Discipline
Keeping slaves from disobeying or resisting actively or passively was a main concern of Virginian landowners. The tactics used to combat resistance varied and depended mainly on the planter’s economic status, social status, and personal philosophy. Techniques could include brutal violence, a rescinding of privileges, or demotion to fieldwork. Multiple examples of this occurred at Gunston Hall and Mount Vernon.
One incident of disciplining a slave occurred during Elijah Fletcher’s visit to Gunston Hall. The slave was whipped after borrowing Fletcher’s mare and describes his whipping and his fear that the man would die. This was in 1810 and after George Mason IV had died, and the owner is referred to as General Mason, so it is reasonable to hypothesizeze that this is the late Mason’s son, General John Mason. This account doesn’t guarantee that the people enslaved by Mason IV were disciplined in this way, but it is a possibility that John Mason learned this disciplining technique from his father.[1] In addition to this connection, George Mason IV placed fugitive slave ads for runaway slaves.[2]
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to a member function hasThumbnail() on null in /home/masonsle/public_html/plugins/ExhibitImageAnnotation/views/shared/exhibit_layouts/image-annotation/layout.php:16 Stack trace: #0 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Omeka/View.php(114): include() #1 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/View/Abstract.php(889): Omeka_View->_run('/home/masonsle/...') #2 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/View/Helper/Partial.php(109): Zend_View_Abstract->render(NULL) #3 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/View/Abstract.php(350): Zend_View_Helper_Partial->partial('exhibit_layouts...', Array) #4 /home/masonsle/public_html/plugins/ExhibitBuilder/helpers/ExhibitPageFunctions.php(33): Zend_View_Abstract->__call('partial', Array) #5 /home/masonsle/public_html/plugins/ExhibitBuilder/views/public/exhibits/show.php(10): exhibit_builder_render_exhibit_page() #6 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Omeka/View.php(114): include('/home/masonsle/...') #7 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/View/Abstract.php(889): Omeka_View->_run('/home/masonsle/...') #8 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Controller/Action/Helper/ViewRenderer.php(912): Zend_View_Abstract->render(NULL) #9 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Controller/Action/Helper/ViewRenderer.php(933): Zend_Controller_Action_Helper_ViewRenderer->renderScript('exhibits/show.p...', NULL) #10 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Controller/Action/Helper/ViewRenderer.php(972): Zend_Controller_Action_Helper_ViewRenderer->render() #11 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Controller/Action/HelperBroker.php(277): Zend_Controller_Action_Helper_ViewRenderer->postDispatch() #12 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Controller/Action.php(527): Zend_Controller_Action_HelperBroker->notifyPostDispatch() #13 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Controller/Dispatcher/Standard.php(308): Zend_Controller_Action->dispatch('showAction') #14 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Controller/Front.php(954): Zend_Controller_Dispatcher_Standard->dispatch(Object(Zend_Controller_Request_Http), Object(Zend_Controller_Response_Http)) #15 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Application/Bootstrap/Bootstrap.php(106): Zend_Controller_Front->dispatch() #16 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Zend/Application.php(384): Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap->run() #17 /home/masonsle/public_html/application/libraries/Omeka/Application.php(73): Zend_Application->run() #18 /home/masonsle/public_html/index.php(23): Omeka_Application->run() #19 {main} thrown in /home/masonsle/public_html/plugins/ExhibitImageAnnotation/views/shared/exhibit_layouts/image-annotation/layout.php on line 16