Chapter 3

[1]Breviate. Dutch Records, no. 2, fol. 5. In2 Pennsylvania Archives, XVI, 234.Cf.Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 49. The “Proposed Freedoms and Exemptions for New Netherland,” 1640, say, “The Company shall exert itself to provide the Patroons and Colonists, on their order with as many Blacks as possible”....2 Pa. Arch., V, 74.[2]C. T. Odhner. “The Founding of New Sweden, 1637–1642”, translated by G. B. Keen inPennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, III, 277.[3]Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 331; O’Callaghan,Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, II, 213, 214. The Report of the Board of Accounts on New Netherland, Dec. 15, 1644, had spoken of the need of negroes, the economy of their labor, and had recommended the importation of large numbers.2 Pa. Arch., V, 88. See also Davis,History of Bucks County, 793.[4]2 Pa. Arch., XVI, 255, 256; Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 372. Sir Robert Carr, writing to Colonel Nicholls, Oct. 13, 1664, says, “I have already sent into Merryland some Neegars wch did belong to the late Governor att his plantation above”....2 Pa. Arch., V, 578.[5]The Records of the Court of New Castle give a list of the “Names of the Tijdable prsons Living in this Courts Jurisdiction” in which occur “three negros”: “1 negro woman of Mr. Moll”, “1 neger of Mr. Alrichs”, “Sam Hedge and neger”. Book A, 197–201. Quoted inPa. Mag., III, 352–354. For the active trade in negroes at this timecf.MS. Board of Trade Journals, II, 307.[6]“Wth out wch wee cannot subsist”.... MS. New Castle Court Records, Liber A, 406. Hazard,Annals, 456.[7]“Ik hebbe geen vaste Dienstbode, als een Neger die ik gekocht heb.”Missive van Cornelis Bom, Geschreven uit de Stadt Philadelphia, etc., 3. (Oct. 12, 1684).“Man hat hier auch Zwartzen oder Mohren zu Schlaven in der Arbeit.”Letter, probably of Hermans Op den Graeff, Germantown, Feb. 12, 1684, in Sachse,Letters relating to the Settlement of Germantown, 25.Cf.also MS. in American Philosophical Society’s collection, quoted inPa. Mag., VII, 106: “Lacey Cocke hath A negroe” ..., “Pattrick Robbinson—Robert neverbeegood his negor sarvant”.... “The Defendts negros” are mentioned in a suit for damages in 1687. See MS. Court Records of Penna. and Chester Co., 1681–1688, p. 72.[8]MS. Ancient Records of Philadelphia, 28 7th mo., 1702.[9]MS. William Trent’s Ledger, 156. For numerous references to negroes brought from Barbadoes, see MS. Booke of accttsRelating to the BarquentineConstant AilseAndw: Dykes mastr: from March 25th 1700 (-1702). (Pa. State Lib.)[10]Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania(edited by J. T. Mitchell and Henry Flanders), II, 107.Ibid., II, 285. The act of 1705–1706 was repeated in 1710–1711.Ibid., II, 383.Cf.Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, II, 529, 530.[11]Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania, I, pt. II, 132.Stat. at L., II, 433.[12]MS. Board of Trade Papers, Proprieties, IX, Q, 39, 42.Stat. at L., II, 543, 544.[13]Jonathan Dickinson, a merchant of Philadelphia, writing to a correspondent in Jamaica, 4th month, 1715, says, “I must entreat you to send me no more negroes for sale, for our people don’t care to buy. They are generally against any coming into the country.” I have been unable to find this letter. Watson, who quotes it (Annals of Philadelphia, II, 264), says, “Vide the Logan MSS.”Cf.also a letter of George Tiller of Kingston, Jamaica, to Dickinson, 1712. MS. Logan Papers, VIII, 47.[14]Stat. at L., III, 117, 118; MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., X, 2, Q, 159;Stat. at L., III, 465;Col. Rec., III, 38, 144, 171. During this period negroes were being imported through the custom-house at the rate of about one hundred and fifty a year.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, II, 251.[15]In 1727 the iron-masters of Pennsylvania petitioned for the entire removal of the duty, labor being so scarce.Votes and Proceedings, 1726–1742, p. 31. The attitude of the English authorities is explained in a report of Richard Jackson, March 2, 1774, on one of the Pennsylvania impost acts. “The Increase of Duty on Negroes in this Law is Manifestly inconsistent with the Policy adopted by your Lordships and your Predecessors for the sake of encouraging the African Trade” ... Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XXIII, Z, 54.[16]Votes and Proceedings, II, 152;Col. Rec., II, 572, 573;1 Pa. Arch., I, 160–162;Votes and Proceedings, 1766, pp. 45, 46. For a complaint against this practicecf.“Copy of a Representatnof the Board of Trade upon some pennsylvania Laws” (1713–1714). MS. Board of Trade Papers, Plantations General, IX, K, 35.[17]O’Callaghan,N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 604.[18]Votes and Proceedings, II, 347.[19]Stat. at L., IV, 52–56, 60;Col. Rec., III, 247, 248, 250.[20]Stat. at L., IV, 123–128;Col. Rec., III, 359; Smith,History of Delaware County, 261. For a while, no doubt, there was a considerable influx. Ralph Sandiford says (1730), “We havenegroesflocking in upon us since the duty on them is reduced to 40 shillings per head.”Mystery of Iniquity, (2d ed.), 5. Many of these were smuggled in from New Jersey, where there was no duty from 1721 to 1767. Cooley,A Study of Slavery in New Jersey, 15, 16.[21]Cargoes of servants are advertised in theAmerican Weekly Mercury, thePennsylvania Packet, and thePennsylvania Gazette,passim. As to enlistment of servantscf.Mercury,Gazette, Aug. 7, 1740;Col. Rec., IV, 437. Complaint about this had been made as early as 1711.Votes and Proceedings, II, 101, 103.[22]Smith,History of Delaware County, 261; Peter Kalm,Travels into North America, etc., (1748), I, 391.[23]Col. Rec., VII, 37, 38.[24]Stat. at L., VI, 104–110;Votes and Proceedings, 1761, pp. 25, 29, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 52, 55, 63;Col. Rec., VIII, 575, 576. “The Petition of Divers Merchants of the City of Philadelphia, To The Honble James Hamilton Esqr. Lieut. Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, Humbly Sheweth, That We the Subscribers ... have seen for some time past, the many inconveniencys the Inhabitants have suffer’d, for want of Labourers, and Artificers, by Numbers being Inlisted for His Majestys Service and near a total stop to the importation of German and other white Servants, have for some time encouraged the importation of Negros, ... that an advantage may be gain’d by the Introduction of Slaves, wch will likewise be a means of reduceing the exorbitant Price of Labour, and in all Probability bring our staple Commoditys to their usual Prices.” MS. Provincial Papers, XXV, March 1, 1761.[25]Stat. at L., VII, 158, 159; VIII, 330–332;Col. Rec., IX, 400, 401, 443, ff.; X, 72, 77. The Board of Trade Journals, LXXXII, 47, (May 5, 1774), say that their lordships had some discourse with Dr. Franklin “upon the objections ... to ...imposing Duties amounting to a prohibition upon the Importation of Negroes.”[26]Cf.MS. Provincial Papers, XXXII, January, 1775.[27]Stat. at L., X, 72, 73. It was forbidden by implication rather than specific regulation. It had been foreseen that an act for gradual abolition entailed stopping the importation of negroes.Pa. Packet, Nov. 28, 1778;1 Pa. Arch., VII, 79.[28]Professor E. P. Cheyney in an article written some years ago (“The Condition of Labor in Early Pennsylvania, I. Slavery,” inThe Manufacturer, Feb. 2, 1891, p. 8) considers these laws to have been restrictive in purpose, and gives three causes for their passage, in the following order of importance: (a) dread of slave insurrections, (b) opposition of the free laboring classes to slave competition, (c) conscientious objections. I cannot think that this is correct. (a) seems to have been the impelling motive only in connection with the law of 1712, and seems rarely to have been thought of. It was urged in 1740, 1741, and 1742, when efforts were being made to pass a militia law in Pennsylvania, but it attracted little attention.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XV, T: 54, 57, 60.[29]In a MS. entitled “William Penn’s Memorial to the Lords of Trade relating to several laws passed in Pensilvania,” assigned to the year 1690 in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, but probably belonging to a later period, is the following: “These ... Acts ... to Raise money ... to defray publick Exigences in such manner as after a Mature deliberac̃on they thought would not be burthensom particularly in the Act for laying a Duty on Negroes” ... MS. Pa. Miscellaneous Papers, 1653–1724, p. 24.[30]1700. 20 shillings for negroes over sixteen years of age, 6 for those under sixteen. No cause given. Apparently (terms of the act)revenue.—1705–1706. 40 shillings—a draw-back of one half if the negro be re-exported within six months. Apparentlyrevenue.—1710. 40 shillings—excepting those imported by immigrants for their own use, and not sold within a year. Almost certainly (preamble)revenue.—1712. 20 pounds. The causes were a dread of insurrection because of the negro uprising in New York, and the Indians’ dislike of the importation of Indian slaves. Purpose undoubtedlyrestriction.—1715. 5 pounds. Apparently (character of the provisions)restrictionandrevenue.—1717–1718. 5 pounds. To continue the preceding.Restrictionandrevenue—1720–1721. 5 pounds. To continue the preceding.Revenue(preamble) andrestriction.—1722. 5 pounds. To continue provisions of previous acts.Revenueandrestriction—1725–1726. 5 pounds.Revenueandrestriction.—1729. 2 pounds. Reduction made probably because since 1712 none of the laws had been allowed to stand for any length of time, and because there had been much smuggling.Revenueandrestriction.—1761. 10 pounds. No cause given for the increase.Restrictionandrevenue.—1768. Preceding continued—“of public utility.”Restrictionandrevenue.—1773. Preceding made perpetual—“of great public utility”—but duty raised to 20 pounds.Restriction.Cf. Stat. at L., II, 107, 285, 383, 433; III, 117, 159, 238, 275; IV, 52, 123; VI, 104; VII, 158; VIII, 330.[31]See below, chaptersIVandV.[32]“Man hat besonders in Pensylvanien den Grundsatz angenommen ihre Einführung so viel möglich abzuhalten”...Achenwall’s in Göttingen über Nordamerika und über dasige Grosbritannische Colonien aus mündlichen Nachrichten des Herrn Dr. Franklins...Anmerkungen, 24, 25. (About 1760).[33]Stat. at L., X, 67, 68; 1Pa. Arch., I, 306.Cf.Mr. Woodward’s speech, Jan. 19, 1838,Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to Propose Amendments to the Constitution, etc., X, 16, 17.[34]“Aus Pennsylvanien ... fahren gen Barbadoes, Jamaica und Antego. Von dar bringen sie zurück ... Negros.”Daniel Falkner,Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania in Norden-America, etc., (17O2), 192. For a negro woman from Jamaica (1715), see MS. Court Papers, Philadelphia County, 1619–1732. Also numerous advertisements in the newspapers.Mercury, Apr. 17, 1729, (Barbadoes); July 31, 1729, (Bermuda); July 23, 1730, (St. Christophers); Jan. 21, 1739, (Antigua). Oldmixon, speaking of Pennsylvania, says, “Negroes sell here ... very well; but not by the Ship Loadings, as they have sometimes done at Maryland and Virginia.” (1741.)British Empire in America, etc., (2d ed.), I, 316.Cf.however the following: “A PARCEL of likely Negro Boys and Girls just arrived in the Sloop Charming Sally ... to be sold ... for ready Money, Flour or Wheat” ... Advt. inPa. Gazette, Sept. 4, 1740. For a consignment of seventy see MS. Provincial Papers, XXVII, Apr. 26, 1766.[35]Cf.MS. William Trent’s Ledger, “Negroes” (1703–1708). Isaac Norris, Letter Book, 75, 76 (1732). For a statement of profit and loss on two imported negroes, seeibid., 77. In this case Isaac Norris acted as a broker, charging five per cent. For the wheat and flour trade with Barbadoes, seeA Letter from Doctor More ... Relating to the ... Province of Pennsilvania, 5. (1686).[36]Some were probably brought from Africa by pirates.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., III, 285, 286; IV, 369; V, 408. The hazard involved in the purchase of negroes is revealed in the following: “Accotof Negroes Drto Tho. Willen £17: 10 for a New Negro Man ... £15 and 50 Sh. more if he live to the Spring” ... MS. James Logan’s Account Book, 91, (1714). As to the effect of cold weather upon negroes, Isaac Norris, writing to Jonathan Dickinson in 1703, says, ... “they’re So Chilly they Can hardly Stir frõ the fire and Wee have Early beginning for a hard Wintr.” MS. Letter Book, 1702–1704, p. 109. In 1748 Kalm says, ... “the toes and fingers of the former” (negroes) “are frequently frozen.”Travels, I, 392.[37]Mercury, Sept. 26, 1723. MS. Penn Papers, Accounts (unbound), 27 3d mo., 1741. AlsoCalendar of State Papers, America and West Indies, 1697–1698, p. 390;Col. Rec., IV, 515;Pa. Mag., XXVII, 320.[38]A Report of the Royal African Company, Nov. 2, 1680, purports to show the first cost: “That the Negros cost them the first price 5li: and 4li: 15s. the freight, besides 25li p cent which they lose by the usual mortality of the Negros.” MS. Board of Trade Journals, III, 229. The selling price had been considered immoderate four years previous.Ibid., I, 236. In 1723 Peter Baynton sold “a negroe man named Jemy ... 30 £.” Loose sheet in Peter Baynton’s Ledger. In 1729 a negro twenty-five years old brought 35 pounds in Chester County. MS. Chester County Papers, 89. The Moravians of Bethlehem purchased a negress in 1748 for 70 pounds.Pa. Mag., XXII, 503. Peter Kalm (1748) says that a full grown negro cost from 40 pounds to 100 pounds; a child of two or three years, 8 pounds to 14 pounds.Travels, I, 393, 394. Mittelberger (1750) says 200 to 350 florins (33 to 58 pounds).Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750, etc., 106. Franklin (1751) in a very careful estimate thought that the price would average about 30 pounds.Works(ed. Sparks), II, 314. Acrelius (about 1759) says 30 to 40 pounds.Description of ... New Sweden, etc. (translation of W. M. Reynolds, 1874, inMemoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, XI), p. 168. A negro iron-worker brought 50 pounds at Bethlehem in 1760.Pa. Mag., XXII, 503. In 1790 Edward Shippen writes of a slave who cost him 100 pounds.Ibid., VII, 31. It is probable that the value of a slave was roughly about three times that of a white servant.Cf.Votes and Proceedings(1764), V, 308.[39]In 1708 the Board of Trade requested the governor of Pennsylvania that very definite information on a variety of subjects relating to the negro be transmitted thereafter half yearly. Were these records available they would be worth more than all the remaining information.Cf.MS. Provincial Papers, I, April 15, 1708; 1Pa. Arch., I, 152, 153.[40]N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 604. As to the necessity for allowing so large a margin in these figurescf.the following. “The number of the whites are said to be Sixty Thousand, and of the Black about five Thousand.” Col. Hart’s Answer, etc., MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XI, R: 7. (1720). “The number of People in this Province may be computed to above 40,000 Souls amongst whom we have scarce any Blacks except a few Household Servants in the City of Philadelphia” ... Letter of Sir William Keith,ibid., XI, R: 42. (1722). Another communication gave the true state of the case, if not the exact numbers. “This Government has not hitherto had Occasion to use any methods that can furnish us with an exact Estimate, but as near as can at present be guessed there may be aboutForty five thousandSouls ofWhitesandfour thousandBlacks.” Major Gordon’s answer to Queries,ibid., XIII, S: 34. (1730–1731).[41]William Douglass,A Summary, Historical and Political, ... of the British Settlements in North-America, etc. (ed. 1755), II, 324; Abiel Holmes,American Annals, etc., II, 187; Bancroft,History of the United States(author’s last revision), II, 391.[42]Letter inPa. Packet, Jan 1, 1780. This made allowance for the numerous runaways during the British occupation of Philadelphia. Alsoibid., Dec. 25, 1779; 1Pa. Arch., XI, 74, 75. For a higher estimate, 10,000, for 1780 but made in 1795, see MS. Collection of the Records of the Pa. Society for the Abolition of Slavery, etc., IV, 111.[43]Slaves, 3,737; free, 6,537. Other enumerations occur, but are evidently without value. Oldmixon (1741), 3,600.British Empire in America, I, 321. Burke (1758), about 6,000.An Account of the European Settlements in America, II, 204. Abbé Raynal (1766), 30,000.A Philosophical and Political History of the British Settlements ... in North America(tr. 1776), I, 163. A communication to the Earl of Dartmouth (1773), 2,000. MS. Provincial Papers, Jan. 1775; 1Pa. Arch., IV, 597. Smyth (1782), over 100,000.A Tour in the United States of America, etc., II, 309.[44]MS. (Samuel Wright), A Journal of Our Rem(oval) from Chester and Darby (to) Conestogo ... 1726, copied by A. C. Myers; Morgan,Annals of Harrisburg, 9–11;Col. Rec., VIII, 305, 306. Tax-lists printed in 3Pa. Arch.Also Davis,Hist. of Bucks Co., 793; Futhey and Cope,Hist. of Chester Co., 423 425; Ellis and Evans,Hist. of Lancaster Co., 301; Gibson,Hist. of York Co., 498; Bean,Hist. of Montgomery Co., 302; Lytle,Hist. of Huntingdon Co., 182; Blackman,Hist. of Susquehanna Co., 72; Creigh,Hist. of Washington Co., 362; Bausman,Hist. of Beaver Co., I, 152, 153; Linn,Annals of Buffalo Valley, 66–74; Peck,Wyoming; its History, etc., 240.[45]MS. Assessment Books, Chester Co., 1765, p. 197; 1768, p. 326; 1780, p. 95; MS. Assessment Book, Phila. Co., 1769. As early as 1688 Henry Jones of Moyamensing had thirteen negroes. MS. Phila. Wills, Book A, 84. An undated MS. entitled “A List of my Negroes” shows that Jonathan Dickinson had thirty-two. Dickinson Papers, unclassified. An owner in York County is said to have had one hundred and fifty. 3Pa. Arch., XXI, 71. This is probably a misprint.[46]In 1790 the numbers were as follows: New York, 21,324 slaves, 4,654 free, total 25,978; New Jersey, 11,423 slaves, 4,402 free, total 15,825; Pennsylvania, 3,737 slaves, 6,537 free, total 10,274.[47]On Pennsylvania’s amazing commercial and industrial activity see Anderson,Historical and Chronological Deductions of the Origin of Commerce, etc. (1762), III, 75–77.[48]See below,p. 41.[49]See below, chaptersIVandV.[50]See below,ibid.[51]Nevertheless slavery took root in the western counties, and lingered there longer than anywhere else in Pennsylvania.[52]Throughout this work the fundamental distinction between the words “slave” and “servant,” as used in the text, is that “slave” denotes a person held for life, “servant” a person held for a term of years only.[53]Cf.O’Callaghan,Voyages of the Slavers St. John and Arms of Amsterdam, etc., 100, for a bill of sale, 1646. Sprinchorn,Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia, 217.[54]MS. Record of the Court at Upland in Penn., Sept. 25, 1676.[55]“No Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery villenage or Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged thereunto by Authority, or such as willingly have sould, or shall sell themselves,” ...Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... preceded by the Duke of York’s Laws, etc., 12. This is not to prejudice any masters “who have ... Apprentices for Terme of Years, or other Servants for Term of years or Life.”Ibid., 12. Another clause directs that “No Servant, except such are duly so for life, shall be Assigned over to other Masters ... for above the Space of one year, unless for good reasons offered”.Ibid., 38.[56]There is an evident distinction intended in the following: “A List of the Tydable psons James Sanderling and slave John Test and servant.” One follows the other. MS. Rec. Court at Upland, Nov. 13, 1677. In 1686 the price of a negro, 30 pounds, named in a law-suit, is probably that of a slave. MS. Minute Book. Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions. Bucks Co., 1684–1730, pp. 56, 57. A will made in 1694 certainly disposed of the within mentioned negroes for life. “I do hereby give ... powr... to my sdExers ... eithrto lett or hire out my five negroes ... and pay my sdwife the one half of their wages Yearly during her life or Othrwise give her such Compensac̃on for her intrest therein as shee and my sdExe͠rs shall agree upon and my will is that the other half of their sdwages shall be equally Devided between my aforsd Children, and after my sd wife decease my will also is That the sd negroes Or such of them and their Offsprings as are then alive shall in kind or value be equally Devided between my sdChildren” ... Will of Thomas Lloyd. MS. Philadelphia Wills, Book A, 267.[57]MSS., Domestic Letters, 17.[58]“Know all men by these presents That I Patrick Robinson Countie Clark of Philadelphia for and in Consideration of the Sum of fourtie pounds Current Money of Pennsilvania ... have bargained Sold and delivered ... unto ... Joseph Browne for himselfe, ... heirs exẽrs adm̃rs and assigns One Negro man Named Jack, To have and to hold the Said Negro man named Jack unto the said Joseph Browne for himself ... for ever. And I ... the said Negro man unto him ... shall and will warrant and for ever defend by these presents.” MS. Philadelphia Deed Book, E, 1, vol. V, 150, 151. This is similar to the regular legal formula afterward.Cf.MS. Ancient Rec. Sussex Co., 1681–1709, Sept. 22, 1709.[59]See below,p. 65.[60]“And to buy Souls and Bodies of men for Money, to enslave them and their Posterity to the end of the World, we judge is a great hinderance to the spreading of the Gospel” ... “neither should we keep them in perpetual Bondage and Slavery against their Consent” ...An Exhortation and Caution To Friends Concerning buying or keeping of Negroes, reprinted inPa. Mag., XIII, 266, 268.[61]“An Act for the better Regulation of Servants in this Province and Territories.”Stat. at L., II, 56.[62]Cf.J. C. Ballagh,A History of Slavery in Virginia, chapter II.[63]Cf.letter of William Edmundson to Friends in Maryland, Virginia, and other parts of America, 1675. S. Janney,History of the Religious Society of Friends, from Its Rise to the Year 1828, III, 178.[64]The Articles Settlement and Offices of the Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania, etc., article XVIII. This quite closely resembles the ordinance issued by Governor Rising to the Swedes in 1654, that after a certain period negroes should be absolutely free.... “efter 6 åhr vare en slafvare alldeles fri.” Sprinchorn,Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia, 271.[65]“Let no blacks be brought in directly. and if any come out of Virginia, Maryld. [or elsewhereerased] in families that have formerly bought them elsewhere Let them be declared (as in the west jersey constitutions) free at 8 years end.” “B. F. Abridgmt. out of Holland and Germany.” Penn MSS. Fordvs.Penn. etc., 1674–1716, p. 17.[66]Cf.Pa. Mag., IV, 28–30.[67]Ibid., XIII, 265–270.[68]Negro servants are mentioned. SeePa. Mag., VII, 106.Cf.below, p. 54. Little reliance can be placed upon the early use of this word.[69]I have found no instance where a negro was indisputably a servant in the early period. The court records abound in notices of white servants.[70]Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... 1682–1700, p. 153 (1683), 211, 213 (1693). For running away white servants had to give five days of extra service for each day of absence.Ibid., 166 (1683), 213 (1693). Harboring cost the offender five shillings a day.Ibid., 152 (1683), 212 (1693).[71]Ibid., 113 (1682);ibid., 102 (Laws Agreed upon in England).[72]Ibid., 152. “No Servant white or black ... shall at anie time after publication hereof be Attached or taken into Execution for his Master or Mistress debt” ...[73]The rearing of slave children was regarded as a burden by owners. A writer declared that in Pennsylvania “negroes just born are considered an incumbrance only, and if humanity did not forbid it, they would be instantly given away.”Pa. Packet, Jan. 1, 1780. In 1732 the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ordered a man to take back a negress whom he had sold, and who proved to be pregnant. He was to refund the purchase money and the money spent “for Phisic and Attendance of the Said Negroe in her Miserable Condition.” MS. Court Papers. 1732–1744. Phila. Co., June 9, 1732.[74]The Roman doctrine ofpartus sequitur ventrem. This was never established by law in Pennsylvania, and during colonial times was never the subject of a court decision that has come down. That it was the usage, however, there is abundant proof. In 1727 Isaac Warner bequeathed “To Wife Ann ... a negro woman named Sarah ... To daughter Ann Warner (3) an unborn negro child of the above named Sarah.” MS. Phila. Co. Will Files, no. 47, 1727. In 1786 the Supreme Court declared that it was the law of Pennsylvania, and had always been the custom. 1 Dallas 181.[75]MS. Abstract of Phila. Co. Wills, Book A, 63, 71, (1693); Will of Samuel Richardson of Philadelphia inPa. Mag., XXXIII, 373 (1719). In 1682 the attorney-general in England answering an inquiry from Jamaica, declared “That where goods or merchandise are by Law forfeited to the King, the sale of them from one to another will not fix the property as against the King, but they may be seized wherever found whilst they remain in specie; And that Negros being admitted Merchandise will fall within the same Law”. MS. Board of Trade Journals, IV, 124. On several occasions during war negro slaves were captured from the enemy and brought to Pennsylvania, where they were sold as ordinary prize-goods—things. In 1745, however, when two French negro prisoners produced papers showing that they were free, they were held for exchange as prisoners of war—persons. MS. Provincial Papers, VII, Oct. 2, 1745. For the status of the negro slave as real estate in Virginia,cf.Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Virginia, ch. II. In 1786 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that “property in a Negroe may be obtained by abona fidepurchase, without deed.” 1 Dallas 169.[76]“An Act for the trial of Negroes.”Stat. at L., II, 77–79. Repealed in Council, 1705.Ibid., II, 79;Col. Rec., I, 612, 613. Passed again with slight changes in 1705–1706.Stat. at L., II, 233–236.[77]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province.”Stat. at L., IV, 59–64. It became law by lapse of time.Ibid., IV, 64.[78]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province.”, section 1.Stat. at L., IV, 59.[79]Cf.Enoch Lewis, “Life of William Penn” (1841), inFriends’ Library, V, 315; J. R. Tyson, “Annual Discourse before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania” (1831), inHazard’s Register, VIII, 316.[80]MS. Minutes Court of Quarter Sessions Bucks County, 1684–1730, P. 375 (1703); MS. “Bail, John Kendig for a Negro, 29. 9br35,” in Logan Papers, unbound; “An Act for the trial of Negroes,”Stat. at L., II, 77–79 (1700), 233–236 (1705–1706);Col. Rec., III, 254; IV, 243; IX, 648, 680, 704, 705, 707; X, 73, 276. For the commission instituting one of these special courts (1762), see MS. Miscellaneous Papers, 1684–1847, Chester County, 149; also Diffenderffer, “Early Negro Legislation in the Province of Pennsylvania,” inChristian Culture, Sept. 1, 1890. Mr. Diffenderffer cites a commission of Feb. 20, 1773, but is puzzled at finding no record of the trial of negroes in the records of the local Court of Quarter Sessions. It would of course not appear there. Special dockets were kept for the special courts.Cf.MS. Records of Special Courts for the Trial of Negroes, held at Chester, in Chester County. The law was not universally applied at first. In 1703 a negro was tried for fornication before the Court of Quarter Sessions. MS. Minutes Court of Quarter Sessions Bucks County, 1684–1730, p. 378.[81]Col. Rec., I, 61; II, 405, 406.[82]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes,” etc.Stat. at L., IV, 59. For an instance of such valuation in the case of two slaves condemned for burglary, see MS. Provincial Papers, XXX, July 29, 1773. The governor, however, pardoned these negroes on condition that they be transported.[83]“On the trials Larry the slave was convicted by a Jury of twelve Men and received the usual sentence of whipping, restitution and fine according to law.... This case is published as being the first instance of a slave’s being tried in this state by a Grand and Petit Jury. Our constitution provides that these unhappy men shall have the same measure of Justice and the same mode of trial with others, their fellow creatures, when charged with crimes or offences.”Pa. Packet, Feb. 16, 1779. Nevertheless a commission for a special court had been issued in August, 1777.Cf.“Petition of Mary Bryan,” MS. Misc. Papers, Aug. 15, 1777.[84]Stat. at L., X, 72. What was the standing of negro slaves before the ordinary courts of Pennsylvania in the years between 1700 and 1780 it is difficult to say. They certainly could not be witnesses—not against white men, since this privilege was given to free negroes for the first time in 1780 (Stat. at L., X, 70), and to slaves not until 1847 (Laws of Assembly, 1847, p. 208); while if they were witnesses against other negroes it would be before special courts. Doubtless negroes could sometimes seek redress in the ordinary courts, though naturally the number of such cases would be limited. There is, however, at least one instance of a white man being sued by a negro, who won his suit. “Francis Jnoson the Negro verbally complained agst WmOrion ... and after pleading to on both sides the Court passed Judgment and ordered WmOrion to pay him the sd Francis Jnoson twenty shillings” ... MS. Ancient Records of Sussex County, 1681 to 1709, 4th mo., 1687. Before 1700 negroes were tried before the ordinary courts, and there is at least one case where a negro witnessed against a white man.Ibid., 8br 1687.[85]Stat. at L., II, 77–79;Col. Rec., I, 612, 613. Instances of negro crime are mentioned in MS. Records of Special Courts for the Trial of Negroes—Chester County. For a case of arson punished with death,cf.Col. Rec., IV, 243. For two negroes condemned to death for burglary,ibid., IX, 6, also 699. The punishment for the attempted rape of a white woman was the one point that caused the disapproval of the attorney-general in England, and, probably, led to the passage of the revised act in 1705–1706.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., VIII, 40, Bb. For restitution by masters, which was frequently very burdensome,cf.MS. Misc. Papers, Oct. 9, 1780.[86]Stat. at L., II, 233–236. These punishments were continued until repealed in 1780, (Stat. at L., X, 72), when the penalty for robbery and burglary became imprisonment. This bore entirely on the master, so that in 1790 Governor Mifflin asked that corporal punishment be substituted.Hazard’s Register, II, 74. For theft whipping continued to be imposed, but guilty white people were punished in the same manner. MS. Petitions, Lancaster County, 1761–1825, May, 1784. MS. Misc. Papers, July, 1780.[87]See below, p. 111.[88]“For that hee ... contrary to the Lawes of the Governmt and Contrary to his Masters Consent hath ... got wth child a certaine molato wooman Called Swart anna” ... MS. Rec. Court at Upland, 19; Penn MSS. Papers relating to the Three Lower Counties, 1629–1774, p. 193; MS. Minutes Abington Monthly Meeting, 27 1st mo., 1693. “David Lewis Constable of Haverfoord Returned A Negro man of his And A white woman for haveing A Baster Childe ... the negroe said she Intised him and promised him to marry him: she being examined, Confest the same: ... the Court ordered that she shall Receive Twenty one laishes on her beare Backe ... and the Court ordered the negroe never more to meddle with any white woman more uppon paine of his life.” MS. Min. Chester Co. Courts, 1697–1710, p. 24.[89]MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Nov. 4, 1722.[90]Votes and Proceedings, II, 336.[91]Stat. at L., IV, 62.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, II, 337, 345. For marriage or cohabiting without a master’s consent a servant had to atone with extra service.Cf.Stat. at L., II, 22. This obviously would not check a slave.[92]Apparently such a marriage had occurred in 1722. MS. Ancient Rec. Phila., Nov. 4, 1722, which mention “the Clandestine mariage of MrTuthil’s Negro and Katherine Williams.” The petitioner, who was imprisoned for abetting the marriage, concludes: “I have Discover’d who maried the foresd Negroe, and shall acquaint your honrs.”[93]American Weekly Mercury, Nov. 9, 1727;Pa. Gazette, Feb. 7, 1739–1740; andpassim. Mittelberger mentions them in 1750.Cf.Journey to Pennsylvania, etc., 107; MS. Register of Slaves in Chester County, 1780.[94]“A circumstance not easily believed, is, that the subjection of the negroes has not corrupted the morals of their masters” ... Abbé Raynal,British Settlements in North AmericaI, 163. Raynal’s authority is very poor. The assertion in the text rests rather on negative evidence.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, 1766, p. 30, for an instance of a white woman prostitute to negroes.Ibid., 1767–1776, p. 666, for evidence as to mulatto bastards by pauper white women. Also MS. Misc. Papers, Mar. 12, 1783. For a case (1715) where the guilty white man was probably not a servantcf.MS. Court Papers, Phila. Co., 1697–1732. Benjamin Franklin was openly accused of keeping negro paramours.Cf.What is Sauce for a Goose is also Sauce for a Gander, etc. (1764), 6;A Humble Attempt at Scurrility, etc. (1765), 40.[95]See below.[96]Cf.Col. Rec., I, 117.[97]Stat. at L., IV, 59–64, (sections IX-XIII). Tippling-houses seem to have given a good deal of trouble. In 1703 the grand jury presented several persons “for selling Rum to negros and others” ... MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Nov. 3, 1703.Cf.also presentment of the grand jury, Jan. 2, 1744.Pa. Mag., XXII, 498.[98]Col. Rec., I, 380–381. “The great abuse and Ill consiquence of the great multitudes of negroes who commonly meete togeither in a Riott and tumultious manner on the first days of the weeke.” MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., 28 7th mo., 1702;ibid., Nov. 3, 1703.[99]“The Grand Inquest ... do present that whereas there has been Divers Rioters ... and the peace of our Lord the King Disturbers, by Divers Infants, bond Servants, and Negros, within this City after it is Duskish ... that Care may be taken to Suppress the unruly Negroes of this City accompanying to gether on the first Day of the weeke, and that they may not be Suffered to walk the Streets in Companys after it is Darke without their Masters Leave” ... MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Apr. 4, 1717.[100]Minutes of the Common Council of the City of Philadelphia, 1704–1776, 314, 315, 316, 326, 342, 376;Col. Rec., IV, 224, (1737).[101]“The Grand Inquest now met humly Represent to This honourable Court the great Disorders Commited On the first Dayes of the week By Servants, apprentice boys and Numbers of Negros it has been with great Concearn Observed that the Whites in their Tumultious Resorts in the markets and other placies most Darringly Swear Curse Lye Abuse and often fight Striving to Excell in all Leudness and Obsenity which must produce a generall Corruption of Such youth If not Timely Remidieed and from the Concourse of Negroes Not only the above Mischeiffs but other Dangers may issue” ... MS. Court Papers, 1732–1744, Phila. Co., 1741.[102]“Many disorderly persons meet every evg. about the Court house of this city, and great numbers of Negroes and others sit there with milk pails, and other things, late at night, and many disorders are there committed against the peace and good government of this city”Minutes Common Council of Phila., 405.[103]Pa. Gazette, Nov. 12, 1761.[104]“An Act for preventing Accidents that may happen by Fire,” sect. IV,Stat. at L., III, 254 (1721); “An Act to prevent the Damages, which may happen, by firing of Woods,” etc., sect. III,ibid., IV, 282 (1735); “An Act for the trial of Negroes,” sect. V,ibid., II, 79 (1700); “An Act for the more effectual preventing Accidents which may happen by Fire, and for suppressing Idleness, Drunkenness, and other Debaucheries,” sect. III,ibid., V, 109, 110 (1750–1751); “An Act to prevent the Hunting of Deer,” etc., sect. VII,ibid., VI, 49 (1760); “An Act for the better regulating the nightly Watch within the city of Philadelphia,” etc., sect. XXII,ibid., V, 126 (1750–1751); repeated in 1756, 1763, 1766, 1771,ibid., V, 241; VI, 309; VII, 7; VIII, 115; “An Act for regulating Wagoners, Carters, Draymen, and Porters,” etc., sect. VII,ibid., VI, 68 (1761); repeated in 1763 and 1770,ibid.VI, 250; VII, 359, 360.[105]Cf.the story of Hodge’s Cato, told in Watson,Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time, etc., II, 263.[106]Cf.Achenwall, who got his information from Franklin,Anmerkungen, 25: “Diese Mohrensclaven geniessen als Unterthanen des Staats ... den Schutz der Gesetze, so gut als freye Einwohner. Wenn ein Colonist, auch selbst der Eigenthumsherr, einen Schwarzen umbringt, so wird er gleichfalls zum Tode verurtheilt. Wenn der Herr seinem Sclaven zu harte Arbeit auflegt, oder ihn sonst übel behandelt, so kan er ihn beym Richter verklagen.” Also Kalm,Travels, I, 390.[107]“Yesterday at a Supream Court held in this City, sentence of Death was passed upon William Bullock, who was ... Convicted of the Murder of his Negro Slave.”American Weekly Mercury, Apr. 29, 1742.[108]Kalm (1748) said that there was no record of such a sentence being carried out; but he adds that a case having arisen, even the magistrates secretly advised the guilty person to leave the country, “as otherwise they could not avoid taking him prisoner, and then he would be condemned to die according to the laws of the country, without any hopes of saving him”.Travels, I, 391, 392. For a casecf.Pa. Gazette, Feb. 24, 1741–1742.[109]Acrelius,Description of New Sweden, 169 (1759); Kalm,Travels, I, 394 (1748); Hector St. John Crèvecœur,Letters from an American Farmer, 222 (just before the Revolution).[110]When one of Christopher Marshall’s white servants “struck and kickt” his negro woman, he “could scarcely refrain from kicking him out of the House &c &c &c.” MS. Remembrancer, E, July 22, 1779.[111]Kalm, I, 394; St. John Crèvecœur, 221. Benjamin Lay contradicts this, but allowance must always he made for the extremeness of his assertions.Cf.hisAll Slave-Keepers Apostates(1737), 93.[112]Acrelius, 169.[113]St. John Crèvecœur, 221; Kalm, I, 394; Acrelius, 169. Personal papers contain numerous notices. “To 1 pr Shoes for the negro ... 6” (sh.). MS. William Penn’s Account Book, 1690–1693, p. 2 (1690). A “Bill rendered by Christian Grafford to James Steel” is as follows: “Making old Holland Jeakit and breeches fit for your Negero 0.3.0 Making 2 new Jeakits and 2 pair breeches of stripped Linen for both your Negeromans 0.14.0 And also for Little Negero boy 0.4.0 Making 2 pair Leather Breeches, 1 for James Sanders and another for your Negroeman Zeason 0.13.0.”Pa. Mag., XXXIII, 121 (1740). The bill rendered for the shoes of Thomas Penn’s negroes in 1764–1765 amounted to £7 7 sh. 3d., the price per pair averaging about 7 sh. 6d. Penn-Physick MSS., IV, 223. Alsoibid., IV, 265, 267.Cf.Penn Papers, accounts (unbound), Aug. 19, 1741; Christopher Marshall’s Remembrancer, E, June 1, 1779.[114]Thus Cato had on “two jackets, the uppermost a dark blue half thick, lined with red flannel, the other a light blue homespun flannel, without lining, ozenbrigs shirt, old leather breeches, yarn stockings, old shoes, and an old beaver hat” ...Pa. Gazette, May 5, 1748. A negro from Chester County wore “a lightish coloured cloath coat, with metal buttons, and lined with striped linsey, a lightish linsey jacket with sleeves, and red waistcoat, tow shirt, old lightish cloth breeches, and linen drawers, blue stockings, and old shoes.”Ibid., Jan. 3, 1782. Judith wore “a green jacket, a blue petticoat, old shoes, and grey stockings, and generally wears silver bobbs in her ears.”Ibid., Feb. 16, 1747–1748.[115]Amer. Weekly Mercury, Jan. 31, 1721; Jan. 31, 1731;Pa. Gazette, Oct. 22, 1747; May 5, 1748; Apr. 16, 1761; Jan. 3, 1782;Pa. Journal, Feb. 5, 1750–1751;Pa. Mag., XVIII, 385.[116]Pa. Gazette, May 3, 1775. Supported by advertisementspassim.[117]MS. Dickinson Papers, unclassified. A farm with a stone house for negroes is mentioned inPa. Gaz., June 26, 1746. “Part of these slaves lived in their master’s family, the others had separate cabins on the farm where they reared families” ... “Jacob Minshall Homestead” inReminiscence, Gleanings and Thoughts, No. I, 12.[118]Kalm,Travels, I, 394. For treatment of negroes in the West Indies,cf.Sandiford,The Mystery of Iniquity, 99 (1730); Benezet,A Short Account of that Part of Africa Inhabited by the Negroes(1762), 55, 56, note; Benezet,A Caution and Warning to Great Britain and Her Colonies in a Short Representation of the Calamitous State of the Enslaved Negroes(1766), 5–9; Benezet,Some Historical Account of Guinea(1771), chap. VIII. For treatment in the South,cf.Whitefield,Three Letters(1740), 13, 71; Chastellux,Voyage en Amérique(1786), 130. For treatment in Pennsylvaniacf.Kalm,Travels, I, 394; St. John Crèvecœur,Letters, 221. Acrelius says that the negroes at the iron-furnaces were allowed to stop work for “four months in summer, when the heat is most oppressive.”Description, 168.[119]Mercury, Gazette, andPa. Packet,passim. Most of the taverns seem to have had negro servants.Cf.MS. Assessment Book, Chester Co., 1769, p. 146; of Bucks Co., 1779, p. 84.[120]Mercury, Mar. 3. 1723–1724; Dec. 15, 1724; July 4, 1728; Aug. 24, 1732;Gazette, Feb. 7, 1740; Dec. 3, 1741; May 20, 1742; Nov. 1, 1744; July 9, Dec. 3, 1761;Packet, July 5, 1733.[121]“The laborers are generally composed partly of negroes (slaves) partly of servants from Germany or Ireland” ... Acrelius,Description, 168.Cf.Gabriel Thomas,An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensilvania(1698), etc., 28.[122]Mercury, Jan. 16, 1727–1728; July 25, 1728; Nov. 7, 1728.Gazette, July 17, 1740; Mar. 31, 1743. “A compleat washerwoman” is advertised in theGazette, Oct. 1, 1761; also “an extraordinary washer of clothes,”Gazette, Apr. 12, 1775; Penn-Physick, MSS IV, 203 (1740).[123]Gazette, May 19, 1743; July 11, 1745; Nov. 5, 1761; May 15, 1776; Dec. 15, 1779.Cf.notices in William Penn’s Cash Book (MS.), 3, 6, 9, 15, 18; John Wilson’s Cash Book (MS.), Feb. 23, 1776; MS. Phila. Account Book, 38 (1694); MS. Logan Papers, II, 259 (1707); Richard Hayes’s Ledger (MS.), 88 (1716).[124]Cf.the numerous allusions to his negro woman made by Christopher Marshall in his Remembrancer. An entry in John Wilson’s Cash Book (MS.), Apr. 27, 1770, says: “paid his” (Joseph Pemberton’s) “Negro woman Market mony ... 7/6.” The following advertisement is illustrative, although perhaps it reveals the advertiser’s art as much as the excellence and reliability of the negress. “A likely young Negroe Wench, who can cook and wash well, and do all Sorts of House-work; and can from Experience, be recommended both for her Honesty and Sobriety, having often been trusted with the Keys of untold Money, and Liquors of various Sorts, none of which she will taste. She is no Idler, Company-keeper or Gadder about. She has also a fine, hearty young Child, not quite a Year old, which is the only Reason for selling her, because her Mistress is very sickly, and can’t bear the Trouble of it.”Pa. Gazette, Apr. 2, 1761.[125]“Thou Knowest Negro Peters Ingenuity In making for himself and playing on a fiddle wthout any assistance as the thing in them is Innocent and diverting and may keep them from worse Employmt I have to Encourage in my Service promist him one from Engld therefore buy and bring a good Strong well made Violin wth2 or 3 Sets of spare Gut for the Suitable Strings get somebody of skill to Chuse and by it”.... MS. Isaac Norris, Letter Book, 1719, p. 185.[126]See above,pp. 32–34.[127]“Our Negro woman got leave to visit her children in Bucks County.” Christopher Marshall’s Remembrancer, D, Jan. 7, 1776. “This afternoon came home our Negro woman Dinah.”Ibid., D, Jan. 15, 1776.[128]Watson,Annals, I, 406.Cf.letter of William Hamilton of Lancaster: “Yesterday (being Negroes Holiday) I took a ride into Maryland.”Pa. Mag., XXIX, 257.[129]For the treatment of William Edmundson when he tried to convert negroes in the West Indies,cf.hisJournal, 85; Gough,A History of the People Called Quakers, III, 61.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Journals, III, 191 (1680).[130]Kalm,Travels, I, 397. “It’s obvious, that the future Welfare of those poor Slaves ... is generally too much disregarded by those who keep them.”An Epistle of Caution and Advice, Concerning the Buying and Keeping of Slaves(1754), 5. This, however, is neglect rather than opposition.

[1]Breviate. Dutch Records, no. 2, fol. 5. In2 Pennsylvania Archives, XVI, 234.Cf.Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 49. The “Proposed Freedoms and Exemptions for New Netherland,” 1640, say, “The Company shall exert itself to provide the Patroons and Colonists, on their order with as many Blacks as possible”....2 Pa. Arch., V, 74.[2]C. T. Odhner. “The Founding of New Sweden, 1637–1642”, translated by G. B. Keen inPennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, III, 277.[3]Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 331; O’Callaghan,Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, II, 213, 214. The Report of the Board of Accounts on New Netherland, Dec. 15, 1644, had spoken of the need of negroes, the economy of their labor, and had recommended the importation of large numbers.2 Pa. Arch., V, 88. See also Davis,History of Bucks County, 793.[4]2 Pa. Arch., XVI, 255, 256; Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 372. Sir Robert Carr, writing to Colonel Nicholls, Oct. 13, 1664, says, “I have already sent into Merryland some Neegars wch did belong to the late Governor att his plantation above”....2 Pa. Arch., V, 578.[5]The Records of the Court of New Castle give a list of the “Names of the Tijdable prsons Living in this Courts Jurisdiction” in which occur “three negros”: “1 negro woman of Mr. Moll”, “1 neger of Mr. Alrichs”, “Sam Hedge and neger”. Book A, 197–201. Quoted inPa. Mag., III, 352–354. For the active trade in negroes at this timecf.MS. Board of Trade Journals, II, 307.[6]“Wth out wch wee cannot subsist”.... MS. New Castle Court Records, Liber A, 406. Hazard,Annals, 456.[7]“Ik hebbe geen vaste Dienstbode, als een Neger die ik gekocht heb.”Missive van Cornelis Bom, Geschreven uit de Stadt Philadelphia, etc., 3. (Oct. 12, 1684).“Man hat hier auch Zwartzen oder Mohren zu Schlaven in der Arbeit.”Letter, probably of Hermans Op den Graeff, Germantown, Feb. 12, 1684, in Sachse,Letters relating to the Settlement of Germantown, 25.Cf.also MS. in American Philosophical Society’s collection, quoted inPa. Mag., VII, 106: “Lacey Cocke hath A negroe” ..., “Pattrick Robbinson—Robert neverbeegood his negor sarvant”.... “The Defendts negros” are mentioned in a suit for damages in 1687. See MS. Court Records of Penna. and Chester Co., 1681–1688, p. 72.[8]MS. Ancient Records of Philadelphia, 28 7th mo., 1702.[9]MS. William Trent’s Ledger, 156. For numerous references to negroes brought from Barbadoes, see MS. Booke of accttsRelating to the BarquentineConstant AilseAndw: Dykes mastr: from March 25th 1700 (-1702). (Pa. State Lib.)[10]Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania(edited by J. T. Mitchell and Henry Flanders), II, 107.Ibid., II, 285. The act of 1705–1706 was repeated in 1710–1711.Ibid., II, 383.Cf.Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, II, 529, 530.[11]Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania, I, pt. II, 132.Stat. at L., II, 433.[12]MS. Board of Trade Papers, Proprieties, IX, Q, 39, 42.Stat. at L., II, 543, 544.[13]Jonathan Dickinson, a merchant of Philadelphia, writing to a correspondent in Jamaica, 4th month, 1715, says, “I must entreat you to send me no more negroes for sale, for our people don’t care to buy. They are generally against any coming into the country.” I have been unable to find this letter. Watson, who quotes it (Annals of Philadelphia, II, 264), says, “Vide the Logan MSS.”Cf.also a letter of George Tiller of Kingston, Jamaica, to Dickinson, 1712. MS. Logan Papers, VIII, 47.[14]Stat. at L., III, 117, 118; MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., X, 2, Q, 159;Stat. at L., III, 465;Col. Rec., III, 38, 144, 171. During this period negroes were being imported through the custom-house at the rate of about one hundred and fifty a year.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, II, 251.[15]In 1727 the iron-masters of Pennsylvania petitioned for the entire removal of the duty, labor being so scarce.Votes and Proceedings, 1726–1742, p. 31. The attitude of the English authorities is explained in a report of Richard Jackson, March 2, 1774, on one of the Pennsylvania impost acts. “The Increase of Duty on Negroes in this Law is Manifestly inconsistent with the Policy adopted by your Lordships and your Predecessors for the sake of encouraging the African Trade” ... Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XXIII, Z, 54.[16]Votes and Proceedings, II, 152;Col. Rec., II, 572, 573;1 Pa. Arch., I, 160–162;Votes and Proceedings, 1766, pp. 45, 46. For a complaint against this practicecf.“Copy of a Representatnof the Board of Trade upon some pennsylvania Laws” (1713–1714). MS. Board of Trade Papers, Plantations General, IX, K, 35.[17]O’Callaghan,N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 604.[18]Votes and Proceedings, II, 347.[19]Stat. at L., IV, 52–56, 60;Col. Rec., III, 247, 248, 250.[20]Stat. at L., IV, 123–128;Col. Rec., III, 359; Smith,History of Delaware County, 261. For a while, no doubt, there was a considerable influx. Ralph Sandiford says (1730), “We havenegroesflocking in upon us since the duty on them is reduced to 40 shillings per head.”Mystery of Iniquity, (2d ed.), 5. Many of these were smuggled in from New Jersey, where there was no duty from 1721 to 1767. Cooley,A Study of Slavery in New Jersey, 15, 16.[21]Cargoes of servants are advertised in theAmerican Weekly Mercury, thePennsylvania Packet, and thePennsylvania Gazette,passim. As to enlistment of servantscf.Mercury,Gazette, Aug. 7, 1740;Col. Rec., IV, 437. Complaint about this had been made as early as 1711.Votes and Proceedings, II, 101, 103.[22]Smith,History of Delaware County, 261; Peter Kalm,Travels into North America, etc., (1748), I, 391.[23]Col. Rec., VII, 37, 38.[24]Stat. at L., VI, 104–110;Votes and Proceedings, 1761, pp. 25, 29, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 52, 55, 63;Col. Rec., VIII, 575, 576. “The Petition of Divers Merchants of the City of Philadelphia, To The Honble James Hamilton Esqr. Lieut. Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, Humbly Sheweth, That We the Subscribers ... have seen for some time past, the many inconveniencys the Inhabitants have suffer’d, for want of Labourers, and Artificers, by Numbers being Inlisted for His Majestys Service and near a total stop to the importation of German and other white Servants, have for some time encouraged the importation of Negros, ... that an advantage may be gain’d by the Introduction of Slaves, wch will likewise be a means of reduceing the exorbitant Price of Labour, and in all Probability bring our staple Commoditys to their usual Prices.” MS. Provincial Papers, XXV, March 1, 1761.[25]Stat. at L., VII, 158, 159; VIII, 330–332;Col. Rec., IX, 400, 401, 443, ff.; X, 72, 77. The Board of Trade Journals, LXXXII, 47, (May 5, 1774), say that their lordships had some discourse with Dr. Franklin “upon the objections ... to ...imposing Duties amounting to a prohibition upon the Importation of Negroes.”[26]Cf.MS. Provincial Papers, XXXII, January, 1775.[27]Stat. at L., X, 72, 73. It was forbidden by implication rather than specific regulation. It had been foreseen that an act for gradual abolition entailed stopping the importation of negroes.Pa. Packet, Nov. 28, 1778;1 Pa. Arch., VII, 79.[28]Professor E. P. Cheyney in an article written some years ago (“The Condition of Labor in Early Pennsylvania, I. Slavery,” inThe Manufacturer, Feb. 2, 1891, p. 8) considers these laws to have been restrictive in purpose, and gives three causes for their passage, in the following order of importance: (a) dread of slave insurrections, (b) opposition of the free laboring classes to slave competition, (c) conscientious objections. I cannot think that this is correct. (a) seems to have been the impelling motive only in connection with the law of 1712, and seems rarely to have been thought of. It was urged in 1740, 1741, and 1742, when efforts were being made to pass a militia law in Pennsylvania, but it attracted little attention.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XV, T: 54, 57, 60.[29]In a MS. entitled “William Penn’s Memorial to the Lords of Trade relating to several laws passed in Pensilvania,” assigned to the year 1690 in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, but probably belonging to a later period, is the following: “These ... Acts ... to Raise money ... to defray publick Exigences in such manner as after a Mature deliberac̃on they thought would not be burthensom particularly in the Act for laying a Duty on Negroes” ... MS. Pa. Miscellaneous Papers, 1653–1724, p. 24.[30]1700. 20 shillings for negroes over sixteen years of age, 6 for those under sixteen. No cause given. Apparently (terms of the act)revenue.—1705–1706. 40 shillings—a draw-back of one half if the negro be re-exported within six months. Apparentlyrevenue.—1710. 40 shillings—excepting those imported by immigrants for their own use, and not sold within a year. Almost certainly (preamble)revenue.—1712. 20 pounds. The causes were a dread of insurrection because of the negro uprising in New York, and the Indians’ dislike of the importation of Indian slaves. Purpose undoubtedlyrestriction.—1715. 5 pounds. Apparently (character of the provisions)restrictionandrevenue.—1717–1718. 5 pounds. To continue the preceding.Restrictionandrevenue—1720–1721. 5 pounds. To continue the preceding.Revenue(preamble) andrestriction.—1722. 5 pounds. To continue provisions of previous acts.Revenueandrestriction—1725–1726. 5 pounds.Revenueandrestriction.—1729. 2 pounds. Reduction made probably because since 1712 none of the laws had been allowed to stand for any length of time, and because there had been much smuggling.Revenueandrestriction.—1761. 10 pounds. No cause given for the increase.Restrictionandrevenue.—1768. Preceding continued—“of public utility.”Restrictionandrevenue.—1773. Preceding made perpetual—“of great public utility”—but duty raised to 20 pounds.Restriction.Cf. Stat. at L., II, 107, 285, 383, 433; III, 117, 159, 238, 275; IV, 52, 123; VI, 104; VII, 158; VIII, 330.[31]See below, chaptersIVandV.[32]“Man hat besonders in Pensylvanien den Grundsatz angenommen ihre Einführung so viel möglich abzuhalten”...Achenwall’s in Göttingen über Nordamerika und über dasige Grosbritannische Colonien aus mündlichen Nachrichten des Herrn Dr. Franklins...Anmerkungen, 24, 25. (About 1760).[33]Stat. at L., X, 67, 68; 1Pa. Arch., I, 306.Cf.Mr. Woodward’s speech, Jan. 19, 1838,Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to Propose Amendments to the Constitution, etc., X, 16, 17.[34]“Aus Pennsylvanien ... fahren gen Barbadoes, Jamaica und Antego. Von dar bringen sie zurück ... Negros.”Daniel Falkner,Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania in Norden-America, etc., (17O2), 192. For a negro woman from Jamaica (1715), see MS. Court Papers, Philadelphia County, 1619–1732. Also numerous advertisements in the newspapers.Mercury, Apr. 17, 1729, (Barbadoes); July 31, 1729, (Bermuda); July 23, 1730, (St. Christophers); Jan. 21, 1739, (Antigua). Oldmixon, speaking of Pennsylvania, says, “Negroes sell here ... very well; but not by the Ship Loadings, as they have sometimes done at Maryland and Virginia.” (1741.)British Empire in America, etc., (2d ed.), I, 316.Cf.however the following: “A PARCEL of likely Negro Boys and Girls just arrived in the Sloop Charming Sally ... to be sold ... for ready Money, Flour or Wheat” ... Advt. inPa. Gazette, Sept. 4, 1740. For a consignment of seventy see MS. Provincial Papers, XXVII, Apr. 26, 1766.[35]Cf.MS. William Trent’s Ledger, “Negroes” (1703–1708). Isaac Norris, Letter Book, 75, 76 (1732). For a statement of profit and loss on two imported negroes, seeibid., 77. In this case Isaac Norris acted as a broker, charging five per cent. For the wheat and flour trade with Barbadoes, seeA Letter from Doctor More ... Relating to the ... Province of Pennsilvania, 5. (1686).[36]Some were probably brought from Africa by pirates.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., III, 285, 286; IV, 369; V, 408. The hazard involved in the purchase of negroes is revealed in the following: “Accotof Negroes Drto Tho. Willen £17: 10 for a New Negro Man ... £15 and 50 Sh. more if he live to the Spring” ... MS. James Logan’s Account Book, 91, (1714). As to the effect of cold weather upon negroes, Isaac Norris, writing to Jonathan Dickinson in 1703, says, ... “they’re So Chilly they Can hardly Stir frõ the fire and Wee have Early beginning for a hard Wintr.” MS. Letter Book, 1702–1704, p. 109. In 1748 Kalm says, ... “the toes and fingers of the former” (negroes) “are frequently frozen.”Travels, I, 392.[37]Mercury, Sept. 26, 1723. MS. Penn Papers, Accounts (unbound), 27 3d mo., 1741. AlsoCalendar of State Papers, America and West Indies, 1697–1698, p. 390;Col. Rec., IV, 515;Pa. Mag., XXVII, 320.[38]A Report of the Royal African Company, Nov. 2, 1680, purports to show the first cost: “That the Negros cost them the first price 5li: and 4li: 15s. the freight, besides 25li p cent which they lose by the usual mortality of the Negros.” MS. Board of Trade Journals, III, 229. The selling price had been considered immoderate four years previous.Ibid., I, 236. In 1723 Peter Baynton sold “a negroe man named Jemy ... 30 £.” Loose sheet in Peter Baynton’s Ledger. In 1729 a negro twenty-five years old brought 35 pounds in Chester County. MS. Chester County Papers, 89. The Moravians of Bethlehem purchased a negress in 1748 for 70 pounds.Pa. Mag., XXII, 503. Peter Kalm (1748) says that a full grown negro cost from 40 pounds to 100 pounds; a child of two or three years, 8 pounds to 14 pounds.Travels, I, 393, 394. Mittelberger (1750) says 200 to 350 florins (33 to 58 pounds).Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750, etc., 106. Franklin (1751) in a very careful estimate thought that the price would average about 30 pounds.Works(ed. Sparks), II, 314. Acrelius (about 1759) says 30 to 40 pounds.Description of ... New Sweden, etc. (translation of W. M. Reynolds, 1874, inMemoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, XI), p. 168. A negro iron-worker brought 50 pounds at Bethlehem in 1760.Pa. Mag., XXII, 503. In 1790 Edward Shippen writes of a slave who cost him 100 pounds.Ibid., VII, 31. It is probable that the value of a slave was roughly about three times that of a white servant.Cf.Votes and Proceedings(1764), V, 308.[39]In 1708 the Board of Trade requested the governor of Pennsylvania that very definite information on a variety of subjects relating to the negro be transmitted thereafter half yearly. Were these records available they would be worth more than all the remaining information.Cf.MS. Provincial Papers, I, April 15, 1708; 1Pa. Arch., I, 152, 153.[40]N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 604. As to the necessity for allowing so large a margin in these figurescf.the following. “The number of the whites are said to be Sixty Thousand, and of the Black about five Thousand.” Col. Hart’s Answer, etc., MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XI, R: 7. (1720). “The number of People in this Province may be computed to above 40,000 Souls amongst whom we have scarce any Blacks except a few Household Servants in the City of Philadelphia” ... Letter of Sir William Keith,ibid., XI, R: 42. (1722). Another communication gave the true state of the case, if not the exact numbers. “This Government has not hitherto had Occasion to use any methods that can furnish us with an exact Estimate, but as near as can at present be guessed there may be aboutForty five thousandSouls ofWhitesandfour thousandBlacks.” Major Gordon’s answer to Queries,ibid., XIII, S: 34. (1730–1731).[41]William Douglass,A Summary, Historical and Political, ... of the British Settlements in North-America, etc. (ed. 1755), II, 324; Abiel Holmes,American Annals, etc., II, 187; Bancroft,History of the United States(author’s last revision), II, 391.[42]Letter inPa. Packet, Jan 1, 1780. This made allowance for the numerous runaways during the British occupation of Philadelphia. Alsoibid., Dec. 25, 1779; 1Pa. Arch., XI, 74, 75. For a higher estimate, 10,000, for 1780 but made in 1795, see MS. Collection of the Records of the Pa. Society for the Abolition of Slavery, etc., IV, 111.[43]Slaves, 3,737; free, 6,537. Other enumerations occur, but are evidently without value. Oldmixon (1741), 3,600.British Empire in America, I, 321. Burke (1758), about 6,000.An Account of the European Settlements in America, II, 204. Abbé Raynal (1766), 30,000.A Philosophical and Political History of the British Settlements ... in North America(tr. 1776), I, 163. A communication to the Earl of Dartmouth (1773), 2,000. MS. Provincial Papers, Jan. 1775; 1Pa. Arch., IV, 597. Smyth (1782), over 100,000.A Tour in the United States of America, etc., II, 309.[44]MS. (Samuel Wright), A Journal of Our Rem(oval) from Chester and Darby (to) Conestogo ... 1726, copied by A. C. Myers; Morgan,Annals of Harrisburg, 9–11;Col. Rec., VIII, 305, 306. Tax-lists printed in 3Pa. Arch.Also Davis,Hist. of Bucks Co., 793; Futhey and Cope,Hist. of Chester Co., 423 425; Ellis and Evans,Hist. of Lancaster Co., 301; Gibson,Hist. of York Co., 498; Bean,Hist. of Montgomery Co., 302; Lytle,Hist. of Huntingdon Co., 182; Blackman,Hist. of Susquehanna Co., 72; Creigh,Hist. of Washington Co., 362; Bausman,Hist. of Beaver Co., I, 152, 153; Linn,Annals of Buffalo Valley, 66–74; Peck,Wyoming; its History, etc., 240.[45]MS. Assessment Books, Chester Co., 1765, p. 197; 1768, p. 326; 1780, p. 95; MS. Assessment Book, Phila. Co., 1769. As early as 1688 Henry Jones of Moyamensing had thirteen negroes. MS. Phila. Wills, Book A, 84. An undated MS. entitled “A List of my Negroes” shows that Jonathan Dickinson had thirty-two. Dickinson Papers, unclassified. An owner in York County is said to have had one hundred and fifty. 3Pa. Arch., XXI, 71. This is probably a misprint.[46]In 1790 the numbers were as follows: New York, 21,324 slaves, 4,654 free, total 25,978; New Jersey, 11,423 slaves, 4,402 free, total 15,825; Pennsylvania, 3,737 slaves, 6,537 free, total 10,274.[47]On Pennsylvania’s amazing commercial and industrial activity see Anderson,Historical and Chronological Deductions of the Origin of Commerce, etc. (1762), III, 75–77.[48]See below,p. 41.[49]See below, chaptersIVandV.[50]See below,ibid.[51]Nevertheless slavery took root in the western counties, and lingered there longer than anywhere else in Pennsylvania.[52]Throughout this work the fundamental distinction between the words “slave” and “servant,” as used in the text, is that “slave” denotes a person held for life, “servant” a person held for a term of years only.[53]Cf.O’Callaghan,Voyages of the Slavers St. John and Arms of Amsterdam, etc., 100, for a bill of sale, 1646. Sprinchorn,Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia, 217.[54]MS. Record of the Court at Upland in Penn., Sept. 25, 1676.[55]“No Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery villenage or Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged thereunto by Authority, or such as willingly have sould, or shall sell themselves,” ...Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... preceded by the Duke of York’s Laws, etc., 12. This is not to prejudice any masters “who have ... Apprentices for Terme of Years, or other Servants for Term of years or Life.”Ibid., 12. Another clause directs that “No Servant, except such are duly so for life, shall be Assigned over to other Masters ... for above the Space of one year, unless for good reasons offered”.Ibid., 38.[56]There is an evident distinction intended in the following: “A List of the Tydable psons James Sanderling and slave John Test and servant.” One follows the other. MS. Rec. Court at Upland, Nov. 13, 1677. In 1686 the price of a negro, 30 pounds, named in a law-suit, is probably that of a slave. MS. Minute Book. Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions. Bucks Co., 1684–1730, pp. 56, 57. A will made in 1694 certainly disposed of the within mentioned negroes for life. “I do hereby give ... powr... to my sdExers ... eithrto lett or hire out my five negroes ... and pay my sdwife the one half of their wages Yearly during her life or Othrwise give her such Compensac̃on for her intrest therein as shee and my sdExe͠rs shall agree upon and my will is that the other half of their sdwages shall be equally Devided between my aforsd Children, and after my sd wife decease my will also is That the sd negroes Or such of them and their Offsprings as are then alive shall in kind or value be equally Devided between my sdChildren” ... Will of Thomas Lloyd. MS. Philadelphia Wills, Book A, 267.[57]MSS., Domestic Letters, 17.[58]“Know all men by these presents That I Patrick Robinson Countie Clark of Philadelphia for and in Consideration of the Sum of fourtie pounds Current Money of Pennsilvania ... have bargained Sold and delivered ... unto ... Joseph Browne for himselfe, ... heirs exẽrs adm̃rs and assigns One Negro man Named Jack, To have and to hold the Said Negro man named Jack unto the said Joseph Browne for himself ... for ever. And I ... the said Negro man unto him ... shall and will warrant and for ever defend by these presents.” MS. Philadelphia Deed Book, E, 1, vol. V, 150, 151. This is similar to the regular legal formula afterward.Cf.MS. Ancient Rec. Sussex Co., 1681–1709, Sept. 22, 1709.[59]See below,p. 65.[60]“And to buy Souls and Bodies of men for Money, to enslave them and their Posterity to the end of the World, we judge is a great hinderance to the spreading of the Gospel” ... “neither should we keep them in perpetual Bondage and Slavery against their Consent” ...An Exhortation and Caution To Friends Concerning buying or keeping of Negroes, reprinted inPa. Mag., XIII, 266, 268.[61]“An Act for the better Regulation of Servants in this Province and Territories.”Stat. at L., II, 56.[62]Cf.J. C. Ballagh,A History of Slavery in Virginia, chapter II.[63]Cf.letter of William Edmundson to Friends in Maryland, Virginia, and other parts of America, 1675. S. Janney,History of the Religious Society of Friends, from Its Rise to the Year 1828, III, 178.[64]The Articles Settlement and Offices of the Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania, etc., article XVIII. This quite closely resembles the ordinance issued by Governor Rising to the Swedes in 1654, that after a certain period negroes should be absolutely free.... “efter 6 åhr vare en slafvare alldeles fri.” Sprinchorn,Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia, 271.[65]“Let no blacks be brought in directly. and if any come out of Virginia, Maryld. [or elsewhereerased] in families that have formerly bought them elsewhere Let them be declared (as in the west jersey constitutions) free at 8 years end.” “B. F. Abridgmt. out of Holland and Germany.” Penn MSS. Fordvs.Penn. etc., 1674–1716, p. 17.[66]Cf.Pa. Mag., IV, 28–30.[67]Ibid., XIII, 265–270.[68]Negro servants are mentioned. SeePa. Mag., VII, 106.Cf.below, p. 54. Little reliance can be placed upon the early use of this word.[69]I have found no instance where a negro was indisputably a servant in the early period. The court records abound in notices of white servants.[70]Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... 1682–1700, p. 153 (1683), 211, 213 (1693). For running away white servants had to give five days of extra service for each day of absence.Ibid., 166 (1683), 213 (1693). Harboring cost the offender five shillings a day.Ibid., 152 (1683), 212 (1693).[71]Ibid., 113 (1682);ibid., 102 (Laws Agreed upon in England).[72]Ibid., 152. “No Servant white or black ... shall at anie time after publication hereof be Attached or taken into Execution for his Master or Mistress debt” ...[73]The rearing of slave children was regarded as a burden by owners. A writer declared that in Pennsylvania “negroes just born are considered an incumbrance only, and if humanity did not forbid it, they would be instantly given away.”Pa. Packet, Jan. 1, 1780. In 1732 the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ordered a man to take back a negress whom he had sold, and who proved to be pregnant. He was to refund the purchase money and the money spent “for Phisic and Attendance of the Said Negroe in her Miserable Condition.” MS. Court Papers. 1732–1744. Phila. Co., June 9, 1732.[74]The Roman doctrine ofpartus sequitur ventrem. This was never established by law in Pennsylvania, and during colonial times was never the subject of a court decision that has come down. That it was the usage, however, there is abundant proof. In 1727 Isaac Warner bequeathed “To Wife Ann ... a negro woman named Sarah ... To daughter Ann Warner (3) an unborn negro child of the above named Sarah.” MS. Phila. Co. Will Files, no. 47, 1727. In 1786 the Supreme Court declared that it was the law of Pennsylvania, and had always been the custom. 1 Dallas 181.[75]MS. Abstract of Phila. Co. Wills, Book A, 63, 71, (1693); Will of Samuel Richardson of Philadelphia inPa. Mag., XXXIII, 373 (1719). In 1682 the attorney-general in England answering an inquiry from Jamaica, declared “That where goods or merchandise are by Law forfeited to the King, the sale of them from one to another will not fix the property as against the King, but they may be seized wherever found whilst they remain in specie; And that Negros being admitted Merchandise will fall within the same Law”. MS. Board of Trade Journals, IV, 124. On several occasions during war negro slaves were captured from the enemy and brought to Pennsylvania, where they were sold as ordinary prize-goods—things. In 1745, however, when two French negro prisoners produced papers showing that they were free, they were held for exchange as prisoners of war—persons. MS. Provincial Papers, VII, Oct. 2, 1745. For the status of the negro slave as real estate in Virginia,cf.Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Virginia, ch. II. In 1786 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that “property in a Negroe may be obtained by abona fidepurchase, without deed.” 1 Dallas 169.[76]“An Act for the trial of Negroes.”Stat. at L., II, 77–79. Repealed in Council, 1705.Ibid., II, 79;Col. Rec., I, 612, 613. Passed again with slight changes in 1705–1706.Stat. at L., II, 233–236.[77]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province.”Stat. at L., IV, 59–64. It became law by lapse of time.Ibid., IV, 64.[78]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province.”, section 1.Stat. at L., IV, 59.[79]Cf.Enoch Lewis, “Life of William Penn” (1841), inFriends’ Library, V, 315; J. R. Tyson, “Annual Discourse before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania” (1831), inHazard’s Register, VIII, 316.[80]MS. Minutes Court of Quarter Sessions Bucks County, 1684–1730, P. 375 (1703); MS. “Bail, John Kendig for a Negro, 29. 9br35,” in Logan Papers, unbound; “An Act for the trial of Negroes,”Stat. at L., II, 77–79 (1700), 233–236 (1705–1706);Col. Rec., III, 254; IV, 243; IX, 648, 680, 704, 705, 707; X, 73, 276. For the commission instituting one of these special courts (1762), see MS. Miscellaneous Papers, 1684–1847, Chester County, 149; also Diffenderffer, “Early Negro Legislation in the Province of Pennsylvania,” inChristian Culture, Sept. 1, 1890. Mr. Diffenderffer cites a commission of Feb. 20, 1773, but is puzzled at finding no record of the trial of negroes in the records of the local Court of Quarter Sessions. It would of course not appear there. Special dockets were kept for the special courts.Cf.MS. Records of Special Courts for the Trial of Negroes, held at Chester, in Chester County. The law was not universally applied at first. In 1703 a negro was tried for fornication before the Court of Quarter Sessions. MS. Minutes Court of Quarter Sessions Bucks County, 1684–1730, p. 378.[81]Col. Rec., I, 61; II, 405, 406.[82]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes,” etc.Stat. at L., IV, 59. For an instance of such valuation in the case of two slaves condemned for burglary, see MS. Provincial Papers, XXX, July 29, 1773. The governor, however, pardoned these negroes on condition that they be transported.[83]“On the trials Larry the slave was convicted by a Jury of twelve Men and received the usual sentence of whipping, restitution and fine according to law.... This case is published as being the first instance of a slave’s being tried in this state by a Grand and Petit Jury. Our constitution provides that these unhappy men shall have the same measure of Justice and the same mode of trial with others, their fellow creatures, when charged with crimes or offences.”Pa. Packet, Feb. 16, 1779. Nevertheless a commission for a special court had been issued in August, 1777.Cf.“Petition of Mary Bryan,” MS. Misc. Papers, Aug. 15, 1777.[84]Stat. at L., X, 72. What was the standing of negro slaves before the ordinary courts of Pennsylvania in the years between 1700 and 1780 it is difficult to say. They certainly could not be witnesses—not against white men, since this privilege was given to free negroes for the first time in 1780 (Stat. at L., X, 70), and to slaves not until 1847 (Laws of Assembly, 1847, p. 208); while if they were witnesses against other negroes it would be before special courts. Doubtless negroes could sometimes seek redress in the ordinary courts, though naturally the number of such cases would be limited. There is, however, at least one instance of a white man being sued by a negro, who won his suit. “Francis Jnoson the Negro verbally complained agst WmOrion ... and after pleading to on both sides the Court passed Judgment and ordered WmOrion to pay him the sd Francis Jnoson twenty shillings” ... MS. Ancient Records of Sussex County, 1681 to 1709, 4th mo., 1687. Before 1700 negroes were tried before the ordinary courts, and there is at least one case where a negro witnessed against a white man.Ibid., 8br 1687.[85]Stat. at L., II, 77–79;Col. Rec., I, 612, 613. Instances of negro crime are mentioned in MS. Records of Special Courts for the Trial of Negroes—Chester County. For a case of arson punished with death,cf.Col. Rec., IV, 243. For two negroes condemned to death for burglary,ibid., IX, 6, also 699. The punishment for the attempted rape of a white woman was the one point that caused the disapproval of the attorney-general in England, and, probably, led to the passage of the revised act in 1705–1706.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., VIII, 40, Bb. For restitution by masters, which was frequently very burdensome,cf.MS. Misc. Papers, Oct. 9, 1780.[86]Stat. at L., II, 233–236. These punishments were continued until repealed in 1780, (Stat. at L., X, 72), when the penalty for robbery and burglary became imprisonment. This bore entirely on the master, so that in 1790 Governor Mifflin asked that corporal punishment be substituted.Hazard’s Register, II, 74. For theft whipping continued to be imposed, but guilty white people were punished in the same manner. MS. Petitions, Lancaster County, 1761–1825, May, 1784. MS. Misc. Papers, July, 1780.[87]See below, p. 111.[88]“For that hee ... contrary to the Lawes of the Governmt and Contrary to his Masters Consent hath ... got wth child a certaine molato wooman Called Swart anna” ... MS. Rec. Court at Upland, 19; Penn MSS. Papers relating to the Three Lower Counties, 1629–1774, p. 193; MS. Minutes Abington Monthly Meeting, 27 1st mo., 1693. “David Lewis Constable of Haverfoord Returned A Negro man of his And A white woman for haveing A Baster Childe ... the negroe said she Intised him and promised him to marry him: she being examined, Confest the same: ... the Court ordered that she shall Receive Twenty one laishes on her beare Backe ... and the Court ordered the negroe never more to meddle with any white woman more uppon paine of his life.” MS. Min. Chester Co. Courts, 1697–1710, p. 24.[89]MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Nov. 4, 1722.[90]Votes and Proceedings, II, 336.[91]Stat. at L., IV, 62.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, II, 337, 345. For marriage or cohabiting without a master’s consent a servant had to atone with extra service.Cf.Stat. at L., II, 22. This obviously would not check a slave.[92]Apparently such a marriage had occurred in 1722. MS. Ancient Rec. Phila., Nov. 4, 1722, which mention “the Clandestine mariage of MrTuthil’s Negro and Katherine Williams.” The petitioner, who was imprisoned for abetting the marriage, concludes: “I have Discover’d who maried the foresd Negroe, and shall acquaint your honrs.”[93]American Weekly Mercury, Nov. 9, 1727;Pa. Gazette, Feb. 7, 1739–1740; andpassim. Mittelberger mentions them in 1750.Cf.Journey to Pennsylvania, etc., 107; MS. Register of Slaves in Chester County, 1780.[94]“A circumstance not easily believed, is, that the subjection of the negroes has not corrupted the morals of their masters” ... Abbé Raynal,British Settlements in North AmericaI, 163. Raynal’s authority is very poor. The assertion in the text rests rather on negative evidence.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, 1766, p. 30, for an instance of a white woman prostitute to negroes.Ibid., 1767–1776, p. 666, for evidence as to mulatto bastards by pauper white women. Also MS. Misc. Papers, Mar. 12, 1783. For a case (1715) where the guilty white man was probably not a servantcf.MS. Court Papers, Phila. Co., 1697–1732. Benjamin Franklin was openly accused of keeping negro paramours.Cf.What is Sauce for a Goose is also Sauce for a Gander, etc. (1764), 6;A Humble Attempt at Scurrility, etc. (1765), 40.[95]See below.[96]Cf.Col. Rec., I, 117.[97]Stat. at L., IV, 59–64, (sections IX-XIII). Tippling-houses seem to have given a good deal of trouble. In 1703 the grand jury presented several persons “for selling Rum to negros and others” ... MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Nov. 3, 1703.Cf.also presentment of the grand jury, Jan. 2, 1744.Pa. Mag., XXII, 498.[98]Col. Rec., I, 380–381. “The great abuse and Ill consiquence of the great multitudes of negroes who commonly meete togeither in a Riott and tumultious manner on the first days of the weeke.” MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., 28 7th mo., 1702;ibid., Nov. 3, 1703.[99]“The Grand Inquest ... do present that whereas there has been Divers Rioters ... and the peace of our Lord the King Disturbers, by Divers Infants, bond Servants, and Negros, within this City after it is Duskish ... that Care may be taken to Suppress the unruly Negroes of this City accompanying to gether on the first Day of the weeke, and that they may not be Suffered to walk the Streets in Companys after it is Darke without their Masters Leave” ... MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Apr. 4, 1717.[100]Minutes of the Common Council of the City of Philadelphia, 1704–1776, 314, 315, 316, 326, 342, 376;Col. Rec., IV, 224, (1737).[101]“The Grand Inquest now met humly Represent to This honourable Court the great Disorders Commited On the first Dayes of the week By Servants, apprentice boys and Numbers of Negros it has been with great Concearn Observed that the Whites in their Tumultious Resorts in the markets and other placies most Darringly Swear Curse Lye Abuse and often fight Striving to Excell in all Leudness and Obsenity which must produce a generall Corruption of Such youth If not Timely Remidieed and from the Concourse of Negroes Not only the above Mischeiffs but other Dangers may issue” ... MS. Court Papers, 1732–1744, Phila. Co., 1741.[102]“Many disorderly persons meet every evg. about the Court house of this city, and great numbers of Negroes and others sit there with milk pails, and other things, late at night, and many disorders are there committed against the peace and good government of this city”Minutes Common Council of Phila., 405.[103]Pa. Gazette, Nov. 12, 1761.[104]“An Act for preventing Accidents that may happen by Fire,” sect. IV,Stat. at L., III, 254 (1721); “An Act to prevent the Damages, which may happen, by firing of Woods,” etc., sect. III,ibid., IV, 282 (1735); “An Act for the trial of Negroes,” sect. V,ibid., II, 79 (1700); “An Act for the more effectual preventing Accidents which may happen by Fire, and for suppressing Idleness, Drunkenness, and other Debaucheries,” sect. III,ibid., V, 109, 110 (1750–1751); “An Act to prevent the Hunting of Deer,” etc., sect. VII,ibid., VI, 49 (1760); “An Act for the better regulating the nightly Watch within the city of Philadelphia,” etc., sect. XXII,ibid., V, 126 (1750–1751); repeated in 1756, 1763, 1766, 1771,ibid., V, 241; VI, 309; VII, 7; VIII, 115; “An Act for regulating Wagoners, Carters, Draymen, and Porters,” etc., sect. VII,ibid., VI, 68 (1761); repeated in 1763 and 1770,ibid.VI, 250; VII, 359, 360.[105]Cf.the story of Hodge’s Cato, told in Watson,Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time, etc., II, 263.[106]Cf.Achenwall, who got his information from Franklin,Anmerkungen, 25: “Diese Mohrensclaven geniessen als Unterthanen des Staats ... den Schutz der Gesetze, so gut als freye Einwohner. Wenn ein Colonist, auch selbst der Eigenthumsherr, einen Schwarzen umbringt, so wird er gleichfalls zum Tode verurtheilt. Wenn der Herr seinem Sclaven zu harte Arbeit auflegt, oder ihn sonst übel behandelt, so kan er ihn beym Richter verklagen.” Also Kalm,Travels, I, 390.[107]“Yesterday at a Supream Court held in this City, sentence of Death was passed upon William Bullock, who was ... Convicted of the Murder of his Negro Slave.”American Weekly Mercury, Apr. 29, 1742.[108]Kalm (1748) said that there was no record of such a sentence being carried out; but he adds that a case having arisen, even the magistrates secretly advised the guilty person to leave the country, “as otherwise they could not avoid taking him prisoner, and then he would be condemned to die according to the laws of the country, without any hopes of saving him”.Travels, I, 391, 392. For a casecf.Pa. Gazette, Feb. 24, 1741–1742.[109]Acrelius,Description of New Sweden, 169 (1759); Kalm,Travels, I, 394 (1748); Hector St. John Crèvecœur,Letters from an American Farmer, 222 (just before the Revolution).[110]When one of Christopher Marshall’s white servants “struck and kickt” his negro woman, he “could scarcely refrain from kicking him out of the House &c &c &c.” MS. Remembrancer, E, July 22, 1779.[111]Kalm, I, 394; St. John Crèvecœur, 221. Benjamin Lay contradicts this, but allowance must always he made for the extremeness of his assertions.Cf.hisAll Slave-Keepers Apostates(1737), 93.[112]Acrelius, 169.[113]St. John Crèvecœur, 221; Kalm, I, 394; Acrelius, 169. Personal papers contain numerous notices. “To 1 pr Shoes for the negro ... 6” (sh.). MS. William Penn’s Account Book, 1690–1693, p. 2 (1690). A “Bill rendered by Christian Grafford to James Steel” is as follows: “Making old Holland Jeakit and breeches fit for your Negero 0.3.0 Making 2 new Jeakits and 2 pair breeches of stripped Linen for both your Negeromans 0.14.0 And also for Little Negero boy 0.4.0 Making 2 pair Leather Breeches, 1 for James Sanders and another for your Negroeman Zeason 0.13.0.”Pa. Mag., XXXIII, 121 (1740). The bill rendered for the shoes of Thomas Penn’s negroes in 1764–1765 amounted to £7 7 sh. 3d., the price per pair averaging about 7 sh. 6d. Penn-Physick MSS., IV, 223. Alsoibid., IV, 265, 267.Cf.Penn Papers, accounts (unbound), Aug. 19, 1741; Christopher Marshall’s Remembrancer, E, June 1, 1779.[114]Thus Cato had on “two jackets, the uppermost a dark blue half thick, lined with red flannel, the other a light blue homespun flannel, without lining, ozenbrigs shirt, old leather breeches, yarn stockings, old shoes, and an old beaver hat” ...Pa. Gazette, May 5, 1748. A negro from Chester County wore “a lightish coloured cloath coat, with metal buttons, and lined with striped linsey, a lightish linsey jacket with sleeves, and red waistcoat, tow shirt, old lightish cloth breeches, and linen drawers, blue stockings, and old shoes.”Ibid., Jan. 3, 1782. Judith wore “a green jacket, a blue petticoat, old shoes, and grey stockings, and generally wears silver bobbs in her ears.”Ibid., Feb. 16, 1747–1748.[115]Amer. Weekly Mercury, Jan. 31, 1721; Jan. 31, 1731;Pa. Gazette, Oct. 22, 1747; May 5, 1748; Apr. 16, 1761; Jan. 3, 1782;Pa. Journal, Feb. 5, 1750–1751;Pa. Mag., XVIII, 385.[116]Pa. Gazette, May 3, 1775. Supported by advertisementspassim.[117]MS. Dickinson Papers, unclassified. A farm with a stone house for negroes is mentioned inPa. Gaz., June 26, 1746. “Part of these slaves lived in their master’s family, the others had separate cabins on the farm where they reared families” ... “Jacob Minshall Homestead” inReminiscence, Gleanings and Thoughts, No. I, 12.[118]Kalm,Travels, I, 394. For treatment of negroes in the West Indies,cf.Sandiford,The Mystery of Iniquity, 99 (1730); Benezet,A Short Account of that Part of Africa Inhabited by the Negroes(1762), 55, 56, note; Benezet,A Caution and Warning to Great Britain and Her Colonies in a Short Representation of the Calamitous State of the Enslaved Negroes(1766), 5–9; Benezet,Some Historical Account of Guinea(1771), chap. VIII. For treatment in the South,cf.Whitefield,Three Letters(1740), 13, 71; Chastellux,Voyage en Amérique(1786), 130. For treatment in Pennsylvaniacf.Kalm,Travels, I, 394; St. John Crèvecœur,Letters, 221. Acrelius says that the negroes at the iron-furnaces were allowed to stop work for “four months in summer, when the heat is most oppressive.”Description, 168.[119]Mercury, Gazette, andPa. Packet,passim. Most of the taverns seem to have had negro servants.Cf.MS. Assessment Book, Chester Co., 1769, p. 146; of Bucks Co., 1779, p. 84.[120]Mercury, Mar. 3. 1723–1724; Dec. 15, 1724; July 4, 1728; Aug. 24, 1732;Gazette, Feb. 7, 1740; Dec. 3, 1741; May 20, 1742; Nov. 1, 1744; July 9, Dec. 3, 1761;Packet, July 5, 1733.[121]“The laborers are generally composed partly of negroes (slaves) partly of servants from Germany or Ireland” ... Acrelius,Description, 168.Cf.Gabriel Thomas,An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensilvania(1698), etc., 28.[122]Mercury, Jan. 16, 1727–1728; July 25, 1728; Nov. 7, 1728.Gazette, July 17, 1740; Mar. 31, 1743. “A compleat washerwoman” is advertised in theGazette, Oct. 1, 1761; also “an extraordinary washer of clothes,”Gazette, Apr. 12, 1775; Penn-Physick, MSS IV, 203 (1740).[123]Gazette, May 19, 1743; July 11, 1745; Nov. 5, 1761; May 15, 1776; Dec. 15, 1779.Cf.notices in William Penn’s Cash Book (MS.), 3, 6, 9, 15, 18; John Wilson’s Cash Book (MS.), Feb. 23, 1776; MS. Phila. Account Book, 38 (1694); MS. Logan Papers, II, 259 (1707); Richard Hayes’s Ledger (MS.), 88 (1716).[124]Cf.the numerous allusions to his negro woman made by Christopher Marshall in his Remembrancer. An entry in John Wilson’s Cash Book (MS.), Apr. 27, 1770, says: “paid his” (Joseph Pemberton’s) “Negro woman Market mony ... 7/6.” The following advertisement is illustrative, although perhaps it reveals the advertiser’s art as much as the excellence and reliability of the negress. “A likely young Negroe Wench, who can cook and wash well, and do all Sorts of House-work; and can from Experience, be recommended both for her Honesty and Sobriety, having often been trusted with the Keys of untold Money, and Liquors of various Sorts, none of which she will taste. She is no Idler, Company-keeper or Gadder about. She has also a fine, hearty young Child, not quite a Year old, which is the only Reason for selling her, because her Mistress is very sickly, and can’t bear the Trouble of it.”Pa. Gazette, Apr. 2, 1761.[125]“Thou Knowest Negro Peters Ingenuity In making for himself and playing on a fiddle wthout any assistance as the thing in them is Innocent and diverting and may keep them from worse Employmt I have to Encourage in my Service promist him one from Engld therefore buy and bring a good Strong well made Violin wth2 or 3 Sets of spare Gut for the Suitable Strings get somebody of skill to Chuse and by it”.... MS. Isaac Norris, Letter Book, 1719, p. 185.[126]See above,pp. 32–34.[127]“Our Negro woman got leave to visit her children in Bucks County.” Christopher Marshall’s Remembrancer, D, Jan. 7, 1776. “This afternoon came home our Negro woman Dinah.”Ibid., D, Jan. 15, 1776.[128]Watson,Annals, I, 406.Cf.letter of William Hamilton of Lancaster: “Yesterday (being Negroes Holiday) I took a ride into Maryland.”Pa. Mag., XXIX, 257.[129]For the treatment of William Edmundson when he tried to convert negroes in the West Indies,cf.hisJournal, 85; Gough,A History of the People Called Quakers, III, 61.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Journals, III, 191 (1680).[130]Kalm,Travels, I, 397. “It’s obvious, that the future Welfare of those poor Slaves ... is generally too much disregarded by those who keep them.”An Epistle of Caution and Advice, Concerning the Buying and Keeping of Slaves(1754), 5. This, however, is neglect rather than opposition.

[1]Breviate. Dutch Records, no. 2, fol. 5. In2 Pennsylvania Archives, XVI, 234.Cf.Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 49. The “Proposed Freedoms and Exemptions for New Netherland,” 1640, say, “The Company shall exert itself to provide the Patroons and Colonists, on their order with as many Blacks as possible”....2 Pa. Arch., V, 74.

[2]C. T. Odhner. “The Founding of New Sweden, 1637–1642”, translated by G. B. Keen inPennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, III, 277.

[3]Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 331; O’Callaghan,Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, II, 213, 214. The Report of the Board of Accounts on New Netherland, Dec. 15, 1644, had spoken of the need of negroes, the economy of their labor, and had recommended the importation of large numbers.2 Pa. Arch., V, 88. See also Davis,History of Bucks County, 793.

[4]2 Pa. Arch., XVI, 255, 256; Hazard,Annals of Pennsylvania, 372. Sir Robert Carr, writing to Colonel Nicholls, Oct. 13, 1664, says, “I have already sent into Merryland some Neegars wch did belong to the late Governor att his plantation above”....2 Pa. Arch., V, 578.

[5]The Records of the Court of New Castle give a list of the “Names of the Tijdable prsons Living in this Courts Jurisdiction” in which occur “three negros”: “1 negro woman of Mr. Moll”, “1 neger of Mr. Alrichs”, “Sam Hedge and neger”. Book A, 197–201. Quoted inPa. Mag., III, 352–354. For the active trade in negroes at this timecf.MS. Board of Trade Journals, II, 307.

[6]“Wth out wch wee cannot subsist”.... MS. New Castle Court Records, Liber A, 406. Hazard,Annals, 456.

[7]“Ik hebbe geen vaste Dienstbode, als een Neger die ik gekocht heb.”Missive van Cornelis Bom, Geschreven uit de Stadt Philadelphia, etc., 3. (Oct. 12, 1684).“Man hat hier auch Zwartzen oder Mohren zu Schlaven in der Arbeit.”Letter, probably of Hermans Op den Graeff, Germantown, Feb. 12, 1684, in Sachse,Letters relating to the Settlement of Germantown, 25.Cf.also MS. in American Philosophical Society’s collection, quoted inPa. Mag., VII, 106: “Lacey Cocke hath A negroe” ..., “Pattrick Robbinson—Robert neverbeegood his negor sarvant”.... “The Defendts negros” are mentioned in a suit for damages in 1687. See MS. Court Records of Penna. and Chester Co., 1681–1688, p. 72.

[8]MS. Ancient Records of Philadelphia, 28 7th mo., 1702.

[9]MS. William Trent’s Ledger, 156. For numerous references to negroes brought from Barbadoes, see MS. Booke of accttsRelating to the BarquentineConstant AilseAndw: Dykes mastr: from March 25th 1700 (-1702). (Pa. State Lib.)

[10]Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania(edited by J. T. Mitchell and Henry Flanders), II, 107.Ibid., II, 285. The act of 1705–1706 was repeated in 1710–1711.Ibid., II, 383.Cf.Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, II, 529, 530.

[11]Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania, I, pt. II, 132.Stat. at L., II, 433.

[12]MS. Board of Trade Papers, Proprieties, IX, Q, 39, 42.Stat. at L., II, 543, 544.

[13]Jonathan Dickinson, a merchant of Philadelphia, writing to a correspondent in Jamaica, 4th month, 1715, says, “I must entreat you to send me no more negroes for sale, for our people don’t care to buy. They are generally against any coming into the country.” I have been unable to find this letter. Watson, who quotes it (Annals of Philadelphia, II, 264), says, “Vide the Logan MSS.”Cf.also a letter of George Tiller of Kingston, Jamaica, to Dickinson, 1712. MS. Logan Papers, VIII, 47.

[14]Stat. at L., III, 117, 118; MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., X, 2, Q, 159;Stat. at L., III, 465;Col. Rec., III, 38, 144, 171. During this period negroes were being imported through the custom-house at the rate of about one hundred and fifty a year.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, II, 251.

[15]In 1727 the iron-masters of Pennsylvania petitioned for the entire removal of the duty, labor being so scarce.Votes and Proceedings, 1726–1742, p. 31. The attitude of the English authorities is explained in a report of Richard Jackson, March 2, 1774, on one of the Pennsylvania impost acts. “The Increase of Duty on Negroes in this Law is Manifestly inconsistent with the Policy adopted by your Lordships and your Predecessors for the sake of encouraging the African Trade” ... Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XXIII, Z, 54.

[16]Votes and Proceedings, II, 152;Col. Rec., II, 572, 573;1 Pa. Arch., I, 160–162;Votes and Proceedings, 1766, pp. 45, 46. For a complaint against this practicecf.“Copy of a Representatnof the Board of Trade upon some pennsylvania Laws” (1713–1714). MS. Board of Trade Papers, Plantations General, IX, K, 35.

[17]O’Callaghan,N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 604.

[18]Votes and Proceedings, II, 347.

[19]Stat. at L., IV, 52–56, 60;Col. Rec., III, 247, 248, 250.

[20]Stat. at L., IV, 123–128;Col. Rec., III, 359; Smith,History of Delaware County, 261. For a while, no doubt, there was a considerable influx. Ralph Sandiford says (1730), “We havenegroesflocking in upon us since the duty on them is reduced to 40 shillings per head.”Mystery of Iniquity, (2d ed.), 5. Many of these were smuggled in from New Jersey, where there was no duty from 1721 to 1767. Cooley,A Study of Slavery in New Jersey, 15, 16.

[21]Cargoes of servants are advertised in theAmerican Weekly Mercury, thePennsylvania Packet, and thePennsylvania Gazette,passim. As to enlistment of servantscf.Mercury,Gazette, Aug. 7, 1740;Col. Rec., IV, 437. Complaint about this had been made as early as 1711.Votes and Proceedings, II, 101, 103.

[22]Smith,History of Delaware County, 261; Peter Kalm,Travels into North America, etc., (1748), I, 391.

[23]Col. Rec., VII, 37, 38.

[24]Stat. at L., VI, 104–110;Votes and Proceedings, 1761, pp. 25, 29, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 52, 55, 63;Col. Rec., VIII, 575, 576. “The Petition of Divers Merchants of the City of Philadelphia, To The Honble James Hamilton Esqr. Lieut. Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, Humbly Sheweth, That We the Subscribers ... have seen for some time past, the many inconveniencys the Inhabitants have suffer’d, for want of Labourers, and Artificers, by Numbers being Inlisted for His Majestys Service and near a total stop to the importation of German and other white Servants, have for some time encouraged the importation of Negros, ... that an advantage may be gain’d by the Introduction of Slaves, wch will likewise be a means of reduceing the exorbitant Price of Labour, and in all Probability bring our staple Commoditys to their usual Prices.” MS. Provincial Papers, XXV, March 1, 1761.

[25]Stat. at L., VII, 158, 159; VIII, 330–332;Col. Rec., IX, 400, 401, 443, ff.; X, 72, 77. The Board of Trade Journals, LXXXII, 47, (May 5, 1774), say that their lordships had some discourse with Dr. Franklin “upon the objections ... to ...imposing Duties amounting to a prohibition upon the Importation of Negroes.”

[26]Cf.MS. Provincial Papers, XXXII, January, 1775.

[27]Stat. at L., X, 72, 73. It was forbidden by implication rather than specific regulation. It had been foreseen that an act for gradual abolition entailed stopping the importation of negroes.Pa. Packet, Nov. 28, 1778;1 Pa. Arch., VII, 79.

[28]Professor E. P. Cheyney in an article written some years ago (“The Condition of Labor in Early Pennsylvania, I. Slavery,” inThe Manufacturer, Feb. 2, 1891, p. 8) considers these laws to have been restrictive in purpose, and gives three causes for their passage, in the following order of importance: (a) dread of slave insurrections, (b) opposition of the free laboring classes to slave competition, (c) conscientious objections. I cannot think that this is correct. (a) seems to have been the impelling motive only in connection with the law of 1712, and seems rarely to have been thought of. It was urged in 1740, 1741, and 1742, when efforts were being made to pass a militia law in Pennsylvania, but it attracted little attention.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XV, T: 54, 57, 60.

[29]In a MS. entitled “William Penn’s Memorial to the Lords of Trade relating to several laws passed in Pensilvania,” assigned to the year 1690 in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, but probably belonging to a later period, is the following: “These ... Acts ... to Raise money ... to defray publick Exigences in such manner as after a Mature deliberac̃on they thought would not be burthensom particularly in the Act for laying a Duty on Negroes” ... MS. Pa. Miscellaneous Papers, 1653–1724, p. 24.

[30]1700. 20 shillings for negroes over sixteen years of age, 6 for those under sixteen. No cause given. Apparently (terms of the act)revenue.—1705–1706. 40 shillings—a draw-back of one half if the negro be re-exported within six months. Apparentlyrevenue.—1710. 40 shillings—excepting those imported by immigrants for their own use, and not sold within a year. Almost certainly (preamble)revenue.—1712. 20 pounds. The causes were a dread of insurrection because of the negro uprising in New York, and the Indians’ dislike of the importation of Indian slaves. Purpose undoubtedlyrestriction.—1715. 5 pounds. Apparently (character of the provisions)restrictionandrevenue.—1717–1718. 5 pounds. To continue the preceding.Restrictionandrevenue—1720–1721. 5 pounds. To continue the preceding.Revenue(preamble) andrestriction.—1722. 5 pounds. To continue provisions of previous acts.Revenueandrestriction—1725–1726. 5 pounds.Revenueandrestriction.—1729. 2 pounds. Reduction made probably because since 1712 none of the laws had been allowed to stand for any length of time, and because there had been much smuggling.Revenueandrestriction.—1761. 10 pounds. No cause given for the increase.Restrictionandrevenue.—1768. Preceding continued—“of public utility.”Restrictionandrevenue.—1773. Preceding made perpetual—“of great public utility”—but duty raised to 20 pounds.Restriction.Cf. Stat. at L., II, 107, 285, 383, 433; III, 117, 159, 238, 275; IV, 52, 123; VI, 104; VII, 158; VIII, 330.

[31]See below, chaptersIVandV.

[32]“Man hat besonders in Pensylvanien den Grundsatz angenommen ihre Einführung so viel möglich abzuhalten”...Achenwall’s in Göttingen über Nordamerika und über dasige Grosbritannische Colonien aus mündlichen Nachrichten des Herrn Dr. Franklins...Anmerkungen, 24, 25. (About 1760).

[33]Stat. at L., X, 67, 68; 1Pa. Arch., I, 306.Cf.Mr. Woodward’s speech, Jan. 19, 1838,Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to Propose Amendments to the Constitution, etc., X, 16, 17.

[34]“Aus Pennsylvanien ... fahren gen Barbadoes, Jamaica und Antego. Von dar bringen sie zurück ... Negros.”Daniel Falkner,Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania in Norden-America, etc., (17O2), 192. For a negro woman from Jamaica (1715), see MS. Court Papers, Philadelphia County, 1619–1732. Also numerous advertisements in the newspapers.Mercury, Apr. 17, 1729, (Barbadoes); July 31, 1729, (Bermuda); July 23, 1730, (St. Christophers); Jan. 21, 1739, (Antigua). Oldmixon, speaking of Pennsylvania, says, “Negroes sell here ... very well; but not by the Ship Loadings, as they have sometimes done at Maryland and Virginia.” (1741.)British Empire in America, etc., (2d ed.), I, 316.Cf.however the following: “A PARCEL of likely Negro Boys and Girls just arrived in the Sloop Charming Sally ... to be sold ... for ready Money, Flour or Wheat” ... Advt. inPa. Gazette, Sept. 4, 1740. For a consignment of seventy see MS. Provincial Papers, XXVII, Apr. 26, 1766.

[35]Cf.MS. William Trent’s Ledger, “Negroes” (1703–1708). Isaac Norris, Letter Book, 75, 76 (1732). For a statement of profit and loss on two imported negroes, seeibid., 77. In this case Isaac Norris acted as a broker, charging five per cent. For the wheat and flour trade with Barbadoes, seeA Letter from Doctor More ... Relating to the ... Province of Pennsilvania, 5. (1686).

[36]Some were probably brought from Africa by pirates.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., III, 285, 286; IV, 369; V, 408. The hazard involved in the purchase of negroes is revealed in the following: “Accotof Negroes Drto Tho. Willen £17: 10 for a New Negro Man ... £15 and 50 Sh. more if he live to the Spring” ... MS. James Logan’s Account Book, 91, (1714). As to the effect of cold weather upon negroes, Isaac Norris, writing to Jonathan Dickinson in 1703, says, ... “they’re So Chilly they Can hardly Stir frõ the fire and Wee have Early beginning for a hard Wintr.” MS. Letter Book, 1702–1704, p. 109. In 1748 Kalm says, ... “the toes and fingers of the former” (negroes) “are frequently frozen.”Travels, I, 392.

[37]Mercury, Sept. 26, 1723. MS. Penn Papers, Accounts (unbound), 27 3d mo., 1741. AlsoCalendar of State Papers, America and West Indies, 1697–1698, p. 390;Col. Rec., IV, 515;Pa. Mag., XXVII, 320.

[38]A Report of the Royal African Company, Nov. 2, 1680, purports to show the first cost: “That the Negros cost them the first price 5li: and 4li: 15s. the freight, besides 25li p cent which they lose by the usual mortality of the Negros.” MS. Board of Trade Journals, III, 229. The selling price had been considered immoderate four years previous.Ibid., I, 236. In 1723 Peter Baynton sold “a negroe man named Jemy ... 30 £.” Loose sheet in Peter Baynton’s Ledger. In 1729 a negro twenty-five years old brought 35 pounds in Chester County. MS. Chester County Papers, 89. The Moravians of Bethlehem purchased a negress in 1748 for 70 pounds.Pa. Mag., XXII, 503. Peter Kalm (1748) says that a full grown negro cost from 40 pounds to 100 pounds; a child of two or three years, 8 pounds to 14 pounds.Travels, I, 393, 394. Mittelberger (1750) says 200 to 350 florins (33 to 58 pounds).Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750, etc., 106. Franklin (1751) in a very careful estimate thought that the price would average about 30 pounds.Works(ed. Sparks), II, 314. Acrelius (about 1759) says 30 to 40 pounds.Description of ... New Sweden, etc. (translation of W. M. Reynolds, 1874, inMemoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, XI), p. 168. A negro iron-worker brought 50 pounds at Bethlehem in 1760.Pa. Mag., XXII, 503. In 1790 Edward Shippen writes of a slave who cost him 100 pounds.Ibid., VII, 31. It is probable that the value of a slave was roughly about three times that of a white servant.Cf.Votes and Proceedings(1764), V, 308.

[39]In 1708 the Board of Trade requested the governor of Pennsylvania that very definite information on a variety of subjects relating to the negro be transmitted thereafter half yearly. Were these records available they would be worth more than all the remaining information.Cf.MS. Provincial Papers, I, April 15, 1708; 1Pa. Arch., I, 152, 153.

[40]N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 604. As to the necessity for allowing so large a margin in these figurescf.the following. “The number of the whites are said to be Sixty Thousand, and of the Black about five Thousand.” Col. Hart’s Answer, etc., MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., XI, R: 7. (1720). “The number of People in this Province may be computed to above 40,000 Souls amongst whom we have scarce any Blacks except a few Household Servants in the City of Philadelphia” ... Letter of Sir William Keith,ibid., XI, R: 42. (1722). Another communication gave the true state of the case, if not the exact numbers. “This Government has not hitherto had Occasion to use any methods that can furnish us with an exact Estimate, but as near as can at present be guessed there may be aboutForty five thousandSouls ofWhitesandfour thousandBlacks.” Major Gordon’s answer to Queries,ibid., XIII, S: 34. (1730–1731).

[41]William Douglass,A Summary, Historical and Political, ... of the British Settlements in North-America, etc. (ed. 1755), II, 324; Abiel Holmes,American Annals, etc., II, 187; Bancroft,History of the United States(author’s last revision), II, 391.

[42]Letter inPa. Packet, Jan 1, 1780. This made allowance for the numerous runaways during the British occupation of Philadelphia. Alsoibid., Dec. 25, 1779; 1Pa. Arch., XI, 74, 75. For a higher estimate, 10,000, for 1780 but made in 1795, see MS. Collection of the Records of the Pa. Society for the Abolition of Slavery, etc., IV, 111.

[43]Slaves, 3,737; free, 6,537. Other enumerations occur, but are evidently without value. Oldmixon (1741), 3,600.British Empire in America, I, 321. Burke (1758), about 6,000.An Account of the European Settlements in America, II, 204. Abbé Raynal (1766), 30,000.A Philosophical and Political History of the British Settlements ... in North America(tr. 1776), I, 163. A communication to the Earl of Dartmouth (1773), 2,000. MS. Provincial Papers, Jan. 1775; 1Pa. Arch., IV, 597. Smyth (1782), over 100,000.A Tour in the United States of America, etc., II, 309.

[44]MS. (Samuel Wright), A Journal of Our Rem(oval) from Chester and Darby (to) Conestogo ... 1726, copied by A. C. Myers; Morgan,Annals of Harrisburg, 9–11;Col. Rec., VIII, 305, 306. Tax-lists printed in 3Pa. Arch.Also Davis,Hist. of Bucks Co., 793; Futhey and Cope,Hist. of Chester Co., 423 425; Ellis and Evans,Hist. of Lancaster Co., 301; Gibson,Hist. of York Co., 498; Bean,Hist. of Montgomery Co., 302; Lytle,Hist. of Huntingdon Co., 182; Blackman,Hist. of Susquehanna Co., 72; Creigh,Hist. of Washington Co., 362; Bausman,Hist. of Beaver Co., I, 152, 153; Linn,Annals of Buffalo Valley, 66–74; Peck,Wyoming; its History, etc., 240.

[45]MS. Assessment Books, Chester Co., 1765, p. 197; 1768, p. 326; 1780, p. 95; MS. Assessment Book, Phila. Co., 1769. As early as 1688 Henry Jones of Moyamensing had thirteen negroes. MS. Phila. Wills, Book A, 84. An undated MS. entitled “A List of my Negroes” shows that Jonathan Dickinson had thirty-two. Dickinson Papers, unclassified. An owner in York County is said to have had one hundred and fifty. 3Pa. Arch., XXI, 71. This is probably a misprint.

[46]In 1790 the numbers were as follows: New York, 21,324 slaves, 4,654 free, total 25,978; New Jersey, 11,423 slaves, 4,402 free, total 15,825; Pennsylvania, 3,737 slaves, 6,537 free, total 10,274.

[47]On Pennsylvania’s amazing commercial and industrial activity see Anderson,Historical and Chronological Deductions of the Origin of Commerce, etc. (1762), III, 75–77.

[48]See below,p. 41.

[49]See below, chaptersIVandV.

[50]See below,ibid.

[51]Nevertheless slavery took root in the western counties, and lingered there longer than anywhere else in Pennsylvania.

[52]Throughout this work the fundamental distinction between the words “slave” and “servant,” as used in the text, is that “slave” denotes a person held for life, “servant” a person held for a term of years only.

[53]Cf.O’Callaghan,Voyages of the Slavers St. John and Arms of Amsterdam, etc., 100, for a bill of sale, 1646. Sprinchorn,Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia, 217.

[54]MS. Record of the Court at Upland in Penn., Sept. 25, 1676.

[55]“No Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery villenage or Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged thereunto by Authority, or such as willingly have sould, or shall sell themselves,” ...Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... preceded by the Duke of York’s Laws, etc., 12. This is not to prejudice any masters “who have ... Apprentices for Terme of Years, or other Servants for Term of years or Life.”Ibid., 12. Another clause directs that “No Servant, except such are duly so for life, shall be Assigned over to other Masters ... for above the Space of one year, unless for good reasons offered”.Ibid., 38.

[56]There is an evident distinction intended in the following: “A List of the Tydable psons James Sanderling and slave John Test and servant.” One follows the other. MS. Rec. Court at Upland, Nov. 13, 1677. In 1686 the price of a negro, 30 pounds, named in a law-suit, is probably that of a slave. MS. Minute Book. Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions. Bucks Co., 1684–1730, pp. 56, 57. A will made in 1694 certainly disposed of the within mentioned negroes for life. “I do hereby give ... powr... to my sdExers ... eithrto lett or hire out my five negroes ... and pay my sdwife the one half of their wages Yearly during her life or Othrwise give her such Compensac̃on for her intrest therein as shee and my sdExe͠rs shall agree upon and my will is that the other half of their sdwages shall be equally Devided between my aforsd Children, and after my sd wife decease my will also is That the sd negroes Or such of them and their Offsprings as are then alive shall in kind or value be equally Devided between my sdChildren” ... Will of Thomas Lloyd. MS. Philadelphia Wills, Book A, 267.

[57]MSS., Domestic Letters, 17.

[58]“Know all men by these presents That I Patrick Robinson Countie Clark of Philadelphia for and in Consideration of the Sum of fourtie pounds Current Money of Pennsilvania ... have bargained Sold and delivered ... unto ... Joseph Browne for himselfe, ... heirs exẽrs adm̃rs and assigns One Negro man Named Jack, To have and to hold the Said Negro man named Jack unto the said Joseph Browne for himself ... for ever. And I ... the said Negro man unto him ... shall and will warrant and for ever defend by these presents.” MS. Philadelphia Deed Book, E, 1, vol. V, 150, 151. This is similar to the regular legal formula afterward.Cf.MS. Ancient Rec. Sussex Co., 1681–1709, Sept. 22, 1709.

[59]See below,p. 65.

[60]“And to buy Souls and Bodies of men for Money, to enslave them and their Posterity to the end of the World, we judge is a great hinderance to the spreading of the Gospel” ... “neither should we keep them in perpetual Bondage and Slavery against their Consent” ...An Exhortation and Caution To Friends Concerning buying or keeping of Negroes, reprinted inPa. Mag., XIII, 266, 268.

[61]“An Act for the better Regulation of Servants in this Province and Territories.”Stat. at L., II, 56.

[62]Cf.J. C. Ballagh,A History of Slavery in Virginia, chapter II.

[63]Cf.letter of William Edmundson to Friends in Maryland, Virginia, and other parts of America, 1675. S. Janney,History of the Religious Society of Friends, from Its Rise to the Year 1828, III, 178.

[64]The Articles Settlement and Offices of the Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania, etc., article XVIII. This quite closely resembles the ordinance issued by Governor Rising to the Swedes in 1654, that after a certain period negroes should be absolutely free.... “efter 6 åhr vare en slafvare alldeles fri.” Sprinchorn,Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia, 271.

[65]“Let no blacks be brought in directly. and if any come out of Virginia, Maryld. [or elsewhereerased] in families that have formerly bought them elsewhere Let them be declared (as in the west jersey constitutions) free at 8 years end.” “B. F. Abridgmt. out of Holland and Germany.” Penn MSS. Fordvs.Penn. etc., 1674–1716, p. 17.

[66]Cf.Pa. Mag., IV, 28–30.

[67]Ibid., XIII, 265–270.

[68]Negro servants are mentioned. SeePa. Mag., VII, 106.Cf.below, p. 54. Little reliance can be placed upon the early use of this word.

[69]I have found no instance where a negro was indisputably a servant in the early period. The court records abound in notices of white servants.

[70]Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... 1682–1700, p. 153 (1683), 211, 213 (1693). For running away white servants had to give five days of extra service for each day of absence.Ibid., 166 (1683), 213 (1693). Harboring cost the offender five shillings a day.Ibid., 152 (1683), 212 (1693).

[71]Ibid., 113 (1682);ibid., 102 (Laws Agreed upon in England).

[72]Ibid., 152. “No Servant white or black ... shall at anie time after publication hereof be Attached or taken into Execution for his Master or Mistress debt” ...

[73]The rearing of slave children was regarded as a burden by owners. A writer declared that in Pennsylvania “negroes just born are considered an incumbrance only, and if humanity did not forbid it, they would be instantly given away.”Pa. Packet, Jan. 1, 1780. In 1732 the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ordered a man to take back a negress whom he had sold, and who proved to be pregnant. He was to refund the purchase money and the money spent “for Phisic and Attendance of the Said Negroe in her Miserable Condition.” MS. Court Papers. 1732–1744. Phila. Co., June 9, 1732.

[74]The Roman doctrine ofpartus sequitur ventrem. This was never established by law in Pennsylvania, and during colonial times was never the subject of a court decision that has come down. That it was the usage, however, there is abundant proof. In 1727 Isaac Warner bequeathed “To Wife Ann ... a negro woman named Sarah ... To daughter Ann Warner (3) an unborn negro child of the above named Sarah.” MS. Phila. Co. Will Files, no. 47, 1727. In 1786 the Supreme Court declared that it was the law of Pennsylvania, and had always been the custom. 1 Dallas 181.

[75]MS. Abstract of Phila. Co. Wills, Book A, 63, 71, (1693); Will of Samuel Richardson of Philadelphia inPa. Mag., XXXIII, 373 (1719). In 1682 the attorney-general in England answering an inquiry from Jamaica, declared “That where goods or merchandise are by Law forfeited to the King, the sale of them from one to another will not fix the property as against the King, but they may be seized wherever found whilst they remain in specie; And that Negros being admitted Merchandise will fall within the same Law”. MS. Board of Trade Journals, IV, 124. On several occasions during war negro slaves were captured from the enemy and brought to Pennsylvania, where they were sold as ordinary prize-goods—things. In 1745, however, when two French negro prisoners produced papers showing that they were free, they were held for exchange as prisoners of war—persons. MS. Provincial Papers, VII, Oct. 2, 1745. For the status of the negro slave as real estate in Virginia,cf.Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Virginia, ch. II. In 1786 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that “property in a Negroe may be obtained by abona fidepurchase, without deed.” 1 Dallas 169.

[76]“An Act for the trial of Negroes.”Stat. at L., II, 77–79. Repealed in Council, 1705.Ibid., II, 79;Col. Rec., I, 612, 613. Passed again with slight changes in 1705–1706.Stat. at L., II, 233–236.

[77]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province.”Stat. at L., IV, 59–64. It became law by lapse of time.Ibid., IV, 64.

[78]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province.”, section 1.Stat. at L., IV, 59.

[79]Cf.Enoch Lewis, “Life of William Penn” (1841), inFriends’ Library, V, 315; J. R. Tyson, “Annual Discourse before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania” (1831), inHazard’s Register, VIII, 316.

[80]MS. Minutes Court of Quarter Sessions Bucks County, 1684–1730, P. 375 (1703); MS. “Bail, John Kendig for a Negro, 29. 9br35,” in Logan Papers, unbound; “An Act for the trial of Negroes,”Stat. at L., II, 77–79 (1700), 233–236 (1705–1706);Col. Rec., III, 254; IV, 243; IX, 648, 680, 704, 705, 707; X, 73, 276. For the commission instituting one of these special courts (1762), see MS. Miscellaneous Papers, 1684–1847, Chester County, 149; also Diffenderffer, “Early Negro Legislation in the Province of Pennsylvania,” inChristian Culture, Sept. 1, 1890. Mr. Diffenderffer cites a commission of Feb. 20, 1773, but is puzzled at finding no record of the trial of negroes in the records of the local Court of Quarter Sessions. It would of course not appear there. Special dockets were kept for the special courts.Cf.MS. Records of Special Courts for the Trial of Negroes, held at Chester, in Chester County. The law was not universally applied at first. In 1703 a negro was tried for fornication before the Court of Quarter Sessions. MS. Minutes Court of Quarter Sessions Bucks County, 1684–1730, p. 378.

[81]Col. Rec., I, 61; II, 405, 406.

[82]“An Act for the better regulating of Negroes,” etc.Stat. at L., IV, 59. For an instance of such valuation in the case of two slaves condemned for burglary, see MS. Provincial Papers, XXX, July 29, 1773. The governor, however, pardoned these negroes on condition that they be transported.

[83]“On the trials Larry the slave was convicted by a Jury of twelve Men and received the usual sentence of whipping, restitution and fine according to law.... This case is published as being the first instance of a slave’s being tried in this state by a Grand and Petit Jury. Our constitution provides that these unhappy men shall have the same measure of Justice and the same mode of trial with others, their fellow creatures, when charged with crimes or offences.”Pa. Packet, Feb. 16, 1779. Nevertheless a commission for a special court had been issued in August, 1777.Cf.“Petition of Mary Bryan,” MS. Misc. Papers, Aug. 15, 1777.

[84]Stat. at L., X, 72. What was the standing of negro slaves before the ordinary courts of Pennsylvania in the years between 1700 and 1780 it is difficult to say. They certainly could not be witnesses—not against white men, since this privilege was given to free negroes for the first time in 1780 (Stat. at L., X, 70), and to slaves not until 1847 (Laws of Assembly, 1847, p. 208); while if they were witnesses against other negroes it would be before special courts. Doubtless negroes could sometimes seek redress in the ordinary courts, though naturally the number of such cases would be limited. There is, however, at least one instance of a white man being sued by a negro, who won his suit. “Francis Jnoson the Negro verbally complained agst WmOrion ... and after pleading to on both sides the Court passed Judgment and ordered WmOrion to pay him the sd Francis Jnoson twenty shillings” ... MS. Ancient Records of Sussex County, 1681 to 1709, 4th mo., 1687. Before 1700 negroes were tried before the ordinary courts, and there is at least one case where a negro witnessed against a white man.Ibid., 8br 1687.

[85]Stat. at L., II, 77–79;Col. Rec., I, 612, 613. Instances of negro crime are mentioned in MS. Records of Special Courts for the Trial of Negroes—Chester County. For a case of arson punished with death,cf.Col. Rec., IV, 243. For two negroes condemned to death for burglary,ibid., IX, 6, also 699. The punishment for the attempted rape of a white woman was the one point that caused the disapproval of the attorney-general in England, and, probably, led to the passage of the revised act in 1705–1706.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., VIII, 40, Bb. For restitution by masters, which was frequently very burdensome,cf.MS. Misc. Papers, Oct. 9, 1780.

[86]Stat. at L., II, 233–236. These punishments were continued until repealed in 1780, (Stat. at L., X, 72), when the penalty for robbery and burglary became imprisonment. This bore entirely on the master, so that in 1790 Governor Mifflin asked that corporal punishment be substituted.Hazard’s Register, II, 74. For theft whipping continued to be imposed, but guilty white people were punished in the same manner. MS. Petitions, Lancaster County, 1761–1825, May, 1784. MS. Misc. Papers, July, 1780.

[87]See below, p. 111.

[88]“For that hee ... contrary to the Lawes of the Governmt and Contrary to his Masters Consent hath ... got wth child a certaine molato wooman Called Swart anna” ... MS. Rec. Court at Upland, 19; Penn MSS. Papers relating to the Three Lower Counties, 1629–1774, p. 193; MS. Minutes Abington Monthly Meeting, 27 1st mo., 1693. “David Lewis Constable of Haverfoord Returned A Negro man of his And A white woman for haveing A Baster Childe ... the negroe said she Intised him and promised him to marry him: she being examined, Confest the same: ... the Court ordered that she shall Receive Twenty one laishes on her beare Backe ... and the Court ordered the negroe never more to meddle with any white woman more uppon paine of his life.” MS. Min. Chester Co. Courts, 1697–1710, p. 24.

[89]MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Nov. 4, 1722.

[90]Votes and Proceedings, II, 336.

[91]Stat. at L., IV, 62.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, II, 337, 345. For marriage or cohabiting without a master’s consent a servant had to atone with extra service.Cf.Stat. at L., II, 22. This obviously would not check a slave.

[92]Apparently such a marriage had occurred in 1722. MS. Ancient Rec. Phila., Nov. 4, 1722, which mention “the Clandestine mariage of MrTuthil’s Negro and Katherine Williams.” The petitioner, who was imprisoned for abetting the marriage, concludes: “I have Discover’d who maried the foresd Negroe, and shall acquaint your honrs.”

[93]American Weekly Mercury, Nov. 9, 1727;Pa. Gazette, Feb. 7, 1739–1740; andpassim. Mittelberger mentions them in 1750.Cf.Journey to Pennsylvania, etc., 107; MS. Register of Slaves in Chester County, 1780.

[94]“A circumstance not easily believed, is, that the subjection of the negroes has not corrupted the morals of their masters” ... Abbé Raynal,British Settlements in North AmericaI, 163. Raynal’s authority is very poor. The assertion in the text rests rather on negative evidence.Cf.Votes and Proceedings, 1766, p. 30, for an instance of a white woman prostitute to negroes.Ibid., 1767–1776, p. 666, for evidence as to mulatto bastards by pauper white women. Also MS. Misc. Papers, Mar. 12, 1783. For a case (1715) where the guilty white man was probably not a servantcf.MS. Court Papers, Phila. Co., 1697–1732. Benjamin Franklin was openly accused of keeping negro paramours.Cf.What is Sauce for a Goose is also Sauce for a Gander, etc. (1764), 6;A Humble Attempt at Scurrility, etc. (1765), 40.

[95]See below.

[96]Cf.Col. Rec., I, 117.

[97]Stat. at L., IV, 59–64, (sections IX-XIII). Tippling-houses seem to have given a good deal of trouble. In 1703 the grand jury presented several persons “for selling Rum to negros and others” ... MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Nov. 3, 1703.Cf.also presentment of the grand jury, Jan. 2, 1744.Pa. Mag., XXII, 498.

[98]Col. Rec., I, 380–381. “The great abuse and Ill consiquence of the great multitudes of negroes who commonly meete togeither in a Riott and tumultious manner on the first days of the weeke.” MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., 28 7th mo., 1702;ibid., Nov. 3, 1703.

[99]“The Grand Inquest ... do present that whereas there has been Divers Rioters ... and the peace of our Lord the King Disturbers, by Divers Infants, bond Servants, and Negros, within this City after it is Duskish ... that Care may be taken to Suppress the unruly Negroes of this City accompanying to gether on the first Day of the weeke, and that they may not be Suffered to walk the Streets in Companys after it is Darke without their Masters Leave” ... MS. Ancient Rec. of Phila., Apr. 4, 1717.

[100]Minutes of the Common Council of the City of Philadelphia, 1704–1776, 314, 315, 316, 326, 342, 376;Col. Rec., IV, 224, (1737).

[101]“The Grand Inquest now met humly Represent to This honourable Court the great Disorders Commited On the first Dayes of the week By Servants, apprentice boys and Numbers of Negros it has been with great Concearn Observed that the Whites in their Tumultious Resorts in the markets and other placies most Darringly Swear Curse Lye Abuse and often fight Striving to Excell in all Leudness and Obsenity which must produce a generall Corruption of Such youth If not Timely Remidieed and from the Concourse of Negroes Not only the above Mischeiffs but other Dangers may issue” ... MS. Court Papers, 1732–1744, Phila. Co., 1741.

[102]“Many disorderly persons meet every evg. about the Court house of this city, and great numbers of Negroes and others sit there with milk pails, and other things, late at night, and many disorders are there committed against the peace and good government of this city”Minutes Common Council of Phila., 405.

[103]Pa. Gazette, Nov. 12, 1761.

[104]“An Act for preventing Accidents that may happen by Fire,” sect. IV,Stat. at L., III, 254 (1721); “An Act to prevent the Damages, which may happen, by firing of Woods,” etc., sect. III,ibid., IV, 282 (1735); “An Act for the trial of Negroes,” sect. V,ibid., II, 79 (1700); “An Act for the more effectual preventing Accidents which may happen by Fire, and for suppressing Idleness, Drunkenness, and other Debaucheries,” sect. III,ibid., V, 109, 110 (1750–1751); “An Act to prevent the Hunting of Deer,” etc., sect. VII,ibid., VI, 49 (1760); “An Act for the better regulating the nightly Watch within the city of Philadelphia,” etc., sect. XXII,ibid., V, 126 (1750–1751); repeated in 1756, 1763, 1766, 1771,ibid., V, 241; VI, 309; VII, 7; VIII, 115; “An Act for regulating Wagoners, Carters, Draymen, and Porters,” etc., sect. VII,ibid., VI, 68 (1761); repeated in 1763 and 1770,ibid.VI, 250; VII, 359, 360.

[105]Cf.the story of Hodge’s Cato, told in Watson,Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time, etc., II, 263.

[106]Cf.Achenwall, who got his information from Franklin,Anmerkungen, 25: “Diese Mohrensclaven geniessen als Unterthanen des Staats ... den Schutz der Gesetze, so gut als freye Einwohner. Wenn ein Colonist, auch selbst der Eigenthumsherr, einen Schwarzen umbringt, so wird er gleichfalls zum Tode verurtheilt. Wenn der Herr seinem Sclaven zu harte Arbeit auflegt, oder ihn sonst übel behandelt, so kan er ihn beym Richter verklagen.” Also Kalm,Travels, I, 390.

[107]“Yesterday at a Supream Court held in this City, sentence of Death was passed upon William Bullock, who was ... Convicted of the Murder of his Negro Slave.”American Weekly Mercury, Apr. 29, 1742.

[108]Kalm (1748) said that there was no record of such a sentence being carried out; but he adds that a case having arisen, even the magistrates secretly advised the guilty person to leave the country, “as otherwise they could not avoid taking him prisoner, and then he would be condemned to die according to the laws of the country, without any hopes of saving him”.Travels, I, 391, 392. For a casecf.Pa. Gazette, Feb. 24, 1741–1742.

[109]Acrelius,Description of New Sweden, 169 (1759); Kalm,Travels, I, 394 (1748); Hector St. John Crèvecœur,Letters from an American Farmer, 222 (just before the Revolution).

[110]When one of Christopher Marshall’s white servants “struck and kickt” his negro woman, he “could scarcely refrain from kicking him out of the House &c &c &c.” MS. Remembrancer, E, July 22, 1779.

[111]Kalm, I, 394; St. John Crèvecœur, 221. Benjamin Lay contradicts this, but allowance must always he made for the extremeness of his assertions.Cf.hisAll Slave-Keepers Apostates(1737), 93.

[112]Acrelius, 169.

[113]St. John Crèvecœur, 221; Kalm, I, 394; Acrelius, 169. Personal papers contain numerous notices. “To 1 pr Shoes for the negro ... 6” (sh.). MS. William Penn’s Account Book, 1690–1693, p. 2 (1690). A “Bill rendered by Christian Grafford to James Steel” is as follows: “Making old Holland Jeakit and breeches fit for your Negero 0.3.0 Making 2 new Jeakits and 2 pair breeches of stripped Linen for both your Negeromans 0.14.0 And also for Little Negero boy 0.4.0 Making 2 pair Leather Breeches, 1 for James Sanders and another for your Negroeman Zeason 0.13.0.”Pa. Mag., XXXIII, 121 (1740). The bill rendered for the shoes of Thomas Penn’s negroes in 1764–1765 amounted to £7 7 sh. 3d., the price per pair averaging about 7 sh. 6d. Penn-Physick MSS., IV, 223. Alsoibid., IV, 265, 267.Cf.Penn Papers, accounts (unbound), Aug. 19, 1741; Christopher Marshall’s Remembrancer, E, June 1, 1779.

[114]Thus Cato had on “two jackets, the uppermost a dark blue half thick, lined with red flannel, the other a light blue homespun flannel, without lining, ozenbrigs shirt, old leather breeches, yarn stockings, old shoes, and an old beaver hat” ...Pa. Gazette, May 5, 1748. A negro from Chester County wore “a lightish coloured cloath coat, with metal buttons, and lined with striped linsey, a lightish linsey jacket with sleeves, and red waistcoat, tow shirt, old lightish cloth breeches, and linen drawers, blue stockings, and old shoes.”Ibid., Jan. 3, 1782. Judith wore “a green jacket, a blue petticoat, old shoes, and grey stockings, and generally wears silver bobbs in her ears.”Ibid., Feb. 16, 1747–1748.

[115]Amer. Weekly Mercury, Jan. 31, 1721; Jan. 31, 1731;Pa. Gazette, Oct. 22, 1747; May 5, 1748; Apr. 16, 1761; Jan. 3, 1782;Pa. Journal, Feb. 5, 1750–1751;Pa. Mag., XVIII, 385.

[116]Pa. Gazette, May 3, 1775. Supported by advertisementspassim.

[117]MS. Dickinson Papers, unclassified. A farm with a stone house for negroes is mentioned inPa. Gaz., June 26, 1746. “Part of these slaves lived in their master’s family, the others had separate cabins on the farm where they reared families” ... “Jacob Minshall Homestead” inReminiscence, Gleanings and Thoughts, No. I, 12.

[118]Kalm,Travels, I, 394. For treatment of negroes in the West Indies,cf.Sandiford,The Mystery of Iniquity, 99 (1730); Benezet,A Short Account of that Part of Africa Inhabited by the Negroes(1762), 55, 56, note; Benezet,A Caution and Warning to Great Britain and Her Colonies in a Short Representation of the Calamitous State of the Enslaved Negroes(1766), 5–9; Benezet,Some Historical Account of Guinea(1771), chap. VIII. For treatment in the South,cf.Whitefield,Three Letters(1740), 13, 71; Chastellux,Voyage en Amérique(1786), 130. For treatment in Pennsylvaniacf.Kalm,Travels, I, 394; St. John Crèvecœur,Letters, 221. Acrelius says that the negroes at the iron-furnaces were allowed to stop work for “four months in summer, when the heat is most oppressive.”Description, 168.

[119]Mercury, Gazette, andPa. Packet,passim. Most of the taverns seem to have had negro servants.Cf.MS. Assessment Book, Chester Co., 1769, p. 146; of Bucks Co., 1779, p. 84.

[120]Mercury, Mar. 3. 1723–1724; Dec. 15, 1724; July 4, 1728; Aug. 24, 1732;Gazette, Feb. 7, 1740; Dec. 3, 1741; May 20, 1742; Nov. 1, 1744; July 9, Dec. 3, 1761;Packet, July 5, 1733.

[121]“The laborers are generally composed partly of negroes (slaves) partly of servants from Germany or Ireland” ... Acrelius,Description, 168.Cf.Gabriel Thomas,An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensilvania(1698), etc., 28.

[122]Mercury, Jan. 16, 1727–1728; July 25, 1728; Nov. 7, 1728.Gazette, July 17, 1740; Mar. 31, 1743. “A compleat washerwoman” is advertised in theGazette, Oct. 1, 1761; also “an extraordinary washer of clothes,”Gazette, Apr. 12, 1775; Penn-Physick, MSS IV, 203 (1740).

[123]Gazette, May 19, 1743; July 11, 1745; Nov. 5, 1761; May 15, 1776; Dec. 15, 1779.Cf.notices in William Penn’s Cash Book (MS.), 3, 6, 9, 15, 18; John Wilson’s Cash Book (MS.), Feb. 23, 1776; MS. Phila. Account Book, 38 (1694); MS. Logan Papers, II, 259 (1707); Richard Hayes’s Ledger (MS.), 88 (1716).

[124]Cf.the numerous allusions to his negro woman made by Christopher Marshall in his Remembrancer. An entry in John Wilson’s Cash Book (MS.), Apr. 27, 1770, says: “paid his” (Joseph Pemberton’s) “Negro woman Market mony ... 7/6.” The following advertisement is illustrative, although perhaps it reveals the advertiser’s art as much as the excellence and reliability of the negress. “A likely young Negroe Wench, who can cook and wash well, and do all Sorts of House-work; and can from Experience, be recommended both for her Honesty and Sobriety, having often been trusted with the Keys of untold Money, and Liquors of various Sorts, none of which she will taste. She is no Idler, Company-keeper or Gadder about. She has also a fine, hearty young Child, not quite a Year old, which is the only Reason for selling her, because her Mistress is very sickly, and can’t bear the Trouble of it.”Pa. Gazette, Apr. 2, 1761.

[125]“Thou Knowest Negro Peters Ingenuity In making for himself and playing on a fiddle wthout any assistance as the thing in them is Innocent and diverting and may keep them from worse Employmt I have to Encourage in my Service promist him one from Engld therefore buy and bring a good Strong well made Violin wth2 or 3 Sets of spare Gut for the Suitable Strings get somebody of skill to Chuse and by it”.... MS. Isaac Norris, Letter Book, 1719, p. 185.

[126]See above,pp. 32–34.

[127]“Our Negro woman got leave to visit her children in Bucks County.” Christopher Marshall’s Remembrancer, D, Jan. 7, 1776. “This afternoon came home our Negro woman Dinah.”Ibid., D, Jan. 15, 1776.

[128]Watson,Annals, I, 406.Cf.letter of William Hamilton of Lancaster: “Yesterday (being Negroes Holiday) I took a ride into Maryland.”Pa. Mag., XXIX, 257.

[129]For the treatment of William Edmundson when he tried to convert negroes in the West Indies,cf.hisJournal, 85; Gough,A History of the People Called Quakers, III, 61.Cf.MS. Board of Trade Journals, III, 191 (1680).

[130]Kalm,Travels, I, 397. “It’s obvious, that the future Welfare of those poor Slaves ... is generally too much disregarded by those who keep them.”An Epistle of Caution and Advice, Concerning the Buying and Keeping of Slaves(1754), 5. This, however, is neglect rather than opposition.

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