The 1730's opened a golden age in the Virginia colony. There was an
interval of peace in which trade might flourish; there were new laws
which favored the tobacco planter and led to the building of resplendent
mansions along Virginia's shores. John Mercer wasted no time in grasping
the opportunities that lay about him. With shrewd foresight he made law
his major objective, thus raising himself above most of his
contemporaries. At the same time he began an extensive purchasing of
property, so that within a decade he was to become one of the major
landed proprietors in the colony. Planting and legal practice each
augmented the other in Mercer's prosperity, which was assured by a
classic combination of energy, ability, and outgoing personality. As
with many successful men, Mercer had an eye for meticulous detail; the
documents he left behind were a treasury of methodically kept records.
His Ledger B reveals that as early as 1730 his legal career was becoming
firmly established. It records fee accounts, charges for drawing deeds,
writing bonds, and representing clients in various courts. In that year
he "subscribed to Laws of Virginia" through William Parks, the
Williamsburg printer and stationer, and began to build up a substantial
law library, which was augmented by the purchase of 40 lawbooks from
Robert Beverley.