Notices of Negro Slavery as connected with Pennsylvania/Notes
The lamented writer reserved for another Memoir the history, subsequent to 1770, of slavery in Pennsylvania. "We do not propose to complete the task, yet believe our duty will not have been fulfilled without some further reference to the subject.
The good seed sown by the honest German Friends in 1688 did not perish, for what great truth ever has? The abolition of slavery continued to be agitated without, however, any immediate results. "What a peaceful policy could not effect was at last accomplished by the Revolution;[1] so then, as now, political convulsion hastened the development of events, that otherwise might have been a score of years in ripening. Thus is history ever repeating itself.
On the 9th of November, 1778, George Bryan, the Vice President, in his message called the attention of the Assembly to the subject, and said, "the late Assembly was furnished with the heads of a bill for manumitting infant negroes, born of slaves, by which the gradual abolition of servitude for life would be obtained in an easy mode. It is not proposed that the present slaves, most of whom are scarcely competent of freedom, should be meddled with, but all importations must be forbid, if the idea be adopted. This or some better scheme would tend to abrogate slavery, the opprobrium of America, from among us; and no period seems more happy for the attempt than the present, as the number of such unhappy characters, ever few in Pennsylvania, has been much reduced by the practices and plunder of our late invaders. In divesting the State of slaves you will equally serve the cause of humanity and policy, and offer to God one of the most proper and best returns of gratitude for his great deliverance of us and our posterity from thraldom: you will also set your
character for justice and benevolence in the true point of view to all Europe, who are astonished to see a people eager for liberty holding negroes in bondage."
Again, on the 5th of February, 1779, we find that President Reed called the attention of the Assembly to the subject, and on the 9th f September in the same year, in a message to the House he said: "We would also again bring into your view a plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, so disgraceful to any people, and more especially to those who have been contending in the great cause of liberty themselves, and upon whom Providence has bestowed such eminent marks of its favor and protection. We think we are loudly called on to evince our gratitude, in making our fellow men joint heirs with us of the same inestimable blessings, under such restrictions and regulations as will not injure the community, and will imperceptibly enable them to relish and improve the station to which they will be advanced. Honored will that State be, in the annals of history, which shall first abolish this violation of the rights of mankind, and the memories of those will be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance, who shall pass the law to restore and establish the rights of human nature in Pennsylvania. We feel ourselves so interested on this point, as to go beyond what may be deemed, by some, the proper line of our duty, and acquaint you that we have reduced this plan to the form of a law, which, if acceptable, we shall in a few days communicate to you."[2]
The auspicious day at length arrived. The work of the friends of human liberty in Pennsylvania was at last completed, and on the 1st of March, 1780, an act was passed for the gradual abolition of slavery
The preamble of the Act, one of the noblest compositions on record, and the act itself, were from the pen of George Bryan.
Slavery from this began gradually to disappear, as will be seen from an official document of the Department of State, at Washington.[3]
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In 1790 there were |
3,737 slaves. |
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That this population, after having, from 1790 to 1820, steadily diminished, should, between the latter period and 1830, have increased, arrested the attention of our Legislature, and at the session of 1833 a committee was appointed by the Senate—of which our late venerable member, Mr. Samuel Breck, was chairman—" to investigate the cause of increase, and report by bill or otherwise."[4] The committee remark, "that so large an addition to a class of our population, which we had every reason to believe was nearly extinguished, has excited considerable attention, even beyond the limits of our commonwealth, and has become in some degree a reproach to the State. Our neighbors in New York and citizens of other States have asked, through the medium of the public prints, how it happens that, while slavery has almost ceased to exist in the States north and east of us, the land of Penn, which took the lead in emancipation, and contains so many citizens of distinguished philanthropy, so many associations formed expressly for the promotion of abolition, so many friends of the African race, always on the watch to detect abuses, and ever eager to aid in correcting them, should exhibit an increase of slaves?"
By the law of 1780 it was in effect enacted, that the children of all negroes and mulattoes, held to servitude, born within the State after the 1st of March, 1780, should be held to service until the age of twenty-one, and no longer; and one of the causes of the increase the committee found arose from a misconstruction of the Act in some of the counties of the State, by which the grandchild of a registered slave was held to the same term of service as the mother, whom the law had pronounced free at twenty-eight, an error which was corrected in 1826 by the Supreme Court. Another cause, as stated by the committee, was that "negroes of all ages are brought in considerable numbers into the southwestern counties, bordering on Virginia, and emancipated on condition of serving a certain number of years, seldom exceeding seven, unless they happen to be mere children. About half the usual price of a slave is paid for this limited assignment; at the expiration of which the individual obtains entire freedom, both for himself and such of his children as may be born in Pennsylvania." The committee were therefore not disposed to recommend any measure that might disturb the usage, as such a course would shut the door of philanthropic Pennsylvania to those who, from motives of humanity and interest, might wish to grant manumission to their slaves, and from investigation they were of the opinion that 67, instead of 386, constituted the number of slaves existing in 1830.
We have remarked that George Bryan was the author of the Act of 1780. abolishing slavery in Pennsylvania. It has, however, been stated that it was the current report at the Bar, at the beginning of the present century, and at the close of the last, that the late William Lewis was its draughtsman. To us, it seems that no one can read Mr. Bryan's Message to the Assembly, already quoted, and the Preamble to the Act, without being struck with a similarity in sentiment and style. His feelings had long been deeply concerned for the welfare of these poor creatures; and, as the first who officially suggested abolition, common opinion, if expressed at all upon the occasion, would, as a matter of course, have pointed to him as the proper person to draught the bill, nor are the terms and character of its clauses such as that any one, thoroughly skilled in legislation and familiar with the subject, might not as readily have drawn as Mr. Bryan. The Preamble required higher powers, and as to his abilities for the whole task, if any doubt exists, Mr. Bryan appears to have possessed them in an eminent degree. He is described, in an "Extract" from a Funeral Discourse upon his death, preached January 30th, 1791, by the Rev. Dr. Ewing, Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and to be found in the IX. Vol. of Carey's American Museum, p. 81, of the same year, "As formed by nature for a close application to study, animated with an ardent thirst for knowledge, and blessed with a memory surprisingly tenacious, and the uncommon attendant, a clear, penetrating, and decisive judgment; his mind was the storehouse of extensive information on a great variety of subjects. Thus endowed and qualified, he was able, on most occasions, to avail himself of the labors and acquisitions, the researches and decisions of the most distinguished luminaries that had finished their course and set before him. You could, therefore, with confidence, generally depend upon his judgment as the last result of laborious investigation and mature decision.
And if you add to these natural and acquired endowments, the moral virtues and dispositions of his heart, his benevolence and sympathy with the distressed, his unaffected humility and easiness of access upon all occasions, his readiness to forgive, and his godlike superiority to the injuries of a misjudging world (in imitation of his divine Muster, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again), his inflexible integrity in the administration of justice, together with his exalted contempt of both the frowns and the blandishments of the world, you will find him eminently qualified for the faithful and honorable discharge of the various public offices which he filled, with dignity and reputation, even in the worst of times, and in the midst of a torrent of unmerited obloquy and opposition. Such an assemblage of unusual qualifications and virtues as adorned the character of our departed friend but seldom unite in a single man."
Mr. Bryan is not mentioned in the "Extract" from Dr. Ewing's Discourse as the author of the Act, but in a note, probably appended by Mr. Carey, and which contains an obituary account, from Dunlap's American Advertiser, his life and character are thus portrayed:[5]"Previously to the Revolution, he was a representative in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and delegate in the Congress which met at New York, in 1765, for the purpose of petitioning and remonstrating against the Stamp Act and other arbitrary measures of the British Parliament.
"In the contest, he took an early, decisive, and active part with this country. When, by the Declaration of Independence, it became necessary to erect governments upon the authority of the people, he was appointed Yice-President of the Supreme Executive Council of this Commonwealth; and, by the unfortunate death of the late President Wharton, in May, 1778, he was placed at the head of the government of Pennsylvania, during the summer and autumn of that turbulent and eventful year. His office having expired by the limitation of the Constitution, in the autumn of 1779, he was elected a member of the Legislature. In this station, amidst the pressing hurry of business, the rage and clamors of party, and the tumult of war and invasion, in despite of innumerable prejudices, he planned and executed the 'Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery,' —a monument which, instead of mouldering like the proud structures of brass and marble, bids fair to flourish in increasing strength.
"He was afterwards appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, in which office he continued till his death; and during his exercise of it, he was, in 1784, elected one of the Council of Censors, under the late Constitution, of which body he was (to say the least) one of the principal and leading characters. * * * * Besides the offices which have been enumerated, he filled a variety of public, literary, and charitable employments: in some of which he was almost continually engaged,—and in all of which he was highly active and useful. * * * The firmness of his resolution was invincible, and the mildness of his temper never changed. His knowledge was very extensive; the strength of his memory verified what has been thought incredible or fabulous, when related of others. His judgment was correct, his modesty extreme, his benevolence unbounded, and his piety unaffected and exemplary. * * * If he failed in any duty, it was that he was possibly too disinterested,—his own interest was almost the only thing he ever forgot."
In the Arch Street Presbyterian Buryinground, the inscription upon his tomb records (and his memory deserves a more fitting memorial) that he "died 21th of January, 1191, aged sixty years; that he was among the earliest and most active and uniform friends of the rights of man before the Revolutionary War. As a member of the Assemby of Pennsylvania and of the Congress at New York, in 1765, and as a citizen, he was conspicuous in opposition to the Stamp and other Acts of British tyranny. He was equally an opponent of Domestic Slavery The emancipation of people of color engaged the feelings of his heart and the energies of his mind, and the Act of Abolition, which laid the foundation of their liberation, issued from his pen."
The italics are our own. Against this emphatic testimony, no word of dissent, so far as we know, was ever raised. And it is not to be believed that his right to authorship, asserted with the knowledge of his associates in his philanthropic work—at the very period of his death—in the public prints, and also upon his tomb, would have remained uncontradicted had it been unfounded.
The Preamble, in which the claims to human liberty are so grandly and convincingly set forth, is not readily accessible; and we trust we shall be excused for here presenting it:
"When we contemplate our abhorrence of that condition to which the arms and tyranny of Great Britain were exerted to reduce us, when we look back on the variety of dangers to which we have been exposed, and how miraculously our wants in many instances have been supplied and our deliverances wrought, when even hope and human fortitude have become unequal to the conflict, we are unavoidably led to a serious and grateful sense of the manifold blessings which we have undeservedly received from the hand of that Being from whom every good and perfect gift cometh. Impressed with these ideas, we conceive that it is our duty, and we rejoice that it is in our power, to extend a portion of that freedom to others which hath been extended to us, and release from that state of thraldom, to which we ourselves were tyrannically doomed, and from which we have now every prospect of being delivered. It is not for us to inquire why, in the creation of mankind, the inhabitants of the several parts of the earth were distinguished by a difference in feature or complexion. It is sufficient to know that all are the work of an Almighty hand. We find, in the distribution of the human species, that the most fertile as well as the most barren parts of the earth are inhabited by men of complexion different from ours and from each other; from whence we may reasonably as well as religiously infer, that He who placed them in their various situations, hath extended equally his care and protection to all, and that it becometh not us to counteract his mercies. We esteem it a peculiar blessing granted to us that we are enabled this day to add one more step to universal civilization, by removing, as much as possible, the sorrows of those who have lived on under cruel bondage, and upon which, by the assumed authority of the Kings of Great Britain, no effectual legal relief could be obtained. Weaned by a long course of experience from those narrow prejudices and partialities we had imbibed, we find our hearts enlarged with kindness and benevolence towards men of all conditions and nations; and we conceive ourselves at this par- ticular period extraordinarily called upon, by the blessings which we have received, to manifest the sincerity of our profession, and to give a substantial proof of our gratitude.
"And whereas the condition of those persons who have heretofore been denominated Xegro and Mulatto Slaves, has been attended with circumstances which not only deprived them of the common blessings that they were by nature entited to, but has cast them into the deepest afflictions by an unnatural separation and sale of husband and wife from each other and from their children, an injury the greatness of which can only be conceived by supposing that we were in the same unhappy case. In justice, therefore, to persons so unhappily circumstances, and who, having no prospect before them whereon they may rest their sorrows and their hopes, have no reasonable inducement to render their services to society, which they otherwise might; and also in grateful commemoration of our own happy deliverance from that state of unconditional submission to which we were doomed by the tyranny of Britain.
"Be it enacted, &c."[6]—Editor.
In 1844 Mr. Nathan Kite accidentally discovered, among some of the papers belonging to the Society of Friends in Philadelphia, this valuable and long sought document. He immediately caused it to be printed in xvii. vol. of the "Friend," p. 125, and remarks:
"The testimony of the Friends at Germantown against slavery,[7] sent up to the Yearly Meeting of 1688, has, within the last few days, been discovered. These Friends were Germans, and mostly from Creshcim, a town not far from Worms in the Palatinate. They had suffered persecution in their own country, and seem to have had a very correct appreciation of the rights of others. * * * Coming from a country where oppression on account of color was unknown, and where buying, selling, and holding in bondage human beings, who had been legally convicted of no crime, was regarded as an act of cruelty and injustice, to be looked for from the hands of none but a Turk or barbarian, the members of this little community were shocked to see that negro slavery had taken root, and was increasing around them. * * * It is certainly a strong document, and whilst it bears evidence that the writers had an incompetent knowledge of the English language, it plainly demonstrates that they were well acquainted with the inalienable rights of man and with the spirit of the gospel. We publish it as it is in the original, and doubt not that our readers will find sufficient clearness in the argument, notwithstanding some confusion in the use of prepositions."
"this is to the monhthly meeting held at richard worrell's:
"These are the reasons why we are against the traffic of menbody, as followeth. Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner? viz., to be sold or made a slave for all the time of his life? How fearful and faint-hearted are many on sea, when they see a strange vessel,—being afraid it should be a Turk, and they should be taken, and sold for slaves into Turkey. Xow what is this better done than Turks do? Tea, rather is it worse for them, which say they are Christians; for we hear that the most part of such negers are brought hither against their will and consent, and that many of them are stolen. Now, though they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as [than] it is to have other white ones. There is a saying, that we shall do to all men like as we will be done ourselves; making no difference of what generation, descent or color they are. And those who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike? Here is liberty of conscience, which is right and reasonable; here ought to be likewise liberty of the body, except of evil-doers, which is another case. But to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against. In Europe there are many oppressed for conscience sake; and here there are those oppressed which are of a black colour. And we who know that men must not commit adultery,—some do commit adultery in others, separating wives from their husbands and giving them to others; and some sell the children of these poor creatures to other men. Ah! do consider well this thing, you who do it, if you would be done at this manner? and if it is done according to Christianity? You surpass Holland and Germany in this thing. This makes an ill report in all those countries of Europe, where they hear of [it], that the Quakers do here handel men as they handel there the cattle. And for that reason some have no mind or inclination to come hither. And who shall maintain this your cause, or plead for it? Truly we cannot do so, except you shall inform us better hereof, viz., that Christians have liberty to practise these things. Pray, what thing in the world can be done worse towards us, than if men should rob or steal us away, and sell us for slaves to strange countries; separating husbands from their wives and children. Being now this is not done in the manner we would be done at [by], therefore we contradict, and are against this traffic of men-body. And we who profess that it is not lawful to steal, must, likewise, avoid to purchase such things as are stolen, but rather help to stop this robbing and stealing if possible. And such men ought to be delivered out of the hands of the robbers, and set free as in Europe.[8]Then is Pennsylvania to have a good report, instead it hath now a bad one for this sake in other countries. Especially whereas the Europeans are desirous to know in what manner the Quakers do rule in their province:—and most of them do look upon us with an envious eye. But if this is done well, what shall we say is done evil?
"If once these slaves (which they say are so wicked and stubborn men) should join themselves,—fight for their freedom,—and handel their masters and mistresses as they did handel them before; will these masters and mistresses take the sword at hand and war against these poor slaves, like, we are able to believe, some will not refuse to do? or have these negers not as much right to fight for their freedom, as vou have to keep them slaves?
"Now consider well this thing, if it is good or bad? And in case you find it to be good to handel these blacks at that manner, we desire and require you hereby lovingly, that you may inform us herein, which at this time never was done, viz., that Christians have such a liberty to do so. To the end we shall [may] be satisfied in this point, and satisfy likewise our good friends and acquaintances in our native country, to whom it is a terror or fearful thing, that men should be handelled so in Pennsylvania.
"This is from our meeting at Germantown, held ye 18 of the 2 month, 1688, to be delivered to the Monthly Meeting at Richard Worrell's.
"At our Monthly Meeting at Dublin, ye 30—2 mo., 1688, we having inspected y e matter above mentioned, and considered of it, we find it so weighty that we think it not expedient for us to meddle with it here, but do rather commit it to ye consideration of ye Quarterly Meeting; ye tenor of it being nearly related to ye Truth.
"On behalf of ye Monthly Meeting, "Signed,
"This, above mentioned, was read in our Quarterly Meeting, at Philadelphia, the 4 of ye 4th mo., '88, and was from thence recommended to the Yearly Meeting, and the above said Derick, and the other two mentioned therein, to present the same to ye above said meeting, it being a thing of too great a weight for this meeting to determine. "Signed by order of ye meeting,
The Act of 1705 was entitled, "An Act to prevent the importation of Indian slaves."
"If, after the 25 March, 1706, any person shall import or cause to be imported any Indian slaves or servants whatsoever, from any province or colony in America into this province, by land or water," * * * they "shall be forfeited to the governor, and shall be either set at liberty, or otherwise disposed of as the governor and council shall see cause." The Act made an exception in favor of "menial servants in the family of the importer," &c, &c.—Bradford Laws, Philadelphia, 1714.
"An Impost Act, laying a duty on negroes, wine, rum, and other spirits, cider, and vessels," passed 28th, 12th month, 1710. Imposed for the space of three years, from and after the 10th day of March, 1710, a duty of forty shillings per head on every negro imported, excepting such as belonged to persons residing in the province and importing for their own service, and in case of failure to pay such duties under certain limitations, such negroes so landed, if taken, " shall be forfeited and seized, and after due proof," sold "for the utmost the same will fetch."
"An Act to prevent the importation of negroes and Indians into the province," passed in 1712.
The first section imposed a payment of twenty pounds per head upon every negro or Indian brought into the province.
Section 2. Masters of vessels, &c., bringing them were required to make a return of their number and to whom they belonged; "all such negroes and Indians" (in whose case any of the provisions were violated) "shall be seized and sold by the said officer for the time being (hereinafter named), and the monies arising thereby shall be paid to the provincial treasurer for the uses hereinafter directed." Duties paid upon any negro or Indian imported, but to be exported within twenty days, were to be returned; all such were to be "actually and bona fide forthwith shipt off or sent out of the province, so as never to return again, without complying anew with the direction of this Act, otherwise all such negroes and Indians shall be liable to the same penalties and seizures as tho' the same had never before been entered."
3. Samuel Holt appointed "to put Act in execution, and shall by virtue hereof have full power to make strict enquiry into the premises, and upon information or other probable cause of suspicion, without any further or other warrant, may [upon the parties' refusal], with the assistance of the sheriff or constable [who are thereby required to be acting therein], break open any house or place suspected, and seize or cause to be seized all such negroes or Indians as shall be found concealed or otherwise, whose owners or possessors have not complied with the Act according to the true intent and meaning thereof; and thereupon to dispose of such as shall be so seized, by a public vendue, for the most they will yield, and when reasonable charges are deducted shall pay the produce or price thereof, and all other sums arising by this Act (retaining one shilling for every pound for his trouble therein), into the provincial treasurer's hands," &c.
4. Said Holt to keep a distinct and fair book of account, &c. This section further provides that any person prosecuted for anything done in pursuance of Act may plead the general issue, and give the Act and special matter in evidence. The duty of twenty pounds was not to be exacted in the case of those Indians or negroes belonging to persons in the province, and sent out of it "on their masters' business with intent to return again." "Runaway negroes or Indians" were subject to reclamation within twenty days after the arrival of their owners in the province, but were to be sold after the expiration of twelve months in case no owner appeared." "Gentlemen and strangers travelling in the province" were allowed to retain their negro or Indian slaves for a time not exceeding six months.—Bradford Laws.
These Acts seemed to have had their origin in policy rather than in justice. If the importation could be prevented, it was well; if not, the punishment fell upon the slave, but indirectly upon those who attempted to violate the law. Had all who were brought in been declared free, and those who brought them punished, a course would have been pursued more in accordance with humanity and right. Such, however, was the harsh treatment of the mother country that even these Acts were repealed, and the subsequent modifications of her views upon slavery and the amelioration of her very cruel criminal code were due to the humane example of some of those States which as colonies or provinces she had governed.—Editor.
- ↑ Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, by his grandson, William B. Reed, vol. ii., p. 173.
- ↑ Idem, 173; Penna. Archives, vii. 79; Journal of House of Rep., 307, 364.
- ↑ Hazard's Register, vol. xvi. 120.
- ↑ Hazard's Register, vol. xi. 158.
- ↑ The Pennsylvania Gazette of February 2, 1791, contains a copy of the same notice.
- ↑ I. Dallas' Laws, 838.
- ↑ The poet Whittier celebrates the praises of these lovers of liberty for all in the following lines:
"Lay's modest soul, and Benezet the mild,
Steadfast in faith, yet gentle as a child;
Meek-hearted Woolman and that brother band,
The sorrowing exiles from their 'Father Land.'
Leaving their homes in Kricshiem's bowers of vine,
And the blue beauty of their glorious Rhine,
To seek, amidst our solemn depths of wood,
Freedom for man and holy peace with God;
Who first of all their testimonial gave
Against the oppressor for the outcast slave."
Whittier's Poems, 168, Edition of Mussey & Co., Boston, 1845. - ↑ "Alluding probably to the abolition of the old feudal system."