buy his wife and children; and cases are on record where a whole family was thus acquired by the labor and saving of the head.1 2 In anti-slavery days a favorite charity was for the friends of a fugitive slave to furnish money for his purchase, though some abolitionists had conscientious scruples at purchasing a slave to set him free. Peter Still, a kidnapped freeman who escaped from slavery, actually raised five thousand dollars for the purchase of his wife and three children by going from town to town telling the story of his experience in slavery.3 Most slaves who became free did so by manumission at the hands of their masters, and were the progenitors of the later free negroes. The process of manumission was always restricted; usually the owner must give a preliminary bond to protect the community against the future support of the slave, and manumission must follow legal forms; in more than one-half of the slave - holding states emancipated slaves must remove from the state. No master could relieve himself from debt or contract obligations by freeing slaves, who might be then subject to attachment by his creditors." In spite of these restrictions, manumissions took 1 Bremer, Homes of the New World, I., 363; Thompson, Prison Life, 275; Child, Life of Isaac T. Hopper, 176–179. 2 Garrisons, Garrison, III., 210; cf. Olmsted, Seaboard Slave States, 15. Pickard, Kidnapped and Ransomed, 313-319, 336. 'Hurd, Law of Freedom and Bondage, chaps. xvii.-xix. འ place in all the slave states, and were frequent in some. The censuses of 1850 and 1860 attempted to collect statistics on this subject, and the certainly incomplete figures show that in 1850 1467 slaves were manumitted, being one to every 2181 slaves; in 1860, 3018 were manumitted, or one out of every 1309. In a few cases negroes were set free by the states in which they lived, as a reward for public services.1 Slaves were occasionally set free by masters for some special service or in fulfilment of a promise; and one of the most touching incidents in the history of slavery is that of the slave-trading speculator who bought Charity Bowery, and then said to her: "You've been very good to me and fixed me up many a nice little mess when I've been poorly; and now you shall have your freedom for it and I'll give you your youngest child." In all cases it was common to make an attested statement of the circumstances, a copy of which was retained by the freeman as his "free papers," a precious possession which, unfortunately, could not always protect him. Among the slave-holders who set free all their slaves in their lifetime was John Jay. Among those who occasionally rewarded deserving cases was Henry Clay. A more common method of manumission was by will, for among the slave-holders many distinguished and high-minded men, for various reasons, could not 1 Livermore, Historical Research, 195–197. 2 Hart, Source Book, 257. Roberts, New York, II., 483. bring themselves to set their slaves free in their own lifetime, but at their death set free the whole body; this number included George Washington,' Thomas Jefferson, Chancellor Wythe, and Horatio Gates. John Randolph in his will said: "I give and bequeath to all my slaves their freedom, heartily regretting that I have ever been the owner of one";' This will was finally confirmed, and three hundred persons were thus set free and colonized in Ohio." Another very interesting case was that of John McDonogh, a citizen of New Orleans, who left a large fortune for educational purposes, and, during his life, made elaborate provisions for the training of his slaves, so that they could take care of themselves, and for their transportation to Liberia. It was a prevailing belief in the south that most negroes preferred slavery to freedom; the real sentiments of the blacks were not easy to reach upon this subject, though a few indications are afforded by slaves who became confidential with visitors. "Why, you see, master," said one of them, “. . . if I was free, I'd have all my time to myself, . . . I would not get poor, I would get rich; for you see, master, then I'd work all de time for myself." As another slave said: "In the time of the war [of 1812] 1 Washington, Writings (Sparks's ed.), I., 569. Life of Benjamin Lundy, 273. Allan, John McDonogh, 44-52, 75 Smedes, Memorials of a Southern Planter, 175. all were for liberty. Every ball that was shot was for liberty; and I am for liberty too." 1 Some of Randolph's slaves returned to Virginia and asked to be restored to slavery, perhaps on the principle of the Georgia slave who, when asked if he would like to be free, replied: "Free, missis! what for me wish to be free? Oh no, missis, me no wish to be free, if massa only let we keep pig.' 2 Undoubtedly there were cases of negroes who preferred shelter and support to responsibility; but the whole trend and tenor of the slave codes rested upon the well-grounded belief that the normal frame of mind of the negro was a desire for freedom; and this belief is supported by the countless instances of fugitives who had no better reason to give for running away than that obstinate desire to be free which the white people counted among their chief claims to the admiration of mankind. 1 Thompson, Prison Life, 297. 2 Kemble, Georgian Plantation, 48. FROM CHAPTER X THE DEFENCE OF SLAVERY (1830-1860) ROM the foregoing description of slavery it is plain that generalizations are difficult: in some places and under some masters it was cruel and debasing; in other communities and under different personalities it was a patriarchal system, in which master and slave felt themselves members of one family. There was an opportunity for the south itself to discriminate by making the milder slavery the legally approved and almost universal type. Down to 1830 such a spirit was abroad in the south; churches, the missionary societies, and individuals urged moderate treatment. Then a different spirit manifested itself: the denunciation of slavery slacked; the efforts at amelioration hesitated, and eventually ceased; the former excuses and pleas for slavery changed to justification, then to positive praise of slavery, then to a state of mind in which the admission that any part of its "Peculiar Institu 'See chap. xi., below. |