The Day Slavery Bowed To Conscience; 200 Years Later, Reliving A Great Emancipation From: The Washington Post | Date: July 21, 1991| Author: Ken Ringle | Copyright (null) The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post.Copyright information

In 1791, Robert Carter III was one of the richest and most powerful men in America.

His 16 vast plantations - so many he named 12 after signs of the zodiac - stretched from the Chesapeake Bay to the northern Shenandoah Valley. His schooners plied the Potomac and Rappahannock bearing textiles and tools from his plantation workshops and iron from his foundry in Baltimore. He had banking interests and land companies, and a mansion in Williamsburg, and his Westmoreland County estate, Nom...