The entries seem to be contemporaneous with the manumissions which they record. Virginia's laws made such manumissions difficult and expensive. This sharply reduced the rate of manumissions in the state. Manumissions above these limits were not valid. Approximately a thousand manumissions are recorded on the wall. This law (as well as Lex Fufia Caninia), has made limitations on manumissions. Such testamentary manumissions were often successfully challenged in court.see "Bell vs. Stephenson 1835". Several southern states, including Virginia in 1782, made manumissions easier. As a result, manumissions decreased dramatically in the South. Soon, the demand for slave labor increased as cotton cultivation expanded, and manumissions dropped markedly. Manumissions nearly ceased and, after slave rebellions, the states made them extremely difficult to accomplish.