James Pleasants Jr. (October 24, 1769November 9, 1836) was an American politician who served in the U.S. Senate from 1819 to 1822 and was the 22nd governor of Virginia from 1822 to 1825.

Early and family life

Pleasants was born in Goochland County (later separated as Powhatan County) in the Colony of Virginia on October 24, 1769. He pursued classical studies and graduated from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. He later read law under the guidance of Judge Fleming. He had a sister, Susan. Beginning in 1802, Pleasants served as clerk of the House of Delegates (1802–1811). According to one source, Pleasants resigned upon being elected to Congress as discussed below. For example, John Pleasants' widow, the former Miriam Hunnicutt, freed three slaves and seemed to free another named James, but never filed the required paperwork at the courthouse, and her sons later kidnapped and re-enslaved him with her approval. Furthermore, Jonathan's sister Mary (Molly) Pleasants married Charles Logan in Philadelphia and both signed a written promise to free the 50 slaves allotted her in Jonathan's will, but then moved to Powhatan County and reneged, and after Logan died, Molly married her cousin Robert Cary Pleasants, who claimed 160 slaves under the wills by 1799. Robert Pleasants' former ward, Samuel Pleasants Jr. left the Quaker meeting rather than free the scores of slaves allocated to him (which had increased to 189 by 1799), and his own son Robert Jr.'s wife (and soon widow) Eliza (daughter of Thomas Mann Randolph wrote her father in law arguing that the Golden Rule justified continued enslavement of black people. Robert Pleasants' sister Elizabeth Langley also refused to emancipate the slaves she had received, as did the non-Quaker husbands of her three daughters. Robert Pleasants tried suasion as well as filed many legislative petitions. Finally, in 1797 he hired future U.S. Supreme Court justice John Marshall to try to enforce the manumission provisions in both wills in Virginia's High Court of Chancery. The result was a lawsuit against Cary Pleasants and other family members. The 1798 decision by Chancellor George Wythe in Pleasants v Pleasants, was appealed by Pleasants kin represented by prominent lawyers Edmund Randolph and John Wickham. Ultimately, in 1799 Judge Wythe's decision was affirmed by Edmund Pendleton, Spencer Roane and George Carrington, all writing separately but together constituting the Virginia Court of Appeals (a predecessor of today's Virginia Supreme Court), but on much narrower grounds.

This James Pleasants was not a lawyer directly involved in that legal case, though it may have contributed to his naming of his Goochland plantation. Federal census records confirm he enslaved 17 people in Goochland County in 1810, 18 people in Goochland County in 1820 and 16 people in Goochland County in 1830.

Death and legacy

Pleasants died at Contention on November 9, 1836. He was buried on his estate. His brother-in-law and law partner, Eugene C. Massie, named his son James Pleasants Massie after Pleasants. The name has been handed down now to a total of four generations.

His son John Hampden Pleasants (1797–1846) founded the Richmond Whig newspaper, married twice, and later died in a duel with Thomas Ritchie, Jr.

Pleasants is the namesake of a residence hall at William and Mary. Pleasants County, West Virginia, was named after him in 1851.

References

  • A Guide to the Governor James Pleasants Executive Papers, 1822–1825 at The Library of Virginia