Pass for two enslaved men, "Negro Bobb, coachman & Negro George, postillion", to travel from Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Williamsburg "with a coach and six horses" to meet James Mercer there. The pass was authorized by Thomas Oliver, an overseer in the employ of Mercer. The pass authorizes innkeepers to provide what might be needfull to the men and the horses during their journey with the promise that they will be reimbursed for their services.
The verso contains an account of the food and fodder provided the men and horses by John Martin.
A Virginia law of 1748 required that "no Slave shall go from the Plantation or Seat of Land whereon he or she is appointed to live, without a Certificate of Leave, in Writing, from his or her Owner or Overseer, or by their express Order ..."
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