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Freedom at Risk: The Kidnapping of Free Blacks in America, 1780-1865 PDF

190 Pages·1994·21.996 MB·English
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Kidnapping the of Free Blacks America in 0-1 7 8 8 6 5 1 CAROL WILSON BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY I Digitized by the Internet Archive 2015 in https://archive.org/details/freedomatriskkidOOwils FREEDOM AT RISK FREEDOM AT RISK The Kidnapping Free Blacks of in America, 1780-1865 CAROL WILSON THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY — H c,oo^ Copyright © 1994 by The University Press ofKentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre College ofKentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University ofKentucky, University ofLouisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wilson, Carol, 1962- Freedom at Risk : thekidnapping offreeBlacks in America, 1780-1865 / Carol Wilson, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) andindex. ISBN 0-8131-1858-1—(alk. pape—r) — 1. A—fro-Ameri—cans History To 1863. 2. —Kidnapping United States —History -18th century. 3. Kidnappi—ng United States History 1—9th century. 4. Afro-Americans Legal status, laws, etc. 5. Slavery United States. I. Title. E185.18.W55 1994 973 0496073—dc20 93-21012 '. This book is printed on recycled acid-freepaper meeting the requirements oftheAmerican National Standard for Permanence ofPaper forPrinted Library Materials. ®® Contents Acknowledgments / vi Introduction / 1 1. “From Their Free Homes into Bondage”: The Abduction ofFree Blacks into Slavery / 9 2. “The Legitimate Offspring ofSlavery”: Kidnappers Who Operated within the Law / 40 3. “Leave No Stone Unturned”: Government Assistance to Free Blacks / 67 4. “The Thought ofSlavery Is Death to a Free Man”: Abolitionist Response to Kidnapping / 83 5. “An Almost Sleepless Vigilance”: Black Resistance to Kidnapping / 103 Conclusion / 117 Notes / 121 Bibliography / 146 Index / 166 Acknowledgments The completion ofthis work was facilitated by many people. John R. McKivigan gave careful attention to the manuscript and contributed many useful suggestions. Rosemarie Zagarri offered valuable advice throughout the process. Thanks are due as well to the Interlibrary Loan Staff of West Virginia University, especially Judi McCracken, for consistently and cheerfully providing me with sources not easily accessible. I would also like to thank Robert Fallaw and my colleagues in the Department ofHistory at Washington College for their support and encouragement. Emilie Amt merits special men- tion for her greatly valued assistance with computer matters. I am grateful to all at the University Press ofKentucky for their prompt and fair handling ofthe manuscript. My parents, Calvin D. and Lois W. Wilson, have con- tinually supported my work, and my father’s enthusiasm for and interest in the project has been especially appreciated. Robert L. Zangrando first suggested the topic ofkidnapping to me. His comments on several parts of the book were invaluable, and his encouragement throughout my career has been stimulating and inspiring. Most of all, the quality of this project is the result of the patient editing and professional guidance ofRonald L. Lewis. Many years ago, he nurtured a young student in whom few others saw potential; for that I will be foreverindebted to him. Introduction The kidnapping of free blacks into slavery in pre-Civil War America has been a topic frequently noted by scholars but not examined in any detail. This omission may be partly explained by the fact that while slavery has long been a sub- ject ofintense interest for both scholars and the general pub- lic, comparatively less work has focused on free blacks. However, a significant body ofscholarship now provides an image of the diversity of black life before the Civil War. Whether northern or southern, rural or urban, escaped or manumitted slaves, or the descendants of generations of free-born people, black Americans all shared one disadvan- tage: they did not enjoy the same rights, privileges, and op- portunities as white Americans. Constrained by a lack of economic and educational opportunity, the absence of legal protection, overbearing legal restrictions, and the contempt ofwhites, free blacks were in fact “slaves without masters,” as Ira Berlin has characterized them 1 . This study examines another aspect of discrimination against free blacks. The kidnapping offree blacks for sale as slaves was an all-too-common occurrence in the United States during the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. The ever-present danger of kidnapping and the fact that its victims had little recourse proved a grave threat to the black community. What made the practice of kidnapping possible was the strong and deeply rooted beliefin white superiority. One of the great debates in African-American history has centered on the question ofwhich came first, racism or slavery. Schol- ars such as T.H. Breen and Stephen Innes have argued that

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