Black Bondage in the North

261 Pages·1973·20.05 MB·English

by  Edgar J. McManus

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EDGAR J. MCMANUS
SYRACUSB UNIVERSITY PRESS L973
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EDGAR J. MCMANUS
SYRACUSB UNIVERSITY PRESS L973
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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