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Black Bondage in the North PDF

261 Pages·1973·20.05 MB·English
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Black Bondase " in the North Black Bondase " in the North Eondage Blaclc l\orth in the :i EDGAR J. MCMANUS SYRACUSB UNIVERSITY PRESS L973 ffiROOKLIil{I PLJffiLIE L[ARARY Eondage Blaclc l\orth in the :i EDGAR J. MCMANUS SYRACUSB UNIVERSITY PRESS L973 ffiROOKLIil{I PLJffiLIE L[ARARY Coppight @ 1978 by Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York ALL NIGHTS RESERVED Frnsr Eornox To f. E. M. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data McManus, Edgar J. Black bondage in the North. Bibliography: p. 1. Slavery in the United States-New England 2. Slavery in the United States-Middle Atlantic States. I. Title. E44r.Mr6 301.44'93'0974 72-t2425 ISBN 0-8156-009r-7 Manufactured, in the United States of Ameil,ca Coppight @ 1978 by Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York ALL NIGHTS RESERVED Frnsr Eornox To f. E. M. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data McManus, Edgar J. Black bondage in the North. Bibliography: p. 1. Slavery in the United States-New England 2. Slavery in the United States-Middle Atlantic States. I. Title. E44r.Mr6 301.44'93'0974 72-t2425 ISBN 0-8156-009r-7 Manufactured, in the United States of Ameil,ca Contents Pnrrecn ix Assnrvrar"Iows UsBn rN THE Notns xiii I Slavery and Settlement I 2 The Business of Slavery 18 3 The Slave Economy 36 4 Race and Status 55 5 The Law and Order of Slavery 72 6 Life at the Bottom 89 7 Fugitive Slaves 108 B The Black Resistance L25 9 Breaking the Chains 143 10 The Politics of Abolition 160 11 A Difierent Bondage 180 12 The North in Perspective 189 Appnxnrx 199 BTSLTocRApHICAL Essav 215 Iwonx 225 Encen J. McMer.rus is professor of history at Queens College, Flushing, New York. He received the 8.S., M.A,, and Ph.D. from Columbia University and the ].D. from New York University. His articles have ap- peared in lounal of Negro History and Netrs York Lau Forum. Dr. McManus is the author of A History of Negro Slaoery in Neu York, published by Syracuse University Press in 1966. vrr Contents Pnrrecn ix Assnrvrar"Iows UsBn rN THE Notns xiii I Slavery and Settlement I 2 The Business of Slavery 18 3 The Slave Economy 36 4 Race and Status 55 5 The Law and Order of Slavery 72 6 Life at the Bottom 89 7 Fugitive Slaves 108 B The Black Resistance L25 9 Breaking the Chains 143 10 The Politics of Abolition 160 11 A Difierent Bondage 180 12 The North in Perspective 189 Appnxnrx 199 BTSLTocRApHICAL Essav 215 Iwonx 225 Encen J. McMer.rus is professor of history at Queens College, Flushing, New York. He received the 8.S., M.A,, and Ph.D. from Columbia University and the ].D. from New York University. His articles have ap- peared in lounal of Negro History and Netrs York Lau Forum. Dr. McManus is the author of A History of Negro Slaoery in Neu York, published by Syracuse University Press in 1966. vrr Preface fr-r-usrnerroNs For.r,owrwc p. 80 For nearly two hundred years the North main- Phillis Wheatley, poet tained a slave regime more varied and complex than the 'peculiar institution" of the South. Unlike the South, which used slaves Black religious writing primarily for agricultural labor, the North trained and diversiffed Slave burned at the stake its slave force to meet the needs of a complicated economy. From the seventeenth century onward, Negroes could be found in vir- Kidnapping of a free black tually every field of Northern economic life. They worked as Racist mob at a black school calpenters, shiprights, sailmakers, printers, tailors, shoemakers, Death of Crispus Attucks coopers, blacksmiths, bakers, weavers, and goldsmiths. In tech- nical skill and versatility they spanned the whole range of free Crispus Attucks labor. Some became so expert in the skilled crafts that the free Peter Salem at Bunker Hill workers protested bitterly against their own loss of jobs and eco- nomic opportunities. That slavery for blacks could mean hardship for many whites sometimes became painfully clear to those who had to compete with the system, There is currently no general history of Negro slavery in the North. A number of articles and monographs on individual states and local areas have appeared, but a comprehensive account of the Northern slave system has long been overdue. Ulrich B. Phit- lips devoted only a single chapter to the North in his study of American slavery, and subsequent treatments have continued to be cursory. For a slave system that lasted so long and had such bitter racial implications, these abbreviated accounts have proved inadequate. The full story deserves to be told, both to understand the role of blacks in the settlement and development of the North and to ffll an obvious gap in the study of American colonial his- tory. This book examines the nature and operation of Northern slavery from its colonial beginnings until its demise in the late eighteenth century. The everyday lif.e and working conditions of the slaves are described, and emphasis is placed on the ways in which bondsmen accommodated themselves to the system. Since ix Preface fr-r-usrnerroNs For.r,owrwc p. 80 For nearly two hundred years the North main- Phillis Wheatley, poet tained a slave regime more varied and complex than the 'peculiar institution" of the South. Unlike the South, which used slaves Black religious writing primarily for agricultural labor, the North trained and diversiffed Slave burned at the stake its slave force to meet the needs of a complicated economy. From the seventeenth century onward, Negroes could be found in vir- Kidnapping of a free black tually every field of Northern economic life. They worked as Racist mob at a black school calpenters, shiprights, sailmakers, printers, tailors, shoemakers, Death of Crispus Attucks coopers, blacksmiths, bakers, weavers, and goldsmiths. In tech- nical skill and versatility they spanned the whole range of free Crispus Attucks labor. Some became so expert in the skilled crafts that the free Peter Salem at Bunker Hill workers protested bitterly against their own loss of jobs and eco- nomic opportunities. That slavery for blacks could mean hardship for many whites sometimes became painfully clear to those who had to compete with the system, There is currently no general history of Negro slavery in the North. A number of articles and monographs on individual states and local areas have appeared, but a comprehensive account of the Northern slave system has long been overdue. Ulrich B. Phit- lips devoted only a single chapter to the North in his study of American slavery, and subsequent treatments have continued to be cursory. For a slave system that lasted so long and had such bitter racial implications, these abbreviated accounts have proved inadequate. The full story deserves to be told, both to understand the role of blacks in the settlement and development of the North and to ffll an obvious gap in the study of American colonial his- tory. This book examines the nature and operation of Northern slavery from its colonial beginnings until its demise in the late eighteenth century. The everyday lif.e and working conditions of the slaves are described, and emphasis is placed on the ways in which bondsmen accommodated themselves to the system. Since ix

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