Freedom versus slavery in the United States, 1619-1865

Contents

Chapter. Page.

I. The Colonial Period (1619-1776) 5

II. The Revolutionary Period (1776-1789) . . . 15

CHAPTER I. Two Voyages

In the early years of the seventeenth century, there took place two important voyages from England to America. One of the vessels was named the Treasurer, and the other was the Mayflower. A period of only sixteen months separated their arrival in America. One of these ships brought slaves, while the other carried the Pilgrim fathers. The Treasurer was loaded with black men; ignorant, savage, manacled, scourged by the lash, and brutalized by former slavery; the Mayflower brought men and women deeply religious; some of them were cultured, and all were sternly devoted to what they thought was just and right.

The Treasurer.

In April, 161 8, the Treasurer, commanded by Captain Daniel Elfrith, left England and arrived in Virginia late in the summer of the same year. As Captain Elfrith had, from the Duke of Savoy, only a commission empowering him to seize the property of Spaniards, he was little better than a pirate, as England was then at peace with Spain. Gov. Argall of Virginia, who aided in refitting the vessel, supplied her with the most desperate men he could find. Captain Elfrith then left Virginia for the Barbadoes, where he remained six weeks in the winter of 1 618-19. In the following spring, he set out on a roving voyage, no record of which has been kept ; but in September, 1 619, the Treasurer, in consort with the "man-ofwar of Flushing," returned to Jamestown, Virginia, with a cargo of negroes, grain, wax, and tallow. This man-of-war was to protect the Treasurer, and its captain, John Powell, also held from the Duke of Savoy a commission which empowered him to plunder the Spaniards. One or both of these vessels landed twenty negroes at Jamestown. Thus, slavery began in the colonies.

The Mayflower.

The Mayflower left Plymouth, England, September 16, 1620. A steady wind bore the vessel out to mid-ocean, where a succession of terrible storms compelled the ship to "lie to" for several days. One of the main beams was broken by the force of the great waves. There on an open sea, a thousand miles from either shore, at the mercy of wind and wave and storm, waited and watched and prayed, one hundred men, women, and children. These were the Puritans crossing a great ocean and to a new world, for conscience' sake. On December 21, 1620, they landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. That was the birthday of New England ; and the rock, on which they landed, which is still pointed out to travelers, will not be forgotten as long as the sea continues to wash it.

Two Economic Groups.

What had these two voyages to do with each other ? Everything. From them came two great movements hostile to each other, and extending over two and a half centuries of our history. The Treasurer began the course of slavery; the Mayflower, that of wage labor. From the introduction of slavery in 1619, until its abolition in 1865, there was not an hour when these hostile forces did not gather strength or meet in open conflict. For the first two centuries, from 1619 to 1 81 9, both sides gathered strength for the contest. From 1820 to i860, the two groups met in intellectual and moral conflict for the possession of new territory and political power. But the Civil War closed this long conflict. By a thousand battles, four years of great endeavor, billions of debt, and millions of armed men, two hundred and forty-six years of shameful history were ended and four million slaves were set free.

John Hawkins.

Fifty-seven years before the voyage of the Treasurer, John Hawkins, commanding three small vessels, the Soloman, the Swallow, and the Jonas, sailed from England in October, 1562. Going by way of the Canary Islands to Sierra Leone, where he collected three hundred negroes, he crossed westward to San Domingo, where he sold them at an enormous profit. He then returned to England. Two years later, when he made the same voyage he became the hero of the hour in London. In this trade with the Spanish plantations, he had boldly disobeyed the orders of the Spanish king, who desired that such trade should be held by Spaniards only. On his return, Hawkins had openly boasted of his exploits, and had even told De Silva, the ambassador of Philip king of Spain, that he should soon go on another voyage of the same kind. De Silva wrote to Philip, whose lively interest was at once shown by the startled exclamations, "Ojo! Ojo!" which he inscribed in the margin of his ambassador's letter. In 1567, Hawkins left England on his third voyage, sold his negroes in the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, and while skirting the coast of Cuba, was caught in a storm and driven to Mexico near Vera Cruz. Here he was betrayed by Spanish officials acting under Philip's orders, and with a few men, barely escaped to England.

The Royal African Company.

Hawkins's work was the beginning of the English slave trade between Africa and America. But for the next hundred years very few negroes were brought into the North American colonies. During this period, three African trading companies were chartered by the kings of England ; but the last of these surrendered its charter in 1672, and a new trading company, called the Royal African Company, was given a charter to trade in Africa and to send slaves to America. This new company had a capital of $500,000, and paid the old company $175,000 for its forts and warehouses in Africa. It had agencies in London where merchants of that city gave orders for slaves, just as they did for other merchandise. The planters in the colonies sent their orders for slaves to the London merchants. In 1 71 3, Spain and England formed the Assiento, or treaty, by which the Royal African Company obtained a complete monopoly of the slave trade for thirty years. The Company agreed to pay the king of Spain 200,- 000 florins and 333^ florins for each slave imported into Spain. The sovereigns of England and Spain were each to receive one-fourth of the profits of the Company. The Company agreed to furnish the colonies 144,000 thousand slaves in the thirty years, at the rate of 4,800 each year, but was permitted to supply as many more negroes as it could sell. The Royal African Company as an exclusive trading body ceased in 1750, when Parliament threw open the slave trade to any merchant who would pay a fee of forty shillings.

The Slave Trade.

By means of these companies, a steady stream of negroes flowed into the new world. For a hundred years before the American Revolution, thousands of black men were unloaded and sold each year at the American ports. From 1680 to 1688, the Royal African Company sent 249 ships from England to Africa and transported 60,000 slaves to America. Nor were English merchants alone responsible for this trade. Each year saw numerous slavers leave Boston, Salem, Providence, and Newport, to engage in the trade. By the year 1700, the number of negroes taken annually rose to 25,000, and from 1733 to 1750 the number averaged more than 20,000 each year. Probably more than half of all these were sold to the North American colonies. By 1775, more than 300,000 negroes had been sold as slaves along the coast from Maine to Georgia.

The Middle Passage.

When taken in connection with the capture of the negroes on the African coast and the horrors of the "Middle Passage" to America, these figures are appalling. When the slaver lay at anchor on the African coast, bands of armed men went to the interior, seized the wretched victims, bound them back to back, and in the morning put them, tied hand and foot, on board the slave ship. The "Middle Passage" was a long voyage from the west coast of Africa to the new world, and under a hot and burning sky. For more than three thousand miles in the torrid zone, the slave ship formed the worst of prisons. Sometimes as many as five hundred negroes were crowded on board a small vessel of only two hundred tons. In the morning, all the captives were compelled to come up on deck to "dance" for exercise. If one refused, the fearful cat-o'-nine-tails was used. Open rebellion meant instant death. Those who were disorderly suffered the thumb-screws, or were chained by the neck and limbs. The daily food was salt pork and beans. At sunset, all were driven below and forced to lie side by side on the bare boards. To prevent mutiny, whole rows were chained together on the floor. Here, at night, the air grew thick and hot; diseases were communicated; curses and groans and sobbings were heard ; and in the morning, exhausted and feverish, the slaves went to the deck. On a stormy voyage, it was still worse. At such times, all were driven below, the ■hatches were securely fastened down, so that all ventilation ceased. When the storm was past, those who were alive were allowed to come forth with parched mouths and swollen tongues. Sometimes one-half or

THE COLONIAL PERIOD. II

even two-thirds of all the negroes died on the "Middle Passage;" but the average loss of life was from ten to fifteen out of every hundred.

Distribution of Slaves: 1619-1775.

Slaves were held in all of the thirteen colonies. In 1775, from New Hampshire to Georgia inclusive, the whites numbered about 2,000,000 and the blacks 500,000; but five-sixths of all the slaves were held south of the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. In the four New England colonies, there v^^ere not far from 25,000 slaves. In the four middle colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, the negroes numbered about 50,000. In the remaining five colonies, the slaves numbered over 425,000. In 1775, in the New England colonies, there were forty-two whites to one black, and in the four middle colonies, thirteen to one; but in the five southern colonies, the slaves outnumbered the whites.

Slave Laws.

By law in each of the thirteen colonies, the slave was the property of his master ; he might be bought, sold, leased, loaned, bequeathed by will, mortgaged and seized for debt, and' could neither hold nor acquire property. The clothes that he wore, the cabin in which he lived, and the wife and children who toiled vvith him in the fields, belonged to his master. The slave might be punished as the master saw fit, and if death resulted, the law presumed the master innocent on the ground that he would not intentionally destroy his own property. The usual legal punishments were starvation, crucifixion, and burning. If a slave ran away, he at once became an outlaw, and was hunted as an animal. He could not leave the plantation without a written permit, and if found without one, might be whipped by each person into whose hands he fell, until he was returned to his master. He could not own a gun or any weapon of defense. The law forbade him to wander about at night or to assemble at feasts or funerals or any gatherings in parties of more than seven. Three facts modify our view of these severe laws: harsh laws were common at that time; the savage nature of many newly arrived slaves made strict restraint necessary; and the natural kindness of the owners prevented any general execution of the laws.

Condition of Slaves.

It is certain that outside of the Carolinas and Georgia the slaves were well and mildly treated. They had sufficient food, they were fairly well clothed, and not overworked or often beaten. In the northern and middle colonies, they were employed as house servants or for all kinds of menial work in the cities. In the southern colonies, they toiled in the fields in the cultivation of tobacco, indigo, and rice. In Connecticut only one or two slaves were held by one person, while in Maryland, one wealthy planter owned thirteen hundred, and one planter in Virginia, nine hundred slaves. The average number of slaves on each Carolina plantation was thirty. Each plantation was a community by itself; all the trades being represented. Part of the slaves were house servants; one was his master's coachman, another a blacksmith or a carpenter, and still others were field hands. The "negro quarter" was a collection of small, whitewashed cabins where the slaves of the plantation lived. Here they gathered after the day's work was over, told stories, sang songs, and watched their children at play. They were fond of music and delighted in brilliant colors. They were densely ignorant and superstitious. When night came on, they gathered in groups in the firelight, with their eyes rolling in terror at the stories of witches, ghosts, and devils. They called the planter's home with its large rooms and spacious hallway in the center, the "great house." Around it were fine driveways and acres of well-kept grounds covered with stately oak trees which cast their deep shadows in the long summer of the South.

The North and the South Contrasted. The North in 1776, comprised the eight colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. This area of 126,860 square miles extended westward only to the Alleghanies. The total population was about 1,750,000, less than one twentieth of whom were negroes. The South consisted of the five colonies of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. This slave belt of 196,955 square miles, limited also by the Alleghanies, had a total population of about 750,000, more than one-half of whom were slaves. The North had small farms and numerous villages and towns; the South had large plantations and few towns. The North had a flourishing foreign commerce, while the South was mainly engaged in agriculture.

Absence of Conflict from 1619 to 1776.

During the colonial period, there was almost no contest between the sections. They were not united politically, and were separated by physical barriers. The worst of roads were common until long after the Revolution. The system of hand labor, used everywhere in the colonies, even with the greater skill of the wage laborer, could not make the two groups competitive. Slaves were held in every northern colony; but the long winters, the many industries demanding more or less skill, and the constant immigration of free laborers, proved that wage-labor was actually cheaper and more effective than ignorant slave labor. This economic fact, rather than sentiments of liberty, caused slavery to disappear from the North. Nor was there any general feeling against slaveholding. On the contrary, many of the best families of New England held a few slaves or engaged in the profitable slave trade. The large shipping interests of New England which demanded employment, were not over scrupulous where it might be obtained. But in the South, with its mild climate and the simple forms of labor on the plantation, slave labor was, no doubt, cheaper. Each section worked out its own economic interests with no resulting conflict, until each needed the same political power or the same territory.

Chapter II. The Revolutionary Period. (1776-1789.)

Voices of Freedom.

In 1775, over 400,000 slaves toiled in the tobacco, rice, and indigo fields of the South ; but their hard lot had been noticed, and from time to time, sympathetic voices had been heard in their behalf. Though these voices of freedom were scattered far and wide, and heard only at intervals, yet they were not raised in vain. They were like the prelude to some great piece of music, whose first clear notes dying away in silence, break at last into full volume.

Quakers and Methodists.

The first recorded petition against slavery in the colonies was drawn up by some Quakers of Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1688.. They said it was "not lawful to buy or keep slaves." This was only six years after Philadelphia was founded. William Penn held slaves, but in his will made them free at his death. In 1758, the Society of Friends forbade any slave-buyer to sit in their meetings. Through the influence of the Quakers, thousands of slaves were set free by their masters. But the Friends were not the only religious body that spoke for freedom. In 1780, the Methol6 FREEDOM VS. SLAVERY.

dists, at their eighth conference, voted "slave-keeping hurtful to society and contrary to the laws of God, man, and nature." Five years later, the Methodist conferences of Virginia and North Carolina asked the assemblies of those States to abolish slavery. The first prominent abolitionist was the Rev. Samuel Hopkins of Rhode Island. During the Revolution, he published an argument for abolition in the form of a dialogue, and dedicated it to Congress.

Opinions of the Fathers.

Washington spoke and wrote against slavery. His most intimate friend and neighbor, George Mason, spoke bitterly of the system. Patrick Henry poured out his scorn for the wrong. Thomas Jefferson wrote, 'T tremble for my country when I reflect that God is justice and that his justice cannot sleep forever." Benjamin Franklin was president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. Richard Henry Lee and Edmund Randolph desired freedom for all slaves. James Madison said that the words, "slave" and "slavery" were not used in the national constitution because the men who sat in the great convention of 1787 would not admit that there could be property in human beings. Thus, everywhere and by everybody, slavery was looked upon as a wrong, and it was not long before numerous societies were formed to abolish the evil.

Abolition Societies.

The first abolition society was organized in Pennsylvania in 1774, and Benjamin Franklin w^as elected its president. John Jay was president of the New York Abolition Society. From 1774 to 1792, such societies

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. I7

had been formed in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; and during the same period Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont had abolished slavery, and Delaware had forbidden the slave-trade. In North Carolina, there was a strong sentiment against slavery, especially among the Quakers.

Economic Interests Control.

Thus, during this period, there was a marked outburst of sentiment against slavery. The Declaration of Independence on its face proclaimed liberty for all men. The most eminent men, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Patrick Henrj', Lee, and Madison spoke and wrote against the institution. Societies for the abolition of slavery were formed in at least six states, Virginia being one of them. But only three southern states opposed the slave trade from Africa which was no longer vital to the interests of the South, while all the great section south of Mason and Dixon's line kept slavery and the domestic slave trade in full vigor. The spirit of liberty was not allowed to interfere with economic interest. Nor was the North moved by sentiment. Six northern states passed laws for immediate or gradual freedom; but these registered an accomplished fact rather than heralded a reform. The outburst of sentiment made neither the North nor the South oppose its own economic interest.

Opposition to Slavery.

Opposition to slavery showed itself most strongly from 1775 to 1785. During this period, South Carolina and Georgia gave no hope to the slave.

North Carolina laid a tax of twenty-five dollars on each negro imported. Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey had forbidden the foreign slave trade. Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island had either abolished slavery outright, or had passed laws which gave freedom to every child born after the law was passed. When the Revolution came, each state, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, adopted a new constitution, and in not a single constitution, was slavery legally established. The words, "slave" or "slavery" were not even used in any one of the eleven new constitutions, except in the constitution of Delaware, where these words were used to abolish the slave trade. Connecticut and Rhode Island did not adopt new constitutions, but they abolished both slavery and the slave trade. Thus, by 1785, two states had done nothing for the negro, one had taxed the slave trade, four had forbidden it, and six had passed laws for immediate or gradual freedom.

The Ordinance of 1787.

The Ordinance of 1787 was a law passed by Congress creating a government for, and forever forbidding slavery in, all the region owned by the United States north and west of the Ohio river. This law abolished slavery in what is now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Thus by a single law, a territory almost as large as England and France was set apart for freedom.

At the close of the Revolution, three states, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, claimed this vast, unknown, and forest-covered region. In 1784,

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 19

Virginia and Massachusetts gave up all claim to it, and sixteen years later Connecticut surrendered to the United States her ''Western Reserve." Thomas Jefferson carried to Congress the Virginia deed of her claim. He urged Congress to abolish slavery, not only in the northwest territory, but also in the southwest territory, and thus give to freedom all the land from the mountains to the Mississippi river. He wished to hem in slavery by the ocean and by a strong chain of free states; but he lost by asking too much, and it was not until three years later, when he was minister in France, that the question again came before Congress.

The Ohio Company.

The Ohio Company was started mainly by the efforts of General Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper. Putnam had been down the Ohio river for some distance, and had caught glimpses of that fertile soil which he knew in time would support millions of people. He went back to New England, published glowing accounts of the country, and proposed that a company should be formed to secure lands for the Revolutionary soldiers. In 1786, delegates from eight counties in Massachusetts met at Boston, and heard Putnam and Tupper describe the country and the plan of the company. The result was the formation of the Ohio Company. Putnam, Samuel Parsons, and Manasseh Cutler were made directors ; and Cutler was sent to New York City, where Congress then sat, to buy land for the Ohio Company. Cutler met many members of Congress, and offered to buy 5,000,000 acres of land on condition that slavery should not be allowed in the territory. Congress was eager to sell the land, and a bargain was quickly made. The result was the famous Ordinance of 1787. The three men who had most to do in securing the passage of this great law of Congress were Thomas Jefferson, Rufus King, and William Grayson. On the day that it passed, eight states were represented in Congress by eighteen delegates, and seventeen voted, *'Aye." One man from New York voted, "No." The law declared that: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."

The Convention of 1787.

While Congress at New York City was debating the Ordinance of 1787, a far greater body of men at Philadelphia was considering the Constitution of the United States. This convention, consisting of delegates from twelve states, was held in Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Washington was president of the convention. Benjamin Franklin, over eighty years of age, was there to give the benefit of his long and varied experience in public affairs. Alexander Hamilton, with a mind more brilliant and constructive than any other in that great assemblage, left his law practice in New York to attend the convention. Madison, one of the most careful and thoughtful of men, was there. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were absent as ambassadors in Europe. Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry stood aloof, critical, and suspicious. Sixty-five delegates were elected to the convention, but ten of them never attended. Thirty-nine signed their names to the Constitution. Every state except Rhode Island

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 21

was represented. The convention held almost daily sessions from May 25 to September 17. When the Constitution was completed, it was found that it contained three important provisions relating to slavery.

I. Fugitive Slaves.

The first provision was the clause providing for the return of runaway slaves. It declared that a slave escaping into a free state should not gain his freedom by any law of the free state, but should be returned to his owner. This clause was put into the Constitution mainly through the efforts of Pierce Butler of South Carolina. Butler seems to have been a sharp and persistent attorney in the interest of slavery.

First Fugitive Slave Law : 1793.

To carry out this p^-ovision, Congress, in 1793, passed the first Fugitive Slave Law, which gave the owner the legal right to enter'a free state in pursuit of his slave, bind him in chains, and return him into helpless, hopeless bondage. This law was at once put into operation. Under it, a negro boy in Massachusetts was arrested, and Josiah Quincy defended him in court. Later, Quincy said he "heard a noise, and turning round, he saw the constable lying sprawling on the floor and a passage opening through the crowd through which the fugitive was taking his departure, without stopping to hear the opinion of the court."

Kidnaping.

This law was also used to capture the free negroes who then numbered thousands in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. A brutal slave driver would pretend ownership of a free negro, chase him with bloodhounds through swamps and fields, and when he was captured, sell him into slavery. By 1796, this kidnaping had become such a common occurrence that Delaware asked the government of the United States to stop it. The Quakers of North Carolina also asked Congress to protect the liberty of one hundred and thirty-four free negroes who had been kidnaped. Four negroes of North Carolina petitioned Congress for protection. The free negroes of Philadelphia in 1799 asked Congress to stop kidnaping in Maryland and Pennsylvania. A violent debate sprang up in Congress when these petitions were read. Jackson, of Georgia, said that property in slaves would be in danger if any extra attention was given the petitions. Congress voted to give back to the North Carolina Quakers their petition. Other petitions were not considered. Kidnaping continued. The Fugitive Slave Law stood for fifty-seven years aiid produced a long history of outrages.

2. The Slave Trade.

The second provision of the Constitution relating to slavery declared that Congress should not stop the slave-trade before 1808. All the states but South Carolina and Georgia wished to put into the Constitution a clause abolishing the trade at once. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, plainly told the delegates from the other states that his state would not agree to the Constitution if it prohibited the slave-trade. "No slave-trade, no Union," M^as the clear-cut statement of Rutledge and Pinckney. But with this difficulty arose another. The New England states wished to

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 23

give Congress power to regulate commerce. Before 1787, each state had control of foreign commerce, and there were as many sets of rules and taxes on imported goods as there were states. This interfered very greatly with trade. New England was largely interested in this foreign trade. Her vessels plied constantly between Europe and America. Therefore, New England, in order to increase the amount of trade, wished to give Congress the power to regulate that trade. But the South was afraid New England would soon get control of all the vessels running between Europe and America, and would raise the freight rates on all goods shipped either way. Here was a chance for a bargain between the North and the South. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut agreed to allow the slave-trade to run for twenty years, or until 1808, if Georgia and South Carolina would vote to give Congress power to regulate commerce. The two slave states accepted, and for twenty years longer not a year went by that did not see hundreds of negroes suffer the horrors of the "Middle Passage."

3. The Representation of Slaves.

The third provision of the Constitution relating to slavery declared that each state should be represented in Congress according to its population, but that the population should be found by adding to the whole number of free persons three-fifths of all the slaves. This almost doubled the power of the South in Congress. In 1790, there were only 40,000 slaves in the states north of Mason and Dixon's line, while south of that line there were over 650,000. The total number of representatives in Congress was sixty-five, and out of this number the six southern states had thirty members of Congress. Thirteen of the thirty southern members represented slaves who were not citizens and who could not vote. Thus, one planter in the South* had nearly twice as much power in Congress as a farmer or merchant in the North. But this was not all. A very small number of wealthy and aristocratic families held all the political power of the South. It was indeed a generous and noble aristocracy. Its members prided themselves on their manhood, bravery, kindness, and hospitality. But these wealthy families ruled the South, and more than that, a few thousand of these great planters were now given as much power in Congress as 1,900,000 free persons at the North. In the free states this was felt to be unfair ; but in order to form the Union, the North was forced to agree to it, and for seventy years the South used with vigor the advantage extorted by fear.

Chapter III. The Early National Period

(1789- 1 820.)

Alleged Explanation.

For thirty years following the convention of 1787, agitation of the slavery question gradually died out. Historians have alleged that this was due to several causes, i. The Constitution itself cut off all hope; it clearly and strongly recognized slavery as a fact. The rendition of fugitive slaves, the continuance of the slave trade, and the representation of slaves, were the three great conditions of Union. 2. The second bar to slavery agitation was the fact that the best intelligence of the country was directed to the organization of the new government. Laws had to be made, courts established, numerous departments set in operation, an army and a navy formed, debts paid, a revenue system adopted, a rebellion put down, and various other domestic questions had to be settled. 3. Hardly was the new government well under way when public attention was absorbed by a series of foreign questions which soon led to war. Public attention to this new danger, and to the questions to which it gave rise, allowed no room for slavery agitation. 4. The formation of two great political parties during the first thirty years of the Union also prevented such agitation.