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diff --git a/44579-0.txt b/44579-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9edab1 --- /dev/null +++ b/44579-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3562 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44579 *** + +Transcriber's Notes + +Footnotes were numbered consecutively (with the exception of note 37a, +likely an interpolation during printing), beginning anew with each +chapter. They have been renumbered here in a single sequence to +facilitate searches. + +In this version, for smoother reading and more convenient reference, +notes have been moved to the end of the chapter where their reference +appears. + +There are typographical features that could not be reproduced here. +Italics are delimited by underscore characters as _italic_. Any mixed +case 'small capital' phrases have been shifted to their uppercase form. +There are quotations, especially in the notes, from original sources +which make use of superscripted abbreviations. These are noted using +the carat (^) character. If consecutive letters appear as superscript, +they are bracketed with {}, e.g. the abbreviation for 'accounts' is +given as 'acc^{tts}'. The tilde (~) also appears as a diacritical for +certain manuscript abbreviations, on one occasion encompassing two +letters. These are noted as [~c] or [~er]. Finally, the 'oe' ligature +appears here as two separate characters. + +Please consult the Transcriber's note at the end of this text for any +other textual issues, and their resolution. + + + + + SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA + + A DISSERTATION + + SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD OF UNIVERSITY STUDIES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS + UNIVERSITY IN CONFORMITY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE + DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, 1910 + + BY + + EDWARD RAYMOND TURNER + + _Professor of History in the University of Michigan_ + + THE LORD BALTIMORE PRESS + + BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A. + + 1911 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE INTRODUCTION OF NEGROES INTO PENNSYLVANIA. + + +There were negroes in the region around the Delaware river before +Pennsylvania was founded, in the days of the Dutch and the Swedes. +As early as 1639 mention is made of a convict sentenced to be taken +to South River to serve among the blacks there.[1] In 1644 Anthony, +a negro, is spoken of in the service of Governor Printz at Tinicum, +making hay for the cattle, and accompanying the governor on his +pleasure yacht.[2] In 1657 Vice-director Alricks was accused of using +the Company's oxen and negroes. Five years later Vice-director Beekman +desired Governor Stuyvesant to send him a company of blacks. In 1664 +negroes were wanted to work on the lowlands along the Delaware. A +contract was to be made for fifty, which the West India Company would +furnish.[3] In the same year, when the English captured New Amstel, +afterward New Castle, the place was plundered, and a number of negroes +were confiscated and sold. From Peter Alricks several were taken; of +these eleven were restored to him.[4] At least a few were living on the +shores of the Delaware River in 1677.[5] A year later an emissary was +sent by the justices of New Castle to request most urgently permission +to import negroes from Maryland.[6] + +Thus negroes had been brought into the country before Pennsylvania +was founded. Immediately after Penn's coming there is record of them +in his first counties. They were certainly present in Philadelphia +County in 1684, and in Chester in 1687.[7] Penn himself noticed them +in his charter to the Free Society of Traders. In 1702 they were +spoken of as numerous.[8] By that time merchants of Philadelphia made +the importation of negroes a regular part of their business.[9] +Thenceforth they are a noticeable factor in the life of the colony. + +While there was an active demand for negroes, there was, nevertheless, +almost from the first, strong opposition to importing them. This is +evident from the fact that during the colonial period the Assembly of +Pennsylvania passed a long series of acts imposing restrictions upon +the traffic. In 1700 a maximum duty of twenty shillings was imposed +on each negro imported. Five years later this duty was doubled.[10] +By that time there had arisen a strong adverse sentiment, due partly +to economic causes, since the white workmen complained that their +wages were lowered by negro competition, and partly to fear aroused +by an insurrection of slaves in New York.[11] Accordingly in 1712 the +Assembly very boldly passed an act to prevent importation, seeking to +accomplish this purpose by making the duty twenty pounds a head. The +law was immediately repealed in England, the Crown not being disposed +to tolerate such independent action, nor willing to allow interference +with the African Company's trade.[12] Either the local feeling was too +strong, or the requirements were less, since in spite of this failure +there was for a while a falling off in the number imported.[13] A +more moderate duty of five pounds was imposed in 1715, but again the +English authorities interposed, repealing it in 1719. Meanwhile an act +to continue this duty had been passed in 1717-1718, but apparently it +was not submitted to the Crown. In 1720-1721 the five pound duty was +again imposed, this act also not being submitted. In 1722 the duty was +repeated, and once more the law expired by limitation before it was +sent up for approval.[14] + +Up to this time restrictive legislation had been largely frustrated. +It had encountered not only the disapproval of certain classes in +Pennsylvania, but the powerful opposition of the African Company, +which could count on the decisive interposition of the Lords of +Trade.[15] The Assembly accordingly submitted the acts long after +they had been passed, and made new laws before the old ones had been +disallowed.[16] Nevertheless the number of blacks in the colony had +steadily increased, and in 1721 was estimated to be somewhere between +twenty-five hundred and five thousand.[17] The wrath of the white +laborers was correspondingly increased, and in this year they presented +to the Assembly a petition asking for a law to prevent the hiring of +blacks. The Assembly resolved that such a law would be injurious to the +public and unjust to those who owned negroes and hired them out, but +the restrictions on importing them were maintained.[18] In 1725-1726 +the five pound duty was imposed again, and in the same year five pounds +extra was placed upon every convict negro brought into the colony. This +became law by lapse of time.[19] + +In 1729 the duty was reduced to two pounds. This duty continued in +force for a generation, satisfactory partly because the opposition +to importing negroes seems to have been less strong, partly because +white servants proved to be cheaper and more adapted to industrial +demands.[20] The newspaper advertisements announce the arrival of many +more cargoes of servants than of negroes; this notwithstanding the fact +that white servants frequently ran away, often to enlist in the wars. +Referring to this fact a message from the Assembly to the governor says +that while the King has seemed to desire the importation of servants +rather than of negroes, yet the enlistment acts make such property so +precarious, that it seems to depend on the will of the servant and the +pleasure of the officer.[21] Nevertheless the number of negroes brought +in steadily dwindled. By 1750 importation had nearly ceased.[22] + +A few years later the great efforts made in the last French and +Indian War caused loud complaints again about enlisting servants. It +was feared that people would be driven to the necessity of providing +themselves with negro slaves, as property in them seemed more secure. +This is probably just what occurred, for the increase of negroes is +said to have been alarming.[23] As a result restrictive legislation +was tried again in 1761, when the duty was made ten pounds. The law +was carried only after considerable effort. While the bill was in the +hands of the governor a petition was sent to him, signed by twenty-four +merchants of Philadelphia, who set forth the scarcity and high price of +labor, and their need of slaves. After two months' contest the bill was +passed. One provision of the act was that a new settler need not pay +the duty if he did not sell his slave within eighteen months.[24] In +1768 this act was renewed. In 1773 it was made perpetual, the former +law having been found to be of great public utility; but the duty was +raised to twenty pounds. Once more the act became law by lapse of +time.[25] + +The act of 1773 was the last one which the Assembly passed to limit +the importation of negroes. Not only was the duty sufficiently high, +now, but its presence was hardly needed.[26] A silent but powerful +movement was overthrowing slavery in Pennsylvania; and in a short time +the outbreak of the Revolutionary War brought the traffic to an end. +Shortly thereafter, in 1780, the state did what England had never +permitted while she held authority: forbade the importation of slaves +entirely.[27] + +The real reason for the passage of these laws is not always clear. +They may have been passed either to keep negroes out,[28] or to raise +revenue for the government.[29] An analysis of the laws themselves +seems to show that both of these purposes were constantly in mind.[30] +When, however, they are taken in connection with matters which they +themselves do not mention, namely, the predominance of the Quakers in +the colonial Assembly together with the abhorrence which they felt for +the slave-trade and later for slavery itself,[31] it becomes probable +that the predominant motive was restriction.[32] It is also probable +that while the obtaining of revenue was the obvious motive in many of +these acts, yet revenue was so raised precisely because Pennsylvania +desired to keep negroes out; that imported slaves were taxed largely +for reasons similar to those which caused the Stuarts to tax colonial +tobacco, and which lead modern governments to tax spirituous liquors +and opium. It may be added that Pennsylvania always held, both in +colonial times and afterwards, that England forced slavery upon her. +That there was much justice in this complaint the failure of the +earlier legislation goes far to sustain.[33] + +The negroes imported were brought sometimes in cargoes, more often +a few at a time. They came mostly from the West Indies, many being +purchased in Barbadoes, Jamaica, Antigua, and St. Christophers.[34] As +a rule they were imported by the merchants of Philadelphia, and, being +received in exchange for grain, flour, lumber, and staves, helped to +make up the balance of trade between Philadelphia and the islands.[35] +A few seem to have been obtained directly from Africa. When so brought, +however, they were found to be unable to endure the winter cold in +Pennsylvania, so that it was considered preferable to buy the second +generation in the West Indies, after they had become acclimated.[36] +Some were brought from other colonies on the mainland, particularly +those to the south. At times Pennsylvania herself exported a few to +other places.[37] The prices paid in the colony naturally fluctuated +from time to time in accordance with supply and demand, and varied +within certain limits according to the age and personal qualities of +each negro. The usual price for an adult seems to have been somewhere +near forty pounds.[38] + +As to the number of negroes in Pennsylvania at different times during +the colonial period almost any estimate is at best conjecture. Not only +are there few official reports, but these reports, in the absence of +any definite census, are of little value.[39] Apparently one of the +best estimates was that made in 1721, which stated the number of blacks +at anywhere between 2,500 and 5,000.[40] In 1751 it was at least widely +believed that there were in Philadelphia 6,000, and it is asserted +that the total number in Pennsylvania including the Lower Counties was +11,000.[41] It is probable that the same number was not much exceeded +in Pennsylvania proper at any time before 1790. In these estimates no +attempt was made to distinguish the free from the slaves. The number +of slaves, it is true, was very near the total at both these periods, +but after the middle of the century it began dwindling as the number +of negro servants and free men increased. In 1780 a careful estimate +placed the slaves at 6,000.[42] According to the Federal census of 1790 +the number of negroes in Pennsylvania was 10,274.[43] + +Of these negroes the great majority throughout the slavery period +were located in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, in and around +Philadelphia. There were many in Bucks, Chester, Lancaster, Montgomery, +and York counties. There were negroes near the site of Columbia by +1726. John Harris had slaves by the Susquehanna as early as 1733. +In 1759 Hugh Mercer wrote from the vicinity of Pittsburg asking for +two negro girls and a boy. The tax-lists and local accounts reveal +their presence in many other places.[44] Doubtless a few might be +traced wherever white people settled permanently. In general it may +be said that they were owned in the English, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish +communities. The Germans as a rule held no slaves. + +Where negroes were owned they were for the most part evenly +distributed, there being few large holdings. In rare instances a +considerable number is recorded as belonging to one man, and the +iron-masters generally had several. The tax-lists, however, indicate +that the average holding was one or two, except in Philadelphia among +the wealthier classes where it was double that number.[45] + +The character of slavery in Pennsylvania was in many respects unique, +but in no way was this so true as in connection with the number of +negroes held. Generally speaking, the farther south a section lay the +more slaves did it possess. Thus there were fewer in New England than +in the middle colonies; there were fewer there than in the South. But +to this rule Pennsylvania was an exception, for it had fewer negroes +than New Jersey, and not half so many as New York.[46] This was due +to two sets of causes: the first, ethical; the second, economic. The +first of these are easily understood. They resulted from the character +of many of the people who settled Pennsylvania, their dislike for +slavery, and their refusal to hold slaves. The second are not so easily +traceable, but were doubtless more powerful in their influence, for +they were owing to the character of Pennsylvania's industrial growth. + +The plantation system, which is most favorable to the increase of +slavery, never appeared in Pennsylvania. During the whole of the +eighteenth century the activities of the colony developed along two +lines not favorable to negro labor: small farming, and manufacturing +and commerce.[47] The small farms were almost always held by people +who were too poor to purchase slaves, at least for a long while, and +the kind of farming was not such as to make slavery particularly +profitable. In commerce no large number of negroes was ever employed, +while manufacturing demanded a higher grade of labor than slaves could +give. It is true that in some cases where there was an approach to +the factory system, and where the work was rough and needed little +skill, slaves could answer every purpose. For this reason at the old +ironworks negroes were in demand.[48] As a rule, however, this was not +the case. It was because of its industrial character that Pennsylvania +was peculiarly the colony of indentured white servants. + +Furthermore, ethical and economic influences interacted with subtle +and powerful force. Barring all other considerations, the cost of a +slave was a considerable item, not to be afforded by a struggling +settler; hence slavery never attained magnitude on the frontier. Before +1700 Pennsylvania was all frontier; hence it had very few negroes. In +the period from 1700 to about 1750 the country between the Delaware +and the Susquehanna was filled up, and the early conditions largely +disappeared. It was then that the greatest number of negroes was +introduced. In the period between the middle of the century and the +Revolution this older country became well developed and prosperous; +farms became larger and better cultivated; there were numerous +respectable manufacturers and wealthy merchants. These men could +easily afford to have slaves, and large importations might have been +expected; but there was no great influx of negroes. Economic conditions +were favorable, but ethical influences worked strongly against it. In +this eastern half of Pennsylvania two racial elements predominated: +the Germans and the English Quakers. The Germans had abstained from +slave-holding from the first;[49] the Quakers were now coming to abhor +it.[50] The same play of causes was seen again in the "old West." +After 1750 in the mountains and valleys beyond the Susquehanna the +earlier frontier conditions were lived over again. Here the settlers +were largely Scotch-Irish, and had no dislike for slavery, but as yet +the conditions of their life did not favor it. When finally western +Pennsylvania passed out of the frontier stage, and its inhabitants +could purchase negroes, the days of slavery in Pennsylvania were nearly +over.[51] For all of these reasons from first to last Pennsylvania's +slave population remained small. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Breviate. Dutch Records, no. 2, fol. 5. In _2 Pennsylvania + Archives_, XVI, 234. _Cf._ Hazard, _Annals of Pennsylvania_, + 49. The "Proposed Freedoms and Exemptions for New Netherland," + 1640, say, "The Company shall exert itself to provide the + Patroons and Colonists, on their order with as many Blacks as + possible".... _2 Pa. Arch._, V, 74. + + [2] C. T. Odhner. "The Founding of New Sweden, 1637-1642", + translated by G. B. Keen in _Pennsylvania Magazine of History + and Biography_, III, 277. + + [3] Hazard, _Annals of Pennsylvania_, 331; O'Callaghan, _Documents + relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York_, + II, 213, 214. The Report of the Board of Accounts on New + Netherland, Dec. 15, 1644, had spoken of the need of + negroes, the economy of their labor, and had recommended the + importation of large numbers. _2 Pa. Arch._, V, 88. See also + Davis, _History of Bucks County_, 793. + + [4] _2 Pa. Arch._, XVI, 255, 256; Hazard, _Annals of + Pennsylvania_, 372. Sir Robert Carr, writing to Colonel + Nicholls, Oct. 13, 1664, says, "I have already sent into + Merryland some Neegars w^{c}h did belong to the late Governor + att his plantation above".... _2 Pa. Arch._, V, 578. + + [5] The Records of the Court of New Castle give a list of the + "Names of the Tijdable prsons Living in this Courts + Jurisdiction" in which occur "three negros": "1 negro woman of + Mr. Moll", "1 neger of Mr. Alrichs", "Sam Hedge and neger". + Book A, 197-201. Quoted in _Pa. Mag._, III, 352-354. For the + active trade in negroes at this time _cf._ MS. Board of Trade + Journals, II, 307. + + [6] "Wth out wch wee cannot subsist".... MS. New Castle Court + Records, Liber A, 406. Hazard, _Annals_, 456. + + [7] "Ik hebbe geen vaste Dienstbode, als een Neger die ik gekocht + heb." _Missive van Cornelis Bom, Geschreven uit de Stadt + Philadelphia_, etc., 3. (Oct. 12, 1684). "Man hat hier auch + Zwartzen oder Mohren zu Schlaven in der Arbeit." Letter, + probably of Hermans Op den Graeff, Germantown, Feb. 12, 1684, + in Sachse, _Letters relating to the Settlement of Germantown_, + 25. _Cf._ also MS. in American Philosophical Society's + collection, quoted in _Pa. Mag._, VII, 106: "Lacey Cocke hath + A negroe" ..., "Pattrick Robbinson--Robert neverbeegood his + negor sarvant".... "The Defendts negros" are mentioned in a + suit for damages in 1687. See MS. Court Records of Penna. and + Chester Co., 1681-1688, p. 72. + + [8] MS. Ancient Records of Philadelphia, 28 7th mo., 1702. + + [9] MS. William Trent's Ledger, 156. For numerous references to + negroes brought from Barbadoes, see MS. Booke of acc^{tts} + Relating to the Barquentine _Constant Ailse_ And^w: Dykes + mast^r: from March 25th 1700 (-1702). (Pa. State Lib.) + + [10] _Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania_ (edited by J. T. Mitchell + and Henry Flanders), II, 107. _Ibid._, II, 285. The act of + 1705-1706 was repeated in 1710-1711. _Ibid._, II, 383. _Cf._ + _Colonial Records of Pennsylvania_, II, 529, 530. + + [11] _Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the + Province of Pennsylvania_, I, pt. II, 132. _Stat. at L._, II, + 433. + + [12] MS. Board of Trade Papers, Proprieties, IX, Q, 39, 42. _Stat. + at L._, II, 543, 544. + + [13] Jonathan Dickinson, a merchant of Philadelphia, writing to + a correspondent in Jamaica, 4th month, 1715, says, "I must + entreat you to send me no more negroes for sale, for our + people don't care to buy. They are generally against any + coming into the country." I have been unable to find this + letter. Watson, who quotes it (_Annals of Philadelphia_, II, + 264), says, "Vide the Logan MSS." _Cf._ also a letter of + George Tiller of Kingston, Jamaica, to Dickinson, 1712. MS. + Logan Papers, VIII, 47. + + [14] _Stat. at L._, III, 117, 118; MS. Board of Trade Papers, + Prop., X, 2, Q, 159; _Stat. at L._, III, 465; _Col. Rec._, + III, 38, 144, 171. During this period negroes were being + imported through the custom-house at the rate of about one + hundred and fifty a year. _Cf._ _Votes and Proceedings_, II, + 251. + + [15] In 1727 the iron-masters of Pennsylvania petitioned for the + entire removal of the duty, labor being so scarce. _Votes and + Proceedings_, 1726-1742, p. 31. The attitude of the English + authorities is explained in a report of Richard Jackson, March + 2, 1774, on one of the Pennsylvania impost acts. "The Increase + of Duty on Negroes in this Law is Manifestly inconsistent with + the Policy adopted by your Lordships and your Predecessors for + the sake of encouraging the African Trade" ... Board of Trade + Papers, Prop., XXIII, Z, 54. + + [16] _Votes and Proceedings_, II, 152; _Col. Rec._, II, 572, 573; + _1 Pa. Arch._, I, 160-162; _Votes and Proceedings_, 1766, pp. + 45, 46. For a complaint against this practice _cf._ "Copy of + a Representat^n of the Board of Trade upon some pennsylvania + Laws" (1713-1714). MS. Board of Trade Papers, Plantations + General, IX, K, 35. + + [17] O'Callaghan, _N. Y. Col. Docs._, V, 604. + + [18] _Votes and Proceedings_, II, 347. + + [19] _Stat. at L._, IV, 52-56, 60; _Col. Rec._, III, 247, 248, 250. + + [20] _Stat. at L._, IV, 123-128; _Col. Rec._, III, 359; Smith, + _History of Delaware County_, 261. For a while, no doubt, + there was a considerable influx. Ralph Sandiford says (1730), + "We have _negroes_ flocking in upon us since the duty on them + is reduced to 40 shillings per head." _Mystery of Iniquity_, + (2d ed.), 5. Many of these were smuggled in from New Jersey, + where there was no duty from 1721 to 1767. Cooley, _A Study of + Slavery in New Jersey_, 15, 16. + + [21] Cargoes of servants are advertised in the _American Weekly + Mercury_, the _Pennsylvania Packet_, and the _Pennsylvania + Gazette_, _passim_. As to enlistment of servants _cf._ + _Mercury_, _Gazette_, Aug. 7, 1740; _Col. Rec._, IV, 437. + Complaint about this had been made as early as 1711. _Votes + and Proceedings_, II, 101, 103. + + [22] Smith, _History of Delaware County_, 261; Peter Kalm, _Travels + into North America_, etc., (1748), I, 391. + + [23] _Col. Rec._, VII, 37, 38. + + [24] _Stat. at L._, VI, 104-110; _Votes and Proceedings_, 1761, + pp. 25, 29, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 52, 55, 63; _Col. Rec._, + VIII, 575, 576. "The Petition of Divers Merchants of the City + of Philadelphia, To The Honble James Hamilton Esqr. Lieut. + Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, Humbly Sheweth, That + We the Subscribers ... have seen for some time past, the many + inconveniencys the Inhabitants have suffer'd, for want of + Labourers, and Artificers, by Numbers being Inlisted for His + Majestys Service and near a total stop to the importation of + German and other white Servants, have for some time encouraged + the importation of Negros, ... that an advantage may be + gain'd by the Introduction of Slaves, w^ch will likewise be + a means of reduceing the exorbitant Price of Labour, and in + all Probability bring our staple Commoditys to their usual + Prices." MS. Provincial Papers, XXV, March 1, 1761. + + [25] _Stat. at L._, VII, 158, 159; VIII, 330-332; _Col. Rec._, IX, + 400, 401, 443, ff.; X, 72, 77. The Board of Trade Journals, + LXXXII, 47, (May 5, 1774), say that their lordships had + some discourse with Dr. Franklin "upon the objections ... + to ... _imposing Duties amounting to a prohibition upon the + Importation of Negroes_." + + [26] _Cf._ MS. Provincial Papers, XXXII, January, 1775. + + [27] _Stat. at L._, X, 72, 73. It was forbidden by implication + rather than specific regulation. It had been foreseen that an + act for gradual abolition entailed stopping the importation of + negroes. _Pa. Packet_, Nov. 28, 1778; _1 Pa. Arch._, VII, 79. + + [28] Professor E. P. Cheyney in an article written some years ago + ("The Condition of Labor in Early Pennsylvania, I. Slavery," + in _The Manufacturer_, Feb. 2, 1891, p. 8) considers + these laws to have been restrictive in purpose, and gives + three causes for their passage, in the following order of + importance: (a) dread of slave insurrections, (b) opposition + of the free laboring classes to slave competition, (c) + conscientious objections. I cannot think that this is correct. + (a) seems to have been the impelling motive only in connection + with the law of 1712, and seems rarely to have been thought + of. It was urged in 1740, 1741, and 1742, when efforts were + being made to pass a militia law in Pennsylvania, but it + attracted little attention. _Cf._ MS. Board of Trade Papers, + Prop., XV, T: 54, 57, 60. + + [29] In a MS. entitled "William Penn's Memorial to the Lords of + Trade relating to several laws passed in Pensilvania," + assigned to the year 1690 in the collection of the Historical + Society of Pennsylvania, but probably belonging to a later + period, is the following: "These ... Acts ... to Raise money + ... to defray publick Exigences in such manner as after a + Mature delibera[~c]on they thought would not be burthensom + particularly in the Act for laying a Duty on Negroes" ... MS. + Pa. Miscellaneous Papers, 1653-1724, p. 24. + + [30] 1700. 20 shillings for negroes over sixteen years of age, 6 + for those under sixteen. No cause given. Apparently (terms + of the act) _revenue_.--1705-1706. 40 shillings--a draw-back + of one half if the negro be re-exported within six months. + Apparently _revenue_.--1710. 40 shillings--excepting those + imported by immigrants for their own use, and not sold within + a year. Almost certainly (preamble) _revenue._--1712. 20 + pounds. The causes were a dread of insurrection because of + the negro uprising in New York, and the Indians' dislike + of the importation of Indian slaves. Purpose undoubtedly + _restriction_.--1715. 5 pounds. Apparently (character of + the provisions) _restriction_ and _revenue_.--1717-1718. + 5 pounds. To continue the preceding. _Restriction_ and + _revenue_--1720-1721. 5 pounds. To continue the preceding. + _Revenue_ (preamble) and _restriction_.--1722. 5 pounds. + To continue provisions of previous acts. _Revenue_ and + _restriction_.--1725-1726. 5 pounds. _Revenue_ and + _restriction_.--1729. 2 pounds. Reduction made probably + because since 1712 none of the laws had been allowed to + stand for any length of time, and because there had been + much smuggling. _Revenue_ and _restriction_.--1761. 10 + pounds. No cause given for the increase. _Restriction_ + and _revenue_.--1768. Preceding continued--"of public + utility." _Restriction_ and _revenue_.--1773. Preceding made + perpetual--"of great public utility"--but duty raised to 20 + pounds. _Restriction. Cf. Stat. at L._, II, 107, 285, 383, + 433; III, 117, 159, 238, 275; IV, 52, 123; VI, 104; VII, 158; + VIII, 330. + + [31] See below, chapters IV and V. + + [32] "Man hat besonders in Pensylvanien den Grundsatz angenommen + ihre Einführung so viel möglich abzuhalten" ... _Achenwall's + in Göttingen über Nordamerika und über dasige Grosbritannische + Colonien aus mündlichen Nachrichten des Herrn Dr. Franklins_ + ... _Anmerkungen_, 24, 25. (About 1760). + + [33] _Stat. at L._, X, 67, 68; 1 _Pa. Arch._, I, 306. _Cf._ Mr. + Woodward's speech, Jan. 19, 1838, _Proceedings and Debates of + the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to Propose + Amendments to the Constitution_, etc., X, 16, 17. + + [34] "Aus Pennsylvanien ... fahren gen Barbadoes, Jamaica + und Antego. Von dar bringen sie zurück ... Negros." + Daniel Falkner, _Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania in + Norden-America_, etc., (17O2), 192. For a negro woman from + Jamaica (1715), see MS. Court Papers, Philadelphia County, + 1619-1732. Also numerous advertisements in the newspapers. + _Mercury_, Apr. 17, 1729, (Barbadoes); July 31, 1729, + (Bermuda); July 23, 1730, (St. Christophers); Jan. 21, 1739, + (Antigua). Oldmixon, speaking of Pennsylvania, says, "Negroes + sell here ... very well; but not by the Ship Loadings, as + they have sometimes done at Maryland and Virginia." (1741.) + _British Empire in America_, etc., (2d ed.), I, 316. _Cf._ + however the following: "A PARCEL of likely Negro Boys and + Girls just arrived in the Sloop Charming Sally ... to be + sold ... for ready Money, Flour or Wheat" ... Advt. in _Pa. + Gazette_, Sept. 4, 1740. For a consignment of seventy see MS. + Provincial Papers, XXVII, Apr. 26, 1766. + + [35] _Cf._ MS. William Trent's Ledger, "Negroes" (1703-1708). + Isaac Norris, Letter Book, 75, 76 (1732). For a statement of + profit and loss on two imported negroes, see _ibid._, 77. In + this case Isaac Norris acted as a broker, charging five per + cent. For the wheat and flour trade with Barbadoes, see _A + Letter from Doctor More ... Relating to the ... Province of + Pennsilvania_, 5. (1686). + + [36] Some were probably brought from Africa by pirates. _Cf._ MS. + Board of Trade Papers, Prop., III, 285, 286; IV, 369; V, 408. + The hazard involved in the purchase of negroes is revealed in + the following: "Acco^t of Negroes D^r to Tho. Willen £17: 10 + for a New Negro Man ... £15 and 50 Sh. more if he live to the + Spring" ... MS. James Logan's Account Book, 91, (1714). As to + the effect of cold weather upon negroes, Isaac Norris, writing + to Jonathan Dickinson in 1703, says, ... "they're So Chilly + they Can hardly Stir frõ the fire and Wee have Early beginning + for a hard Wint^r." MS. Letter Book, 1702-1704, p. 109. In + 1748 Kalm says, ... "the toes and fingers of the former" + (negroes) "are frequently frozen." _Travels_, I, 392. + + [37] _Mercury_, Sept. 26, 1723. MS. Penn Papers, Accounts + (unbound), 27 3d mo., 1741. Also _Calendar of State Papers, + America and West Indies, 1697-1698_, p. 390; _Col. Rec._, IV, + 515; _Pa. Mag._, XXVII, 320. + + [38] A Report of the Royal African Company, Nov. 2, 1680, purports + to show the first cost: "That the Negros cost them the + first price 5li: and 4li: 15s. the freight, besides 25li p + cent which they lose by the usual mortality of the Negros." + MS. Board of Trade Journals, III, 229. The selling price had + been considered immoderate four years previous. _Ibid._, I, + 236. In 1723 Peter Baynton sold "a negroe man named Jemy ... + 30 £." Loose sheet in Peter Baynton's Ledger. In 1729 a negro + twenty-five years old brought 35 pounds in Chester County. + MS. Chester County Papers, 89. The Moravians of Bethlehem + purchased a negress in 1748 for 70 pounds. _Pa. Mag._, XXII, + 503. Peter Kalm (1748) says that a full grown negro cost + from 40 pounds to 100 pounds; a child of two or three years, + 8 pounds to 14 pounds. _Travels_, I, 393, 394. Mittelberger + (1750) says 200 to 350 florins (33 to 58 pounds). _Journey to + Pennsylvania in the Year 1750_, etc., 106. Franklin (1751) + in a very careful estimate thought that the price would + average about 30 pounds. _Works_ (ed. Sparks), II, 314. + Acrelius (about 1759) says 30 to 40 pounds. _Description of + ... New Sweden_, etc. (translation of W. M. Reynolds, 1874, + in _Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania_, XI), + p. 168. A negro iron-worker brought 50 pounds at Bethlehem in + 1760. _Pa. Mag._, XXII, 503. In 1790 Edward Shippen writes + of a slave who cost him 100 pounds. _Ibid._, VII, 31. It is + probable that the value of a slave was roughly about three + times that of a white servant. _Cf. Votes and Proceedings_ + (1764), V, 308. + + [39] In 1708 the Board of Trade requested the governor of + Pennsylvania that very definite information on a variety of + subjects relating to the negro be transmitted thereafter half + yearly. Were these records available they would be worth more + than all the remaining information. _Cf._ MS. Provincial + Papers, I, April 15, 1708; 1 _Pa. Arch._, I, 152, 153. + + [40] _N. Y. Col. Docs._, V, 604. As to the necessity for allowing + so large a margin in these figures _cf._ the following. "The + number of the whites are said to be Sixty Thousand, and of + the Black about five Thousand." Col. Hart's Answer, etc., MS. + Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XI, R: 7. (1720). "The number + of People in this Province may be computed to above 40,000 + Souls amongst whom we have scarce any Blacks except a few + Household Servants in the City of Philadelphia" ... Letter + of Sir William Keith, _ibid._, XI, R: 42. (1722). Another + communication gave the true state of the case, if not the + exact numbers. "This Government has not hitherto had Occasion + to use any methods that can furnish us with an exact Estimate, + but as near as can at present be guessed there may be about + _Forty five thousand_ Souls of _Whites_ and _four thousand_ + Blacks." Major Gordon's answer to Queries, _ibid._, XIII, S: + 34. (1730-1731). + + [41] William Douglass, _A Summary, Historical and Political, ... + of the British Settlements in North-America_, etc. (ed. + 1755), II, 324; Abiel Holmes, _American Annals_, etc., II, + 187; Bancroft, _History of the United States_ (author's last + revision), II, 391. + + [42] Letter in _Pa. Packet_, Jan 1, 1780. This made allowance + for the numerous runaways during the British occupation of + Philadelphia. Also _ibid._, Dec. 25, 1779; 1 _Pa. Arch._, XI, + 74, 75. For a higher estimate, 10,000, for 1780 but made in + 1795, see MS. Collection of the Records of the Pa. Society for + the Abolition of Slavery, etc., IV, 111. + + [43] Slaves, 3,737; free, 6,537. Other enumerations occur, but are + evidently without value. Oldmixon (1741), 3,600. _British + Empire in America_, I, 321. Burke (1758), about 6,000. _An + Account of the European Settlements in America_, II, 204. Abbé + Raynal (1766), 30,000. _A Philosophical and Political History + of the British Settlements ... in North America_ (tr. 1776), + I, 163. A communication to the Earl of Dartmouth (1773), + 2,000. MS. Provincial Papers, Jan. 1775; 1 _Pa. Arch._, IV, + 597. Smyth (1782), over 100,000. _A Tour in the United States + of America_, etc., II, 309. + + [44] MS. (Samuel Wright), A Journal of Our Rem(oval) from Chester + and Darby (to) Conestogo ... 1726, copied by A. C. Myers; + Morgan, _Annals of Harrisburg_, 9-11; _Col. Rec._, VIII, 305, + 306. Tax-lists printed in 3 _Pa. Arch._ Also Davis, _Hist. + of Bucks Co._, 793; Futhey and Cope, _Hist. of Chester Co._, + 423 425; Ellis and Evans, _Hist. of Lancaster Co._, 301; + Gibson, _Hist. of York Co._, 498; Bean, _Hist. of Montgomery + Co._, 302; Lytle, _Hist. of Huntingdon Co._, 182; Blackman, + _Hist. of Susquehanna Co._, 72; Creigh, _Hist. of Washington + Co._, 362; Bausman, _Hist. of Beaver Co._, I, 152, 153; + Linn, _Annals of Buffalo Valley_, 66-74; Peck, _Wyoming; its + History_, etc., 240. + + [45] MS. Assessment Books, Chester Co., 1765, p. 197; 1768, p. 326; + 1780, p. 95; MS. Assessment Book, Phila. Co., 1769. As early + as 1688 Henry Jones of Moyamensing had thirteen negroes. MS. + Phila. Wills, Book A, 84. An undated MS. entitled "A List of + my Negroes" shows that Jonathan Dickinson had thirty-two. + Dickinson Papers, unclassified. An owner in York County is + said to have had one hundred and fifty. 3 _Pa. Arch._, XXI, + 71. This is probably a misprint. + + [46] In 1790 the numbers were as follows: New York, 21,324 slaves, + 4,654 free, total 25,978; New Jersey, 11,423 slaves, 4,402 + free, total 15,825; Pennsylvania, 3,737 slaves, 6,537 free, + total 10,274. + + [47] On Pennsylvania's amazing commercial and industrial activity + see Anderson, _Historical and Chronological Deductions of the + Origin of Commerce_, etc. (1762), III, 75-77. + + [48] See below, p. 41. + + [49] See below, chapters IV and V. + + [50] See below, _ibid._ + + [51] Nevertheless slavery took root in the western counties, and + lingered there longer than anywhere else in Pennsylvania. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LEGAL STATUS OF THE SLAVE. + + +The legal origin of slavery[52] in Pennsylvania is not easy to +discover, for the statute of 1700, which seems to have recognized +slavery there, is, like similar statutes in some of the other American +colonies, very indirect and uncertain in its wording. Before this time, +it is true, there occur instances where negroes were held for life, so +that undoubtedly there was _de facto_ slavery; but by what authority it +existed, or how it began, is not clear. It may have grown up to meet +the necessities of a new country. It may have been an inheritance from +earlier colonists. More probably still, it developed by diverging from +temporary servitude which, in the case of white servants at least, +flourished among the earliest English settlers in the region. + +It is probable that slavery existed among the Dutch of New Netherland, +and possibly among the Swedes along the Delaware.[53] In 1664 their +settlements passed under English authority. To regulate them the +so-called "Duke of York's Laws" were promulgated. Meanwhile around the +estuary of the Delaware English colonists were settling with their +negroes. In 1676, five years before Penn set out for his territories, +the Duke's laws seem to have been obeyed in part of the Delaware River +country.[54] In these laws servants for life are explicitly mentioned. +In them it is also ordained that no Christian shall be held in bond +slavery or villenage.[55] This latter may be a tacit permission to hold +heathen negroes as slaves. + +Not much can be based upon the Duke of York's laws since their meaning +upon this latter point is doubtful. Moreover, when Penn founded his +colony they were superseded after a short time by laws enacted in +Pennsylvania assemblies. In the years following at first no act was +passed recognizing slavery, but that some slaves were held there +is apparent. Numerous little pieces of evidence may be accumulated +indicating that there were negroes who were not being held as servants +for a term of years, nor does anything appear to indicate that this +was looked upon as illegal.[56] In 1685 William Penn, writing to his +steward at Pennsbury, said that it would be better to have blacks to +work the place, since they might be held for life.[57] In the same +year by the terms of a recorded deed a negro was sold to a new master +"forever."[58] Three years later the Friends of Germantown issued +their celebrated protest against slavery,[59] while in 1693 George +Keith denounced the practice of enslaving men and holding them in +perpetual bondage.[60] Meanwhile no law was made authorizing slavery +in the colony, and no court seems to have been called upon to decide +whether slavery was legal. It is not until 1700 that a statute was +passed bearing upon the subject. In that year a law for the regulation +of servants contains a section designed to prevent the embezzlement by +servants of their masters' goods. This section asserts that the servant +if white shall atone for such theft by additional servitude at the end +of his time sufficient to pay for double the value of the goods; but +if black he shall be severely whipped in the most public place of the +township.[61] It is probable that the law was so worded because it had +come to be seen that there were few cases in which a negro could give +satisfaction by additional time at the end of his term, since negroes +were being held for life. If such be the case, this law may be said to +contain the formal recognition of slavery in the colony. + +The legal development of this slavery was rapid and brief. As it was +not created by statutory enactment, so some of its most important +incidents were never alluded to in the laws. The Assembly of +Pennsylvania, unlike that of Virginia, never seems to have thought +it necessary to define the status of the slave as property, the +consequences of slave baptism, or the line of servile descent.[62] +Some of these questions had been settled in other colonies before +the founding of Pennsylvania, and there the results seem to have +been accepted. Accordingly the steps in the development are neither +obvious nor distinct. They rest not so much upon statute as upon court +decisions interpreting usage, and in many cases the decisions do not +come until the end of the slavery period. Notwithstanding all this +there was a development, which may be said to fall into three periods. +They were, first, the years from 1682 to 1700, when slavery was slowly +diverging from servitude, which it still closely resembled; second, +from 1700 to 1725-1726, when slavery was more sharply marked off from +servitude; and third, the period from 1725-1726 to 1780, when nothing +was added but some minor restrictions. + +During the earliest years slavery in Pennsylvania differed from +servitude in but little, save that servitude was for a term of years +and slavery was for life. It may be questioned whether at first all men +recognized even this difference. Many of Penn's first colonists were +men who embarked upon their undertaking with high ideals of religion +and right, and whose conception of what was right could not easily be +reconciled with hopeless bondage.[63] The strength of this sentiment is +seen in the well known provision of Penn's charter to the Free Society +of Traders, 1682, that if they held blacks they should make them free +at the end of fourteen years, the blacks then to become the Company's +tenants.[64] It is the motive in Benjamin Furley's proposal to hold +negroes not longer than eight years.[65] It is particularly evident +in the protest made at Germantown in 1688.[66] It is seen in George +Keith's declaration of principles in 1693.[67] And it gave impetus to +the movement among the Friends, which, starting about 1696, led finally +to the emancipation of all their negroes. + +Accordingly at first there may have been some negroes who were held as +servants for a term of years, and who were discharged when they had +served their time.[68] There is no certain proof that this was so,[69] +and the probabilities are rather against it, but the conscientious +scruples of some of the early settlers make it at least possible. +In the growth of the colony, however, this feeling did not continue +strong enough to be decisive. Economic adjustment, an influx of men of +different standards, and motives of expediency, perhaps of necessity, +made the legal recognition of an inferior status inevitable. Against +this the upholders of the idea that negroes should be held only as +servants, for a term of years, waged a losing fight. It is true they +did not desist, and in the course of one hundred years their view +won a complete triumph; but their success came in abolition, and in +overthrowing a system established, long after they had utterly failed +to prevent the swift growth and the statutory recognition of legal +slavery for life and in perpetuity. + +Aside from this one fundamental difference the incidents of each status +were nearly the same. The negro held for life was subject to the same +restrictions, tried in the same courts, and punished with the same +punishments as the white servant. So far as either class was subject +to special regulation at this time it was because of the laws for +the management of servants, passed in 1683 and 1693, which concerned +white servants equally with black slaves. These restrictions were as +yet neither numerous nor detailed, being largely directed against +free people who abetted servants in wrong doing. Thus, servants were +forbidden to traffic in their masters' goods; but the only penalty +fell on the receiver, who had to make double restitution. They were +restricted as to movement, and when travelling they must have a pass. +If they ran away they were punished, the white servant by extra +service, the black slave by whipping, but this different punishment for +the slave was not enacted until 1700, the beginning of the next period. +Whoever harbored them was liable to the master for damages.[70] The +relations between master and servant were likewise simple. The servant +was compelled to obey the master. If he resisted or struck the master, +he was punished at the discretion of the court. On the other hand the +servant was to be treated kindly.[71] + +The period, then, prior to 1700 was characteristically a period +of servitude. The laws spoke of servants white and black.[72] The +regulations, the restrictions, the trials, the punishments, were +identical. There was only the one difference: white servants were +discharged with freedom dues at the end of a specified number of years; +for negroes there was no discharge; they were servants for life, that +is, slaves. + +In the period following 1700 this difference gradually became apparent, +and made necessary different treatment and distinct laws. This +resulted from a recognition of the dissimilarity in character between +property based on temporary service and that based on service for +life. In the first place perpetual service gave rise to a new class of +slaves. At first the only ones in Pennsylvania were such negroes as +were imported and sold for life. But after a time children were born +to them. These children were also slaves, because ownership of a negro +held for life involved ownership of his offspring also, since, the +negro being debarred by economic helplessness from rearing children, +all of his substance belonging to his master, the master must assume +the cost of rearing them, and might have the service of the children +as recompense.[73] This was the source of the second and largest class +of slaves. The child of a slave was not necessarily a slave if one +of the parents was free. The line of servile descent lay through the +mother.[74] Accordingly the child of a slave mother and a free father +was a slave, of a free mother and a slave father a servant for a term +of years only. The result of the application of this doctrine to the +offspring of a negro and a white person was that mulattoes were divided +into two classes. Some were servants for a term of years; the others +formed a third class of slaves. + +In the second place perpetual service gave to slave property more of +the character of a thing, than was the case when the time of service +was limited. The service of both servants and slaves was a thing, +which might be bought, sold, transferred as a chattel, inherited and +bequeathed by will; but in the case of a slave, the service being +perpetual, the idea of the service as a thing tended to merge into +the idea of the slave himself as a thing. The law did not attempt to +carry this principle very far. It never, as in Virginia, declared the +slave real estate. In Pennsylvania he was emphatically both person and +thing, with the conception of personality somewhat predominating.[75] +Yet there was felt to be a decided difference between the slave and the +servant, and this, together with the desire to regulate the slave as a +negro distinguished from a white man, was the cause of the distinctive +laws of the second period. + +The years from 1700 to 1725-1726 are marked by two great laws which +almost by themselves make up the slave code of Pennsylvania. The first, +passed in 1700 and passed again in 1705-1706, regulated the trial and +punishments of slaves.[76] It marked the beginning of a new era in the +regulation of negroes, in that, subjecting them to different courts and +imposing upon them different penalties, it definitely marked them off +as a class distinct from all others in the colony. In 1725-1726 further +advance was made. Not only was the negro now subjected to special +regulation because he was a slave, but whether slave or free he was +now made subject to special restrictions because he was a negro. While +some of these had to do with movement and behavior, the most important +forbade all marriage or intercourse with white people.[77] These laws +must be examined in detail. + +From the very first was seen the inevitable difficulty involved in +punishing the negro criminal as a person, and yet not injuring the +master's property in the thing. The result of this was that masters +were frequently led to conceal the crimes of their slaves, or to take +the law into their own hands.[78] The solution was probably felt to be +the removal of negroes from the ordinary courts. It is said, also, that +Penn desired to protect the negro by clearly defining his crimes and +apportioning his punishments. Accordingly he urged the law of 1700.[79] + +Under this law negroes when accused were not to be tried in the regular +courts of the colony. They were to be presented by the Courts of +Quarter Sessions, but the cases were to be dealt with by special courts +for the trial of negroes, composed of two commissioned justices of the +peace and six substantial freeholders. On application these courts +were to be constituted by executive authority when occasion demanded. +Witnesses were to be allowed, but there was to be no trial by jury.[80] +In such courts it was doubtless easier to regard the slave as property, +and do full justice to the rights of the master. + +Something was still wanting, however, for in case the slave criminal +was condemned to death, the loss fell entirely on the master. From +the earliest days of the colony owners had been praying for relief +from this. In 1707 the masters of two slaves petitioned the governor +to commute the death sentence to chastisement and transportation, and +thus save them from pecuniary loss. The petition was granted. Such +commutation was frequently sought, and in the special courts it could +be more readily granted.[81] The real solution, however, was discovered +in 1725-1726, when it was ordained that thereafter if any slave +committed a capital crime, immediately upon conviction the justices +should appraise such slave, and pay the value to the owner, out of a +fund arising principally from the duty on negroes imported.[82] + +These laws continued in force until 1780, and down to that time slaves +were removed from the jurisdiction of the regular courts of the +province; although after 1776 it was asserted that the clause about +trial by jury in the new state constitution affected slaves as well as +free men; and a slave was actually so tried in 1779.[83] Whether this +view prevailed in all quarters it is impossible to say. In the next +year the abolition act did away with the special courts entirely.[84] + +The law of 1700, which marked the differentiation of slaves from +servants, marked also the beginning of discrimination. For negroes +there were to be different punishments as well as a different mode +of trial. Murder, buggery, burglary, or rape of a white woman, were +to be punished by death; attempted rape by castration; robbing and +stealing by whipping, the master to make good the theft.[85] This law +was repeated in 1705-1706, except that the punishment for attempted +rape was now made whipping, branding, imprisonment, and transportation, +while these same penalties were to be imposed for theft over five +pounds. Theft of an article worth less than five pounds entailed +whipping up to thirty-nine lashes.[86] For white people at this time, +whether servants or free, there was a different code.[87] + +A far more important discrimination was made in 1725-1726 by the law +which forbade mixture of the races. There had doubtless been some +intercourse from the first. A white servant was indicted for this +offence in 1677; and a tract of land in Sussex County bore the name +of "Mulatto Hall." In 1698 the Chester County Court laid down the +principle that mingling of the races was not to be allowed.[88] The +matter went beyond this, for in 1722 a woman was punished for abetting +a clandestine marriage between a white woman and a negro.[89] A few +months thereafter the Assembly received a petition from inhabitants of +the province, inveighing against the wicked and scandalous practice of +negroes cohabiting with white people.[90] It appeared to the Assembly +that a law was needed, and they set about framing one. Accordingly in +the law of 1725-1726 they provided stringent penalties. No negro was to +be joined in marriage with any white person upon any pretense whatever. +A white person violating this was to forfeit thirty pounds, or be sold +as a servant for a period not exceeding seven years. A clergyman who +abetted such a marriage was to pay one hundred pounds.[91] + +The law did not succeed in checking cohabitation, though of marriages +of slaves with white people there is almost no record.[92] There exists +no definite information as to the number of mulattoes in the colony +during this period, but advertisements for runaway slaves indicate that +there were very many of them. The slave register of 1780 for Chester +County shows that they constituted twenty per cent. of the slave +population in that locality.[93] It must be said that the stigma of +illicit intercourse in Pennsylvania would not generally seem to rest +upon the masters, but rather upon servants, outcasts, and the lowlier +class of whites.[94] + +Negro slaves were subject to another class of restrictions which were +made against them rather as slaves than as black men. These concerned +freedom of movement and freedom of action. During the earlier years of +the colony's history regulation of the movements of the slaves rested +principally in the hands of the owners. The continual complaints about +the tumultuous assembling of negroes, to be noticed presently, would +seem to indicate that considerable leniency was exercised.[95] But +frequently white people lured them away, and harbored and employed +them.[96] The law of 1725-1726 was intended specially to stop this. +No negro was to go farther than ten miles from home without written +leave from his master, under penalty of ten lashes on his bare back. +Nor was he to be away from his master's house, except by special leave, +after nine o'clock at night, nor to be found in tippling-houses, under +like penalty. For preventing these things counter-restrictions were +imposed upon white people. They were forbidden to employ such negroes, +or knowingly to harbor or shelter them, except in very unseasonable +weather, under penalty of thirty shillings for every twenty-four hours. +Finally it was provided that negroes were not to meet together in +companies of more than four. This last seems to have remained a dead +letter.[97] + +That this legislation failed to produce the desired effect is shown by +the experience of Philadelphia in dealing with negro disorder. Such +disorder was complained of as early as 1693, when, on presentment +of the grand jury, it was directed that the constables or any other +person should arrest such negroes as they might find gadding abroad on +first days of the week, without written permission from the master, +and take them to jail, where, after imprisonment, they should be given +thirty-nine lashes well laid on, to be paid for by the master. This +seems to have been enforced but laxly, for in 1702 the grand jury +presented the matter again, and their recommendation was repeated with +warmth in the year following.[98] A few years later they urged measures +to suppress the unruly negroes of the city.[99] In 1732 the council +was forced to recommend an ordinance to bring this about, and such an +ordinance was drawn up and considered. Next year the Monthly Meeting +of Friends petitioned, and the matter was taken up again, but nothing +came of it, so that the council was compelled to observe that further +legislation was assuredly needed.[100] In 1741 the grand jury presented +the matter strongly,[101] and an explicit order was at last given that +constables should disperse meetings of negroes within half an hour +after sunset.[102] The nuisance, probably, was still not abated, +for in 1761 the mayor caused to be published in the papers previous +legislation on the subject.[103] Nothing further seems to have been +done. + +The continued failure to suppress these meetings in defiance of a law +of the province, must be attributed either to the intrinsic difficulty +of enforcing such a law, or to the fact that the meetings were +objectionable because of their rude and boisterous character, rather +than because of any positive misdemeanor. More probably still this is +but one of the many pieces of evidence which show how leniently the +negro was treated in Pennsylvania. + +The third period, from 1726 to 1780, is distinguished more because +of the lack of important legislation about the negro than through +any marked character of its own. The outlines of the colony's slave +code had now been drawn, and no further constructive work was done. +There is, however, one class of laws which may be assigned to this +period, since the majority of them fall chronologically within its +limits, though they are scarcely more characteristic of it than they +are of either of the two periods preceding. All of these laws imposed +restrictions upon the actions of negro slaves in matters in which white +people were restricted also, but the restrictions were embodied in +special sections of the laws, because of the negro's inability to pay a +fine: the law imposing corporal punishment upon the slave, whenever it +exacted payment in money or imprisonment from others. + +Thus, an act forbidding the use of fireworks without the governor's +permission, states that the slave instead of being imprisoned shall +be publicly whipped. Another provides that if a slave set fire to any +woodlands or marshes he shall be whipped not exceeding twenty-one +lashes. As far back as 1700 whipping had been made the punishment of a +slave who carried weapons without his master's permission. In 1750-1751 +participation in a horse-race or shooting-match entailed first fifteen +lashes, and then twenty-one, together with six days' imprisonment for +the first offense, and ten days' imprisonment thereafter. In 1760 +hunting on Indians' lands or on other people's lands, shooting in the +city, or hunting on Sunday, were forbidden under penalty of whipping +up to thirty-one lashes. In 1750-1751 the penalty for offending +against the night watch in Philadelphia was made twenty-one lashes +and imprisonment in the work-house for three days at hard labor; for +the second offence, thirty-one lashes and six days. Sometimes it was +provided that a slave might be punished as a free man, if his master +would stand for him. Thus a slave offending against the regulations +for wagoners was to be whipped, or fined, if his master would pay the +fine.[104] + +So far the slave was under the regulation of the state. He was also +subject to the regulation of his owner, who, in matters concerning +himself and not directly covered by laws, could enforce obedience by +corporal punishment. This was sometimes administered at the public +whipping-post, the master sending an order for a certain number of +lashes.[105] But the slave was not given over absolutely into the +master's power. If he had to obey the laws of the state, he could +also expect the protection of the state.[106] The master could not +starve him, nor overwork him, nor torture him. Against these things +he could appeal to the public authorities. Moreover public opinion +was powerfully against them. If a master killed his slave the law +dealt with him as though his victim were a white man.[107] It is not +probable, to be sure, that the sentence was often carried out, but such +cases did not often arise.[108] + +Such was the legal status of the slave in Pennsylvania. Before 1700 it +was ill defined, but probably much like that of the servant, having +only the distinctive incident of perpetual service, and the developing +incident of the transmission of servile condition to offspring. +Gradually it became altogether different. To the slave now appertained +a number of incidents of lower status. He was tried in separate courts, +subject to special judges, and punished with different penalties. +Admixture with white people was sternly prohibited. He was subject to +restrictions upon movement, conduct, and action. He could be corrected +with corporal punishment. The slave legislation of Pennsylvania +involved discriminations based both upon inferior status, and what +was regarded as inferior race. Nevertheless it will be shown that in +most respects the punishments and restrictions imposed upon negro +slaves were either similar to those imposed upon white servants, or +involved discriminations based upon the inability of the slave to pay +a fine, and upon the fact that mere imprisonment punished the master +alone. Moreover, what harshness there was must be ascribed partly to +the spirit of the times, which made harsher laws for both white men +and black men. The slave code almost never comprehended any cruel or +unusual punishments. As a legal as well as a social system slavery in +Pennsylvania was mild. + + +FOOTNOTES: +/#[7.2,70] + [52] Throughout this work the fundamental distinction between the + words "slave" and "servant," as used in the text, is that + "slave" denotes a person held for life, "servant" a person + held for a term of years only.] + + [53] _Cf._ O'Callaghan, _Voyages of the Slavers St. John and + Arms of Amsterdam_, etc., 100, for a bill of sale, 1646. + Sprinchorn, _Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia_, 217.] + + [54] MS. Record of the Court at Upland in Penn., Sept. 25, 1676.] + + [55] "No Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery villenage or + Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged thereunto by + Authority, or such as willingly have sould, or shall sell + themselves," ... _Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... + preceded by the Duke of York's Laws_, etc., 12. This is not to + prejudice any masters "who have ... Apprentices for Terme of + Years, or other Servants for Term of years or Life." _Ibid._, + 12. Another clause directs that "No Servant, except such are + duly so for life, shall be Assigned over to other Masters + ... for above the Space of one year, unless for good reasons + offered". _Ibid._, 38.] + + [56] There is an evident distinction intended in the following: "A + List of the Tydable psons James Sanderling and slave John Test + and servant." One follows the other. MS. Rec. Court at Upland, + Nov. 13, 1677. In 1686 the price of a negro, 30 pounds, named + in a law-suit, is probably that of a slave. MS. Minute Book. + Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions. Bucks Co., 1684-1730, pp. + 56, 57. A will made in 1694 certainly disposed of the within + mentioned negroes for life. "I do hereby give ... pow^r ... to + my s^d Exers ... eith^r to lett or hire out my five negroes + ... and pay my s^d wife the one half of their wages Yearly + during her life or Oth^rwise give her such Compensa[~c]on for + her int^rest therein as shee and my s^d Ex[~er]s shall agree + upon and my will is that the other half of their s^d wages + shall be equally Devided between my aforsd Children, and after + my sd wife decease my will also is That the sd negroes Or such + of them and their Offsprings as are then alive shall in kind + or value be equally Devided between my s^d Children" ... Will + of Thomas Lloyd. MS. Philadelphia Wills, Book A, 267. + + [57] MSS., Domestic Letters, 17. + + [58] "Know all men by these presents That I Patrick Robinson + Countie Clark of Philadelphia for and in Consideration of the + Sum of fourtie pounds Current Money of Pennsilvania ... have + bargained Sold and delivered ... unto ... Joseph Browne for + himselfe, ... heirs ex[~e]rs ad[~m]rs and assigns One Negro + man Named Jack, To have and to hold the Said Negro man named + Jack unto the said Joseph Browne for himself ... for ever. And + I ... the said Negro man unto him ... shall and will warrant + and for ever defend by these presents." MS. Philadelphia Deed + Book, E, 1, vol. V, 150, 151. This is similar to the regular + legal formula afterward. _Cf._ MS. Ancient Rec. Sussex Co., + 1681-1709, Sept. 22, 1709. + + [59] See below, p. 65. + + [60] "And to buy Souls and Bodies of men for Money, to enslave them + and their Posterity to the end of the World, we judge is a + great hinderance to the spreading of the Gospel" ... "neither + should we keep them in perpetual Bondage and Slavery against + their Consent" ... _An Exhortation and Caution To Friends + Concerning buying or keeping of Negroes_, reprinted in _Pa. + Mag._, XIII, 266, 268. + + [61] "An Act for the better Regulation of Servants in this Province + and Territories." _Stat. at L._, II, 56. + + [62] _Cf._ J. C. Ballagh, _A History of Slavery in Virginia_, + chapter II. + + [63] _Cf._ letter of William Edmundson to Friends in Maryland, + Virginia, and other parts of America, 1675. S. Janney, + _History of the Religious Society of Friends, from Its Rise to + the Year 1828_, III, 178. + + [64] _The Articles Settlement and Offices of the Free Society of + Traders in Pennsylvania_, etc., article XVIII. This quite + closely resembles the ordinance issued by Governor Rising to + the Swedes in 1654, that after a certain period negroes should + be absolutely free.... "efter 6 åhr vare en slafvare alldeles + fri." Sprinchorn, _Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia_, 271. + + [65] "Let no blacks be brought in directly. and if any come out of + Virginia, Maryld. [or elsewhere _erased_] in families that + have formerly bought them elsewhere Let them be declared (as + in the west jersey constitutions) free at 8 years end." "B. F. + Abridgm^t. out of Holland and Germany." Penn MSS. Ford _vs._ + Penn. etc., 1674-1716, p. 17. + + [66] _Cf. Pa. Mag._, IV, 28-30. + + [67] _Ibid._, XIII, 265-270. + + [68] Negro servants are mentioned. See _Pa. Mag._, VII, 106. _Cf._ + below, p. 54. Little reliance can be placed upon the early use + of this word. + + [69] I have found no instance where a negro was indisputably a + servant in the early period. The court records abound in + notices of white servants. + + [70] _Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... 1682-1700_, p. 153 + (1683), 211, 213 (1693). For running away white servants had + to give five days of extra service for each day of absence. + _Ibid._, 166 (1683), 213 (1693). Harboring cost the offender + five shillings a day. _Ibid._, 152 (1683), 212 (1693). + + [71] _Ibid._, 113 (1682); _ibid._, 102 (Laws Agreed upon in + England). + + [72] _Ibid._, 152. "No Servant white or black ... shall at anie + time after publication hereof be Attached or taken into + Execution for his Master or Mistress debt" ... + + [73] The rearing of slave children was regarded as a burden by + owners. A writer declared that in Pennsylvania "negroes just + born are considered an incumbrance only, and if humanity did + not forbid it, they would be instantly given away." _Pa. + Packet_, Jan. 1, 1780. In 1732 the Philadelphia Court of + Common Pleas ordered a man to take back a negress whom he had + sold, and who proved to be pregnant. He was to refund the + purchase money and the money spent "for Phisic and Attendance + of the Said Negroe in her Miserable Condition." MS. Court + Papers. 1732-1744. Phila. Co., June 9, 1732. + + [74] The Roman doctrine of _partus sequitur ventrem_. This was + never established by law in Pennsylvania, and during colonial + times was never the subject of a court decision that has come + down. That it was the usage, however, there is abundant proof. + In 1727 Isaac Warner bequeathed "To Wife Ann ... a negro woman + named Sarah ... To daughter Ann Warner (3) an unborn negro + child of the above named Sarah." MS. Phila. Co. Will Files, + no. 47, 1727. In 1786 the Supreme Court declared that it was + the law of Pennsylvania, and had always been the custom. 1 + Dallas 181. + + [75] MS. Abstract of Phila. Co. Wills, Book A, 63, 71, (1693); + Will of Samuel Richardson of Philadelphia in _Pa. Mag._, + XXXIII, 373 (1719). In 1682 the attorney-general in England + answering an inquiry from Jamaica, declared "That where goods + or merchandise are by Law forfeited to the King, the sale of + them from one to another will not fix the property as against + the King, but they may be seized wherever found whilst they + remain in specie; And that Negros being admitted Merchandise + will fall within the same Law". MS. Board of Trade Journals, + IV, 124. On several occasions during war negro slaves were + captured from the enemy and brought to Pennsylvania, where + they were sold as ordinary prize-goods--things. In 1745, + however, when two French negro prisoners produced papers + showing that they were free, they were held for exchange as + prisoners of war--persons. MS. Provincial Papers, VII, Oct. + 2, 1745. For the status of the negro slave as real estate + in Virginia, _cf._ Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Virginia_, + ch. II. In 1786 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided + that "property in a Negroe may be obtained by a _bona fide_ + purchase, without deed." 1 Dallas 169. + + [76] "An Act for the trial of Negroes." _Stat. at L._, II, 77-79. + Repealed in Council, 1705. _Ibid._, II, 79; _Col. Rec._, I, + 612, 613. Passed again with slight changes in 1705-1706. + _Stat. at L._, II, 233-236. + + [77] "An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this + Province." _Stat. at L._, IV, 59-64. It became law by lapse of + time. _Ibid._, IV, 64. + + [78] "An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this + Province.", section 1. _Stat. at L._, IV, 59. + + [79] _Cf._ Enoch Lewis, "Life of William Penn" (1841), in _Friends' + Library_, V, 315; J. R. Tyson, "Annual Discourse before the + Historical Society of Pennsylvania" (1831), in _Hazard's + Register_, VIII, 316. + + [80] MS. Minutes Court of Quarter Sessions Bucks County, 1684-1730, + P. 375 (1703); MS. "Bail, John Kendig for a Negro, 29. + 9^{br} 35," in Logan Papers, unbound; "An Act for the trial + of Negroes," _Stat. at L._, II, 77-79 (1700), 233-236 + (1705-1706); _Col. Rec._, III, 254; IV, 243; IX, 648, 680, + 704, 705, 707; X, 73, 276. For the commission instituting + one of these special courts (1762), see MS. Miscellaneous + Papers, 1684-1847, Chester County, 149; also Diffenderffer, + "Early Negro Legislation in the Province of Pennsylvania," in + _Christian Culture_, Sept. 1, 1890. Mr. Diffenderffer cites + a commission of Feb. 20, 1773, but is puzzled at finding no + record of the trial of negroes in the records of the local + Court of Quarter Sessions. It would of course not appear + there. Special dockets were kept for the special courts. _Cf._ + MS. Records of Special Courts for the Trial of Negroes, held + at Chester, in Chester County. The law was not universally + applied at first. In 1703 a negro was tried for fornication + before the Court of Quarter Sessions. MS. Minutes Court of + Quarter Sessions Bucks County, 1684-1730, p. 378. + + [81] _Col. Rec._, I, 61; II, 405, 406. + + [82] "An Act for the better regulating of Negroes," etc. _Stat. at + L._, IV, 59. For an instance of such valuation in the case of + two slaves condemned for burglary, see MS. Provincial Papers, + XXX, July 29, 1773. The governor, however, pardoned these + negroes on condition that they be transported. + + [83] "On the trials Larry the slave was convicted by a Jury of + twelve Men and received the usual sentence of whipping, + restitution and fine according to law.... This case is + published as being the first instance of a slave's being tried + in this state by a Grand and Petit Jury. Our constitution + provides that these unhappy men shall have the same measure + of Justice and the same mode of trial with others, their + fellow creatures, when charged with crimes or offences." + _Pa. Packet_, Feb. 16, 1779. Nevertheless a commission for a + special court had been issued in August, 1777. _Cf._ "Petition + of Mary Bryan," MS. Misc. Papers, Aug. 15, 1777. + + [84] _Stat. at L._, X, 72. What was the standing of negro slaves + before the ordinary courts of Pennsylvania in the years + between 1700 and 1780 it is difficult to say. They certainly + could not be witnesses--not against white men, since this + privilege was given to free negroes for the first time in 1780 + (_Stat. at L._, X, 70), and to slaves not until 1847 (_Laws of + Assembly, 1847_, p. 208); while if they were witnesses against + other negroes it would be before special courts. Doubtless + negroes could sometimes seek redress in the ordinary courts, + though naturally the number of such cases would be limited. + There is, however, at least one instance of a white man being + sued by a negro, who won his suit. "Francis Jn^oson the Negro + verbally complained agst W^m Orion ... and after pleading to + on both sides the Court passed Judgment and ordered W^m Orion + to pay him the sd Francis Jn^oson twenty shillings" ... MS. + Ancient Records of Sussex County, 1681 to 1709, 4th mo., 1687. + Before 1700 negroes were tried before the ordinary courts, and + there is at least one case where a negro witnessed against a + white man. _Ibid._, 8br 1687. + + [85] _Stat. at L._, II, 77-79; _Col. Rec._, I, 612, 613. Instances + of negro crime are mentioned in MS. Records of Special Courts + for the Trial of Negroes--Chester County. For a case of + arson punished with death, _cf. Col. Rec._, IV, 243. For + two negroes condemned to death for burglary, _ibid._, IX, 6, + also 699. The punishment for the attempted rape of a white + woman was the one point that caused the disapproval of the + attorney-general in England, and, probably, led to the passage + of the revised act in 1705-1706. _Cf._ MS. Board of Trade + Papers, Prop., VIII, 40, Bb. For restitution by masters, which + was frequently very burdensome, _cf._ MS. Misc. Papers, Oct. + 9, 1780. + + [86] _Stat. at L._, II, 233-236. These punishments were continued + until repealed in 1780, (_Stat. at L._, X, 72), when the + penalty for robbery and burglary became imprisonment. This + bore entirely on the master, so that in 1790 Governor Mifflin + asked that corporal punishment be substituted. _Hazard's + Register_, II, 74. For theft whipping continued to be imposed, + but guilty white people were punished in the same manner. MS. + Petitions, Lancaster County, 1761-1825, May, 1784. MS. Misc. + Papers, July, 1780. + + [87] See below, p. 111. + + [88] "For that hee ... contrary to the Lawes of the Governmt + and Contrary to his Masters Consent hath ... got wth child + a certaine molato wooman Called Swart anna" ... MS. Rec. + Court at Upland, 19; Penn MSS. Papers relating to the Three + Lower Counties, 1629-1774, p. 193; MS. Minutes Abington + Monthly Meeting, 27 1st mo., 1693. "David Lewis Constable of + Haverfoord Returned A Negro man of his And A white woman for + haveing A Baster Childe ... the negroe said she Intised him + and promised him to marry him: she being examined, Confest + the same: ... the Court ordered that she shall Receive Twenty + one laishes on her beare Backe ... and the Court ordered the + negroe never more to meddle with any white woman more uppon + paine of his life." MS. Min. Chester Co. Courts, 1697-1710, p. + 24. + + [89] MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Nov. 4, 1722. + + [90] _Votes and Proceedings_, II, 336. + + [91] _Stat. at L._, IV, 62. _Cf. Votes and Proceedings_, II, 337, + 345. For marriage or cohabiting without a master's consent a + servant had to atone with extra service. _Cf. Stat. at L._, + II, 22. This obviously would not check a slave. + + [92] Apparently such a marriage had occurred in 1722. MS. Ancient + Rec. Phila., Nov. 4, 1722, which mention "the Clandestine + mariage of M^r Tuthil's Negro and Katherine Williams." The + petitioner, who was imprisoned for abetting the marriage, + concludes: "I have Discover'd who maried the foresd Negroe, + and shall acquaint your hon^{rs}." + + [93] _American Weekly Mercury_, Nov. 9, 1727; _Pa. Gazette_, Feb. + 7, 1739-1740; and _passim_. Mittelberger mentions them in + 1750. _Cf. Journey to Pennsylvania_, etc., 107; MS. Register + of Slaves in Chester County, 1780. + + [94] "A circumstance not easily believed, is, that the subjection + of the negroes has not corrupted the morals of their masters" + ... Abbé Raynal, _British Settlements in North America_ + I, 163. Raynal's authority is very poor. The assertion in + the text rests rather on negative evidence. _Cf. Votes + and Proceedings_, 1766, p. 30, for an instance of a white + woman prostitute to negroes. _Ibid._, 1767-1776, p. 666, for + evidence as to mulatto bastards by pauper white women. Also + MS. Misc. Papers, Mar. 12, 1783. For a case (1715) where the + guilty white man was probably not a servant _cf._ MS. Court + Papers, Phila. Co., 1697-1732. Benjamin Franklin was openly + accused of keeping negro paramours. _Cf. What is Sauce for a + Goose is also Sauce for a Gander_, etc. (1764), 6; _A Humble + Attempt at Scurrility_, etc. (1765), 40. + + [95] See below. + + [96] _Cf. Col. Rec._, I, 117. + + [97] _Stat. at L._, IV, 59-64, (sections IX-XIII). Tippling-houses + seem to have given a good deal of trouble. In 1703 the grand + jury presented several persons "for selling Rum to negros and + others" ... MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Nov. 3, 1703. _Cf._ + also presentment of the grand jury, Jan. 2, 1744. _Pa. Mag._, + XXII, 498. + + [98] _Col. Rec._, I, 380-381. "The great abuse and Ill consiquence + of the great multitudes of negroes who commonly meete + togeither in a Riott and tumultious manner on the first days + of the weeke." MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., 28 7th mo., 1702; + _ibid._, Nov. 3, 1703. + + [99] "The Grand Inquest ... do present that whereas there has + been Divers Rioters ... and the peace of our Lord the King + Disturbers, by Divers Infants, bond Servants, and Negros, + within this City after it is Duskish ... that Care may be + taken to Suppress the unruly Negroes of this City accompanying + to gether on the first Day of the weeke, and that they may not + be Suffered to walk the Streets in Companys after it is Darke + without their Masters Leave" ... MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., + Apr. 4, 1717. + + [100] _Minutes of the Common Council of the City of Philadelphia, + 1704-1776_, 314, 315, 316, 326, 342, 376; _Col. Rec._, IV, + 224, (1737). + + [101] "The Grand Inquest now met humly Represent to This honourable + Court the great Disorders Commited On the first Dayes of + the week By Servants, apprentice boys and Numbers of Negros + it has been with great Concearn Observed that the Whites in + their Tumultious Resorts in the markets and other placies + most Darringly Swear Curse Lye Abuse and often fight Striving + to Excell in all Leudness and Obsenity which must produce a + generall Corruption of Such youth If not Timely Remidieed and + from the Concourse of Negroes Not only the above Mischeiffs + but other Dangers may issue" ... MS. Court Papers, 1732-1744, + Phila. Co., 1741. + + [102] "Many disorderly persons meet every evg. about the Court house + of this city, and great numbers of Negroes and others sit + there with milk pails, and other things, late at night, and + many disorders are there committed against the peace and good + government of this city" _Minutes Common Council of Phila._, + 405. + + [103] _Pa. Gazette_, Nov. 12, 1761. + + [104] "An Act for preventing Accidents that may happen by Fire," + sect. IV, _Stat. at L._, III, 254 (1721); "An Act to prevent + the Damages, which may happen, by firing of Woods," etc., + sect. III, _ibid._, IV, 282 (1735); "An Act for the trial + of Negroes," sect. V, _ibid._, II, 79 (1700); "An Act for + the more effectual preventing Accidents which may happen by + Fire, and for suppressing Idleness, Drunkenness, and other + Debaucheries," sect. III, _ibid._, V, 109, 110 (1750-1751); + "An Act to prevent the Hunting of Deer," etc., sect. VII, + _ibid._, VI, 49 (1760); "An Act for the better regulating the + nightly Watch within the city of Philadelphia," etc., sect. + XXII, _ibid._, V, 126 (1750-1751); repeated in 1756, 1763, + 1766, 1771, _ibid._, V, 241; VI, 309; VII, 7; VIII, 115; "An + Act for regulating Wagoners, Carters, Draymen, and Porters," + etc., sect. VII, _ibid._, VI, 68 (1761); repeated in 1763 and + 1770, _ibid._ VI, 250; VII, 359, 360. + + [105] _Cf._ the story of Hodge's Cato, told in Watson, _Annals of + Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time_, etc., II, + 263. + + [106] _Cf._ Achenwall, who got his information from Franklin, + _Anmerkungen_, 25: "Diese Mohrensclaven geniessen als + Unterthanen des Staats ... den Schutz der Gesetze, so + gut als freye Einwohner. Wenn ein Colonist, auch selbst + der Eigenthumsherr, einen Schwarzen umbringt, so wird er + gleichfalls zum Tode verurtheilt. Wenn der Herr seinem Sclaven + zu harte Arbeit auflegt, oder ihn sonst übel behandelt, so kan + er ihn beym Richter verklagen." Also Kalm, _Travels_, I, 390. + + [107] "Yesterday at a Supream Court held in this City, sentence of + Death was passed upon William Bullock, who was ... Convicted + of the Murder of his Negro Slave." _American Weekly Mercury_, + Apr. 29, 1742. + + [108] Kalm (1748) said that there was no record of such a sentence + being carried out; but he adds that a case having arisen, even + the magistrates secretly advised the guilty person to leave + the country, "as otherwise they could not avoid taking him + prisoner, and then he would be condemned to die according to + the laws of the country, without any hopes of saving him". + _Travels_, I, 391, 392. For a case _cf. Pa. Gazette_, Feb. + 24, 1741-1742. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SLAVERY. + + +The mildness of slavery in Pennsylvania impressed every observer. +Acrelius said that negroes were treated better there than anywhere else +in America. Peter Kalm said that compared with the condition of white +servants their condition possessed equal advantages except that they +were obliged to serve their whole life-time without wages. Hector St. +John Crèvecoeur declared that they enjoyed as much liberty as their +masters, that they were in effect part of their masters' families, and +that, living thus, they considered themselves happier than many of the +lower class of whites.[109] There is good reason for believing these +statements, since a careful study of the sources shows that generally +masters used their negroes kindly and with moderation.[110] + +Living in a land of plenty the slaves were well fed and comfortably +clothed. They had as good food as the white servants, says one +traveller, and another says as good as their masters.[111] In 1759 the +yearly cost of the food of a slave was reckoned at about twenty per +cent. of his value.[112] Likewise they were well clad, their clothes +being furnished by the masters. That clothes were a considerable item +of expense is shown by the old household accounts and diaries. Acrelius +computed the yearly cost at five per cent. of a slave's value.[113] +In the newspaper advertisements for runaways occur particularly full +descriptions of their dress.[114] Almost always they have a coat or +jacket, shoes, and stockings.[115] It is true that when they ran +away they generally took the best they had, if not all they had; but +making due allowance it seems certain that they were well clad, as an +advertiser declared.[116] + +As to shelter, since the climate and economy of Pennsylvania never +gave rise to a plantation life, rows of negro cabins and quarters for +the hands never became a distinctive feature. Slaves occupied such +lodgings as were assigned to white servants, generally in the house of +the master. This was doubtless not the case where a large number was +held. They can hardly have been so accommodated by Jonathan Dickinson +of Philadelphia, who had thirty-two.[117] + +In the matter of service their lot was a fortunate one. There seems to +be no doubt that they were treated much more kindly than the negroes in +the West Indies, and that they were far happier than the slaves in the +lower South. It is said that they were not obliged to labor more than +white people, and, although this may hardly have been so, and although, +indeed, there is occasional evidence that they were worked hard, yet +for the most part it is clear that they were not overworked.[118] The +advertisements of negroes for sale show, as might be expected, that +most of the slaves were either house-servants or farm-hands.[119] +Nevertheless the others were engaged in a surprisingly large number +of different occupations. Among them were bakers, blacksmiths, +brick-layers, brush-makers, carpenters, coopers, curriers, distillers, +hammermen, refiners, sail-makers, sailors, shoe-makers, tailors, and +tanners.[120] The negroes employed at the iron-furnaces received +special mention.[121] The women cooked, sewed, did house-work, and at +times were employed as nurses.[122] When the service of negroes was +needed they were often hired from their masters, but as a rule they +were bought.[123] They were frequently trusted and treated almost like +members of the family.[124] + +When the day's work was over the negroes of Pennsylvania seem to have +had time of their own which they were not too tired to enjoy. Some no +doubt found recreation in their masters' homes, gossipping, singing, +and playing on rude instruments.[125] Many sought each other's company +and congregated together after nightfall. In Philadelphia, at any rate, +during the whole colonial period, crowds of negroes infesting the +streets after dark behaved with such rough and boisterous merriment +that they were a nuisance to the whole community.[126] At times negroes +were given days of their own. They were allowed to go from one place to +another, and were often permitted to visit members of their families +in other households.[127] Moreover, holidays were not grudged them. +It is said that in Philadelphia at the time of fairs, the blacks to +the number of a thousand of both sexes used to go to "Potter's Field," +and there amuse themselves, dancing, singing, and rejoicing, in native +barbaric fashion.[128] + +If, now, from material comfort we turn to the matter of the moral and +intellectual well-being of the slaves, we find that considering the +time, surprising efforts were made to help them. In Pennsylvania there +seems never to have been opposition to improving them. Not much was +done, it is true, and perhaps most of the negroes were not reached +by the efforts made. It must be remembered, however, what violent +hostility mere efforts aroused in some other places.[129] + +There is the statement of a careful observer that masters desired +by all means to hinder their negroes from being instructed in the +doctrines of Christianity, and to let them live on in pagan darkness. +This he ascribes to a fear that negroes would grow too proud on seeing +themselves upon a religious level with their masters.[130] Some weight +must be attached to this account, but it is probable that the writer +was roughly applying to Pennsylvania what he had learned in other +places, for against his assertion much specific evidence can be arrayed. + +The attention of the Friends was directed to this subject very early. +The counsel of George Fox was explicit. Owners were to give their +slaves religious instruction and teach them the Gospel.[131] In 1693 +the Keithian Quakers when advising that masters should hold their +negroes only for a term of years, enjoined that during such time they +should give these negroes a Christian education.[132] In 1700 Penn +appears to have been able to get a Monthly Meeting established for +them, but of the meeting no record has come down.[133] As to what was +the actual practice of Friends in this matter their early records give +meagre information. It seems certain that negroes were not allowed to +participate in their meetings, though sometimes they were taken to the +meeting-houses.[134] It is probable that in great part the religious +work of the Friends among slaves was confined to godly advice and +reading.[135] As to the amount and quality of such advice, the well +known character of the Friends leaves no doubt. + +The Moravians, who were most zealous in converting negroes, did not +reach a great number in Pennsylvania, because few were held by them; +nevertheless they labored successfully, and received negroes amongst +them on terms of religious equality.[136] This also the Lutherans did +to some extent, negroes being baptized among them.[137] It is in the +case of the Episcopalians, however, that the most definite knowledge +remains. The records of Christ Church show that the negroes who +were baptized made no inconsiderable proportion of the total number +baptized in the congregation. For a period of more than seventy years +such baptisms are recorded, and are sometimes numerous.[138] At this +church, also, there was a minister who had special charge of the +religious instruction of negroes.[139] It is possible that something +may have been accomplished by missionaries and itinerant exhorters. +This was certainly so when Whitefield visited Pennsylvania in 1740. +Both he and his friend Seward noted with peculiar satisfaction the +results which they had attained.[140] Work of some value was also done +by wandering negro exhorters, who, appearing at irregular intervals, +assembled little groups and preached in fields and orchards.[141] + +Something was also accomplished for negroes in the maintenance of +family life. In 1700 Penn, anxious to improve their moral condition, +sent to the Assembly a bill for the regulation of their marriages, +but much to his grief this was defeated.[142] In the absence of such +legislation they came under the law which forbade servants to marry +during their servitude without the master's consent.[143] Doubtless +in this matter there was much of the laxity which is inseparable from +slavery, but it is said that many owners allowed their slaves to marry +in accordance with inclination, except that a master would try to have +his slaves marry among themselves.[144] The marriage ceremony was +often performed just as in the case of white people, the records of +Christ Church containing many instances.[145] The children of these +unions were taught submission to their parents, who were indulged, it +is said, in educating, cherishing, and chastising them.[146] Stable +family life among the slaves was made possible by the conditions of +slavery in Pennsylvania, there being no active interchange of negroes. +When they were bought or sold families were kept together as much as +possible.[147] + +In one matter connected with religious observances race prejudice was +shown: negroes were not as a rule buried in the cemeteries of white +people.[148] In some of the Friends' records and elsewhere there is +definite prohibition.[149] They were often buried in their masters' +orchards, or on the edge of woodlands. The Philadelphia negroes were +buried in a particular place outside the city.[150] + +Under the kindly treatment accorded them the negroes of colonial +Pennsylvania for the most part behaved fairly well. It is true that +there is evidence that crime among them assumed grave proportions +at times, while the records of the special courts and items in the +newspapers show that there occurred murder, poisoning, arson, burglary, +and rape.[151] In addition there was frequent complaint about +tumultuous assembling and boisterous conduct, and there was undoubtedly +much pilfering.[152] Moreover the patience of many indulgent masters +was tried by the shiftless behavior and insolent bearing of their +slaves.[153] Yet the graver crimes stand out in isolation rather than +in mass; and it is too much to expect an entire absence of the lesser +ones. The white people do not seem to have regarded their negroes as +dangerous.[154] Almost never were there efforts for severe repression, +and a slave insurrection seems hardly to have been thought of.[155] +There are no statistics whatever on which to base an estimate, but +judging from the relative frequency of notices it seems probable that +crime among the negroes of Pennsylvania during the slavery period--no +doubt because they were under better control--was less than at any +period thereafter. + +But there was a misdemeanor of another kind: negro slaves frequently +ran away. Fugitives are mentioned from the first,[156] and there is +hardly a copy of any of the old papers but has an advertisement for +some negro at large.[157] These notices sometimes advise that the slave +has stolen from his master; often that he has a pass, and is pretending +to be a free negro; and occasionally that a free negro is suspected of +harboring him.[158] + +The law against harboring was severe and was strictly enforced. Anyone +might take up a suspicious negro; while whoever returned a runaway to +his master was by law entitled to receive five shillings and expenses. +It was always the duty of the local authorities to apprehend suspects. +When this occurred the procedure was to lodge the negro in jail, and +advertise for the master, who might come, and after proving title and +paying costs, take him away. Otherwise the negro was sold for a short +time to satisfy jail fees, advertised again, and finally either set at +liberty or disposed of as pleased the local court.[159] + +This fleeing from service on the part of negro slaves, while varying +somewhat in frequency, was fairly constant during the whole slavery +period, increasing as the number of slaves grew larger. During +the British occupation of Philadelphia, however, it assumed such +enormous proportions that the number of negroes held there was +permanently lowered.[160] Notwithstanding, then, the kindly treatment +they received, slaves in Pennsylvania ran away. Nevertheless it is +significant that during the same period white servants ran away more +than twice as often.[161] + +Many traits of daily life and marks of personal appearance which no +historian has described, are preserved in the advertisements of the +daily papers. Almost every negro seems to have had the smallpox. +To have done with this and the measles was justly considered an +enhancement in value. Some of the negroes kidnapped from Africa +still bore traces of their savage ancestry. Not a few spoke several +languages. Generally they were fond of gay dress. Some carried fiddles +when they ran away. One had made considerable money by playing. Many +little hints as to character appear. Thus Mona is full of flattery. +Cuff Dix is fond of liquor. James chews abundance of tobacco. Stephen +has a "sower countenance"; Harry, "meek countenance"; Rachel, +"remarkable austere countenance"; Dick is "much bandy legged"; Violet, +"pretty, lusty, and fat." A likely negro wench is sold because of her +breeding fast. One negro says that he has been a preacher among the +Indians. Two others fought a duel with pistols. A hundred years has +involved no great change in character.[162] + +Finally, on the basis of information drawn from rare and miscellaneous +sources it becomes apparent that in slavery times there was more +kindliness and intimacy between the races than existed afterwards. In +those days many slaves were treated as if part of the master's family: +when sick they were nursed and cared for; when too old to work they +were provided for; and some were remembered in the master's will.[163] +Negroes did run away, and numbers of them desired to be free, but when +manumission came not a few of them preferred to stay with their former +owners. It was the opinion of an advocate of emancipation that they +were better off as slaves than they could possibly be as freemen.[164] + +Such was slavery in Pennsylvania. If on the one hand there was the +chance of families being sold apart; if there was seen the cargo, the +slave-drove, the auction sale; it must be remembered that such things +are inseparable from the institution of slavery, and that on the +other hand they were rare, and not to be weighed against the positive +comfort and well-being of which there is such abundant proof. If ever +it be possible not to condemn modern slavery, it might seem that +slavery as it existed in Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century was a +good, probably for the masters, certainly for the slaves.[165] The +fact is that it existed in such mitigated form that it was impossible +for it to be perpetuated. Whenever men can treat their slaves as men +in Pennsylvania treated them, they are living in a moral atmosphere +inconsistent with the holding of slaves. Nothing can then preserve +slavery but paramount economic needs. In Pennsylvania, since such needs +were not paramount, slavery was doomed. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [109] Acrelius, _Description of New Sweden_, 169 (1759); Kalm, + _Travels_, I, 394 (1748); Hector St. John Crèvecoeur, + _Letters from an American Farmer_, 222 (just before the + Revolution). + + [110] When one of Christopher Marshall's white servants "struck + and kickt" his negro woman, he "could scarcely refrain from + kicking him out of the House &c &c &c." MS. Remembrancer, E, + July 22, 1779. + + [111] Kalm, I, 394; St. John Crèvecoeur, 221. Benjamin Lay + contradicts this, but allowance must always he made for the + extremeness of his assertions. _Cf._ his _All Slave-Keepers + Apostates_ (1737), 93. + + [112] Acrelius, 169. + + [113] St. John Crèvecoeur, 221; Kalm, I, 394; Acrelius, 169. + Personal papers contain numerous notices. "To 1 pr Shoes for + the negro ... 6" (sh.). MS. William Penn's Account Book, + 1690-1693, p. 2 (1690). A "Bill rendered by Christian Grafford + to James Steel" is as follows: "Making old Holland Jeakit and + breeches fit for your Negero 0.3.0 Making 2 new Jeakits and + 2 pair breeches of stripped Linen for both your Negeromans + 0.14.0 And also for Little Negero boy 0.4.0 Making 2 pair + Leather Breeches, 1 for James Sanders and another for your + Negroeman Zeason 0.13.0." _Pa. Mag._, XXXIII, 121 (1740). + The bill rendered for the shoes of Thomas Penn's negroes + in 1764-1765 amounted to £7 7 sh. 3d., the price per pair + averaging about 7 sh. 6d. Penn-Physick MSS., IV, 223. Also + _ibid._, IV, 265, 267. _Cf._ Penn Papers, accounts (unbound), + Aug. 19, 1741; Christopher Marshall's Remembrancer, E, June 1, + 1779. + + [114] Thus Cato had on "two jackets, the uppermost a dark blue + half thick, lined with red flannel, the other a light blue + homespun flannel, without lining, ozenbrigs shirt, old leather + breeches, yarn stockings, old shoes, and an old beaver hat" + ... _Pa. Gazette_, May 5, 1748. A negro from Chester County + wore "a lightish coloured cloath coat, with metal buttons, + and lined with striped linsey, a lightish linsey jacket with + sleeves, and red waistcoat, tow shirt, old lightish cloth + breeches, and linen drawers, blue stockings, and old shoes." + _Ibid._, Jan. 3, 1782. Judith wore "a green jacket, a blue + petticoat, old shoes, and grey stockings, and generally wears + silver bobbs in her ears." _Ibid._, Feb. 16, 1747-1748. + + [115] _Amer. Weekly Mercury_, Jan. 31, 1721; Jan. 31, 1731; _Pa. + Gazette_, Oct. 22, 1747; May 5, 1748; Apr. 16, 1761; Jan. 3, + 1782; _Pa. Journal_, Feb. 5, 1750-1751; _Pa. Mag._, XVIII, 385. + + [116] _Pa. Gazette_, May 3, 1775. Supported by advertisements + _passim_. + + [117] MS. Dickinson Papers, unclassified. A farm with a stone house + for negroes is mentioned in _Pa. Gaz._, June 26, 1746. "Part + of these slaves lived in their master's family, the others had + separate cabins on the farm where they reared families" ... + "Jacob Minshall Homestead" in _Reminiscence, Gleanings and + Thoughts_, No. I, 12. + + [118] Kalm, _Travels_, I, 394. For treatment of negroes in the + West Indies, _cf._ Sandiford, _The Mystery of Iniquity_, 99 + (1730); Benezet, _A Short Account of that Part of Africa + Inhabited by the Negroes_ (1762), 55, 56, note; Benezet, + _A Caution and Warning to Great Britain and Her Colonies + in a Short Representation of the Calamitous State of the + Enslaved Negroes_ (1766), 5-9; Benezet, _Some Historical + Account of Guinea_ (1771), chap. VIII. For treatment in + the South, _cf._ Whitefield, _Three Letters_ (1740), 13, + 71; Chastellux, _Voyage en Amérique_ (1786), 130. For + treatment in Pennsylvania _cf._ Kalm, _Travels_, I, 394; St. + John Crèvecoeur, _Letters_, 221. Acrelius says that the + negroes at the iron-furnaces were allowed to stop work for + "four months in summer, when the heat is most oppressive." + _Description_, 168. + + [119] _Mercury, Gazette_, and _Pa. Packet_, _passim_. Most of the + taverns seem to have had negro servants. _Cf._ MS. Assessment + Book, Chester Co., 1769, p. 146; of Bucks Co., 1779, p. 84. + + [120] _Mercury_, Mar. 3. 1723-1724; Dec. 15, 1724; July 4, 1728; + Aug. 24, 1732; _Gazette_, Feb. 7, 1740; Dec. 3, 1741; May 20, + 1742; Nov. 1, 1744; July 9, Dec. 3, 1761; _Packet_, July 5, + 1733. + + [121] "The laborers are generally composed partly of negroes + (slaves) partly of servants from Germany or Ireland" ... + Acrelius, _Description_, 168. _Cf._ Gabriel Thomas, _An + Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and + Country of Pensilvania_ (1698), etc., 28. + + [122] _Mercury_, Jan. 16, 1727-1728; July 25, 1728; Nov. 7, + 1728. _Gazette_, July 17, 1740; Mar. 31, 1743. "A compleat + washerwoman" is advertised in the _Gazette_, Oct. 1, 1761; + also "an extraordinary washer of clothes," _Gazette_, Apr. 12, + 1775; Penn-Physick, MSS IV, 203 (1740). + + [123] _Gazette_, May 19, 1743; July 11, 1745; Nov. 5, 1761; May 15, + 1776; Dec. 15, 1779. _Cf._ notices in William Penn's Cash + Book (MS.), 3, 6, 9, 15, 18; John Wilson's Cash Book (MS.), + Feb. 23, 1776; MS. Phila. Account Book, 38 (1694); MS. Logan + Papers, II, 259 (1707); Richard Hayes's Ledger (MS.), 88 + (1716). + + [124] _Cf._ the numerous allusions to his negro woman made by + Christopher Marshall in his Remembrancer. An entry in John + Wilson's Cash Book (MS.), Apr. 27, 1770, says: "paid his" + (Joseph Pemberton's) "Negro woman Market mony ... 7/6." The + following advertisement is illustrative, although perhaps it + reveals the advertiser's art as much as the excellence and + reliability of the negress. "A likely young Negroe Wench, who + can cook and wash well, and do all Sorts of House-work; and + can from Experience, be recommended both for her Honesty and + Sobriety, having often been trusted with the Keys of untold + Money, and Liquors of various Sorts, none of which she will + taste. She is no Idler, Company-keeper or Gadder about. She + has also a fine, hearty young Child, not quite a Year old, + which is the only Reason for selling her, because her Mistress + is very sickly, and can't bear the Trouble of it." _Pa. + Gazette_, Apr. 2, 1761. + + [125] "Thou Knowest Negro Peters Ingenuity In making for himself + and playing on a fiddle w^{th} out any assistance as the + thing in them is Innocent and diverting and may keep them + from worse Employmt I have to Encourage in my Service promist + him one from Engld therefore buy and bring a good Strong well + made Violin w^{th} 2 or 3 Sets of spare Gut for the Suitable + Strings get somebody of skill to Chuse and by it".... MS. + Isaac Norris, Letter Book, 1719, p. 185. + + [126] See above, pp. 32-34. + + [127] "Our Negro woman got leave to visit her children in Bucks + County." Christopher Marshall's Remembrancer, D, Jan. 7, 1776. + "This afternoon came home our Negro woman Dinah." _Ibid._, D, + Jan. 15, 1776. + + [128] Watson, _Annals_, I, 406. _Cf._ letter of William Hamilton of + Lancaster: "Yesterday (being Negroes Holiday) I took a ride + into Maryland." _Pa. Mag._, XXIX, 257. + + [129] For the treatment of William Edmundson when he tried to + convert negroes in the West Indies, _cf._ his _Journal_, 85; + Gough, _A History of the People Called Quakers_, III, 61. + _Cf._ MS. Board of Trade Journals, III, 191 (1680). + + [130] Kalm, _Travels_, I, 397. "It's obvious, that the future + Welfare of those poor Slaves ... is generally too much + disregarded by those who keep them." _An Epistle of Caution + and Advice, Concerning the Buying and Keeping of Slaves_ + (1754), 5. This, however, is neglect rather than opposition. + + [131] Fox's _Epistles_, in _Friend's Library_, I, 79 (1679). + + [132] "An Exhortation and Caution to Friends Concerning buying or + keeping of Negroes," in _Pa. Mag._, XIII, 267. + + [133] Proud, _History of Pennsylvania_, 423; Gordon, _History of + Pennsylvania_, 114. + + [134] "Several" (negroes) "are brought to Meetings." MS. Minutes + Radnor Monthly Meetings, 1763-1772, p. 79 (1764). "Most of + those possessed of them ... often bring them to our Meetings." + _Ibid._, 175 (1767). + + [135] _Cf._ MS. Yearly Meeting Advices, 1682-1777, "Negroes or + Slaves." + + [136] Cranz, _The Ancient and Modern History of the Brethren ... + Unitas Fratrum_, 600, 601; Ogden, _An Excursion into Bethlehem + and Nazareth in Pennsylvania_, 89, 90; I _Pa. Arch._, III, 75; + _Pa. Mag._, XXIX, 363. + + [137] _Cf._ Bean, _History of Montgomery County_, 302. + + [138] MS. Records of Christ Church, Phila., I, 19, 43, 44, 46, 49, + 132, 168, 271, 273, 274, 276, 277, 280, 281, 282, 283, 288, + 293, 306, 312, 314, 333, 337, 341, 342, 344, 352, 353, 359, + 371, 379, 383, 388, 392, 397, 399, 416, 440, 441. Baptisms + were very frequent in the years 1752 and 1753. Very many + of the slaves admitted were adults, whereas in the case of + free negroes at the same period most of the baptisms were of + children. + + [139] William Macclanechan, writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury + in 1760, says: "On my Journey to New-England, I arrived at the + oppulent City of Philadelphia, where I paid my Compliments + to the Rev'd Dr. Jenney, Minister of Christ's Church in + that City, and to the Rev'd Mr. Sturgeon, _Catechist to the + Negroes_." H. W. Smith, _Life and Correspondence of the Rev. + William Smith_, I, 238. + + [140] "Many negroes came, ... some enquiring, have I a soul?" + Gillies and Seymour, _Memoirs of the Life and Character of ... + Rev. George Whitefield_ (3d ed.), 55. "I believe near Fifty + Negroes came to give me Thanks, under God, for what has been + done to their Souls.... Some of them have been effectually + wrought upon, and in an uncommon Manner." _A Continuation of + the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's Journal_, 65, 66. "Visited a + Negroe and prayed with her, and found her Heart touched by + Divine Grace. Praised be the Lord, methinks one Negroe brought + to Jesus Christ is peculiarly sweet to my Soul." W. Seward, + _Journal of a Voyage from Savannah to Philadelphia_, etc., + Apr. 18, 1740. + + [141] "This afternoon a Negro man from Cecil County maryland + preached in orchard opposite to ours. there was Sundry people, + they said he spoke well for near an hour." MS. Ch. Marshall's + Remembrancer, E, July 13, 1779. + + [142] "Then (the pror and Gov.) proposed to them the necessitie of + a law ... about the marriages of negroes." _Col. Rec._, I, + 598, 606, 610; _Votes and Proceedings_, I, 120, 121; Bettle, + "Notices of Negro Slavery as connected with Pennsylvania," + in _Mem. Hist. Soc. Pa._, VI, 368; Clarkson, _Life of Penn_, + II, 80-82. Clarkson attributes the defeat to the lessening + of Quaker influence, the lower tone of the later immigrants, + and temporary hostility to the executive. More probably the + bill failed because stable marriage relations have always + been found incompatible with the ready movement and transfer + of slave property; and because at this early period the + slaveholders recognized this fact, and were not yet disposed + to allow their slaves to marry. + + [143] _Stat. at L._, II, 22. _Cf._ Commonwealth _v._ Clements + (1814), 6 Binney 210. + + [144] St. John Crèvecoeur, _Letters_, 221; Kalm, _Travels_, I, + 391. Kalm adds that it was considered an advantage to have + negro women, since otherwise the offspring belonged to another + master. + + [145] MS. Rec. Christ Church, 4239, 4317, 4361, 4370, 4371, 4373, + 4376, 4379, 4381, 4404, 4405; MS. Rec. First Reformed Church, + 4158, 4315; MS. Rec. St. Michael's and Zion, 109. Among the + Friends there are very few records of such marriages. _Cf._ + however, MS. Journal of Joshua Brown, 5 2d mo., 1774: ... "I + rode to Philadelphia ... and Lodged that Night at William + Browns and 5th day of the mo^{th} I Spent in town and Was at a + Negro Wedding in the Eving Where Several pe^r Mett and had a + Setting with them and they took Each other and the Love of God + Seemd to be Extended to them".... A negro marriage according + to Friends' ceremony is recorded in MS. Deed Book O, 234, West + Chester. _Cf._ Mittelberger, _Journey_, 106, "The blacks are + likewise married in the English fashion." There must have been + much laxity, however, for only a part of which the negroes + were to blame. "They are suffered, with impunity, to cohabit + together, without being married, and to part, when solemnly + engaged to one another as man and wife".... Benezet, _Some + Historical Account of Guinea_, 134. + + [146] St. John Crèvecoeur, _Letters_, 222. + + [147] "Acco^t of Negroes Dr. ... for my Negroe Cuffee and his + Wife Rose and their Daughter Jenny bo^t of W^m Banloft ... + 76/3/10." MS. James Logan's Account Book, 90 (1714). "Wanted, + Four or Five Negro Men ... if they have families, wives, or + children, all will be purchased together." _Pa. Packet_, + Aug. 22, 1778. _Cf._ also _Mercury_, June 4, 1724; June 21, + 1739; _Independent Gazeteer_, July 14, 1792. _Cf._ however, + Benezet, _Some Historical Account of Guinea_, 136; Crawford, + _Observations upon Negro Slavery_ (1784), 23, 24; _Pa. + Packet_, Jan. 1, 1780. + + [148] This was not always the case. The MS. Rec. of Sandy Bank + Cemetery, Delaware Co., contains the names of two negroes. + + [149] MS. Minutes Middletown Monthly Meeting, 2d Book A, 171, 558, + 559; _Pa. Mag._, VIII, 419; Isaac Comly, "Sketches of the + History of Byberry," in _Mem. Hist. Soc. Pa._, II, 194. There + were exceptions, however. _Cf._ MS. Bk. of Rec. Merion Meeting + Grave Yard. + + [150] Bean, _Hist. Montgomery Co._, 302; Martin, _Hist. of Chester_, + 80; Kalm, _Travels_, I, 44; _Pa. Gazette_, Nov. 15, 1775. + + [151] _Stat. at L._, IV, 59; _Col. Rec._, II, 18; 1 _Pa. Arch._ + XI, 667; _Mercury_, Apr. 12, 1739; _Phila. Staatsbote_, Jan. + 16, 1764, _Pa. Gazette_, Nov. 12, 1761. For an instance of a + slave killing his master, _cf._ MS. Supreme Court Papers, XXI, + 3546. This was very rare. _Pa. Mag._, XIII, 449. According to + Judge Bradford's statement arson was "the crime of slaves and + children." _Journal of Senate of Pa., 1792-1793_, p. 52; _Col. + Rec._, IV, 243, 244, 259; XII, 377; MS. Miscellaneous Papers, + Feb. 25, 1780. _Cf._ especially MS. Records of Special Courts + for the Trial of Negroes; _Col. Rec._, IX, 648; MS. Streper + Papers, 55. + + [152] In 1737 the Council spoke of the "insolent Behaviour of the + Negroes in and about the city, which has of late been so + much taken notice of".... _Col. Rec._, IV, 244; _Votes and + Proceedings_, IV, 171. As to pilfering Franklin remarked + that almost every slave was by nature a thief. _Works_ (ed. + Sparks), II, 315. + + [153] The following has not lost all significance. "I was much + Disturbed after I came our girl Poll driving her same stroke + of Impudence as when she was in Philad^a and her mistress + so hood-winked by her as not to see it which gave me much + uneasiness and which I am determined not to put up with".... + Ch. Marshall, Remembrancer, D, Aug. 4, 1777. _Cf._ also + _Remarks on the Quaker Unmasked_ (1764). + + [154] As shown by the very careless enforcement of the special + regulations. + + [155] Except immediately following the negro "insurrection" in New + York in 1712. _Cf. Stat. at L._, II, 433; 1 _Pa. Arch._, IV, + 792; 2 _Pa. Arch._, XV, 368. + + [156] "A negro man and a White Woman servant being taken up ... + and brought before John Simcocke Justice in Commission for + runaways Who upon examination finding they had noe lawful + Passe Comitted them to Prison" ... MS. Court Rec. Penna. and + Chester Co., 1681-88, p. 75; MS. New Castle Ct. Rec., Liber + A, 158 (1677); MS. Minutes Ct. Quarter Sess. Bucks Co., + 1684-1730, p. 138 (1690); MS. Minutes Chester Co. Courts, + 1681-1697, p. 222 (1694-1695). For the continual going away of + Christopher Marshall's "Girl Poll," see his Remembrancer, vol. + D. + + [157] The following is not only typical, but is very interesting + on its own account, since Abraham Lincoln was a descendent + of the family mentioned. "RUN away on the 13th of + _September_ last from _Abraham Lincoln_ of _Springfield_ + in the County of Chester, a Negro Man named Jack, about 30 + Years of Age, low Stature, speaks little or no _English_, + has a Scar by the Corner of one Eye, in the Form of a V, his + Teeth notched, and the Top of one on his Fore Teeth broke; + He had on when he went away an old Hat, a grey Jacket partly + like a Sailor's Jacket. Whoever secures the said Negro, and + brings him to his Master, or to _Mordecai_ Lincoln ... shall + have _Twenty Shillings_ Reward and reasonable Charges." _Pa. + Gazette_, Oct. 15, 1730. + + [158] _Mercury_, Apr. 18, 1723; July 11, 1723; _Gazette_, May 3, + 1744; Feb. 22, 1775; July 28, 1779; Jan. 17, 1782; _Packet_, + Oct. 13, 1778; Aug. 3, 1779. One negro indentured himself to a + currier. _Gazette_, Aug. 30, 1775. Such negroes the community + was warned not to employ. _Packet_, Feb. 27, 1779. + + [159] The penalty was thirty shillings for every day. _Stat. at + L._, IV, 64 (1725-1726). There was need for regulation from + the first. _Cf. Col. Rec._, I, 117. An advertisement from + Reading in _Gazette_, July 31, 1776, explains the procedure + when suspects were held in jail. Such advertisements recur + frequently. _Cf. Mercury_, Aug. 13, 1730 (third notice); + _Gazette_, Dec. 27, 1774; _Packet_, Mar. 23, 1779. + + [160] For negroes carried off or who ran away at this time _cf._ MS. + Miscellaneous Papers, Sept. 1, 1778; Nov. 19, 1778; Aug. 20, + 1779; and others. Numbers of strange negroes were reported to + be wandering around in Northumberland County. _Ibid._, Aug. + 29, 1780. In 1732 the Six Nations had been asked not to harbor + runaway negroes, since they were "the Support and Livelihood + of their Masters, and gett them their Bread." 4 _Pa. Arch._, + II, 657, 658. + + [161] So I judge from statistics which I have compiled from the + advertisements in the newspapers. + + [162] _Mercury_, Apr. 18, 1723; _Packet_, July 16, 1778; _Gazette_, + June 12, 1740; Feb. 4, 1775; Jan. 3, 1776; July 2, 1781; + _Gazette_, Nov. 17, 1748; Feb. 21, 1775. "'Old Dabbo' an + African Negro ... call'd here for some victuals.... He had + three gashes on each cheek made by his mother when he was a + child.... His conversation is scarcely intelligible"; MS. + Diary of Joel Swayne, 1823-1833, Mar. 27, 1828. _Mercury_, + Aug. 6, 1730; _Packet_, Aug. 26, 1779; _Gazette_, July 31, + 1739-1740; _Mercury_, June 24, 1725; _Packet_, June 22, 1789; + _Packet_, Dec. 31, 1778; _Gazette_, Sept. 10, 1741; July 21, + 1779; Sept. 11, 1746; Oct. 16, 1776; July 30, 1747; May 14, + 1747; Oct. 22, 1747; Aug. 30, 1775; Mar. 22, 1747-1748; July + 24, 1776; Apr. 23, 1761; July 5, 1775; _Packet_, Jan. 26, 1779. + + [163] "My Dear Companion ... has really her hands full, Cow to milk, + breakfast to get, her Negro woman to bath, give medicine, Cap + up with flannels, as She is allways Sure to be poorly when + the weather is cold, Snowy and Slabby. its then She gives her + Mistriss a deal of fatigue trouble in attending on her." Ch. + Marshall, Remembrancer, E, Mar. 25, 1779. "To Israel Taylor + p order of the Com^s for Cureing negro Jack legg ... 4/10 + To Roger Parke for Cureing negro sam ... /9/9." MS. William + Penn's Account Book, 1690-1693, p. 8. A bill for £10 10 sh. + 4d. was rendered to Thomas Penn for nursing and burying his + negro Sam. Some of the items are very humorous. MS. Penn + Papers, Accounts (unbound), Feb. 19, 1741. The bill for Thomas + Penn's negroes, Hagar, Diana, and Susy, for the years 1773 + and 1774, amounted to £5 5 sh. Penn-Physick MSS., IV, 253. + An item in a bill rendered to Mrs. Margaretta Frame is: "To + bleeding her Negro man Sussex ... /2/6." MS. Penn Papers, + Accounts (unbound), June 5, 1742. St. John Crèvecoeur, + _Letters_, 221. Masters were compelled by law to support their + old slaves who would otherwise have become charges on the + community. _Cf. Stat. at L._, X, 70; _Laws of Pa., 1803_, p. + 103; _1835-1836_, pp. 546, 547. In very many cases, however, + old negroes were maintained comfortably until death in the + families where they had served. _Cf._ MS. Phila. Wills, X, + 94 (1794). There are numerous instances of negroes receiving + property by their master's wills. _Cf._ West Chester Will + Files, no. 3759 (1785). For the darker side _cf._ Lay, _All + Slave-Keepers Apostates_, 93. + + [164] "Many of those whom the good Quakers have emancipated have + received the great benefit with tears in their eyes, and + have never quitted, though free, their former masters and + benefactors." St. John Crèvecoeur, _Letters_, 222; _Pa. + Mag._, XVIII, 372, 373; Buck, MS. _History of Bucks Co._, + marginal note of author in his scrapbook. For the superiority + of slavery _cf._ J. Harriot, _Struggles through Life_, etc., + II, 409. Also Watson, _Annals_, II, 265. + + [165] It has been suggested that it was milder than the system under + which redemptioners were held, and that hence "Quaker scruples + against slavery were either misplaced or insincere." C. A. + Herrick, "Indentured Labor in Pennsylvania," (MS. thesis, + University of Pa.), 89. An examination of the Quaker records + would have shown that the last part of this statement is not + true. See below, chaps. IV, V. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BREAKING UP OF SLAVERY--MANUMISSION. + + +In Pennsylvania the disintegration of slavery began as soon as slavery +was established, for there were free negroes in the colony at the +beginning of the eighteenth century.[166] Manumission may have taken +place earlier than this, for in 1682 an owner made definite promise +of freedom to his negro.[167] The first indisputable case now known, +however, occurred in 1701, when a certain Lydia Wade living in Chester +County freed her slaves by testament.[168] In the same year William +Penn on his return to England liberated his blacks likewise.[169] +Judging from the casual and unexpected references to free negroes +which come to light from time to time, it seems probable that other +masters also bestowed freedom. At any rate the status of the free negro +had come to be recognized about this time as one to be protected by +law, for when in 1703 Antonio Garcia, a Spanish mulatto, was brought +to Philadelphia as a slave, he appealed to the provincial Council, +and presently was set at liberty.[170] In 1717 the records of Christ +Church mention Jane, a free negress, who was baptized there with her +daughter.[171] + +This freeing of negroes at so early a time in the history of the colony +is sufficiently remarkable. It might be expected that manumission +would have been rare; and, indeed, the records are very few at first. +Nevertheless a law passed in 1725-1726 would indicate that the practice +was by no means unusual.[172] + +It is not possible.to say what was the immediate cause of the passing +of that part of the act which refers to manumission. It may have been +the growth of a class of black freemen, or it may have been the desire +to check manumission;[173] but it was probably neither of these things +so much as it was the practice of masters who set free their infirm +slaves when the labor of those slaves was no longer remunerative.[174] +This practice together with the usual shiftlessness of most of the +freedmen makes the resulting legislation intelligible enough. It +provided that thereafter if any master purposed to set his negro free, +he should obligate himself at the county court to secure the locality +in which the negro might reside from any expense occasioned by the +sickness of the negro or by his inability to support himself. If a +negro received liberty by will, recognizance should be entered into by +the executor immediately. Without this no negro was to be deemed free. +The security was fixed at thirty pounds.[175] + +Whatever may have been the full purpose of this statute, there can +be no question that it did check manumission to a certain extent. A +standing obligation of thirty pounds, which might at any moment become +an unpleasant reality, when added to the other sacrifices which freeing +a slave entailed, was probably sufficient to discourage many who +possessed mildly good intentions. Several times it was protested that +the amount was so excessive as to check the beneficence of owners:[176] +and on one occasion it was computed that the thirty pounds required +did not really suffice to support such negroes as became charges, but +that a different method and a smaller sum would have secured better +results.[177] The burden to owners was no doubt felt very grievously +during the latter half of the eighteenth century, when manumission was +going on so actively, and it is known that the Assembly was asked to +give relief.[178] Nevertheless nothing was done until 1780 when the +abolition act swept from the statute-books all previous legislation +about the negro, slave as well as free.[179] + +In spite of the obstacles created by the statute of 1725-1726, the +freeing of negroes continued. In 1731 John Baldwin of Chester ordered +in his will that his negress be freed one year after his decease. Two +years later Ralph Sandiford is said to have given liberty to all of +his slaves. In 1742 Judge Langhorne in Bucks County devised freedom +to all of his negroes, between thirty and forty in number. In 1744 by +the will of John Knowles of Oxford, negro James was to be made free +on condition that he gave security to the executors to pay the thirty +pounds if required. Somewhat before this time John Harris, the founder +of Harrisburg, set free the faithful negro Hercules, who had saved his +life from the Indians. In 1746 Samuel Blunson manumitted his slaves +at Columbia. During this period negroes were occasionally sent to the +Moravians, who gave them religious training, baptized them, and after +a time set them at liberty. During the following years the records of +some of the churches refer again and again to free negroes who were +married in them, baptized in them, or who brought their children to +them to be baptized.[180] At an early date there was a sufficient +number of free black people in Pennsylvania to attract the attention of +philanthropists; and it is known that Whitefield as early as 1744 took +up a tract of land partly with the intention of making a settlement +of free negroes.[181] Up to this time, however, manumission probably +went on in a desultory manner, hampered by the large security required, +and practised only by the most ardent believers in human liberty. The +middle of the eighteenth century marked a great turning-point. + +The southeastern part of Pennsylvania, in which most of the negroes +were located, was peopled largely by Quakers, who in many localities +were the principal slave-owners, and who at different periods during +the eighteenth century probably held from a half to a third of all +the slaves in the colony. But they were never able to reconcile this +practice entirely with their religious belief and from the very +beginning it encountered strong opposition. As this opposition is +really part of the history of abolition in Pennsylvania it will be +treated at length in the following chapter. Here it is sufficient to +say that from 1688 a long warfare was carried on, for the most part by +zealous reformers who gradually won adherents, until about 1750 the +Friends' meetings declared against slavery, and the members who were +not slave-owners undertook to persuade those who still owned negroes to +give them up. + +The feeling among some of the Friends was extraordinary at this time. +They went from one slaveholder to another expostulating, persuading, +entreating. It was then that the saintly John Woolman did his work; +but he was only the most distinguished among many others. It is hardly +possible to read over the records of any Friends' meeting for the +next thirty years without finding numerous references to work of this +character; and in more than one journal of the period mention is made +of the obstacles encountered and the expedients employed.[182] + +The results of their efforts were far-reaching. Many Friends who +would have scrupled to buy more slaves, and who were convinced that +slave-holding was an evil, yet retained such slaves as they had, +through motives of expediency, and also because they believed that +negroes held in mild bondage were better off than when free. Against +this temporizing policy the reformers fought hard, and aided by the +decision of the Yearly Meeting that slaveholders should no longer +participate in the affairs of the Society, carried forward their work +with such success that within one more generation slavery among the +Friends in Pennsylvania had passed away. + +During the period, then, from 1750 to 1780 manumission among the +Friends became very frequent. Many slaves were set free outright, +their masters assuming the liability required by law. Others were +manumitted on condition that they would not become chargeable.[183] +Some owners gave promise of freedom at the end of a certain number of +years, considering the service during those years an equivalent for the +financial obligation which at the end they would have to assume.[184] +Often the negro was given his liberty on condition that at a future +time he would pay to the master his purchase price.[185] In 1751 a +writer said that numerous negroes had gained conditional freedom, and +were wandering around the country in search of employment so as to pay +their owners. The magistrates of Philadelphia complained of this as a +nuisance.[186] + +Just how many slaves gained their freedom during this period it is +impossible to say. The church records mention them again and again; and +they become, what they had not been before, the occasion of frequent +notice and serious speculation.[187] Other people began now to follow +the Friends' example,[188] and the belief in abstract principles of +freedom aroused by the Revolutionary struggle gave further impetus to +the movement.[189] In every quarter, now, manumissions were constantly +being made.[190] Any estimate as to how many negroes, servants and +free, there were in Pennsylvania by 1780 must be largely a conjecture, +but it is perhaps safe to say that there were between four and five +thousand.[191] + +The act of 1780, which put an end to the further growth of slavery in +Pennsylvania, marked the beginning of the final work of the liberators. +Coming at a time when so many people had given freedom to their slaves, +and passing with so little opposition in the Assembly as to show that +the majority of Pennsylvania's people no longer had sympathy with +slavery, it was the signal to the abolitionists to urge the manumission +of such negroes as the law had left in bondage. The task was made +easier by the fact that not only was the value of the slave property +now much diminished, but a man no longer needed to enter into surety +when he set his slaves free. Doubtless many whose religious scruples +had been balanced by material considerations, now saw the way smooth +before them, or arranged to make the sacrifice cost them little or +nothing at all. During this period manumission took on a commercial +aspect which formerly had not been so evident. This was brought about +in several ways. + +Sometimes negroes had saved enough to purchase their liberty.[192] +Many, as before, received freedom upon binding themselves to pay +for it at the expiration of a certain time.[193] In this they often +received assistance from well-disposed people, in particular from the +Friends, who had by no means stopped the good work when their own +slaves were set free.[194] At times the entire purchase money was paid +by some philanthropist.[195] Frequently one member of a negro family +bought freedom for another, the husband often paying for his wife, the +father for his children.[196] Furthermore it had now become common +to bind out negroes for a term of years, and many owners who desired +their slaves to be free, found partial compensation in selling them +for a limited period, on express condition that all servitude should +be terminated strictly in accordance with the contract. By furthering +such transactions the benevolent tried to help negroes to gain +freedom.[197] Occasionally the slave liberated was bound for a term of +years to serve the former master.[198] Even at this period, however, +negroes continued to be manumitted from motives of pure benevolence. +Some received liberty by the master's testament, and others were held +only until assurance was given the master that he would not become +liable under the poor law.[199] + +As the result of the earnest efforts that were made slavery in +Pennsylvania dwindled steadily. In the course of a long time it would +doubtless have passed away as the result of continued individual +manumission. As a matter of fact, it had become almost extinct within +two generations after 1750. This was brought about by work that +affected not individuals, but whole classes, and finally all the people +of the state; which was designed to strike at the root of slavery and +destroy it altogether. This was abolition. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [166] It is of course possible that some of these negroes had been + servants, and that their period of service was over. + + [167] "Where As William Clark did buy ... An negor man Called and + knowen by the name of black Will for and during his natrill + Life; never the Less the said William Clark doe for the + Incourigment of the sd neagor servant hereby promise Covenant + and Agree; that if the said Black Will doe well and Truely + sarve the said William Clark ... five years ... then the said + Black Will shall be Clear and free of and from Any further + or Longer Sarvicetime or Slavery ... as wittnes my hand this + Thurteenth day of ... June Anno; Din; 1682." MS. Ancient Rec. + of Sussex Co., 1681-1709, p. 116. + + [168] "My will is that my negroes John and Jane his wife shall be + set free one month after my decease." Ashmead, _History of + Delaware County_, 203. + + [169] "I give to ... my blacks their freedom as is under my hand + already" ... MS. Will of William Penn, Newcastle on Delaware, + 30th 8br, 1701. This will, which was left with James Logan, + was not carried out. Penn's last will contains no mention of + his negroes. He frequently mentions them elsewhere. _Cf._ MS. + Letters and Papers of William Penn (Dreer), 29 (1689), 35 + (1690); _Pa. Mag._, XXXIII, 316 (1690); MS. Logan Papers. II, + 98 (1703). _Cf._ also Penn. MSS., Official Correspondence, 97. + + [170] _Col. Rec._, II, 120. + + [171] Jane "a free negro woman" ... MS. Rec. Christ Church, 46. + + [172] "Whereas 'tis found by experience that free negroes are an + idle, slothful people and often prove burdensome to the + neighborhood and afford ill examples to other negroes" ... "An + Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province." + _Stat. at L._, IV, 61. + + [173] "Our Ancestors ... for a long time deemed it policy to + obstruct the emancipation of Slaves and affected to consider a + free Negro as a useless if not a dangerous being" ... Letter + of W. Rawle (1787), in MS. Rec. Pa. Soc. Abol. Slavery. + + [174] _Votes and Proceedings_, II, 336, 337. + + [175] "An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this + Province." _Stat. at L._, IV, 61 (1725-1726). + + [176] "This is however very expensive for they are obliged to make + a provision for the Negro thus set at liberty, to afford him + subsistence when he is grown old, that he may not be driven by + necessity to wicked actions, or that he may be at anybody's + charge, for these free Negroes become very lazy and indolent + afterwards." Kalm, _Travels_, I, 394 (1748). + + [177] _Cf. Votes and Proceedings, 1767-1776_, p. 30. The author + of _Brief Considerations on Slavery, and the Expediency of + Its Abolition_ (1773) argued that the public derived benefit + from the labor of adult free negroes, and that the public + should pay the surety required. By an elaborate calculation + he endeavored to prove that a sum of about five shillings + deposited at interest by the community each year of the + negro's life after he was twenty-one, would amply suffice for + all requirements. Pp. 8-14 of the second part, entitled "An + Account Stated on the Manumission of Slaves." He says "As the + laws stand at present in several of our northern governments, + the act of manumission is clogged with difficulties that + almost amount to a prohibition." _Ibid._, 11. + + [178] _Votes and Proceedings, 1767-1776_, p. 696. + + [179] _Stat. at L._, X, 72. + + [180] Martin, _History of Chester_, 480; Watson, _Annals_, II, + 265; _Pa. Mag._, VII, 82; Davis, _History of Bucks County_, + 798; MS. in Miscellaneous Collection, Box 10, Negroes; + Morgan, _Annals of Harrisburg_, 11; Smedley, _History of the + Underground Railroad in Chester_, etc., 27; _Pa. Mag._, XII, + 188; XXIX, 363, 365; MS. Rec. Christ Church, 46, 352, 356, + 379, 400, 403, 404, 440, 441, 455, 475, 4126, 4330, 4356; MS. + Rec. First Reformed Church, 4126, 4248; MS. Rec. St. Michael's + and Zion, 97. + + [181] _Cf._ Conyngham's "Historical Notes," in _Mem. Hist. Soc. + Pa._, I, 338. + + [182] See below, p. 74. + + [183] MS. Miscellaneous Papers, 1684-1847, Chester Co., 101 (1764). + + [184] They were generally held longer than apprentices or white + servants--until twenty-eight or thirty years of age, but many + of the Friends protested against this. MS. Diary of Richard + Barnard, 24 5 mo., 1782; M.S. Minutes Exeter Monthly Meeting, + Book B, 354 (1779). + + [185] "I do hereby Certify that Benjamin Mifflin hath given me + Directions to sell his Negro man Cuff to himself for the Sum + of Sixty Pounds if he can raise the Money having Repeatedly + refused from Others seventy Five Pounds and upwards for him." + MS. (1769) in Misc. Coll., Box 10, Negroes. + + [186] _Pa. Gazette_, Mar. 5, 1751. + + [187] _Cf._ Benezet, _Some Historical Account of Guinea_, 134, 135, + where he laments the difficulties under which free negroes + labor. Also same author, _A Mite Cast into the Treasury_, + 13-17, where he argues that negro servants should not be held + longer than white apprentices. + + [188] "Die mährischen Brüder folgten diesem rühmlichen Beispiel; + so auch Christen von den übrigen Bekenntnissen." Ebeling, in + _Erdbeschreibung_, etc., IV, 220. + + [189] _Cf._ preamble to the act of 1780. _Stat. at L._, X, 67, 68. A + negro twenty-one years old was manumitted because "all mankind + have an Equal Natural and Just right to Liberty." MS. Extracts + Rec. Goshen Monthly Meeting, 415 (G. Cope). + + [190] MS. General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, Phila. Co., + 1773-1780. Franklin, Letter to Dean Woodward, Apr. 10, 1773, + in _Works_ (ed. Sparks), VIII, 42. + + [191] In 1751 the number of negroes in Pennsylvania, including + Delaware, was thought to be 11,000. _Cf._ above, p. 12. The + negroes in Pennsylvania alone by 1780 probably did not exceed + the same number. Of these 6,000 were said to be slaves. _Cf._ + above, _ibid._ In some places by this time manumission was + nearly complete. _Cf._ W. J. Buck, in _Coll. Hist. Soc. Pa._, + I, 201. + + [192] MSS. Misc. Coll., Box 10, Negroes. + + [193] MS. Rec. Pa. Soc. Abol. Sl., I, 19, 27, 29, 43, 67, and + _passim_. + + [194] A MS. dated Phila., 1769, contains a list of persons who had + promised to contribute towards purchasing a negro's freedom. + Among the memoranda are: "John Head agrees to give him Twenty + Shillings and not to be Repaid ... John Benezet twenty + Shillings ... Christopher Marshall /7/6.... If he can raise + with my Donation enough to free him I agree to give him three + pounds and not otherwise I promise Saml Emlen jur ... Joseph + Pemberton by his Desire [Five _erased_] pounds £3." MS. Misc. + Coll., Box 10, Negroes. + + [195] Misc. MSS. 1744-1859. Northern, Interior and Western Counties, + 191 (1782). + + [196] In 1779 a negro of Bucks County to secure the freedom of his + wife gave his note to be paid by 1783. In 1782, having paid + part, he was allowed to take his wife until the next payment. + In 1785 she was free. MS. Rec. Pa. Soc. Abol. Sl., I, 27-43. + In 1787 negro Samson had purchased his wife and children for + ninety-nine pounds. _Ibid._, I, 67. James Oronogue, who had + been hired by his master to the keeper of a tavern, gained by + his obliging behavior sixty pounds from the customers within + four years' time, and at his master's death was allowed to + purchase his freedom for one hundred pounds. He paid besides + fifty pounds for his wife. _Ibid._, I, 69. When Cuff Douglas + had been a slave for thirty-seven years his master promised + him freedom after four years more. On the master agreeing to + take thirty pounds in lieu of this service, Douglas hired + himself out, and was free at the end of sixteen months. He + then began business as a tailor, and presently was able to buy + his wife and children for ninety pounds, besides one son for + whom he paid forty-five pounds. _Ibid._, I, 72. Also _ibid._, + I, 79, 91. + + [197] "Wanted to purchase, a good Negro Wench.... If to be sold on + terms of freedom by far the most agreeable." _Pa. Packet_, + Aug. 22, 1778. In 1791 Caspar Wistar bought a slave for sixty + pounds "to extricate him from that degraded Situation" ..., + his purpose being to keep the negro for a term of years only. + MS, Misc. Coll., Box 10, Negroes. Numerous other examples + among the same MSS. + + [198] "I, John Lettour from motives of benevolence and humanity ... + do ... set free ... my Negro Girl Agathe Aged about Seventeen + Years. On condition ... that she ... bind herself by Indenture + to serve me ... Six years".... MS. _ibid. Cf._ MS. Abstract + Rec. Abington Monthly Meeting, 372 (1765). + + [199] "I Manumit ... my Negro Girl Abb when she shall Arrive to the + Age of Eighteen Years ... (on Condition that the Committee + for the Abolition of slavery shall make entry according to + Law ... so as to secure me from any Costs or Trouble on me + or my Estate on said Negro after the age of Eighteen Years) + ... Hannah Evans." MS. Misc. Coll., Box 10, Negroes. _Cf._ + _Stat. at L._, X, 70. At times this might become an unpleasant + reality. _Cf._ MS. State of a Case respecting a Negro (Ridgway + Branch). + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DESTRUCTION OF SLAVERY--ABOLITION. + + +The events which led to the extinction of slavery in Pennsylvania fall +naturally into four periods. They are, first, the years from 1682 to +about 1740, during which the Germans discountenanced slave-holding, and +the Friends ceased importing negroes; second, the period of the Quaker +abolitionists, from about 1710 to 1780, by which time slavery among +the Quakers had come to an end; third, from 1780 to 1788, the years of +legislative action; and finally, the period from 1788 to the time when +slavery in Pennsylvania became extinct through the gradual working of +the act for abolition. + +Opposition to slaveholding arose among the Friends. Slavery had not +yet been recognized in statute law when they began to protest against +it. This protest, faint in the beginning and taken up only by a few +idealists, was never stopped afterwards, but, growing continually in +strength, was, as the events of after years showed, from the first +fraught with foreboding of doom to the institution. Opposition on +the part of the Friends had begun before Pennsylvania was founded. +In 1671 Fox, travelling in the West Indies, advised his brethren in +Barbadoes to deal mildly with their negroes, and after certain years of +servitude to make them free. Four years later William Edmundson in one +of his letters asked how it was possible for men to reconcile Christ's +command, to do as they would be done by, with the practice of holding +slaves without hope or expectation of freedom.[200] Nevertheless in +the first years after the settlement of Pennsylvania Friends were the +principal slaveholders. This led to differences of opinion, but at the +start economic considerations prevailed. + +The reform really began in 1688, a year memorable for the first formal +protest against slavery in North America.[201] Germantown had been +settled by German refugees who in religious belief were Friends. These +men, simple-minded and honest, having had no previous acquaintance with +slavery, were amazed to find it existing in Penn's colony. At their +monthly meeting, the eighteenth of the second month, 1688, Pastorius +and other leaders drew up an eloquent and touching memorial. In words +of surpassing nobleness and simplicity they stated the reasons why they +were against slavery and the traffic in men's bodies. Would the masters +wish so to be dealt with? Was it possible for this to be in accord with +Christianity? In Pennsylvania there was freedom of conscience; there +ought likewise to be freedom of the body. What report would it cause +in Europe that in this new land the Quakers handled men as there men +treated their cattle? If it were possible that Christian men might do +these things they desired to be so informed.[202] + +This protest they sent to the Monthly Meeting at Richard Worrel's. +There it was considered, and found too weighty to be dealt with, and +so it was sent on to the Quarterly Meeting at Philadelphia, and from +thence to the Yearly Meeting at Burlington, which finally decided not +to give a positive judgment in the case.[203] For the present nothing +came of it; but the idea did not die. It probably lingered in the minds +of many men; for within a few years a sentiment had been aroused which +became widespread and powerful. + +In 1693 George Keith, leader of a dissenting faction of Quakers, laid +down as one of his doctrines that negroes were men, and that slavery +was contrary to the religion of Christ; also that masters should set +their negroes at liberty after some reasonable time.[204] At a meeting +of Friends held in Philadelphia in 1693 the prevailing opinion was that +none should buy except to set free. Three years later at the Friends' +Yearly Meeting it was resolved to discourage the further bringing in of +slaves.[205] In 1712 when the Yearly Meeting at Philadelphia desiring +counsel applied to the Yearly Meeting at London, it received answer +that the multiplying of negroes might be of dangerous consequence.[206] +In the next and the following years the Meetings strongly advised +Friends not to import and not to buy slaves.[207] From 1730 to 1737 +reports showed that the importation of negroes by Friends was being +largely discontinued. By 1745 it had virtually ceased.[208] + +It is generally believed that Pennsylvania's restrictive legislation, +that long series of acts passed for the purpose of keeping out negroes +by means of prohibitive duties, was largely due to Quaker influence. +This is probably true, but it is not easy to prove. The proceedings of +the colonial Assembly have been reported so briefly that they do not +give the needed information. When, however, the strong feeling of the +Friends is understood in connection with the fact that they controlled +the early legislatures, it is not hard to believe that the high duties +were imposed because they wished the traffic at an end. Their feeling +about the slave-trade and their desire to stop it are revealed again +and again in the meeting minutes.[209] The most drastic law was +certainly due to them.[210] + +But the small number of negroes in Pennsylvania as compared with the +neighboring northern colonies was above all due to the early and +continuous aversion to slavery manifested by the Germans. The first +German settlers opposed the institution for religious reasons.[211] +This opposition is perhaps to be ascribed to them as Quakers rather +than as men of a particular race. But as successive swarms poured into +the country it was found, it may be from religious scruples, more +probably because of peculiar economic characteristics and because of +feelings of sturdy industry and self-reliance, that they almost never +bought negroes nor even hired them.[212] As the German element in +Pennsylvania was very considerable, amounting at times to one-third of +the population, such a course, though lacking in dramatic quality, and +though it has been unheralded by the historians, was nevertheless of +immense and decisive importance.[213] + +During this period, then, much had been accomplished. Not only had the +Germans turned their backs upon slave-holding, but the Friends, brought +to perceive the iniquity of the practice, had ceased importing slaves, +and for the most part had ceased buying them. It was another generation +before the conservative element could be brought to advance beyond +this position. It was not so easy to make them give up the slaves they +already had. + +The succeeding period was characterized by an inevitable struggle which +ensued between considerations of economy and ethics. The attitude of +many Friends was that in refusing to buy any more slaves they were +fulfilling all reasonable obligations. Sometimes there was a desire +to hush up the whole matter and get it out of mind. Isaac Norris +tells of a meeting that was large and comfortable, where the business +would have gone very well but for the warm pushing by some Friends +of Chester in the matter of negroes. But he adds that affairs were +so managed that the unpleasant subject was dropped.[214] What would +have been the result of this disposition cannot now be known; but it +proved impossible to smooth matters away. There had already begun +an age of reformers, forerunners by a hundred years of Garrison and +his associates, men who were content with nothing less than entire +abolition. + +The first of the abolitionists was William Southeby of Maryland, who +went to Pennsylvania. For years the subject of slavery weighed heavily +upon his mind. As early as 1696 he urged the Meeting to take action. +His petition to the Provincial Assembly in 1712 asking that all slaves +be set free was one of the most memorable incidents in the early +struggle against slavery. But the Assembly resolved that his project +was neither just nor convenient; and his ideas were so far in advance +of the times that not only did he a little later lose favor among the +Friends, but long after it was the judgment that his ill-regulated zeal +had brought only sorrow.[215] + +The next in point of time was Ralph Sandiford (1693-1733), a Friend of +Philadelphia. His hostility to slavery was aroused by the sufferings +of negroes whom he had seen in the West Indies; and his feeling was +so strong that on one occasion he refused to accept a gift from a +slaveholder. In 1729 he published his _Mystery of Iniquity_, an +impassioned protest against slavery. Although threatened with severe +penalties if he circulated this work, he distributed it wherever he +felt that it would be of use.[216] Such enmity did he arouse that he +was forced to leave the city.[217] + +His work was carried forward by Benjamin Lay (1677-1759), an Englishman +who came from Barbadoes to Philadelphia in 1731. He too aroused much +hostility by his violence of expression and eccentric efforts to create +pity for the slaves. He gave his whole life to the cause, but owing to +his too radical methods he was much less influential than he might have +been.[218] + +A man of far greater power was John Woolman (1720-1772), perhaps the +greatest liberator that the Friends ever produced. Woolman gave up his +position as accountant rather than write bills for the sale of negroes. +He was very religious, and most of his life he spent as a minister +travelling from one colony to another trying to persuade men of the +wickedness of slavery. In 1754 he published the first part of his +book, _Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes_, of which the +second part appeared in 1762. He was stricken with smallpox while on a +visit to England, and died there.[219] + +The last was Anthony Benezet (1713-1784), a French Huguenot who joined +the Society of Friends. He came to Philadelphia as early as 1731, but +it was about 1750 that his attention was drawn to the negroes. From +that time to the end of his life he was their zealous advocate. By his +writings upon Africa, slavery, and the slave-trade, he attracted the +attention and enlisted the support of many. He was untiring in his +efforts. Frequently he talked with the negroes and strove to improve +them; he endeavored to create a favorable impression of them; he was +influential in securing the passage of the abolition act; and at his +death he bequeathed the bulk of his property to the cause which he had +served so well in his life.[220] + +That these Quaker reformers, particularly men like Woolman and Benezet, +exerted an enormous influence against slavery in Pennsylvania, +there can be no doubt.[221] Their influence is attested by numerous +contemporary allusions, but it is proved far better by the change in +sentiment which was gradually brought about. Southeby, Sandiford, and +Lay were before their time and were treated as fanatics. Woolman and +Benezet who came afterward were able to reap the harvest which had been +sown. + +The movement which had been urged with violent rapidity from without +was all the while proceeding slowly and quietly within. For many years +the Friends considered slavery, and almost every year the Meetings +made reports upon the subject. These reports showed that the number of +Quakers who bought slaves was constantly decreasing.[222] In 1743 an +annual query was instituted.[223] In 1754 the Yearly Meeting circulated +a printed letter strongly condemning slavery.[224] The second decisive +step followed when it was made a rule that Friends who persisted in +buying slaves should be disowned. The measure was effective and this +part of the work was soon accomplished.[225] Finally in 1758 the third +step was taken when it was unanimously agreed that Friends should +be advised to manumit their slaves, and that those who persisted in +holding them should not be allowed to participate in the affairs of +the Society.[226] John Woolman and others were appointed on committees +to visit slaveholders and persuade them.[227] + +The work of these visiting committees is as remarkable as any in the +history of slavery. Self-sacrificing people who had freed their own +slaves now abandoned their interests and set out to persuade others +to give negroes the freedom thought to be due them. In southeastern +Pennsylvania are old diaries almost untouched for a century and a half +which bear witness of characters odd and heroic; which contain the +story of men and women sincere, brave, and unfaltering, who united +quiet mysticism with the zeal of a crusader. The committees undertook +to persuade a whole population to give up its slaves. There is no doubt +that the task was a difficult one. Again and again the writers speak +of obstacles overcome. They tell of owners who would not be convinced, +who acknowledged that slavery was wrong, and promised that they would +buy no more slaves, but who affirmed that they would keep such as they +had. The diaries speak of repeated visits, of the arguments employed, +of slow and gradual yielding, and of final triumph. If ever Christian +work was carried on in the spirit of Christ, it was when John Woolman, +Isaac Jackson, James Moon, and their fellow missionaries put an end to +slavery among the Quakers of Pennsylvania.[228] + +The penalties denounced by the Meeting were imposed with firmness. +In 1761 the Chester Quarterly Meeting dealt with a member for having +bought and sold a slave.[229] Through this and the following years +there are many records in the Monthly Meetings of manumissions, +voluntary and persuaded; record being made in each case to ensure the +negro his freedom.[230] In 1774 the Philadelphia Meeting resolved that +Friends who held slaves beyond the age at which white apprentices were +discharged, should be treated as disorderly persons.[231] The work of +abolition was practically completed in 1776 when the resolution passed +that members who persisted in holding slaves were to be disowned.[232] +If this is understood in connection with the fact that in the Meetings +questions were rarely decided except by almost unanimous vote, it is +clear that so far as the Friends were concerned slavery was nearly +extinct. This was almost absolutely accomplished by 1780.[233] + +The wholesale private abolition of slavery by the Friends of +Pennsylvania is one of those occurrences over which the historian +may well linger. It was not delayed until slavery had become +unprofitable,[234] nor was it forced through any violent hostility. +It was a result attained merely by calm, steady persuasion, and a +disposition to obey the dictates of conscience unflinchingly. As such +it is among the grandest examples of the triumph of principle and ideal +righteousness over self-interest.[235] It may well be doubted whether +any body of men and women other than the Friends were capable of such +conduct at this time.[236] + +So far the checking of slavery in Pennsylvania had been the result of +two great factors; that the Germans would not hold slaves, and that the +Friends gradually gave them up. Another factor now made it possible +to bring about the end of the institution altogether. There began the +period of the long contest of the Revolution, when Pennsylvania was +stirred to its depths by the struggle for independence. + +Almost at the beginning of the war, in 1776, the Assembly received +from citizens of Philadelphia two petitions that manumission be +rendered easier. These petitions accomplished nothing,[237] but the +feeling which had been gathering strength for so many years went +forward unchecked, and by 1778 there existed a powerful sentiment +in favor of legislative abolition. Therefore in February, 1779, the +draft of a bill was prepared and recommended by the Council; but for +a while no progress was made, since the Assembly, though it approved +the principle, believed that such a measure should originate in +itself.[238] Toward the end of the year the matter was taken up in +earnest, and a bill was soon drafted. Public sentiment was thoroughly +aroused now. Petitions for and against the bill came to the Assembly, +and letters were published in the newspapers. The friends of the +measure were untiring in their efforts. Anthony Benezet is said to have +visited every member of the Assembly. On March 1, 1780, the bill was +enacted into a law, thirty-four yeas and twenty-one nays.[239] + +The "Act for the gradual Abolition of Slavery" provided that thereafter +no child born in Pennsylvania should be a slave; but that such +children, if negroes or mulattoes born of a slave mother, should be +servants until they were twenty-eight years of age; that all present +slaves should be registered by their masters before November 1, 1780; +and that such as were not then registered should be free.[240] It +abolished the old discriminations, for it provided that negroes +whether slave or free should be tried and punished in the same manner +as white people, except that a slave was not to be admitted to +witness against a freeman.[241] The earlier special legislation was +repealed.[242] + +The act of 1780, which was principally the work of George Bryan,[243] +was the final, decisive step in the destruction of slavery in +Pennsylvania. The buying and selling of human beings as chattels +had become repugnant to the best thought of the state, and it had +partly passed away. The practice still survived, however, in many +quarters, and strengthened as it was by considerations of economy and +convenience, it would probably have gone on for many years. Against +this the abolition law struck a mortal blow. From the day of March 1, +1780, the little remnant of slavery slowly withered and passed away. +In the course of a generation, except for some scattered cases, it had +vanished altogether. + +Pennsylvania was the first state to pass an abolition law.[244] In +after years this became a matter of great pride. Her legislators and +statesmen frequently boasted of it. Not only was the priority a glory +in itself, but the manner in which Pennsylvania conceived the law, and +the success with which she carried it out, furnished the states that +lay near her a splendid example and a strong incentive which not a few +of them followed shortly thereafter.[245] + +Yet this law was open to some objections, and for different reasons +received much criticism. First, it was loosely and obscurely drawn in +some of its sections, and these gave rise to litigation.[246] In the +second place, it was largely ineffectual to prevent certain abuses +which had been foreseen when it was discussed, and which assumed +alarming proportions in a few years. Some Pennsylvanians openly kept up +the slave-trade outside of Pennsylvania, and masters within the state +sold their slaves into neighboring states, whither they sent also their +young negroes, who there remained slaves instead of acquiring freedom +at twenty-eight.[247] They even sent away for short periods their +female slaves when pregnant, so that the children might not be born on +the free soil of Pennsylvania. Besides this the kidnapping of free +negroes went on unchecked.[248] + +These practices did not escape unprotested. The Friends were +indefatigable in their efforts to stop them, and the government was +not disposed to allow the work of 1780 to be undone.[249] So in 1788 +was passed an act to explain and enforce the previous one. It provided +that the births of the children of slaves were to be registered; that +husband and wife were not to be separated more than ten miles without +their consent; that pregnant females should not be sent out of the +state pending their delivery; and it forbade the slave-trade under +penalty of one thousand pounds. Heavy punishments were provided for +such chicanery as had previously been employed.[250] + +This legislation was enforced by the courts in constructions which +favored freedom wherever possible. Exact justice was dealt out, but +if the master had neglected in the smallest degree to comply with the +precise conditions specified in the laws, whether through carelessness, +mistake, or unavoidable circumstance, the authorities generally +showed themselves glad to declare the slave free.[251] The Friends +and abolitionists were particularly active in hunting up pretexts +and instituting law-suits for the purpose of setting at liberty the +negroes of people who believed they were obeying the laws, but who had +neglected to comply with some technical point.[252] + +While these devotees of freedom were harassing the enemy they were +engaged in operations much more drastic. The laws for abolition, +respecting as they did the sacredness of right in property, had not +abrogated existing titles to slaves.[253] This the abolitionists +denounced as theft, and resolved to get justice by cutting out slavery +root and branch.[254] + +First they attacked it in the courts. The declaration of rights in the +constitution of 1790 declared that all men were born equally free and +independent, and had an inherent right to enjoy and defend life and +liberty.[255] In 1792 a committee of the House refused the petition of +some slaveholders on the ground that slavery was not only unlawful in +itself, but also repugnant to the constitution.[256] This point was +seized upon by the abolitionists, who resolved to test it before the +law. Accordingly they arranged the famous case of Negro Flora _v._ +Joseph Graisberry, and brought it up to the Supreme Court of the state +in 1795. It was not settled there, but went up to what was at that +time the ultimate judicial authority in Pennsylvania, the High Court +of Errors and Appeals. Some seven years after the question had first +been brought to law this august tribunal decided after lengthy and +able argument that negro slavery did legally exist before the adoption +of the constitution of 1790, and that it had not been abolished +thereby.[257] + +Failing to destroy slavery in the courts the abolitionists strove to +demolish it by legal enactment. For this purpose they began a campaign +that lasted for two generations. In 1793 the Friends petitioned the +Senate for the complete abolition of slavery, and in 1799 they sent a +memorial showing their deep concern at the keeping of slaves. In the +following year citizens of Philadelphia prayed for abolition, and a few +days later the free blacks of the city petitioned that their brethren +in bondage be set free, suggesting that a tax be laid upon themselves +to help compensate the masters dispossessed. The demand for freedom +was supported in other quarters of the state, and undoubtedly a strong +feeling was aroused. The Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of +Slavery began the practice, which it kept up for so many years, of +regularly memorializing the legislature. Later on some of the leading +men of the state took up the cause, and once the governor in his +message referred to the galling yoke of slavery and its stain upon the +commonwealth.[258] + +It is probable, however, that the majority of the people in the state +believed that enough had been done, and desired to see the little +remaining slavery quietly extinguished by the operation of such laws +as were effecting the extinction. Be this as it may, it is certain +that although many bills were proposed to effect total and immediate +abolition, some of which had good prospects of success, yet each one +was gradually pared of its most radical provisions, and in the end was +always found to lack the support requisite to make it a law. + +In 1797 the House had a resolution offered and a bill prepared for +abolition. This measure dragged along through the next two sessions, +but in 1800 so much encouragement came from the city and counties that +the work was carried on in earnest. The course of this bill illustrates +the progress of others. At first the proposed enfranchisement was to +be immediate and for all; then it was modified to affect only negroes +over twenty-eight. In this form it passed the House by a handsome +majority, but in the Senate it was postponed to the next session. When +finally its time came the committee having it in charge reported that +as slavery was not in accordance with the constitution of 1790, a law +to do away with slavery was not needed. The measure was still mentioned +as unfinished business about the time that the High Court decided that +slavery was in accordance with the constitution after all.[259] + +The abolitionists did not lose heart. They tried again in 1803, and +again the following year. In 1811 a little was done in the House, +and in 1821 the matter was discussed in the Senate. In this latter +year a bill was prepared and debated, but nothing passed except the +motion to postpone indefinitely. Indeed the movement had now spent its +force, and was thereafter confined to futile petitions that showed more +earnestness of purpose than expectation of success.[260] + +This is easily explicable when it is understood how rapidly slavery +had declined. The number of slaves in Pennsylvania had never been +large. By the first Federal census they were put at less than four +thousand; but within a decade they had diminished by more than half, +and ten years later there were only a few hundred scattered throughout +the state.[261] The majority of these slaves during the later years +were living in the western counties that bordered on Maryland and +Virginia, where slavery had begun latest and lingered longest.[262] In +Philadelphia and the older counties it had almost entirely disappeared. +So rapid was the decline that as early as 1805 the Pennsylvania +Abolition Society reported that in the future it would devote itself +less to seeking the liberation of negroes than to striving to improve +those already free. This could only mean that they were finding very +few to liberate.[263] + +That the decreasing agitation for the entire abolition of slavery in +Pennsylvania was due to the decline of slavery and not to any decrease +in hostility to it, is shown by the character of other legislation +demanded, and the readiness with which stringent laws were passed. +The act of 1780 permitted the resident of another state to bring his +slave into Pennsylvania and keep him there for six months.[264] A very +strong feeling developed against this. In 1795 it was necessary for the +Supreme Court to declare that such a right was valid. It was afterwards +decided, however, that if the master continued to take his slave in +and out of Pennsylvania for short periods, the slave should be free. +Again and again the legislature was asked to withdraw the privilege. +It is needless to recount the petitions that never ceased to come, +and at times poured in like a flood. At last the pressure of popular +feeling could no longer be held back, and after the legislation of +1847 following the memorable case of Prigg _v._ Pennsylvania, when a +slave was brought by his master within the bounds of Pennsylvania, that +moment by state law he was free.[265] + +Long before this time the passage through the state of slaves bound +with chains had awakened the pity of those who saw it.[266] In 1816 it +was decided that in certain cases if a runaway slave gave birth to a +child in Pennsylvania the child was free.[267] Later the legislature +forbade state officers to give any assistance in returning fugitives; +and at last lacked but little of giving fugitives trial by jury. + +If it be asked whether at this time Pennsylvania was not rather +decrying slavery among her neighbors than destroying it within her own +gates, since beyond denial she still had slavery there, it must be +answered that first, her slavery as regards magnitude was a veritable +mote, and secondly, since after 1830, for example, there was not +one slave in Pennsylvania under fifty years old, it was far more to +the advantage of the negroes to remain in servitude where the law +guaranteed them protection and good treatment, than to be set free, +when their color and their declining years would have rendered their +well-being doubtful. It is probable that such slavery as existed there +in the last years was based rather on the kindness of the master +and the devotion of the slave, than on the power of the one and the +suffering of the other. It was a peaceful passing away. And so in +connection with slavery Pennsylvania is seen to have been fortunate. +Seeing at an early time the pernicious consequences of such an +institution she was able, such were the circumstances of her economic +environment, and such was the character of her people, to check it so +effectually that it never assumed threatening bulk. Almost as quick +to perceive the evil of it, she acted, and while others moralized and +lamented, she set her slaves free. Moreover as if to atone for the +sin of slave-keeping she granted her freedmen such privileges that it +seemed to her ardent idealists that the future could not but promise +well. + +Whether this liberality came to be a matter of regret in after +years, and whether because of circumstances sure to come, but as yet +unforeseen, it was possible for the experience of Pennsylvania with her +free black population to be as happy as that with her slaves, it will +be the purpose of later chapters to enquire. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [200] Edmundson's _Journal_, 61. Janney, _History of the Friends_, + III, 178. + + [201] Pennypacker, "The Settlement of Germantown," in _Pa. Mag._, + IV, 28; McMaster, "The Abolition of Slavery in the United + States," in _Chatauquan_, XV, 24, 25 (Apr., 1892). For the + protest against slavery and the slave-trade (_De instauranda + Æthiopum Salute_, Madrid, 1647) of the Jesuit, Alfonso + Sandoval, _cf._ Saco, _Historia de la Esclavitud de la Raza + Africana en el Nuevo Mundo_, 253-256. + + [202] Pennypacker, _place cited_; Learned, _Life of Francis Daniel + Pastorius_, 261, 262. Facsimile of protest in Ridgway Branch + of the Library Company of Philadelphia. + + [203] The Monthly Meeting declared "we think it not expedient for us + to meddle with it here." Pennypacker, _place cited_, 30, 31. + + [204] Watson, _Annals_, II, 262. "An Exhortation and Caution To + Friends Concerning buying or keeping of Negroes," in _Pa. + Mag._, XIII, 265-270. This is said to have been the first + printed protest against slavery in America. _Cf._ Hildeburn, + _A Century of Printing_, etc., I, 28, 29; Gabriel Thomas, + _Account_, 53; Bettle, _Notes_, 367. + + [205] Clarkson, _Life of Penn_, II, 78, 79. + + [206] _Cf._ Bettle, 372. + + [207] _Ibid._, 373. + + [208] _Ibid._, 377. + + [209] "Whereas several Papers have been read relating to the keeping + and bringing in of Negroes ... it is the advice of this + Meeting, that Friends be careful not to encourage the bringing + in of any more Negroes" ... MS. "Negroes or Slaves," Yearly + Meeting Advices, 1682-1777 (1696). "This meeting is also + dissatisfied with Friends buying and incouriging the bringing + in of Negroes" ... MS. Chester Quarterly Meeting Minutes, 6 + 6th mo., 1711. "There having a conscern Come upon severall + friends belonging to this meeting Conscerning the Importation + of Negros ... after some time spent in the Consideration + thereof it is the Unanimous sence of this meeting that friends + should not be concerned hereafter in the Importation thereof + nor buy any" ... MS. Chester Monthly Meeting Minutes, 27 4th + mo., 1715. MS. Chester Quarterly Meeting Minutes, 1 6th mo., + 1715. "This meeting have been for some time under a Concern by + reason of the great Quantity of Negros fetched and imported + into this Country." _Ibid._, 11 6th mo., 1729. MS. Yearly + Meeting Minutes, 19-23 7th mo., 1730. As soon as Friends had + been brought to cease the importation of negroes, attack was + made upon the practice of Friends buying negroes imported by + others. _Cf._ MS. Chester Q. M. M., 11 6th mo., 1729; 9 9th + mo., 1730. The MS. Chester M. M. M. mention 100 books on the + slave-trade for circulation. + + [210] "We also kindly received your advice about negro slaves, and + we are one with you, that the multiplying of them, may be of + a dangerous consequence, and therefore a Law was made in + Pennsylvania laying Twenty pounds Duty upon every one imported + there, which Law the Queen was pleas'd to disanull, we would + heartily wish that a way might be found to stop the bringing + in more here, or at least that Friends may be less concerned + in buying or selling, of any that may be brought in, and hope + for your assistance with the Government if any farther Law + should be made discouraging the importation. We know not of + any Friend amongst us that has any hand or concern in bringing + any out of their own Country." MS. Yearly M. M., 22 7th mo., + 1714. This was written in reply to the London Yearly Meeting, + and alludes to the act passed in 1712. See above, p. 3. + + [211] See above, p. 65. _Cf._ also P. C. Plockhoy's principle laid + down in his _Kort en Klaer Ontwerp_ (Amsterdam, 1662): "No + lordship or servile slavery shall burden our Company." Quoted + in Pennypacker, _Settlement of Germantown_, 204, 292. + + [212] "The Germans seldom hire men to work upon their farms." Rush, + _An Account of the Manners of the German Inhabitants of + Pennsylvania_ (1789), 24. "They never, as a general thing, + had colored servants or slaves." _Ibid._, 24 (note by Rupp). + "Slaves in Pennsylvania never were as numerous in proportion + to the white population as in New York and New Jersey. To our + German population this is certainly attributable--Wherever + they or their numerous descendants located they preferred + _their own_ labor to that of negro slaves." Buck, MS. _History + of Bucks County_, 69. "Of all the nations who have settled in + America, the Germans have availed themselves the least of the + unjust and demoralizing aid of slavery." W. Grimshaw, _History + of the United States_, 79. The truth of these statements is + revealed in the tax-lists of the different counties. Thus, + in Berks County there were 2692 German tax-payers (61%) and + 1724 (39%) not Germans. Of these 44 Germans held 62 slaves, + and 57 of other nationalities held 92 slaves. 3 _Pa. Arch._, + XVIII, 303-430. In York County, where there were 2051 German + property-holders (34%) and 3993 who were not Germans (66%), + 27 Germans held 44 slaves as against 178 others who held 319 + slaves. 3 _Pa. Arch._, XXI, 165-324. (Both these estimates are + for 1780.) In Lancaster County the property-holders included + approximately 3475 Germans (48%) and 3706 not Germans (52%). + Here 31 Germans held 46 slaves, while 200 not Germans held 402 + slaves. 3 _Pa. Arch._, XVII, 489-685 (1779). The records of + the German churches rarely mention slaves. + + [213] The small number of negroes in Pennsylvania was often + noticed. Burnaby, _Travels through the Middle Settlements_, + 63, said "there are few negroes or slaves" ... (1759), + Anburey, _Travels through the Interior Parts of America_, II, + 280-281, said, "The Pennsylvanians ... are more industrious + of themselves, having but few blacks among them." (1778). + _Cf._ Proud, _History_, II, 274. Estimates as to the number + of Germans in Pennsylvania vary from 3/5 (1747, _cf._ Rupp's + note in Rush, _Account_, 1) to 1/3 (1789, _ibid._, 54). For + many estimates _cf._ Diffenderffer, _German Immigration into + Pennsylvania_, pt. II, _The Redemptioners_, 99-108. Some few + Germans had intended to hold slaves from the first. _Cf._ the + articles of agreement between the members of the Frankfort + Company (1686): ... "alle ... leibeigenen Menschen ... sollen + unter Allen Interessenten pro rato der Ackerzahl gemein seyn." + MS. in possession of S. W. Pennypacker, Philadelphia. + + [214] Watson, (MS.) Annals, 530. The same spirit is apparent much + later. "There generally appeared an uneasiness in their minds + respecting them, tho all are not so fully convinced of the + Iniquity of the practice as to get over the difficulty which + they apprehend would attend their giving them their liberty" + ... MS. Abstract Rec. Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, 278 (1770). + "Perhaps thou wilt say, 'I do not buy any negroes: I only use + those left me by my father.' But is it enough to satisfy your + own conscience?" Benezet, _Notes on the Slave Trade_, 8. + + [215] _Votes and Proceedings_, II, 110; _The Friend_, XXVIII, 293, + and following; A. C. Thomas, "The Attitude of the Society + of Friends toward Slavery in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth + Centuries, Particularly in Relation to Its Own Members," in + _Amer. Soc. Church History_, VIII, 273, 274. + + [216] "Ralph Sandiford C^r for Cash receiv'd of Benj^a Lay for 50 + of his Books which he intends to give away ... 10" (sh.) MS. + Benjamin Franklin's Account Book, Feb. 28, 1732-1733. + + [217] Sandiford, _Mystery of Iniquity_, 43; Vaux, _Memoirs of the + Lives of Benjamin Lay and Ralph Sandiford_; _The Friend_, L, + 170; Thomas, _Attitude_, 274; Franklin, _Works_ (ed. Sparks), + X, 403. + + [218] _Cf. American Weekly Mercury_, Nov. 2, 1738, for notice in + which the Friends' Meeting denounces his _All Slave-Keepers + ... Apostates_ (1737). _Cf._ anecdotes related by Vaux; + Bettle, _Notices_, 375, 376; _The Friend_, L, 170; Thomas, + _Attitude_, 274. + + [219] Bettle, _Notices_, 378-382; Thomas, _Attitude_, 245, 275-279; + Tyler, _Literary History of the American Revolution_, II, + 339-347; _The Friend_, LIII, 190; Woolman, _Journal_. + + [220] Vaux, _Memoirs of Benezet_; _The Friend_, LXXI, 369; Thomas, + 274, 275; Bettle, 382-387; Benezet's own writings. + + [221] Thomas, 273. There must have been a great many other reformers + of considerable influence, but of less fame, about whose + work little has come down. _Cf._ "Thos. Nicholson on Keeping + Negroes" (1767). MS. in Misc. Coll., Box 10, Negroes. + + [222] _Cf._ MS. Chester Q. M. M., 14 6th mo., 1738; 8 6th mo., 1743. + + [223] Needles, _Memoir_, 13. + + [224] Bettle, 377. + + [225] The MS. Chester Q. M. M., 8 8th mo., 1763, say ... "we are not + quite clear of dealing in Negro's, but care is taken mostly + to discourage it ...." Three years later they add ... "clear + of importing or purchasing Negro's." _Ibid._, 11 8th mo., + 1766. _Cf._ also _ibid._, 10 8th mo., 1767; MS. Chester M. + M. Miscellaneous Papers, 28 1st mo., 1765; MS. Darby M. M. + M., II, 11, 12, 16, 19, (1764), 24, 27, 31, 33, 35, 38, 40, + 42, 45, 46, (1764-1765). These references concern the case of + Enoch Eliot, who, having purchased two negroes, was repeatedly + urged to set them free, and finally did so. MS. Abstract Rec. + Abington M. M., 28 7th mo., 1760; 25 8th mo., 1760. "One of + the fr^{ds} app^d to visit Jonathan Jones reports they all had + an oppertunity With him s^d Jonathan, and that he gave them + exspectation of not making any more purchases of that kind, as + also he is sorry for the purchace he did make" ... _Ibid._, 24 + 11th mo., 1760; also _ibid._, 24 11th mo., 1760; 20 9th mo., + 1762; 29 10th mo., 1764. + + [226] MS. Yearly M. M., 23-29 9th mo., 1758, where Friends are + earnestly entreated to "sett them at Liberty, making a + Christian Provision for them according to their Ages etc".... + _Cf._ report about George Ragan: ... "as to his Buying and + selling a Negro, he saith he Cannot see the Evil thereof, and + therefore cannot make any satisfaction, and as he has been + much Laboured with by this m^g to bring him to a sight of his + Error, This m^g therefore agreeable to a minute of our Yearly + M^g can do no Less than so far Testify ag^st him ... as not to + Receive his Collections, neither is he to sit in our m^{gs} + for Discipline until he can see his Error" ... MS. Abst. + Abington M. M., 288 (1761). _Cf._ Michener, _Retrospect of + Early Quakerism_, 346, 347; _A Brief Statement of the rise and + Progress of the Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends, + against Slavery and the Slave Trade_, 21-24; Sharpless, _A + History of Quaker Government in Pennsylvania_, II, 229; + Needles, 13. For the fervid feeling at this time _cf._ + _Journal of John Churchman_ (1756), in _Friends' Library_, VI, + 236. + + [227] Bettle, 378; Sharpless, II, 229. _Cf._ also _Journal of Daniel + Stanton_, in _Friends' Library_, XII, 167. + + [228] MS. Abst. Abington M. M., 328, 336, 347, 351, 358, 368, 372, + 398; MS. Min. Sadsbury M. M., 1737-8--1783, pp. 270, 290; MS. + Min. Radnor M. M., 1772-1782, pp. 63, 66, 71, 102, 103, 107, + etc.; MS. Min. Women's Q. M., Bucks Co., 26 8th mo., 1779; 30 + 8th mo., 1781; MS. Darby M. M. M., II, 87, 91, 93, (1769), 178 + (1774), 180, 181, 184, 186, 190 (1775), 309, 312 (1780); MS. + Women's Min. Darby M. M., 2 2d mo., 1775; 30 3rd mo., 1775; 3 + 8th mo., 1780; 31 8th mo., 1780; MS. Extracts Buckingham M. + M., 128, 130, 136 (1767-1768); MS. Diary of Richard Barnard, + 24 9th mo., 1774; 7 6th mo., 1780; MS. Journal of Joshua + Brown, 11th mo., 1775; above all the MS. Diary of James Moon, + _passim_. _Cf._ Sharpless, _Quakerism and Politics_, 159-178; + Whittier's introduction to John Woolman's _Journal_. + + [229] Futhey and Cope, _History of Chester Co._, 423. + + [230] _Cf._ Abst. Rec. Gwynedd M. M., 201, 204, 213, 218, 240, 270, + 271, 273, 278, 280, 307, 311, 312, 316, 321, 322, 323, 336, + 348, 374, 471; MS. Papers Middletown M. M., 1759-1786, pp. + 386, 388, 389, 390; Franklin, _Works_, (ed. Sparks). VIII, 42. + + [231] _Brief Statement_, 49. + + [232] MS. Yearly M. M., 27 9th mo., 1776; _Brief Statement_, 24-27; + Needles, 13; Thomas, 245; Sharpless, _History of Quaker + Government in Pennsylvania_, II, 138, 139. + + [233] _Brief Statement_, 31-35; Needles, 13; Sharpless, II, 226. + For some years the Meetings continued to make regular reports + on this subject. "7th No Slaves among us and such of their + Offspring as are under our Care are generally pretty well + provided for." MS. Rec. Warrington Q. M., 25 8th mo., 1788. + + [234] In the absence of a plantation system slavery in Pennsylvania + never was profitable in the same sense as in Virginia or South + Carolina, and where white labor could be obtained slavery + could not compete. _Cf._ Franklin, _Works_, II, 314, 315 + (1751). But as it was almost impossible to obtain sufficient + white labor, or at least to retain it, slavery as it existed + in Pennsylvania was profitable throughout the colonial period. + For the strong desire to import, see above, chap. I. For + the high prices paid in the first quarter of the nineteenth + century for the right to hold negroes to the age of 28, see + below, p. 94. + + [235] This is my judgment after a careful investigation of the + Friends' records. Adam Smith, who had not seen these records, + but who wrote just when the work was being completed, thought + differently. _Wealth of Nations_ (ed. Rogers), I, 391. + + [236] Other sects followed the example of the Friends, _cf._ + Ebeling, IV, 220, but their work was mostly significant in + connection with the legislative work of the Assembly. For the + effects of the work of the Friends _cf._ Bowden, _History of + the Friends_, II, 221. + + [237] _Votes and Proceedings_, 1767-1776, p. 696. + + [238] 1 _Pa. Arch._, VII, 79; _Journal of House of Rep._, 1776-1781, + p. 311. + + [239] _Col. Rec._, XII, 99; _Pa. Packet_, Sept. 16, 1779; _Journals + of House, 1776-1781_, pp. 392, 394, 399, 412, 424, 435; + _Packet_, Mar. 13, 1779; Dec. 25, 1779; Jan. 1, 1780; + _Gazette_, Dec. 29, 1779; Vaux, _Memoirs of Benezet_, 92. The + distribution of the vote seems to have had no political, no + religious, and probably no economic significance. The measure + was popular in and out of the Assembly. _Packet_, Dec. 25, + 1779; _Jour. of House, 1776-1781_, p. 435. An earlier bill + had been published in the _Packet_, Mar. 4, 1779. It is very + interesting. The bill as finally drafted became the first act + for the abolition of slavery in the United States. Accordingly + its authors had to do much original and constructive work. + In the course of the work their ideas underwent some change, + and the transition is easily seen in comparing the first bill + of 1779 with the act as passed in 1780. In some respects the + first is more liberal than the second; in other respects + less so. Thus at first it was intended to make the children + of slaves servants until twenty-one only. (_Packet_, Mar. 4, + 1779). "A Citizen" discussing this objected that the master + would receive inadequate compensation for rearing negro + children, and urged that the age limit be made twenty-eight + or even thirty. (_Packet_, Mar. 13, 1779), and so pay for the + unproductive years, which was but just. The law made the age + twenty-eight. On the other hand it was at first proposed to + continue the prohibition of intermarriage and the permission + to bind out idle free negroes. (_Packet_, Mar. 4, 1779). Both + these provisions were omitted from the law. + + [240] _Stat. at L._, X, 67-73; 2 Sergeant and Rawle, 305-309. Many + of the Friends thought that negroes ought not to be held after + they were twenty-one. _Cf._ MS. Rec. Pa. Soc. Abol. Sl., I, + 23. Very many masters lost their negroes through failing to + register them, through ignorance of the provision requiring + registry, or through carelessness in complying with it. _Cf._ + Rush, _Considerations upon the Present Test-Law_, (2nd ed.), 7 + (note); _Journals of House, 1776-1781_, p. 537, and following; + 4 _Pa. Arch._, III, 822. _Cf._ Christopher Marshall's + Remembrancer, F, Oct. 10, 1780: ... "gott our Negro Recorded." + _Cf. York Herald_, Apr. 26, 1797. The limit was extended + to Jan. 1, 1783, in favor of the citizens of Washington and + Westmoreland counties, previously under the jurisdiction of + Virginia. _Stat. at L._, X, 463. Runaways from other states + were of course not made free by this provision. _Cf._ sect. + VIII of act. + + [241] The repeal of this section was proposed the next year, but + failed by three votes. _Cf. Journals of House, 1776-1781_, + p. 605. It was finally repealed in 1847. + + [242] Sect. X of act. + + [243] For the view that it was drafted by William Lewis, _cf. Pa. + Mag._, XIV, 14; Robert E. Randall, _Speech on the Laws of the + State relative to Fugitive Slaves_, 6; Horace Binney, _Leaders + of the Old Bar of Philadelphia_, 25. There can be little + doubt, however, that full credit should be given to Bryan. + "He framed and executed the 'act'" ... Obituary notice in the + _Gazette_, Feb. 2, 1791. _Cf._ inscription on his tomb-stone, + copy in Inscriptions in the Burying Ground of the Second + Presbyterian Church Phila. (MS. H. S. P.); _Mem. Hist. Soc. + Pa._, I, 408-410; Konkle, _Life and Times of Thomas Smith_, + 105. + + [244] Vermont had forbidden slavery by her constitution of 1777. + Poore, II, 1859. + + [245] Its significance in this respect is remarked by Bowden, + _History of the Friends_, II, 220. Connecticut and Rhode + Island provided for abolition in 1784, New York in 1799, New + Jersey in 1804. The same was accomplished in Massachusetts + in 1780, and in New Hampshire in 1792, by construction of + the constitution. Among many instances where Pennsylvania + pointed to her great act with pride, _cf. Acts of Assembly, + 1819-20_, p. 199; 4 _Pa. Arch._, VI, 242, 290. Albert + Gallatin, writing to Charles Brown, Mar. 1, 1838, says: "It is + indeed a great subject of pride ... that as one of the United + States she was the first to abolish slavery" ... _Writings_ + (ed. Adams), II, 523, 524. + + [246] 1 Dallas 469; 14 Sergeant and Rawle 443-446; 1 _Pa. Arch._, + VIII, 720. + + [247] _Pa. Mag._, XV, 372, 373. The selling-price elsewhere was + greater since it included the price of the posterity. + + [248] Brissot de Warville, _Mémoire sur les Noirs de l'Amérique + Septentrionale_, 19. + + [249] _Minutes of Assembly, 1787-1788_, pp. 104, 134, 135, 137, + 159, 164, 177, 197; _Packet_, Mar. 13, 1788; _Diary of Jacob + Hiltzheimer_, 144. + + [250] _Laws of Pennsylvania_ (Carey and Bioren), III, 268-272. + Despite this many negroes continued to be sold out of the + state, and in 1795 the Pa. Soc. Abol. Sl. was asking for a + more stringent law. _Cf._ MS. Rec. of Soc., IV, 191. Also + MS. Supreme Court Papers, nos. 3, 4, (1795). As late as 1796 + the author of the _Reise von Hamburg nach Philadelphia_ + says: "Häufig kommen, in Philadelphia vorzüglich ... grosze + Transporte von Sclaven von Africa vorüber," p. 24. + + [251] 1 Dallas 491, 492; 2 Dallas 224-228; 3 Sergeant and Rawle + 396-402; 2 Yeates 234, 449; 3 _id._ 259-261; 4 _id._ 115, 116; + 6 Binney 206-211; MS. Sup. Ct. Papers, I, 1; MS. Rec. Pa. Soc. + Abol. Sl., I, 197. + + [252] 2 Rawle, 204-206; 1 Penrose and Watts 93. _Cf. Min. of + Assembly, 1785-1786_, pp. 168, 169. + + [253] 14 Sergeant and Rawle 442; Brissot, _Mémoire_, 20. + + [254] Brissot, _Mémoire_, 21. _Cf._ the severe censure in _Why + Colored People in Philadelphia Are Excluded from the Street + Cars_ (1866), 23. + + [255] Art. IX, sect. 1. + + [256] _Journal of the House, 1792-1793_, pp. 39, 55. + + [257] MS. Docket Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, XXVII, 379. The suit + was on a writ "de homine replegiando." _Cf._ Stroud, _Sketch + of the Laws Relating to Slavery in the Several States of the + United States of America_ (2d ed.), 227 (note); MS. Docket + of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, 1780-1808, p. 126; + _Pa. Gazette_, Feb. 3, 1802; Report of Pa. Soc. Abol. Sl. in + _Minutes Sixth Convention Abol. Soc., Phila., 1800_, p. 7. + It was the different decision of an exactly similar question + that abolished slavery in Massachusetts. _Cf._ Littleton _v._ + Tuttle, 4 Massachusetts 128. + + [258] _Journal of Senate, 1792-1793_, pp. 150, 151; _1798-1799_, p. + 149; _J. of H., 1799-1800_, pp. 76, 123, 153, 160, 172, 190; + _J. of S., 1799-1800_, p. 223; _J. of S., 1800-1801_, pp. 134, + 135; _J. of H., 1802-1803_, p. 218; _J. of H., 1811-1812_, pp. + 24, 216; 4 _Pa. Arch._, IV, 757, for Governor Snyder's message. + + [259] _J. of H., 1796-1797_, pp. 283, 308, 354, 355; _J. of H., + 1797-1798_, pp. 75, 269; _J. of H., 1798-1799_, pp. 20, 354; + _J. of H., 1799-1800_, pp. 23, 76, 93, 123, 153, 160, 162, + 172, 176, 190, 236, 303, 304, 306, 309, 310, 313, 314, 330, + 358, 376; _J. of S., 1799-1800_, pp. 144, 223, 235. The bill + passed the House 54 to 15. _J. of S., 1800-1801_, p. 175; _J. + of S., 1801-1802_, p. 24. + + [260] _J. of H., 1802-1803_, pp. 361, 362; _1804-1805_, p. 61; _Pa. + Gazette_, Feb. 1, 1804; _J. of H., 1811-1812_, pp. 58, 67, + 216; _J. of. S., 1820-1821_, p. 33; _Phila. Gazette_, Mar. + 6, 1821; _J. of S., 1820-1821_, pp. 105, 308, 469, 531, 532, + 535, 536. For the provisions of such a bill--the abolition + of slavery and of servitude until twenty-eight--compensation + of owners--permission for negroes to remain slaves if they + so desired--_cf. House Report_ no. 399 (1826); _J. of H., + 1825-1826_, pp. 370, 375, 396, 497, 498. Also _J. of S., + 1841_, vol. I, 249, 294. + + [261] The numbers were 1790, _3737_; 1800, _1706_; 1810, _795_; + 1820, _211_; 1830, _67_; 1840, _64_ (?). The U. S. Census + Reports do not mention any after 1840, but it is said that + James Clark of Donegal Township, Lancaster County, held a + slave in 1860. _Cf._ W. J. McKnight, _Pioneer Outline History + of Northwestern Pennsylvania_, 311. It is necessary to remark + that the U. S. Census reported _386_ as the number of slaves + in 1830. As this was in increase of 175 over the number + reported in 1820, it aroused consternation in Pennsylvania and + amazement elsewhere, so that a committee of the Senate was + immediately appointed to investigate. Their account showed + that there had been no increase but a substantial diminution + in numbers; and that the U. S. officers had been grossly + careless, if not positively ignorant in their work. _J. of S., + 1832-1833_, vol. I, 141, 148, 482-487; _Hazard's Register_, + IV, 380; IX, 270-272, 395; XI, 158, 159; _African Repository + and Colonial Journal_, VII, 315. + + [262] _Cf. J. of S., 1821-1822_, pp. 214, 215. + + [263] _Minutes Tenth American Convention Abol. Sl., Phila., 1805_, + p. 13. + + [264] _Stat. at L._, X, 71. + + [265] Respublica _v._ Richards, 2 Dallas 224-228; Commonwealth _v._ + Smyth, 1 Browne 113, 114; _Laws of Assembly, 1847_, p. 208. + This law was affirmed by the courts in 1849. Kauffman _v._ + Oliver 10 _Pa. State Rep._ (Barr), 517-518. It was at times + contested by the citizens of other states, as in the famous + episode of J. H. Wheeler's slaves in 1855. _Cf. Narrative of + Facts in the Case of Passmore Williamson_. In this case the + Federal District Court held that Pa. had no jurisdiction over + the right of transit. In 1860 a negress was brought from Va. + to Pa. She was at once told that she was free; but when her + master returned she went back with him. _Phila. Inquirer_, + Aug. 29, 1860. + + [266] _J. of H., 1821-1822_, pp. 628, 637, 950; _J. of S., + 1821-1822_, pp. 325, 330, 331. For a vivid description _cf._ + Parrish, _Remarks on the Slavery of the Black People_ (1806), + 21. + + [267] If the mother had absconded before she became pregnant. + Commonwealth _v._ Holloway (1816), 2 Sergeant and Rawle 305. + _Cf. Niles's Weekly Register_, X, 400. + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. + + +Edward Raymond Turner was born May 28, 1881, in Baltimore, Maryland, +where he obtained his earlier education. After receiving the degree of +Bachelor of Arts at St. Johns College, Annapolis, 1904, he taught in +the Baltimore schools. He entered the Johns Hopkins University in 1907, +and was Fellow in History 1909-1910. + + +Transcriber's Note + +A reference to p. 111 in note 87 on p. 29 seems incorrect. The +final page of this text is p. 88. + +The following likely printer's errors were corrected: + + p. 7 The Manufac[t]urer Added. + + p. 26 Cf / _Cf_ Italic. + + p. 27 n. 30 _Col. Rec._[,] I, 61; Added. + + p. 47 n. 40 [_in Mem./in _Mem.] Hist. Soc. Pa._ Font error. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Slavery in Pennsylvania, by Edward Raymond Turner + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44579 *** |