NOTES

Beginning with a treatment of the enumeration and classification of the Bantu and Semi-Bantu languages, the work reviews the languages illustrated in Volume I. Attention is directed to the Bantu in various regions of the continent. The author then discusses the phonetics and phonology of the Bantu and Semi-Bantu languages, prefixes, suffixes, and concords connected with the noun in Bantu and Semi-Bantu, adjectives, pronouns, numerals, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, the verbs and verb roots. The maps graphically show the probable origins and lines of migration of the Bantu and Semi-Bantu languages and their distribution in Central and South Africa.

On the whole, the world is indebted to Sir Harry H. Johnston for his enumeration and classification of these tongues, although the work merely marks the beginning of a neglected task. Until some scholar with better opportunities to carry forward this research has produced a more scientific treatise, the works of the author will be referred to as interesting and valuable volumes.

On February 20, 1923, there passed away in New York City a Negro of no little distinction in his particular group. This was Horatio P. Howard, the great grandson of Captain Paul Cuffe of African colonization fame. Howard was the grandson of the Captain's daughter Ruth, who married Alexander Howard, and the child of their son Shadrach. Howard was born in New Bedford in 1854 and beginning in 1888 served as a clerk in the Custom House in New York City where he accumulated considerable wealth which, inasmuch as he lived and died a bachelor, he disposed of for philanthropic purposes. He bequeathed $5000 to Hampton and the balance of his estate he gave to Tuskegee as a fund to establish Captain Paul Cuffe scholarships.

Hoping to inculcate an appreciation of the achievements of his great grandfather, he erected to his memory a monument at a cost of $400 dedicated in 1917 with appropriate exercises by the people of both races and made still more impressive by a parade which Howard himself led. On that occasion, moreover, he distributed his interesting biography of the great pioneer in the form of a booklet entitledA Self-Made Man, Captain Paul Cuffe.

Henry Allen Wallace, one of the colaborers in unearthing and preserving the records of the Negro, died on the 12th of February. He was the son of Andrew and Martha Wallace and was born in Columbia, South Carolina, about sixty-seven years ago. He was educated in the public schools of Toronto, Canada, the University of Toronto, and Howard University. He began his public life as a clerk in the post office at Columbia, and in the early days of civil service secured, by success in a competitive examination, an appointment as clerk in the War Department in Washington. There he served with an unbroken record for over thirty years, after which he was transferred to the New York office with which he was connected until about eighteen months ago when on account of ill health he was compelled to retire. He afterward made his home with his sister in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he died.

Mr. Wallace was well informed on matters pertaining to the race during the Reconstruction and freely contributed to magazinespublishing such material. Furthermore, his assistance was often solicited to correct manuscripts prepared by others who knew less of this drama in our history. His service in connection with finding the names of Negroes who served in southern legislatures and his letters, both of which have appeared from time to time inThe Journal of Negro History, constitute valuable contributions in this field.

On the 5th and 6th of April there will be held in Baltimore the Spring Conference of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Members of the administrative staff including Professor John R. Hawkins, the Chairman, Mr. S. W. Rutherford, Secretary-Treasurer, and others of the Executive Council, are making extensive preparation for this Conference. The aim will be to bring together teachers and public-spirited citizens with an appreciation of the value of the written record and of research as a factor in correcting error and promoting the truth. The heads of all accredited institutions of learning have been invited to take an active part in this convocation. As it is to be held in Baltimore, near which are located so many of our colleges and universities, it is believed that this Conference will prove to be one of the most successful in the history of the Association.

The program will cover two days and will offer an opportunity for the discussion of every phase of Negro life and history. On Thursday there will be a morning session at 11:00 at Morgan College and an afternoon session there at 3:00 P. M. On the following day the morning session will be held at the Douglass Theatre at 12:00 M. and the afternoon session at the Druid Hill Avenue Y. M. C. A. at 3:00 P. M. The two evening sessions will go to the Bethel A. M. E. Church. In addition to these, special groups of persons cooperating with the Association will hold conferences in the interest of matters peculiar to their needs. Among the speakers will be Professor Kelly Miller, Mr. L. E. James, Mr. Leslie Pinckney Hill, Dr. William Pickens, and Dr. J. O. Spencer.

An effort will be made to arouse interest and to arrange for conducting throughout the country a campaign for collecting facts bearing on the Negro prior to the Civil War and during the Reconstructionperiod. The field is now being exploited by a staff of investigators of the Association. It is earnestly desired that all persons having documentary knowledge of these phases of Negro History will not only give the Association the advantage of such information, but will attend this Conference to devise plans for a more successful prosecution of this particular work.

Another concern of the Conference will be to stimulate interest in the collection of Negro folklore for which there is offered a prize of $200 for the best collection of tales, riddles, proverbs, sayings and songs, which have been heard in Negro homes. The aim is to study the Negro mind in relation to its environment at various periods in the history of the race and in different parts of the country. The students of a number of institutions of learning are already at work preparing their collections to compete for this prize, and it is hoped that a still larger number will do likewise. This special work is under the supervision of a committee composed of Dr. Elsie Clews Parsons, Assistant Editor of theJournal of American Folklore, Dr. Franz Boas, Professor of Anthropology in Columbia University and a member of the Executive Council of the Association, and Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Editor ofThe Journal of Negro History.

THE JOURNALOFNEGRO HISTORY

Vol. VIII., No. 3 July, 1923.

The first Negroes in the American colonies were called Africans, Blackamores, Moores, Negars, Negers, Negros,Negroes, and the like.[1]It is highly probable that Negroes were brought to America by some of the early colonists before 1619, for Negroes had been in England since 1553.[2]James Otis said: "Our colonial charters made no difference between black and white."[3]Some of such early Negro settlers might have been brought over from Barbadoes or other islands. The English colonists often went to and from the mainland for settlement and trade, and by 1674 Barbadoes was a "flourishing state" with a white population of 50,000 and 100,000 "Negroes and colored."[4]Negroes, along with Spanish explorers, are known to have been in North and South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, New Mexico, and California as early as 1526, 1527, 1540, 1542, and 1537, respectively.[5]However, the first Negroes, thus far known, in the American colonies, were the "twenty negars" introduced at Jamestown, in 1619, by the Dutch frigate.[6]

The first status of these Negroes early imported is of some importance. Although the historians do not always mention the fact, there is nevertheless ample proof of the existence of Negro servitude in most of the American colonies. The servitude did not always precede slavery in every case, nor was it ever firmly established as slavery eventually became. Still it is an interesting fact that Negro servitude frequently preceded and sometimes followed Negro slavery. In colonies where servitude followed slavery, it was due to the fact that these colonies were founded after the change of Negro servitude into slavery was well advanced. Even here, servitude accompaniedslavery. In some of the colonies, the question of priority resolves itself into the question of the priority of customary servitude to customary slavery. In this case, however, it is probable that servitude was first, even though slavery was first recognized in law. In certain instances, the records make it certain that servitude preceded slavery. This was the case in Virginia.

Several authorities have shown the extent to which the priority of Negro servitude has been recognized. "At first the Africanslavewas looked upon as but an improved variety of indented servant whose term of labor was for life instead of a few years."[7]"As has been mentioned, some Negroes were bound asslavesfor a term of years only."[8]The Negroes of 1619 and "others brought by early privateers were not reduced to slavery, but to limited servitude, a legalized status of Indian, white, and negro servants, preceding slavery in most, if not all, of the English mainland colonies."[9]"Negro and Indian servitude thus preceded negro and Indian slavery, and together with white servitude in instances continued even after the institution of slavery was fully developed."[10]

Furthermore, there is not the slightest evidence that the colonists were disposed to treat as slaves the first Negroes who landed in the colonies. They had no tradition of slavery in England at that time. "Whatever may have been the intent and hope of the persons in possession of the negroes as regards their ultimate enslavement, no attempt to do so legally seems for a long time to have been made ... for some reasons the notion of enslavement gained ground but slowly, and although conditions surrounding a negro or Indian in possession could easily make him adefactoslave, the colonist seems to have preferred to retain him only as a servant...."[11]Servitude, on the other hand, was familiar enough, although not in the form which iteventually assumed in the colonies. The attitude of the colonists, when they first became confronted with the Negro question, was the attitude of Queen Elizabeth and Hawkins when it was proposed to go to Africa to barter for African servants.[12]

It was just as true in the colonial days as now that the attitude which the community takes towards the Negro population is largely determined by their relative numbers. If the Negroes had been numerous in the colonies immediately after 1619, it is reasonable to suppose that their status would have been defined earlier and more sharply than it was. But the numbers were not there.[13]Six years after the introduction of the first Negroes in Virginia, there were but twenty-three in the colony. Meanwhile the white population was about 2500. All through the first half of the century importation of Negroes was of an "occasional nature."[14]Forty years after the first introduction there were but three hundred Negroes in the colony.[15]It was during the last quarter of the seventeenth century that the number of Negroes in Virginia showed a noticeable increase. By 1683 there were three thousand; between 1700 and 1750, the increase was even more noticeable.[16]In Maryland, Negroes were not extensively introduced until the eighteenth century.[17]In 1665 a few slaves were brought to NorthCarolina and it was not until 1700 and after that their number reached eight hundred.[18]After their introduction by Sir John Yeamans in 1671 it was not until 1708 that the number of Negroes in South Carolina became a considerable part of the population.[19]In Pennsylvania, as early as 1639, a number of Negroes served a Swedish company. How many there were is not known.[20]In 1644, 1657, 1664 and 1677 several Negroes singly and in groups are known to have been in the region which afterwards became Pennsylvania. In this colony they were spoken of as "numerous" in 1702, but numerous then did not mean so many. Later their number is noticeable.[21]In Massachusetts, from 1638, when the Salem ship,Desire, returned from the West Indies with cotton, tobacco, and Negroes, to the close of the seventeenth century the number of Negroes was comparatively small.[22]Josselyn saw Negroes in the colony when he visited it in 1638-39.[23]In 1678, there were 200 in the colony and in 1678 Governor Andros reported that there were but a few. In 1680, Governor Bradstreet said no blacks or slaves had been brought in the colony in the space of fifty years except between forty and fifty one time and two or three now and then. In the nine years from 1698 to 1707, two hundred arrived and in 1735 there were 2,600 in the Province.[24]Immediately after 1619, then, the number of Negroes scattered throughout the colonies was comparatively small. It seems likely that their condition may be described as that of servitude, which at that time universally prevailed, rather than slavery.

We are likely to think of the status of the early Negroes in America as having been inherited or transplanted. Far from this, the status of the Negro in the early period, like slavery itself, was purely a local development.[25]The status of the early Negroes shows unmistakably that it developed in lines parallel to that of white servitude.[26]The motives which determined the growth of white servitude and Negro slavery are peculiar to the social and economic conditions of the colony of Virginia and its neighbors, whose inhabitants were primarily imported settlers and laborers. White servitude and black servitude were but different aspects of the same institution. As white servitude disappeared, Negro slavery succeeded it.[27]

The reason the early Negroes were not given at once the status of slaves is that there was at this time no legal basis for slavery. The Dutch who settled in New York seem to have defined the status of the Negro slave on the civil law of Holland. In the English colonies it was a local development.[28]Clearly, the ownership in the Negroes was widely recognized and practiced in custom and in law. It is equally clear, however, that white servitude and some form of black servitude existed for a long time side by side with Negro slavery. This recognition of slavery in custom and practice, moreover, makes its appearance near the date of the statutory recognition of slavery by the colonies.[29]Hence, the dates of this statutory recognitionfix the "upper limit to the period" in which slavery may be said to have had a beginning.[30]In a number of the colonies, not only is absolute ownership in Negroes, hence slavery, conspicuous, by the absence of any records of it, but the priority of Negro servitude and of a free Negro class is established. Ownership in the services but not of the person was characteristic of both whites and Negroes in this early period.[32]

"Prior to 1619 every inhabitant of Virginia was practically a 'servant manipulated in the interest of the company, held in servitude beyond a stipulated term.'" "It was not an uncommon practice in the early period for shipmasters to sell white servants to the planters." By 1619 servitude was already recognized in the law of Virginia.[33]

In this early period the Company, as represented locally by its officials, was the sole controlling and directing power of the colony.[34]The Company was at the outset doubtful about the advantages of bringing in slaves, partly because they were not sure of the value of slave labor, and partly because they feared the Negro would not become a permanent settler and so contribute to the building up and defending the colony. The opposition of the trustees of Georgia to the importation of Negroes was rested on thesegrounds.[35]Early legislation in order to prohibit the trade in the colonies imposed duties on slaves imported.[36]Moreover, it appears that the Company generally held and worked the Negroes, who were purchased, in the interest of the government, frequently distributing them among the officers and planters. This was done, for example, in the island colony, the Bermudas, in Virginia, and in Providence Island.[37]

Established and universal as white servitude was it not only became the model of Negro servitude but also decidedly influenced its transition to slavery. When Negro servitude passed into slavery, it was white servitude that lent that slavery the mild character which it possessed until the early part of the nineteenth century.[38]

The earliest authorized effort of England for Negro servants further elucidates this point. In 1562, Sir John Hawkins proposed to take Negroes from Africa and sell them. Queen Elizabeth did not at first approve Hawkins' plan but questioned the justice of it. Hawkins argued that bringing the Africans from a wild and barrencountry would be eminently just and beneficial to the Africans and to the world. He seemed not to have had the purpose of selling the Africans into perpetual servitude: "Hawkins told her, that he considered it as an act of humanity to carry men from a worse condition to a better ... from a state of wild barbarism to another where they might share the blessings of civil society and Christianity; from poverty, nakedness and want to plenty and felicity. He assured her that in no expedition where he had command should any Africans be carried away without their own free will and consent, except such captives as were taken in war and doomed to death;.... Indeed it would appear that Hawkins had no idea of perpetual slavery, but expected that they would be treated as free servants after they had by their labor brought their masters an equivalent for the expenses of their purchase."[39]After this, Hawkins received approval and support from the Queen, and with three ships and crews he went on his trip to Africa.

Upon his arrival he began traffic with the natives. He sought at first to persuade the blacks to go with him, offering them glittering rewards. When the natives did not respond so readily to his entreaty, members of his crew, under the influence of rum, undertook to coerce the Africans.[40]Hawkins sought to dissuade them and reminded the men of his promise to the Queen. They finally succeeded in getting on board a number of Africans and set sail for the Spanish islands where the Africans were to be sold as servants.[41]

The early Negroes of Virginia, moreover, were servants. On the status of "the 1619 Negroes" historians are uncertain, but the popular conception of the situation is undoubtedly erroneous. The Dutch frigate sold the Negroes to the Company which controlled and distributed them. Some of them were clearly retained by the officers whileothers "were put to work upon public lands to support the governor and other officers of the government." There is no evidence that any of these Negroes were made slaves, while evidence that they were servants is abundant.[42]

The statutes of Virginia up to 1661 indicate the existence of Negro servitude rather than that of slavery.[43]In 1630, whites were whipped for fornication with the blacks "before an assembly ofnegroes." In 1639 and 1640, all persons exceptNegroeswere to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined.[44]Up to that time the acts do not indicate slavery. The act of 1655 refers to Indian slavery.[45]The act of 1659 does not show that Negro slavery existed in the colony, but apparently aims to prevent it.[46]No other acts, in the statutes, throw any light on the status of the Negro before the act of 1661. This acts reads, "In case any English servant shall run away in company with any negroes who are incapable of making satisfaction by addition of time, be it enacted that the English so running away in company with them shall serve for the time of the said negroes absence as they are to do for their own by a former act."[47]The inferences from this act are three: some ofthe Negroes in the colony were slaves, others free, and still others servants. The repetition of this act the following year made provision for runaway Negro servants also by a change of statement.[48]

Notwithstanding the statutes, Russel found that in the records of county courts dating from 1632 to 1661 negroes are designated as 'servants,' 'negro servants,' or simply as 'negroes,' but never in the records were the Negroes termed 'slaves'. From the context of the records, moreover, "servant" was distinctly meant and not "slave." Again, according to the census taken in 1624-1625, there were twenty-three persons of the African race in Virginia and they are listed as "servants."[49]In several musters of settlements the names of Negroes appear under the heading, "Servants"; sometimes only "Negro" appears.[50]The General Court in October, 1625, had beforeit for the first time a question involving the legal status of the Negro in America. A Negro named Brass had been brought to the colony by the captain of a ship. Upon handing down the decision as to what should be done with Brass, since his master had died, the Court "ordered that he should belong to Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor," evidently as servant.[51]Anthony Johnson and Mary, his wife, whose names appeared as servants in the census mentioned above, were, at sometime before 1652, given their freedom from servitude, for in that year they were exempted from payment of taxes by the county court on account of the burning of their home. The order of the court in reference to Johnson and his wife mentioned that "they have been inhabitants in Virginiaabovethirty years." According to this, they had been in the colony at least from 1621 which approaches 1619. It appears that they were among the first Negroes sold at Jamestown. And this, with the understanding that they were not free at first establishes quite well their original status as servants as well as that of the 1619 Negroes and other Negroes in the colony.

The free Negro, Anthony Johnson, in 1653 owned John Castor, another Negro of Northampton County, as his indented servant. In 1655, a Negro was bound to serve George Light for a period of five years.[52]The court record of the discharge of Francis Pryne in 1656 is an example of the discharge certificate of Negro servants:

"I Mrs. Jane Elkonhead ... have hereunto sett my hand yt ye aforesd Pryne [a negro] shall bee discharged from all hindrance of servitude (his child) or any [thing] yt doth belong to ye sd Pryne his estate.Jane Elkonhead"[53]

Jane Elkonhead"[53]

In some cases, as it was with the white servants, Negroes were given written indentures, of which Russell gives several examples. It was an early practice of the colony to allow "head rights," a certain number of acres of land for every servant imported. In 1651 "head rights" were allowed on the importation of a Negro whose name was Richard Johnson. "Only three years later a patent calling for one hundred acres of land was issued to this negro for importing two other persons. Hence, it appears that Richard Johnson came in as a free negro or remained in a condition of servitude for not more than three years."[54]It was a practice also of those who held servants to allow them the privilege of raising hogs and poultry and of tilling a small plot of ground. The court records show that by this means John Geaween, Emanuel Dregis, and Bashasar Farando, as Negro servants, between 1649 and 1652, accumulated property. Again, there are cases illustrating that the Negro servant received "freedom dues" as the white servants at the close of the term of service.[55]Thus the first and early Negroes of Virginia were servants, not slaves. They were not only servants at first, but also servants in general for a period of years.

FOOTNOTES:[A]In the preparation of dissertation the following works were consulted: Ballagh, James Curtis,White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia(J. H. U. Studies, Thirty-first Series, 1913), andHistory of Slavery in Virginia(J. H. U. Studies, Twenty-fourth Series, 1902); Bassett, John Spencer,History of Slavery in North Carolina(J. H. U. Studies, Seventeenth Series, 1899), andSlavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina(J. H. U. Studies, Fourteenth Series, 1896); Beatty, William Jennings,The Free Negroes in the Carolinas before 1860(1920); Brackett, J. R.,The Negro in Maryland(J. H. U. Studies, Seventh Series, Extra Volume, 1889); Brown, Alexander,The Genesis of the United States, 1605-1616, Two Volumes (1890), andThe First Republic in America(1898); Bruce, Philip Alexander,Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Two Volumes (1896); Buckingham, J. S.,The Slave States of America(1842);Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 1652-1798, Edited by Wm. P. Palmer, Six Volume (1875-86); Carroll, Bartholomew Rivers,Historical Collections of South Carolina(1836); Daniels, John,In Freedom's Birth Place, A Study of Boston Negroes(1914); Doyle, J. A.,English Colonies in America, Five Volumes (1889); DuBois, W. E. Burghardt,The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America(1896); Eddis, Wm.,Letters from America, 1769-77; Hazard, Willis P.,Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time(1879); Henry, Howell Meadows,The Police Control of the Slave in South Carolina(1914); Henning, William Waller,Statutes at Large of Virginia, 1623-1792, Thirteen Volumes (1812); Hotten, J. C.,Original Lists of Emigrants, 1600-1700(1874); Hurd, John C,The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States, Two Volumes (1858-62); Jones, Hugh,The Present State of Virginia(1865);Journal of Negro History, edited by Carter G. Woodson (The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History); Lauber, Almon Wheeler,Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within Present Limits of the United States(Columbia University Studies, Volume LIV (1913)); Washburn, Emory,Massachusetts and Its Early History: Slavery as it once prevailed in Massachusetts; McCormac, E. I.,White Servitude in Maryland 1634-1820(J. H. U. Studies, Twenty-second Series, 1904); Moore, George H.,Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts(1866); Work, Monroe N.,Negro Year Book, An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro; Neill, E. D.,History of the Virginia Company of London, 1604-24(1869) andVirginia Carolorum, 1625-85; Nell, Wm. C.,Colored Patriots of the American Revolution(1855); Nieboor, Herman Jeremias,Slavery as an Industrial Institution(1900); Palfrey, John Gorham,History of New England, Five Volumes (1892); Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell,American Negro Slavery(1918);Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, edited by John Russell Bartlett (1856-65); Rivers, William James,A Sketch of the History of South Carolina to the Close of the Proprietary Government by the Revolution of 1719(1856); Russell, John H.,The Free Negro in Virginia 1619-1865(J. H. U. Studies, Thirty-first Series, 1913); Steiner, Bernard C.,History of Slavery in Connecticut(J. H. U. Studies, Series Eleven, 1893); Stevens, William Bacon,A History of Georgia from its First Discovery by Europeans to the Adoption of the Present Constitution in 1798(1848); Stroud, George M.,A Sketch of the Laws Relating to Slavery in the Several States of America(1827); Thwaites, Ruben Gold,The Colonies, 1492-1750; Turner, Edward Raymond,The Negro in Pennsylvania 1693-1861(1910);Winthrop's Journal: "History of New England" 1630-1649, Three Volumes. Edited by James Kendall Hosmer.[1]Many historians have substituted "slave" for "Negro." Russell,Free Negroes in Virginia, p. 16. White servants are also called slaves. Doyle,History of English Colonies in America, II, p. 387; Stevens,History of Georgia, pp. 289, 294.[2]Several years before 1619, Negroes in England were sentenced to work in the colonies. "Two Moorish thieves [negroes] in London were sentenced to work in the American colonies. And they said no, they would rather die at once." Brown adds: "I do not know whether they were sent to Virginia or not." (The First Republic in America, p. 219. See also postnote 14.) Again, "I do not know that these negroes were the first brought to the colony of Virginia. I do not remember to have seen any contemporary account which says so. The accounts which we have even of the voyages of the company's ships are very incomplete, and we have scarcely an idea of the private trading voyages which would have been most apt to bring such 'purchas' to Virginia." Pory wrote in September, 1619: "'In these five months of my continuance here, there have come at one time or another eleven sail of ships into this river.' If he meant that these eleven ships came in after he did, at least three of them are not accounted for in our annals." Washburn,Slavery as it once prevailed in Massachusetts, pp. 198, 327.[3]Nell,Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, p. 59.[4]Rivers,History of South Carolina, p. 113; Buckingham,Slave States of America, I, p. 19.[5]The Journal of Negro History, III, p. 33; Work,Negro Year Book, p. 152. "The second settler in Alabama was a Negro."[6]Ballagh gives an interesting and the most reliable account of this ship and these Negroes. (History of Slavery in Virginia, p. 8.) A heated controversy took place over what should be done with the Negroes. "And so the people of her were all disposed of for the year to the use of the company till it could be truly known to whom the right lyeth." Brown,The First Republic in America, pp. 359, 368, 391, 325-27.[7]Thwaites,The Colonies, p. 98.[8]Daniels,In Freedom's Birthplace, p. 7.[9]New International Encyclopedia, p. 166.[10]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 32.[11]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 31.[12]Washburn holds that the moral stamina of sturdy people seeking freedom argued against enslavement.Slavery as it once prevailed in Mass., p. 194.[13]"If twenty negroes came in 1619, as alleged, their increase was very slow, for according to a census of 16th of February, 1624, there were but twenty-two then in the colony." Neill,Hist. of the Va. Co., p. 72."When the census was taken in January, 1625, there were only twenty persons of the African race in Virginia...."Virginia Carolorum, pp. 15, 16, 22, 33, 40, 59, 225; Brown,The Genesis of Am., II, p. 987.[14]Ballagh,History of Slavery in Virginia, pp. 9-10.[15]The group brought over in 1638 by Menefie was an unusually large number: "Menefie was now the leading merchant. On April 19, 1638, he entered 3,000 acres of land on account of 60 transports, of whom 23 were, as he asserts, 'negroes, I brought out of England.'"Virginia Carolorum, p. 187 note; Ballagh,White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia, p. 91 note.[16]"Intended insurrections of negroes in 1710, 1722, 1730, bear witness to their alarming increase...."White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia, p. 92 note.[17]Brackett,The Negro in Md., p. 38.[18]Bassett,Slavery and Servitude in the Col. of N. C., pp. 18-20.[19]Henry,Police Control of the Slave in S. C., p. 3.[20]Post, p. 262, note 10.[21]Turner,The Negro in Penn., pp. 1-3.[22]Moore,Notes on the History of Slavery in Mass., pp. 5, 48; Palfrey,Hist. of N. E., p. 30.[23]"They have store of children, and are well accommodated with Servants;——of these some are English, others Negroes: of the English there are can eat till they sweat, and work till they freeze; and of the females they are like Mrs. Wintus paddocks, very tinder fingered in cold weather."Account of Two Voyages to N. E., pp. 28, 139-140.[24]Moore,Notes on the Hist. of Slavery in Mass., pp. 48-49.[25]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Virginia, pp. 2, 3, 34.[26]"The main ideas on which servitude was based originated in the early history of Virginia as a purely English colonial development before the other colonies were formed. The system was adopted in them with its outline already defined, requiring only local legislation to give it specific character...." (Ballagh,White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia, p. 9.) The status of servitude, customary and legal, similar to that given the Negroes in Virginia is as a rule met with in several of the colonies.[27]Post, p. 254, note 33.[28]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 28, 29, 34.[29]White servitude had recognition in statute law by 1630-36 in Massachusetts, by 1643 in Connecticut, by 1647 in Rhode Island, by 1619 in Virginia, by 1637 in Maryland, by 1665 in North Carolina, by 1682 in Pennsylvania, and by 1732 in Georgia. Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 36, 37. Russell,The Free Negro in Va., pp. 18, 19, 22, 29.[30]Statutory recognition of slavery by the American colonies occurred as follows: Massachusetts, 1641; Connecticut, 1650; Virginia, 1661; Maryland, 1663; New York and New Jersey, 1664; South Carolina, 1682; Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, 1700; North Carolina, 1715; and Georgia, 1755. Prior to these dates the legal status of all subject Negroes was that of servants, and their rights, duties, and disabilities were regulated by legislation the same as, or similar to, that applied to white servants. Ballagh,Hist. of Servitude in Va., pp. 34, 35.[31]Russell,The Free Negroes in Va., p. 29.[32]Turner,The Negro in Penn., p. 25; Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 30, 31.[33]Ante, note 30: "It was but natural then that they should be absorbed in a growing system which spread to all the colonies and for nearly a century furnished the chief supply for colonial labor." Ballagh,White Servitude in the Colony of Va., pp. 14, 27, 49. Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 32.[34]The Company secured servants for the colony. Stevens,History of Ga., p. 290; Ballagh,White Servitude in the Col. of Va., p. 15.[35]The Trustees of Georgia held out on account of philanthropic motives. See Du Bois,Suppression of the Slave Trade, pp. 7, 8, 26; Declaration of one of the trustees, Stevens,Hist. of Ga., p. 287.[36]Moore,Notes on the History of Slavery in Mass., p. 50. Du Bois,Suppression of African Slave Trade, p. 15.[37]In Providence in 1633, "it was recommended that twenty or thirty negroes be introduced for public work, and that they be separated among various families of officers and industrious planters to prevent the formation of plots. Some of these negroes received wages and purchased their freedom, and the length of servitude seems to have been dependent on the time of conversion to Christianity." Lefroy,The History, of the Bermudaes, p. 219. Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 29, 30, notes.The Dutch dealt with the early Negroes in a similar way. "In practice the heavy duty imposed by the Company seems to have discouraged any large importation. As a natural consequence, too, most of those imported seem to have been in the employment of the Company. Thus we learn that the fort at New Amsterdam was mainly built by negro labor. The Company seems wisely to have made arrangements whereby its slaves should be gradually absorbed in the free population. In 1644 an ordinance was passed emancipating the slaves of the Company after a fixed period of service." Doyle,Eng. Cols. in Am., IV, p. 49.[38]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 33.[39]Carroll,Hist. Coll., I, p. 27.[40]Ibid., p. 29.[41]Ibid., p. 29.[42]Russell,The Free Negro in Va., pp. 16, 23; Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 29 notes; Brown,The First Republic in Am., p. 326.Thomas Jefferson said, "the right to these negroes was common, or, perhaps they lived on a footing with the whites, who, as well as themselves, were under absolute direction of the president." Russell,The Free Negro in Va., p. 24.[43]Ibid., 23, 24; Ballagh,History of Slavery in Va., 28, 31; Phillips,Am. Negro Slavery, p. 75.[44]Henning, I, pp. 146, 226.[45]The first time the term "slave" is used in the statutes was in these words: "If the Indians shall bring in any children as gages of their good and quiet intentions to us, ... that we will not use them as slaves." Henning, I, p. 296.[46]In Henning,StatutesI, p. 540, it is said: "Thatifthe said Dutch or other foreigners shall import any negroes, they the said Dutch or others shall, for the tobacco really produced by the sale of the said negro, pay only the impost of two shillings per hogshead, the like being paid by our own nation."[47]Henning, II, p. 26.[48]Russell,The Free Negro in Va., p. 20, note 13.[49]Ibid., pp. 23, 24; Hotten,List of Immigrants to Am., pp. 202, etc.The "Lists of the Living and Dead in Virginia, Feb. 16th, 1623," shows that there were twenty or more Negroes in the Colony; these Negroes are referred to as servants not slaves.Col. Records of Va., p. 37, etc.[50]"Captain Francis West, His Muster.**********Servants**********John Pedro, A Neger, aged 30, in theSwan, 1623."Va. Carolorum, p. 15."Muster of Sir George Yeardley, Kt.**********Servants**********Thomas Barnett, 16, in theElsabeth, 1620Theophilus Bereston, in theTreasuror, 1614Negro Men, 3.Negro Women, 5.Susan Hall, in theWilliamandThomas, 1608"Ibid., p. 16."Muster of Capt. William Tucker, Elizabeth City.**********Servants**********Antoney, NegroIsabell, NegroWilliam, theire child, baptised"Ibid., p. 40; see a musteralso on page 22."On the 25 of January, 1624-5, a muster of Mr. Edward Bennett's servants at Wariscoyak was taken, and the number was twelve, two of whom were negroes."Va. Carolorum, 225 note. See also Brown,The Genesis of Am., II, 987.[51]Virginia Carolorum, pp. 33, 34; Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Virginia, p. 30.[52]Russell,The Free Negro in Virginia, pp. 24, 26, 32.[53]Ibid., pp. 26, 29.[54]Ibid., pp. 25, 26.[55]Ibid., pp. 22, 28, 34; Bruce,Econ. Hist. of Virginia, II, pp. 52, 53.

[A]In the preparation of dissertation the following works were consulted: Ballagh, James Curtis,White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia(J. H. U. Studies, Thirty-first Series, 1913), andHistory of Slavery in Virginia(J. H. U. Studies, Twenty-fourth Series, 1902); Bassett, John Spencer,History of Slavery in North Carolina(J. H. U. Studies, Seventeenth Series, 1899), andSlavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina(J. H. U. Studies, Fourteenth Series, 1896); Beatty, William Jennings,The Free Negroes in the Carolinas before 1860(1920); Brackett, J. R.,The Negro in Maryland(J. H. U. Studies, Seventh Series, Extra Volume, 1889); Brown, Alexander,The Genesis of the United States, 1605-1616, Two Volumes (1890), andThe First Republic in America(1898); Bruce, Philip Alexander,Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Two Volumes (1896); Buckingham, J. S.,The Slave States of America(1842);Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 1652-1798, Edited by Wm. P. Palmer, Six Volume (1875-86); Carroll, Bartholomew Rivers,Historical Collections of South Carolina(1836); Daniels, John,In Freedom's Birth Place, A Study of Boston Negroes(1914); Doyle, J. A.,English Colonies in America, Five Volumes (1889); DuBois, W. E. Burghardt,The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America(1896); Eddis, Wm.,Letters from America, 1769-77; Hazard, Willis P.,Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time(1879); Henry, Howell Meadows,The Police Control of the Slave in South Carolina(1914); Henning, William Waller,Statutes at Large of Virginia, 1623-1792, Thirteen Volumes (1812); Hotten, J. C.,Original Lists of Emigrants, 1600-1700(1874); Hurd, John C,The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States, Two Volumes (1858-62); Jones, Hugh,The Present State of Virginia(1865);Journal of Negro History, edited by Carter G. Woodson (The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History); Lauber, Almon Wheeler,Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within Present Limits of the United States(Columbia University Studies, Volume LIV (1913)); Washburn, Emory,Massachusetts and Its Early History: Slavery as it once prevailed in Massachusetts; McCormac, E. I.,White Servitude in Maryland 1634-1820(J. H. U. Studies, Twenty-second Series, 1904); Moore, George H.,Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts(1866); Work, Monroe N.,Negro Year Book, An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro; Neill, E. D.,History of the Virginia Company of London, 1604-24(1869) andVirginia Carolorum, 1625-85; Nell, Wm. C.,Colored Patriots of the American Revolution(1855); Nieboor, Herman Jeremias,Slavery as an Industrial Institution(1900); Palfrey, John Gorham,History of New England, Five Volumes (1892); Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell,American Negro Slavery(1918);Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, edited by John Russell Bartlett (1856-65); Rivers, William James,A Sketch of the History of South Carolina to the Close of the Proprietary Government by the Revolution of 1719(1856); Russell, John H.,The Free Negro in Virginia 1619-1865(J. H. U. Studies, Thirty-first Series, 1913); Steiner, Bernard C.,History of Slavery in Connecticut(J. H. U. Studies, Series Eleven, 1893); Stevens, William Bacon,A History of Georgia from its First Discovery by Europeans to the Adoption of the Present Constitution in 1798(1848); Stroud, George M.,A Sketch of the Laws Relating to Slavery in the Several States of America(1827); Thwaites, Ruben Gold,The Colonies, 1492-1750; Turner, Edward Raymond,The Negro in Pennsylvania 1693-1861(1910);Winthrop's Journal: "History of New England" 1630-1649, Three Volumes. Edited by James Kendall Hosmer.

[1]Many historians have substituted "slave" for "Negro." Russell,Free Negroes in Virginia, p. 16. White servants are also called slaves. Doyle,History of English Colonies in America, II, p. 387; Stevens,History of Georgia, pp. 289, 294.

[2]Several years before 1619, Negroes in England were sentenced to work in the colonies. "Two Moorish thieves [negroes] in London were sentenced to work in the American colonies. And they said no, they would rather die at once." Brown adds: "I do not know whether they were sent to Virginia or not." (The First Republic in America, p. 219. See also postnote 14.) Again, "I do not know that these negroes were the first brought to the colony of Virginia. I do not remember to have seen any contemporary account which says so. The accounts which we have even of the voyages of the company's ships are very incomplete, and we have scarcely an idea of the private trading voyages which would have been most apt to bring such 'purchas' to Virginia." Pory wrote in September, 1619: "'In these five months of my continuance here, there have come at one time or another eleven sail of ships into this river.' If he meant that these eleven ships came in after he did, at least three of them are not accounted for in our annals." Washburn,Slavery as it once prevailed in Massachusetts, pp. 198, 327.

[3]Nell,Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, p. 59.

[4]Rivers,History of South Carolina, p. 113; Buckingham,Slave States of America, I, p. 19.

[5]The Journal of Negro History, III, p. 33; Work,Negro Year Book, p. 152. "The second settler in Alabama was a Negro."

[6]Ballagh gives an interesting and the most reliable account of this ship and these Negroes. (History of Slavery in Virginia, p. 8.) A heated controversy took place over what should be done with the Negroes. "And so the people of her were all disposed of for the year to the use of the company till it could be truly known to whom the right lyeth." Brown,The First Republic in America, pp. 359, 368, 391, 325-27.

[7]Thwaites,The Colonies, p. 98.

[8]Daniels,In Freedom's Birthplace, p. 7.

[9]New International Encyclopedia, p. 166.

[10]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 32.

[11]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 31.

[12]Washburn holds that the moral stamina of sturdy people seeking freedom argued against enslavement.Slavery as it once prevailed in Mass., p. 194.

[13]"If twenty negroes came in 1619, as alleged, their increase was very slow, for according to a census of 16th of February, 1624, there were but twenty-two then in the colony." Neill,Hist. of the Va. Co., p. 72."When the census was taken in January, 1625, there were only twenty persons of the African race in Virginia...."Virginia Carolorum, pp. 15, 16, 22, 33, 40, 59, 225; Brown,The Genesis of Am., II, p. 987.

"When the census was taken in January, 1625, there were only twenty persons of the African race in Virginia...."Virginia Carolorum, pp. 15, 16, 22, 33, 40, 59, 225; Brown,The Genesis of Am., II, p. 987.

[14]Ballagh,History of Slavery in Virginia, pp. 9-10.

[15]The group brought over in 1638 by Menefie was an unusually large number: "Menefie was now the leading merchant. On April 19, 1638, he entered 3,000 acres of land on account of 60 transports, of whom 23 were, as he asserts, 'negroes, I brought out of England.'"Virginia Carolorum, p. 187 note; Ballagh,White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia, p. 91 note.

[16]"Intended insurrections of negroes in 1710, 1722, 1730, bear witness to their alarming increase...."White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia, p. 92 note.

[17]Brackett,The Negro in Md., p. 38.

[18]Bassett,Slavery and Servitude in the Col. of N. C., pp. 18-20.

[19]Henry,Police Control of the Slave in S. C., p. 3.

[20]Post, p. 262, note 10.

[21]Turner,The Negro in Penn., pp. 1-3.

[22]Moore,Notes on the History of Slavery in Mass., pp. 5, 48; Palfrey,Hist. of N. E., p. 30.

[23]"They have store of children, and are well accommodated with Servants;——of these some are English, others Negroes: of the English there are can eat till they sweat, and work till they freeze; and of the females they are like Mrs. Wintus paddocks, very tinder fingered in cold weather."Account of Two Voyages to N. E., pp. 28, 139-140.

[24]Moore,Notes on the Hist. of Slavery in Mass., pp. 48-49.

[25]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Virginia, pp. 2, 3, 34.

[26]"The main ideas on which servitude was based originated in the early history of Virginia as a purely English colonial development before the other colonies were formed. The system was adopted in them with its outline already defined, requiring only local legislation to give it specific character...." (Ballagh,White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia, p. 9.) The status of servitude, customary and legal, similar to that given the Negroes in Virginia is as a rule met with in several of the colonies.

[27]Post, p. 254, note 33.

[28]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 28, 29, 34.

[29]White servitude had recognition in statute law by 1630-36 in Massachusetts, by 1643 in Connecticut, by 1647 in Rhode Island, by 1619 in Virginia, by 1637 in Maryland, by 1665 in North Carolina, by 1682 in Pennsylvania, and by 1732 in Georgia. Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 36, 37. Russell,The Free Negro in Va., pp. 18, 19, 22, 29.

[30]Statutory recognition of slavery by the American colonies occurred as follows: Massachusetts, 1641; Connecticut, 1650; Virginia, 1661; Maryland, 1663; New York and New Jersey, 1664; South Carolina, 1682; Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, 1700; North Carolina, 1715; and Georgia, 1755. Prior to these dates the legal status of all subject Negroes was that of servants, and their rights, duties, and disabilities were regulated by legislation the same as, or similar to, that applied to white servants. Ballagh,Hist. of Servitude in Va., pp. 34, 35.

[31]Russell,The Free Negroes in Va., p. 29.

[32]Turner,The Negro in Penn., p. 25; Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 30, 31.

[33]Ante, note 30: "It was but natural then that they should be absorbed in a growing system which spread to all the colonies and for nearly a century furnished the chief supply for colonial labor." Ballagh,White Servitude in the Colony of Va., pp. 14, 27, 49. Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 32.

[34]The Company secured servants for the colony. Stevens,History of Ga., p. 290; Ballagh,White Servitude in the Col. of Va., p. 15.

[35]The Trustees of Georgia held out on account of philanthropic motives. See Du Bois,Suppression of the Slave Trade, pp. 7, 8, 26; Declaration of one of the trustees, Stevens,Hist. of Ga., p. 287.

[36]Moore,Notes on the History of Slavery in Mass., p. 50. Du Bois,Suppression of African Slave Trade, p. 15.

[37]In Providence in 1633, "it was recommended that twenty or thirty negroes be introduced for public work, and that they be separated among various families of officers and industrious planters to prevent the formation of plots. Some of these negroes received wages and purchased their freedom, and the length of servitude seems to have been dependent on the time of conversion to Christianity." Lefroy,The History, of the Bermudaes, p. 219. Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., pp. 29, 30, notes.The Dutch dealt with the early Negroes in a similar way. "In practice the heavy duty imposed by the Company seems to have discouraged any large importation. As a natural consequence, too, most of those imported seem to have been in the employment of the Company. Thus we learn that the fort at New Amsterdam was mainly built by negro labor. The Company seems wisely to have made arrangements whereby its slaves should be gradually absorbed in the free population. In 1644 an ordinance was passed emancipating the slaves of the Company after a fixed period of service." Doyle,Eng. Cols. in Am., IV, p. 49.

The Dutch dealt with the early Negroes in a similar way. "In practice the heavy duty imposed by the Company seems to have discouraged any large importation. As a natural consequence, too, most of those imported seem to have been in the employment of the Company. Thus we learn that the fort at New Amsterdam was mainly built by negro labor. The Company seems wisely to have made arrangements whereby its slaves should be gradually absorbed in the free population. In 1644 an ordinance was passed emancipating the slaves of the Company after a fixed period of service." Doyle,Eng. Cols. in Am., IV, p. 49.

[38]Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 33.

[39]Carroll,Hist. Coll., I, p. 27.

[40]Ibid., p. 29.

[41]Ibid., p. 29.

[42]Russell,The Free Negro in Va., pp. 16, 23; Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 29 notes; Brown,The First Republic in Am., p. 326.Thomas Jefferson said, "the right to these negroes was common, or, perhaps they lived on a footing with the whites, who, as well as themselves, were under absolute direction of the president." Russell,The Free Negro in Va., p. 24.

[42]Russell,The Free Negro in Va., pp. 16, 23; Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Va., p. 29 notes; Brown,The First Republic in Am., p. 326.

Thomas Jefferson said, "the right to these negroes was common, or, perhaps they lived on a footing with the whites, who, as well as themselves, were under absolute direction of the president." Russell,The Free Negro in Va., p. 24.

[43]Ibid., 23, 24; Ballagh,History of Slavery in Va., 28, 31; Phillips,Am. Negro Slavery, p. 75.

[44]Henning, I, pp. 146, 226.

[45]The first time the term "slave" is used in the statutes was in these words: "If the Indians shall bring in any children as gages of their good and quiet intentions to us, ... that we will not use them as slaves." Henning, I, p. 296.

[46]In Henning,StatutesI, p. 540, it is said: "Thatifthe said Dutch or other foreigners shall import any negroes, they the said Dutch or others shall, for the tobacco really produced by the sale of the said negro, pay only the impost of two shillings per hogshead, the like being paid by our own nation."

[47]Henning, II, p. 26.

[48]Russell,The Free Negro in Va., p. 20, note 13.

[49]Ibid., pp. 23, 24; Hotten,List of Immigrants to Am., pp. 202, etc.The "Lists of the Living and Dead in Virginia, Feb. 16th, 1623," shows that there were twenty or more Negroes in the Colony; these Negroes are referred to as servants not slaves.Col. Records of Va., p. 37, etc.

[49]Ibid., pp. 23, 24; Hotten,List of Immigrants to Am., pp. 202, etc.

The "Lists of the Living and Dead in Virginia, Feb. 16th, 1623," shows that there were twenty or more Negroes in the Colony; these Negroes are referred to as servants not slaves.Col. Records of Va., p. 37, etc.

[50]"Captain Francis West, His Muster.**********Servants**********John Pedro, A Neger, aged 30, in theSwan, 1623."Va. Carolorum, p. 15."Muster of Sir George Yeardley, Kt.**********Servants**********Thomas Barnett, 16, in theElsabeth, 1620Theophilus Bereston, in theTreasuror, 1614Negro Men, 3.Negro Women, 5.Susan Hall, in theWilliamandThomas, 1608"Ibid., p. 16."Muster of Capt. William Tucker, Elizabeth City.**********Servants**********Antoney, NegroIsabell, NegroWilliam, theire child, baptised"Ibid., p. 40; see a musteralso on page 22."On the 25 of January, 1624-5, a muster of Mr. Edward Bennett's servants at Wariscoyak was taken, and the number was twelve, two of whom were negroes."Va. Carolorum, 225 note. See also Brown,The Genesis of Am., II, 987.

[50]

"Captain Francis West, His Muster.**********Servants**********

John Pedro, A Neger, aged 30, in theSwan, 1623."

Va. Carolorum, p. 15.

"Muster of Sir George Yeardley, Kt.**********Servants**********

Thomas Barnett, 16, in theElsabeth, 1620Theophilus Bereston, in theTreasuror, 1614Negro Men, 3.Negro Women, 5.Susan Hall, in theWilliamandThomas, 1608"

Ibid., p. 16.

"Muster of Capt. William Tucker, Elizabeth City.**********Servants**********

Antoney, NegroIsabell, NegroWilliam, theire child, baptised"

Ibid., p. 40; see a musteralso on page 22.

"On the 25 of January, 1624-5, a muster of Mr. Edward Bennett's servants at Wariscoyak was taken, and the number was twelve, two of whom were negroes."Va. Carolorum, 225 note. See also Brown,The Genesis of Am., II, 987.

[51]Virginia Carolorum, pp. 33, 34; Ballagh,Hist. of Slavery in Virginia, p. 30.

[52]Russell,The Free Negro in Virginia, pp. 24, 26, 32.

[53]Ibid., pp. 26, 29.

[54]Ibid., pp. 25, 26.

[55]Ibid., pp. 22, 28, 34; Bruce,Econ. Hist. of Virginia, II, pp. 52, 53.

Slavery received statutory recognition in the colony of Maryland in 1663, and in North Carolina in 1715. White servitude had long existed in these colonies, receiving statutory recognition in Maryland as early as 1637, and in North Carolina in 1665. Servitude, therefore, had ample time for local definition "before slavery entered upon either its customary or legal development."[1]Ballagh holds that in these colonies, also, Negro servitude historically preceded slavery.[2]In Maryland, particularly, along with Virginia and Massachusetts, the "circumstances surroundingthe enactments defining slavery" indicate a natural transition from Negro servitude to slavery. Since servitude existed in these states, it seems probable, from analogy with conditions in other parts of the country, that the early Negroes in these colonies were servants.[3]

Negro servitude preceded Negro slavery in Massachusetts. This servitude existed legally and underwent a period of development. After the recognition of slavery in 1641, Negro servitude continued along with slavery and in a more pronounced manner.[4]The early inhabitants of Massachusetts were hostile to the introduction of slavery. This attitude was, perhaps, responsible for the milder form which Negro bondage first assumed, for "the facts of history ... seem to establish this conclusion, that slavery never was in harmony with the public sentiment of the colony."[5]The Salem ship, theDesire, brought to the Colony, February 26, 1638, "some cotton, tobacco, and negroes." This cargo had been taken on by Mr. Pierce of theDesire, at Providence Island, evidently in exchange for fifteen Indian boys and two women, taken as prisoners in the Pequod War.[6]At this time, it was common to purchase servants from shipmasters and merchants, and so it is not certain that the Negroes brought back by Mr. Pierce were slaves. At Providence, moreover, Negroes had the status of servants.[7]When Josselyn visited New England in 1638-39, he saw in Boston servants, English and Negroes.[8]In 1641, after the adoption of the Body of Liberties, a master of a ship brought two Negroes for sale into slavery, but was compelled by the court to give them up. These Negroes were then sent back to their native country. In 1646, the General Court passed an act "against the heinous and crying sin of man-stealing." In this colony "slaves" testified against white men in court and, for a long time after 1652, served in the militia.[9]Again, beginning with 1700, Judge Sewall and the Quakers started their memorable work against slavery. Charles Sumner said concerning slavery in Massachusetts: "Her few slaves were merely for a term of years, or for life."[10]

The Bond of Liberty, adopted in 1641, evidently made provision for servitude.[11]Negroes were held as servants under this provision. During the entire colonial period until 1791, they were rated as polls, as, for example, in the tax laws, in 1718, which provided that "all Indian, negro and mulatto servantsfor a term of yearswere to be numbered and rated as Polls, and not as Personal Estate."[12]

Prior to 1700, moreover, Negroes had the status of servants in Pennsylvania. In the region of the Delaware River, which became a part of Pennsylvania, the Dutch had a few Negroes with them in 1636. In 1639, also, a number of Negroes worked under the New Netherlands Company on the South River.[13]It is not definitely knownthat these Negroes were servants, although the circumstances indicate that they were. The same is true of the Negroes in the employment of the Dutch during this very early period. Provision was apparently made for their gradual absorption by the free population. As late as 1663, there existed laws which "granted them a qualified form of freedom, working alternate weeks, one for themselves, one for the Company."[14]Among the Swedes, also, in the region of the Delaware, were a number of Negroes. Just after Rising had come to the region as head of the Swedish Company, in 1654, he issued an ordinance that "after a certain period Negroes should be absolutely free." In Penn's charter to the Free Society of Traders, in 1682, there was a provision that if the inhabitants "held blacks they should make them free at the end of fourteen years...." Benjamin Furley, also, vigorously opposed holding Negroes longer than eight years.[15]The Friends of Germantown in 1688, made strong protests against slavery; and in 1693, George Keith declared that the masters should let the Negroes go free after a reasonable term of service.[16]Later on, children of white mothers and slave fathers became servants for a term of years, and the same was true of the children of free Negro mothers and slave fathers.[17]

After 1700, Negro servants were a common and well-recognized class in Pennsylvania. Negroes who were "unableor unwilling to support themselves" were bound by the court for the term of one year.[18]All children of free Negroes were bound out until twenty-one or twenty-four years. Mulatto children "who were not slaves for life" were bound out "until they were twenty-eight years of age." The abolition act of 1780 provided among other things that "all future children of registered slaves should become servants until they were twenty-eight."[19]And again, Negroes manumitted could indenture themselves until twenty-eight.

Negro servants were generally subject to the laws which governed the white servitude; but they were subject further to other laws which gave to the Negro servants a status between that of the white servants and Negro slaves. Negro servants were apprenticed for a longer period than white servants; and such servants were object of a considerable interstate traffic, people from other states selling them into Pennsylvania. They were often apprenticed and generally given some form of freedom dues. So entrenched was Negro servitude here that in 1780 there were probably a greater number of servants in Pennsylvania than slaves.[20]

In Rhode Island Negro servitude preceded and passed into slavery.[21]Although as early as 1652 the practice of buying Negroes for service or slaves for life existed in this colony, this was not sanctioned by law. On the other hand, white servitude was clearly recognized in statute law of 1647.[22]In 1652 the legally established servitude,as well as the attitude of the colonists, undoubtedly influenced the passing of a law to prohibit slavery and provide for servitude. This law said: "Whereas, there is a common course practiced amongst English men to buy negers, to that end they may have them for service or slaves forever; for the preventinge of such practices among us, let it be ordered, that no blacke mankind or white being forced by covenant bond, or otherwise, to serve any man or his assighness longer than ten yeares, or until they come to bee twentie four yeares of age, if they bee taken in under fourteen, for the time of their cominge within the liberties of this Collinie. And at the end or terme of ten yeares to sett them free, as the manner is with the English servants. And that man that will not let them goe free, or shall sell them away elsewhere, to that end that they may bee enslaved to others for a long time, he or they shall forfeit to the Collonie forty pounds."[23]Although this law was enforced for a time, it soon became a dead letter, for after 1708, when slavery received sanction by statute, buying and selling Negroes was practiced generally.[24]

The first few Negroes in Connecticut were servants along with a few Indian and white servants. It was due, no doubt, to the paucity of the Negroes—there were in 1680 not above thirty in the colony—that they became servants. However, as this number increased, their status became gradually that of slaves by custom. Because of the fear of treachery from the Negro and Indian servants, the General Court, in 1680, ordered that "neither Indian nor negar servants shall be required to train, watch or ward in the Colony."[25]Evidently some of the servants very early had served out their time and had been freed, for by a law, in 1690, "Negro, mulatto, or Indian servants," "suspected persons" and free Negroes who were found wandering could be taken up and brought before a magistrate.[26]Anact in 1711 made provision for the care of Negro servants and others who came to want after they had served out their time. "An act relating to slaves, and such in particular as shall happen to become servants for life, enacts that all slaves set at liberty by their owners, and all negro, mulatto, and Spanish Indians, who are servants to masters for time, in case they shall come to want after they shall be so set at liberty or the time of their service be expired, they shall be relieved at the cost of their masters." In fact, slavery of the "absolute, rigid kind" never existed to any extent in Connecticut.[27]

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