these rents from an area that comprised about one-sixth of the colony, the Proprietor paid each year to the Crown only £6-13-04.
The most widely paid taxes in the Colony were poll or head taxes. They were assessed on all tithable persons -- all white males 16 years of age and older, and all black males and females 16 years of age and older. Normally they were paid by the head of the household in which the unfree tithable or taxable person lived.
The Public Levy -- that laid by the central government -- is the oldest recorded tax in Virginia. Its first documented assessment occurred in 1623 -- before the dissolution of the Virginia Company. Normally it was used to pay the expenses of the central government -- the cost of government facilities, the salaries of its minor clerks, and recompense to masters whose slaves had to be executed for crimes. At various times this levy was also used to subsidize the destruction of wolves, although most often, this was done by the counties directly. During the eighteenth century, the Public Levy was also used to pay the members of the House of Burgesses.
The Public Levy was not collected annually, but only as the General Assembly needed money to pay its accumulated debts. During the seventeenth century this occurred only at irregular intervals, and the exaction was usually 20 to 30 10 pounds of tobacco per tithable person. This levy hovered around 60 pounds per poll in the decade proceeding Bacon's Rebellion, and has often been cited as one of its causes. Ironically, in the decade after the Rebellion, when there were many claims of the injured made against the government, this levy soared to an unprecedented 100 pounds of tobacco per tithable for several years. During the "good times" of the early part of the eighteenth century, it became more regularized and considerably lower. While assessments of this levy did not occur every year, they did occur with every meeting of the Assembly after 1699. Yet when these more frequent assessments are averaged out by years, they rarely exceeded 12 pounds of tobacco per poll per year. One must remember, however, that after 1684, the colonial government also had the liquor duty to call upon, and after 1699, the slave duty as well.
The Parish Rate was an annual levy charged by each parish to support the activities of the Church of England. We do not find it established in law until 1629, when specific provisions for the collection of a rate for ministers salaries was enacted, but there is mention of laws regulating the activities and duties of ministers as early as 1623. It is safe to assume that from the beginning, ministers were being provided for by some sort of levy upon their parishioners. By the middle of the seventeenth century the parish rate was also used to pay for the building and upkeep of churches and chapels within each 11 parish, as well as the purchase and maintenance of a glebe farm established as a further support for the parish minister. The parish rate was administered by the vestry -- generally composed of the same gentlemen in each county who made up the county court -- and it was also used to provide welfare for the worthy poor of each parish. Like the Public Levy, the amount of the Parish Rate varied from year to year -- but it was always levied every year. Normally it was about 10 to 20 pounds of tobacco per tithable, but it could rise as high as 50 or 60 pounds of tobacco if a new church was to be built.
The County Levy -- the last of the poll taxes -- was used to meet the expenses of county government. Although counties were certainly established by 1634, there is no clear evidence that county levies were being assessed regularly before 1647. Before the 1650's copies of levies are rarely included in the county records, and it is not until the early eighteenth century, that laws concerning the proper recording of county levies seem to be uniformly enforced throughout the colony. The building and upkeep of county facilities -- the courthouse, the jail, and bridges -- are consistently the most expensive items listed in county levies. Wolf bounties were the major cost for frontier counties, although, at various times, these were eased by subsidies from the Public Levy. Counties also had to bear the costs of local justice -- stipends to the Clerk of the 12 County, the Sheriff, and the Constables. When Coroners were called upon for inquests upon bodies, they had to be paid by the county. Increasingly during the eighteenth century, counties found it necessary to hire night patrollers to keep an eye upon the movements of Black slaves from plantation to plantation. In normal years county levies averaged from 5 to 7 pounds of tobacco per poll during the seventeenth century, and 10 to 15 pounds of tobacco per poll during the mid eighteenth century. In years when new courthouses and jails had to be built, county levies could easily rise to 40 or 50 pounds per tithable.
Beginning in 1755, Virginia law-makers found it both necessary and increasingly convenient to issue large quantities of paper currencies to help pay for the long war with France. Since Virginia had no stock pile of silver or gold which it could use to back its paper money, all issues had to be redeemed -- to use the economic parlance -- by the future collection of taxes. From 1755 until 1762 these additional taxes were of two kinds: 1) an additional poll tax on the populace at large which ranged from a low of 1 shilling in 1755 to a high of 7 shillings collected in 1767. 2) an outright tax upon land which ranged from 1 shilling 3 pence per one hundred acres in 1756 to a high of 2 shillings per one hundred acres between 1761 and 1768.
Paper issues made after 1762 were redeemed with a more complex series of taxes which included an annual assessment upon coaches and carriages, a license tax upon ordinary 13 keepers, and a series of taxes upon legal documents (stamp taxes, if you will note the irony). They also included extra duties of 5% and 10% laid upon slave imposts for short periods of time, and a re-direction of the duty on alcoholic beverages from the general fund into the "sinking fund" for the paper money.
Returning for a few moments to our original questions, we can now begin to assess the burden and impact of these taxes on the average Virginian. The first thing to note is that not all Virginians were taxpayers. While the poll taxes -- the most widespread of all Virginia taxes -- were levied upon virtually all laborers, they were paid only by freemen and the free owners of bound labor. The assumption was that those with more laborers under their control had a greater ability to pay. To a point this is true, by the simple fact that slave owners could exact virtually all of the profits from the labors of their slaves for their own use. But this would not be the case for the small planter who owned no slaves but rather was charged for himself and his adult sons. Hence poll taxes were and continue to be an inherently regressive tax -- that is they are not really assessed according to one's ability to pay. Thus, these taxes hit harder upon the poorer classes. In a bad tax year they could be as much as 100 or more pounds of tobacco 14 (Public, Parish and County levies combined). Given that one man could produce no more than 1000 pounds of tobacco per year on most lands and still feed himself, a 10% tax, plus a two shilling impost, plus the quit rent upon his land, plus the hidden costs of British duties on the goods he bought could be a significant burden. Moreover, if then case occurred in the early 1760's there was an additional poll tax of as much as 7 shillings as well as an additional land tax. Given this scenario, it is not hard to believe that Patrick Henry had a sympathetic audience.
Lest we close this essay on too sour a note, I think a few more points are in order. First, in many years there was no Public Levy at all. Most parishes and counties did not replace their buildings more than once in a generation. And the period 1755-1770 was also one of increasing tobacco prices and increasing markets for grain, animal products and lumber. Most Virginians were, therefore, in a position to increase their incomes. Moreover with increasing imports of British goods after the close of the war in 1763, the prices of consumer goods were falling. Thus in spite of increased taxes, the over-all cost of living probably was decreasing.
A second point to remember is that in spite of increased taxes at home, Virginians during the 18th century enjoyed both higher wages and lower taxes than their counterparts in Britain. This was true at all levels of society except perhaps at the very top. Englishmen and Scotsmen faced a mass of internal excises and external imposts and customs duties upon almost all of their basic 15 necessities of life. Virginians did not. Britons had little hope of ever advancing themselves economically, while Virginians -- even though they were in an increasingly structured and hierarchical society -- retained much of their frontier optimism. When times were tight in Virginia, they were usually tighter elsewhere.
Duty: The most general designation for a tax upon imports or exports. NOTE: Duties can also refer to internal taxes on the manufacture or transfer of goods, property transfers, or services. See below: excise, sales tax, stamp tax, death duty.
Impost: A duty levied upon goods imported into England (or Scotland). NOTE: The one exception to this system of nomenclature -- IMPOST=import;CUSTOM=export -- is Virginia's tobacco duty: the Two Shilling per Hogshead Import. Virginians called it an impost even though it was levied upon tobacco as it was being exported from the Colony.
Custom or Customs: A duty or duties levied upon goods exported from England (or Scotland).
Poundage: An impost or custom levied as a percentage of the value of the goods being taxed. Originally poundage was levied at the rate of 12 pence(1 shilling) per pound sterling (hence poundage) of value. NOTE: This rate is 16 equivalent to 5 percent of the value.
Tonnage: An impost levied by the tun. (Note the typical English confusion of ton for tun.) Traditionally this was a special tax upon wine, but eventually it came to be levied upon many imported beverages that were shipped in casks.
Old Subsidy: The life grant of poundage of 5 percent made to the English monarchs by Parliament from the time of Edward IV up to and including Charles I. The money raised by this grant was supposed to be used for the defense of the realm. In order to raise additional revenues for his continental wars without further recourse to Parliament, Charles I attempted to extend this subsidy both in amount, and in the number of items taxed. These actions by Charles helped to bring about the English Civil War in the 1640's and his own execution in 1649.
New Subsidy: A new Parliamentary grant of an additional five percent poundage given to Charles II in 1660 to supplement the Old Subsidy.
Drawback: The drawback was a feature in the Customs legislation which allowed British merchants to "drawback" or receive a "refund" for the imposts they had paid on dutiable commodities when these were re-exported from Britain and sold elsewhere. The drawback on tobacco, for instance was all but 1/2 pence of the Old Subsidy before 1723, and after that date, the entirety of the impost was refunded to the original importer. Needless to say, drawbacks were a practice which were particularly susceptible to fraud. Dishonest traders, merchants, and Custom's Officials 17 probably cleared substantial sums at the expense of the government and Virginia planters by sharp manipulation of drawbacks.
Book of Rates: Since the poundage subsidies were based upon the value of the goods being taxed, the collectors needed to know what specific goods were worth. Thus the Commissioners of the Customs compiled an official list of values for all the goods subject to poundage called the Book of Rates. Since all imports and exports were theoretically subject to poundage the Book of Rates was frequently incomplete, and its price quotations were out of date. Until 1699 it appears that the Commissioners of the Customs periodically directed the Inspector General to revise and update the Book of Rates. While no official directive documents the fact, it is clear that the official values stopped being revised in 1699, or shortly thereafter. This last set of values remained in effect until the whole system of poundage was scraped in 1787.
Excise: A duty charged on home goods -- those made and sold within England (or Scotland). The excise was first used in 1643, and like other tax increases of that decade, no doubt helped bring about the fall of Charles II.
Sales Tax: The most generalized application of the excise -- an assessment upon all goods and services. NOTE: There were no sales taxes in England or Virginia during the eighteenth century.
Stamp Tax: A specialized form of the excise, named for the 18 tax stamps which evidenced its payment. It was traditionally levied upon paper and printed items such as newspapers and playing cards. During the Stamp Act crises of 1765, England also proposed to apply this type of tax to customs documents, and most legal documents such as writs, deeds, and wills.
Death Duties: Inheritance taxes on landed estates and financial assets. NOTE: This is primarily a modern device, and was rarely used before World War I. Neither England nor Virginia had death duties or inheritance taxes in the eighteenth century.
Levy: A generalized tax raised by charging a specific rate or amount against persons or estates which are designated as taxable.
Poll Tax: A levy assessed as a flat rate or amount due for each tithable or taxable person.
Tithable (or taxable): A person legally subject to a poll tax. In Virginia the legal definition of a tithable changed frequently during the seventeenth century, but remained constant after 1705. Thereafter tithables included all white males aged 16 and older, and all Blacks, male and female, be they free or slave, aged 16 and over.
Regressive Tax: A tax charged at the same rate upon all taxpayers, regardless of their ability to pay. A poll tax is an example of a regressive tax.
19Progressive Tax: A tax whose rates are graduated or differentiated according to the taxpayers ability to pay. The modern federal income tax is an example of a progressive tax.
Sinking Fund: (With reference to taxes) A special fund set aside from general tax revenues, or raised by a special tax, which is used to "sink" or pay off a specified government debt. Beginning in 1755, when Virginia first issued paper currency, it levied a special taxes and set them aside in a sinking fund to be used to redeem or buy back all of the paper notes issued to the general public according to a specified schedule.
Plantation Duty: The Plantation Duty Act of 1672 was passed by Parliament in an effort to better control and regulate imperial trade. It used duties and performance bonds to encourage legal trades and discourage illegal trades. One of the provisions of this Act was a duty of one pence to be paid upon every pound of tobacco exported from Virginia to other English colonies. At first this revenue was sent to England to supplement the general customs collections, but after 1692 it was assigned to the College of William and Mary in lieu of other financial aid from the Crown.
Free and Common Socage: The simplest form of feudal land tenure which survived in England. Land was held for an 20 annual fee or rent -- the quit-rent -- payment of which "quitted" or "freed" the land holder from any other dues or obligations to the King. Virginians held their lands in this tenure.
Entail: Part of England's feudal heritage transferred to colonial Virginia by which those whose land was held in free and common socage, and which had no previous entailments, could legally decree the terms under which their land would be transferred to future owners. Typically this was done by terms of bequests made in the owner's will. For example, a man might bequeath his land to his son, then his son's son, etc. But the creator of the entail could impose almost any conditions that he chose. Slaves and their increase could be entailed to pass with certain parcels of land. Land could go to the testator's daughter, then her sons or daughters, etc. Moreover, an entail could be made by a deed of gift during the owner's lifetime, as well as by will.
Entails ceased to function, only when all of their conditions had expired, but they could be broken by specific acts of the General Assembly, so long as the person seeking to break the entail could prove that its continuance would be a hardship to its future beneficiaries, and that the entail could be transferred to other lands owned by the present holder of equal or greater value than that originally entailed.
Fee Simple: Land held in free and common socage and without any entail evolved into the tenure of fee simple -- that is to say absolute ownership. Land held in this fashion could 21 be sold, traded, or given as a gift or bequest as the owner chose.
Fee Tail: Land held by the conditional terms assigned to it as the result of an entailment. NOTE: Fee tail ceased to be recognized in Virginia law in 1787 when the Commonwealth disallowed both entailment and primogeniture.
Primogeniture: A feudal practice by which the oldest male heir obtained all, or at least the largest portion of the deceased's landed estate if there was no will. Virginia's intestacy laws never granted the oldest male heir more than a double portion of the deceased's landed estate, and this practice was ended by the Commonwealth in 1787.
Lord Treasurer/Lords of the Treasury: The highest revenue officer/commission of the realm. Sometimes a single individual, sometimes "in commission," the incumbents were members of the Privy Council, and thus this king's closest financial advisors. He/they oversaw the functions of the Commissioners of the Customs, and were instrumental in developing trade and tax policies. Through the Customs the Treasury oversaw the collection of the external revenues of the Crown. Through another agency -- the Exchequer (not relevant to the study of colonial Virginia) -- the Treasury 22 oversaw the internal revenues of the realm.
Commissioners of the Customs: This group of bureaucrats was in a sense a "sub-committee" of the Lords of the Treasury, although its actual members were often of inferior political and social position to the Lords of the Treasury. The Commissioners of the Customs were the real policy makers when it came to what was dutied, and when efforts were made to increase duties. On a day to day basis their decisions were implemented by the various local Customs Boards -- the premier of which was the London Board of Customs.
London Board of Customs: This "sub-committee" of the Commissioners of the Customs was the "working arm" of the Customs in London and along the Thames River. These men directed the actual collectors, searchers, cashiers, and comptrollers who watched the ships come and go, and collected, reported, and audited the duties bound for the king's coffers.
Inspector General of the Customs: From 1696 until the Revolution the Inspector General was responsible for talleying up and presenting to the Commissioners of the Customs annual statements of England's (and after 1707 Scotland's) trade. These records survive, and are of particular value in studying Virginia's trade with the mother country. Unfortunately, the returns for Virginia and Maryland are presented as a single entry, while in reality, there were ten customs districts in the two colonies.
Surveyor General of the Customs for North America: A mid-level position created in the 1670's to supervise the work 23 of the collectors sent to the American Colonies as a result of the Plantation Duty Act. While the Surveyor General could neither hire nor fire collectors, he could suspend collectors for their apparent misdeeds in office (pending a review in London), and he could make temporary appointments to fill vacancies in American posts until permanent appointments were made in London.
Collector: In England, and after 1672 in America, the collector was the primary enforcement officer for the Acts of Trade. Not only did he collect imposts and customs duties, he verified all port entries and clearances, and was the primary agent charged with the suppression of smuggling.
Cashiers: The "indoor" assistant of the collector who actually looked after the duties paid in, and kept the books of the office. Since the American custom's offices were very small compared to those in Britain, few of them had paid cashiers.
Comptroller: Early on in the eighteenth century, it became apparent that not all collectors and cashiers kept the best of books and made the best accounts of their collections. To remedy this situation, Comptrollers were added to the bureaucracy, specifically to keep an eye on the "indoor" activities of the collectors and audit their books. Like the cashiers, comptrollers were appointed only for the larger ports, and few American offices had them before the 1750's.
24Tide Waiters, Searchers, and Riding Surveyors: These customs officials were present in most English and Scottish ports to assist the collectors in their "outdoor" duties. Their duties were all directed to the suppression of smuggling. Few American ports ever had a full compliment of these officers.
American Board of Customs: In an effort to streamline the customs system and end the long delays brought about by lengthy appeals of most local decisions to London, an American Board of Customs was set up in Boston in 1768 to have the same powers and duties as had been formerly exercised for American ports by the London Board. The onset of the Revolution permanently ended the activities of the American Board before its effectiveness could be fully evaluated. From the point of view of historians, the short life of the American Board was extremely important, because they produced a series of annual trade statistics similar to those compiled by the Inspector General in London. Although the "run" of these new American records is extremely short, they contain considerably more detail than their English counterparts.
Board of Trade: This agency variously known as the Board of Trade, the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantation, the Lords of Trade, and several other similar titles, began as a special sub-committee of the Privy Council charged with the oversight of matters concerning trade and the colonial plantations. After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, this group become more professionalized, and especially 25 after the appointment of William Blathwayt as its Secretary. Reaching its final form in 1696, the Board had more or less influence upon colonial policy depending upon the particular political and social standing of its individual members. While this agency never appointed colonial governors or other officials, it traditionally nominated the candidates who were appointed by the Privy Council, and perhaps more important, it was charged with drawing up the formal commissions and instructions by which the colonial governors were empowered to act. Although the final decisions were made by the Privy Council, or its appointed surrogate, the Secretary of State for the Southern Department, the Board of Trade's nominations and instructions were rarely contradicted "higher up."
Auditor General of the Plantation Revenues: This official was independent of both the Board of Trade and the Commissioners of the Customs, yet he always worked closely with them. The Auditor General both "received" and "audited" the accounts of all the Royal revenues (other than those arising from the customs) in America. These included the quit-rents and the Two Shilling Impost from Virginia. William Blathwayt, the first Auditor General -- at the same time he was Secretary, and later a full member of the Board of Trade -- was responsible for establishing the power and influence that this officer held until the eve of the Revolution.
Deputy Auditor: This Virginia official actually pre-dated the creation of the Auditor General in England by at least twenty five years, and was originally called "auditor." It was the auditor's job to receive and audit the accounts of the revenue raised by the Two Shilling Impost on tobacco exported from the colony. By 1662 at the latest, the auditor was also supervising the accounts of the quit-rents. By the 1680's the accounts of the Castle and Passenger Duties had also been brought under his purview.
Receiver General: The exact origin of this office is uncertain, but it is clear that during the seventeenth century, the Receiver was always the same individual as the Auditor. The offices were permanently split in 1705 when William Byrd II succeeded his father as Receiver and Dudley Digges was given the post of Deputy Auditor. After 1720, the Receiver General in Virginia was "demoted" to "Deputy" and an English appointee, who never came to America, held the title and took the salary of Receiver General.
Treasurer of Virginia: This office dates from the days of the Virginia Company, but its duties varied greatly over time. In the beginning, the Treasurer handled all of the colony's money, including the accounts of the quit-rents. By 1660, the post was given to Henry Norwood, who returned to England shortly after the restoration of Charles II. With him the office seems to have lapsed, for in 1662, both the quit-rents and the Two Shilling Impost were in the hands 27 of the Auditor -- Thomas Stegg.
Near the end of the seventeenth century, the General Assembly revived the office of Treasurer by legislative act, in order to have an official to oversee the collection and accounting of the liquor and slave duties. When Virginia finally began to issue paper currency in 1755, it was the "legislatively created" Treasurer, to whom they entrusted the accounts. This later-day Treasurer was of course, Speaker John Robinson, who "re-directed" the redeemed paper currency into his private money-lending operation.
Receiver (Collector) of the Virginia Duties: This official authorized by the legislative act creating the Two Shilling Impost on tobacco was Virginia's first "home-grown" customs collector. Although in theory independent of all other royal officers, the Receiver of the Virginia Duties was always the same person as the Naval Officer in each customs district.
Naval Officer: The Naval Officer, appointed by the governor, to assist him in matters of trade-law enforcement, was the work-horse of the imperial revenue system. In Virginia, as in the other colonies, it was the Naval Officer who signed the clearance and entry papers, who certified bonds, and at first collected all of the duties. In Virginia, the Naval Officer and the Receiver of the Virginia Duties were always the same individual. From the 1670's until June 8, 1699, the Naval Officer of each District was also the Royal Collector. In virtually every case, this 28 official was also a member of the Governor's Council, creating an obvious conflict of interest. After many complaints from England, governor Nicholson finally forced the Counselors to choose which jobs they wanted. The result was the wholesale splitting up of these offices which occurred in June, 1699. After that date, none of the revenue officers, neither individually, nor collectively had the power or authority to enforce the trade laws that they formerly held.
The Church of England by law Established: From the middle of the reign of Henry VIII, England had a state church, of which the king was the official head, that was separate and distinct from the Catholic Church. Actually the Church of England looked much like the Catholic Church, except for its head -- the king -- rather than the Pope. The Archbishop of Canterbury was the senior ecclesiastical leader, with the Archbishop of York next under him, and the other bishops following in order of the seniority of their episcopal sees. In practice, the Bishop of London, was probably the most politically powerful church official after the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Church of England maintained discipline among its members and clergy through a series of church courts headed by the archbishops and bishops. These courts had almost total jurisdiction over moral crimes, marriage, and the probate process, as well as the control of the clergy.
Virginia, nor any of the other colonies for that matter, 29 had no bishop of its own, and no church courts. Moral crimes were investigated by the local grand juries and tried in the county courts. Births, marriages, and deaths were all registered by the local parishes in Virginia, but returns of these had to be made to the governor twice each year. Probate was supervised by the county courts and the General Court. Clerical discipline was never fully defined during the colonial period, but it was usually handled very informally by the parish vestries.
Commissary of the bishop of London: Since there was no bishop in America, the Bishop of London was charged with ecclesiastical oversight of the colonies. He accomplished this through his agent, the Commissary. The Commissary actually had little power institutionally. He could neither appoint, nor remove local ministers. Nor could he ordain new minsters, nor perform confirmations, as could a bishop. Nevertheless, he did have a great deal of moral authority, since he could "recommend" clerical appointments and dismissals. He could also convene the Virginia clergy into convocations, which when acting with unanimity provided a strong clerical lobby with the governor and the General Assembly. Unfortunately for the Commissary, he was rarely able to get Virginia's clergy to act together.
The Commissary was traditionally a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary -- no doubt since the first Commissary, James Blair, was also the first President of the College. Most Commissaries were also 30 appointed to the Council of Virginia -- again because of Blair's appointment. Neither appointment came automatically with the appoint as Commissary, however, and Blair's successors were often embroiled in stormy political battles over their supposed "rights" to these secular places.
Vestry: The parish vestry was the body of laymen charged by law with the oversight of the affairs and finances of the parishes in Virginia. Modeled upon the English parish vestry, but with greatly enhanced powers, Virginia's vestries in truth ran the Virginia church.
When a new parish was established, its freeholders elected the vestrymen from their local community. Generally the leading men of the parish were chosen -- often the same men who served as Justices of the Peace for the county wherein the parish was located. Once elected, however, the vestrymen became totally independent of their constituents, for any future vacancies were filled by the choice of the surviving members.
The vestry hired the ministers, built the churches, and looked after the parish's poor. They drew up and levied the Parish Rate upon the tithables of the parish once each year. Once they presented a minister to the governor, and was by him inducted into the living of the parish, the vestry could not remove him -- this was the law of the Church. Virginia custom however, was rarely to present ministers, and hence avoid induction. While this gave the vestry "life and death" power over the ministers, surviving vestry books show that dismissal through "non-renewal" of the annual contract 31 rarely occurred.
Glebe (or Glebe Farm): The Glebe was a plantation with land and buildings owned by the parish and given to minister as a place of residence while he served the parish. Profits from the plantation, which the minister could farm himself or rent out, were used to augment his annual salary.
Advance: Advance was the mark-up an English merchant placed upon his goods before they were sold in Virginia. The advance included the merchant's freighting costs, his insurance fees, employee expenses, the exchange rate differential, and his profit margin. An advance of at least 200% over English wholesale prices was not uncommon in the eighteenth century.