THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
1634-1860
3
STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW
EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Volume XC VII] [Number 3
Whole Number 222
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
1634-1860
BY
JAMES M. WRIGHT, PH.D.
Profetsor of Economics, Georgetown College
.
Dork
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
SELLING AGENTS
NEW YORK; LONGMANS, GREEN & Co.
LONDON : P. S. KING & SON, LTD.
IQ2I
COPYRIGHT, 1921
BY
JAMES M. WRIGHT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction n
CHAPTER I
The Colonial Period 19
CHAPTER II
The Growth of the Free Negro Population . . . . 36
CHAPTER III
Legal Status of the Free Negroes 94
CHAPTER IV
The Apprenticeship of Negro Children 130
CHAPTER V
Occupations and Wages of Free Negroes , 149
CHAPTER VI
Property Acquisitions and Holdings 174
CHAPTER VII
Education Among the Negroes 198
CHAPTER VIII
The Church and the Negroes 209
CHAPTER IX
Social Conditions 239
CHAPTER X
Attempts to Check the Growth of Free Negro Population .... 261
Conclusion 318
395] S
7
PREFACE
THE free negro class in Maryland sprang up in connec-
tion with the institution of slavery. Of slavery in the pro-
vincial era the following were the outstanding character-
istics: the social status was substantially fixed; the formal
legal status was also well-defined, although in practice
liberties of varying extent were enjoyed by many slaves;
and the economic welfare ranged from the meanest to one
as good as that of the average white person. In some re-
spects, therefore, the slave negro's position approximated
that of the white citizen, and it was probably improved, at
least on the economic side, after the provincial era had
passed. The problem here, however, is the rise and con-
dition of the free negro. Formally the first important step
was the acquisition by the negro of the property right in
his own person and services. In early practice the act of
manumission had been designed to effectuate this so com-
pletely that no legal obstacle should remain to hinder the
progress of self -improvement. If it failed to attain that
object, the default was probably due to the peculiarities of
the negro himself, i. e. that his racial distinctness from the
whites continued to be as marked as that of the slave and
that his impotency for organizing to protect and promote
his own interests left him both subordinate and very de-
pendent. Thus although manumission did mark him off
from the slave, since in the process it created in the popula-
tion a formally separate class, it seemed thereby to build
up a separate and unwelcome institution. This institutional
phase was called by some " free-negroism." Another
397] 7
g PREFACE [39$
aspect of the situation lay in that, while negro slavery had
been a disappointment, " f ree-negroism " as supplanting it
was also not deemed a success. Something, it was thought,
had to be done about that. The thing attempted was to
create and execute a legal status to correspond to the condi-
tion of the class itself. The matter was thrown into state
politics, and the status became as ill-defined as was the free
negro's position hybrid and anomalous. The problem has
received less exposition than the numbers of the free negroes
seem to merit. The pages that follow endeavor to help
fill the void.
The subject of the free negro has not been left untouched.
Sidelights on the earlier period are to be found in Mac-
Cormac's White Servitude in Maryland, and some in-
formation occurs in certain of the general and special his-
tories, but in Brackett's The Negro in Maryland is found
a predecessor in which the space devoted to manumission
and the free negroes nearly equals that given to the slaves.
Dr. Brackett's faithful chronicle of the formal history has
made his work an inevitable help in its field. Although the
present study is narrower in scope, and although in its
chapters II, III and X, especially, it retraces many of the steps!
taken in the preceding work, in chapters II and X, at least,
it draws upon lucrative materials from which the earlier
work derived nothing mentionable. It has seemed meet
to interweave what these sources yielded with the formal
history, and thus to give further account of the following
matters : the reasons for the manumission of some negroes
and the failure to manumit others, how manumission
was understood and executed by the owners of negroes,
the territorial distribution of the free negroes and slaves,
the genesis, development, retardation and fiasco of the
colonization movement and the clash of economic interests
over the negro question in state politics. Furthermore,
399] PREFACE 9
although Brackett has given the law and some of the
other facts about apprenticeship and vagrancy, and al-
though the materials contained in Bishop Payne's History
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church were indispen-
sable to the chapter on the church, chapters IV-IX (inclu-
sive) attempt to cover ground that had not been previously
cultivated intensively.
The work whose results are presented was first under-
taken at the instance of the Carnegie Institution of Wash-
ington, D. C. A subvention from that source made possible
the assembling oi most of the materials used. The writer
wishes further to make acknowledgments to Mr. Alfred
H. Stone, Professor J. C. Ballagh and Dr. B. C. Steiner
for assistance and counsel; to the library staffs of the
Peabody Institute and the Maryland and New York His-
torial Societies and to the custodians of state and county
archives and of certain church records and business account
books for permission to use materials and for assistance dur-
ing the researches; and finally to his wife who aided for
months in exploring many volumes of newspapers and
public records.
JAMES M. WRIGHT.
GEORGETOWN COLLEGE.
INTRODUCTION
IN the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries several of the
European nations founded colonies on the coasts and islands
of the Americas. Their establishment was due to mingled
political, commercial, religious and personal causes. The
colonizing powers sought to achieve European ends through
American agency, often utterly neglecting or deliberately
injuring the interests of their own settlements. The pop-
ulation of the new lands was to come from the two old con-
tinents across the sea, Europe and Africa. As to the
character of the settlers that were to come, each community
had its own demands and wishes, which were more or less
like those of its neighbors. Had there been a freedom of
choice, no doubt each colony would have preferred to receive
its population from the best classes of its own mother-land.
As it was, each one received such laborers, and other
persons, as the statesmen " at home " who regulated its
affairs chose to let it have or to impose upon it.
The English province of Maryland, established in 1634,
was one of these settlements. Its people were bent on per-
sonal enrichment. 1 They found that an ample supply of
land was to be had at small cost, but that labor was scarce.
Before long too, it was found that men of small means could
use the land to raise themselves to a position of comfort, or
even of affluence. As a consequence energetic laborers
were not content to be other than proprietors, working the
land for themselves. Their constant conversion into land-
holders depleted the ranks of the manual laborers and kept
1 Cf. Gambrall, History of Early Maryland, pp. 65-67.
401] ii
12 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [402
the wages of voluntary laborers high. 1 The demands for
labor were importunate. The factors determining both the
manner of supplying the demand and the character of the
supply were external and complex. The turn taken by
events was destined to establish in Maryland population
elements similar, as it were, to those of Virginia, on the one
hand, and of Pennsylvania on the other. The outward re-
sults of it will be noted in a brief survey of the evolution
of the labor system of the colony and commonwealth.
Three different systems of labor bond servitude, negro
slavery and free wage labor have successively held fore-
most rank in Maryland industry. All were found in the
early province, and although each one subsequently devel-
oped in its own way, it was influenced in its course by the
other two : the employers, whenever they were able, choos-
ing that one which seemed to offer the greatest advantages
to themselves. Each new ship-load of laborers that arrived
was generally at once absorbed into the working class with-
out satisfying the demand. But the poverty that impelled
many persons in England to seek to come to the province
was a bar to their taking passage, until the redemption prin-
ciple came into vogue. In the system based upon it, the
provisions for simultaneously compensating ship-owners for
the costs of affording passage to America, for securing the
labor of passengers to provincial landholders for long terms
after arrival, and for freeing the laborers after the fulfil-
ment of their contracts opened the door through which em-
ployers and workers were brought together. The indenture
contracts binding the parties concerned and fixing the dura-
tion and the other terms of service gave to the system the
names of " indented servitude " and " bond servitude."
The advantages it offered on both sides made it the preferred
method of employing labor, until in the last half of the
1 MacCormac, White Servitude in Maryland, pp. 33-34.
403] INTRODUCTION 13
eighteenth century the more desirable portion of the supply
from the mother country was curtailed. 1 Thereafter, al-
though new recruits long continued to come from the con-
tinent of Europe, 2 white servitude yielded to negro slavery
the predominance in the field of agricultural labor.
The beginnings of slavery in Maryland were made in the
first decade of its history. Just when the first negroes were
brought in 3 is uncertain, but slaves who were probably
negroes were mentioned in two acts of the provincial as-
sembly in 1638-39; and three years later the governor be-
came owner of a gang of slaves. 4 The increase in numbers!
was slow and the labor demand so great that for a time the
importation of negroes was invited by statute. 5 Forty years
afterwards there were in the province according to the best
information now available only about 8000 negroes, about
17 per cent of the whole population. 6 A change had set in
1 MacMormac, op. cit., pp. 107-09. " Spirited " persons and transported
convicts were often merged among the redemptioners. According to
MacCormac the presence of convicts greatly injured the system. Cf.
also Boucher, A View of the Causes and Consequences of the American
Revolution, pp. 183-184, 189.
* Hennighausen, The Redemptioners, Second Annual Report of the
Society for the Study of the History of the Germans of Maryland.
* Dr. Brackett, The Negro in Maryland, p. 26, writes : " When, and by
whom the first negroes were brought to Maryland, we do not know ; but
it was soon after the settlement." Inasmuch as it is known that the
negroes were there early, the question is of only curious interest.
Cf. Kennedy, History and Statistics of Maryland, p. 9.
4 Archives of Maryland, vol. i, pp. 41, 80; vol. iv, p. 189.
6 Laws, 1671, ch. ii.
C/. Browne, Maryland: the History of a Palatinate, pp. 199-200;
Brackett, The Negro in Maryland, pp. 38-39; Mereness, Maryland as a
Proprietary Province, pp. 130-32. These estimates are probably based
upon the list of the population in the Public Record Office in London,
mentioned in Stevens, Historical Index, vol. viii. Kennedy, op. cit.,
ascribes to Maryland only 30,000 people as late as 1715. Cf. also
DuBois, Suppression of the Slave Trade, p. 15.
1 4 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [404
already, however, and the great activity of the British
merchants in furnishing negroes to the planters resulted in
making the negro population in 1755 about 30 per cent of the
total population, notwithstanding that the latter had more
than trebled in the interval. 1 In 1755 the slaves were 24.3
per cent of the whole population, the negroes, free and slave,
29.5 per cent and the whites 70.5 per cent. The next gen-
eration, closing with the first federal census, witnessed a
crucial contest between slave and free labor perhaps also
between negro and white labor. In its course the slaves in-
creased 136.8 per cent, the total of the negroes 145 per cent,
and the whites 92.8 per cent, so that in 1790 the three classes
respectively were 32.2 per cent, 34.7 per cent, and 65.3 per
cent of the whole population. But numerically the increase of
the freemen, 106 692, was 79.3 per cent greater than that of
the slaves, that of the whites alone 68.7 per cent greater than
that of the slaves and 62.2 per cent greater than that of
all the negroes, even though in the years 1775-82 the
negro increase had exceeded that of the whites by more than
6000. 2 The distribution of these increments was significant.
The negroes were settled in all parts of the state, but with
considerable advantage to Southern Maryland and the
Eastern Shore. The whites, however, were settled chiefly
in the northern counties and in Baltimore City, hence the
establishment on the respective spheres of predominance of
slave and free labor in the state in the nineteenth century.
1 Calculating on the basis of the United States Census estimates,
Kennedy, op. cit., the percentage of negroes in the population in 1756
was 29.9 per cent, and on the figures of the Gentlemen's Magazine, 1764,
p. 261, it was 29.5 per cent in 1755. The one may have been based
upon the same enumeration as the other.
The increase of the negroes after 1790 was confined mainly to that of
the freemen, as will be shown below. The maximum ratio of negroes to
total population was reached at 38 per cent in 1810. By 1860 it had
declined to 24.9 per cent.
405] INTRODUCTION 15
Thus it was that negro slavery and white servitude sprang
up about the same time; that neither one at any time em-
braced the whole laboring population; that the former fell
into an inferior position, until the avidity of English slave
traders brought on its progressive development in the
eighteenth century; that it continued to grow rapidly after
its rival had begun to decline; that it reached its height at
the end of the eighteenth century ; and that soon thereafter
disintegrating forces, which had already impaired its posi-
tion, reversed its process of growth and prepared the way
for its extinction during the great war between the states.
Some voluntary laborers, it appears, were employed for
wages in the early province. " Hired servants " are men-
tioned in some of the statutes, 1 and in the census of Mary-
land of 1755, as published in the Gentleman's Magazine,
hired servants are mentioned, but are merged into the same
column with indented servants. 2 The conditions under
which their services were to be procured and remunerated,
however, 3 linked with that of the profitableness of using
involuntary laborers, forbade any great dependence upon
them. Their number was obviously small. But in the
last half of the eighteenth century the causes that checked
the growth of white servitude * without correspondingly
checking the growth of the white population increased the
relative importance of free labor. And, although the manu-
mission of a slave did not in every point of view mean the
the addition of a free laborer, the decay of slavery contri-
buted to the same end. These two changes the decline of
slavery and the advance of free labor left no part of the
l Laws, 1715, ch. xix and ch. xliv, Archives of Maryland, vol. xiii,
p. 452, vol. xxii, p. 546. Cf. Mereness, op. cit., pp. 133-34.
1 Gentleman's Magazine, 1764, p. 261.
1 MacCormac, op. cit., pp. 33-34-
4 Op. cit. t pp. 107-09.
!6 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [406
state unaffected. 1 To carry further the statement of the
last paragraph above: the two generations after the first
federal census witnessed a loss of 15.38 per cent on the part
of the slaves, but gains of 54.06 per cent, 943.6 per cent and
147.2 per cent on the part of all negroes, of free negroes and
of the whites respectively. The total free population gained
176.8 per cent of which the free negroes comprised 19.8 per
cent. As a consequence the eighth federal census showed
in the several classes the following percentages of the total
population : slaves 12.7 per cent, free negroes 12.2 per cent,
whites 75.1 per cent and total freemen 87.3 per cent. The
territorial distribution of the increments of this period, ex-
cepting that of the free negroes, was substantially like that
of the preceding period.
The import of the above survey at this stage is that in the
period of chief interest for this study, that expiring between
the close of the revolution and the war of secession, the
free negroes constantly increased at the expense of slavery ;
that owing to manumissions of slaves and the interstate
slave trade slavery declined after 1810, until in 1860 slaves
and free negroes stood with respect to each other as 50.95
and 49.05 ; that there was but one section of the state in
which slavery was not being rapidly depleted ; and that the
percentage of excess of the whites over all the negroes
which had been 41 per cent in 1755 and 30.6 per cent in
1790 had risen to 50.2 per cent by 1860.
The early free negroes are not to be thought of apart
from slave negroes and slave masters. In a formal sense,
as possessed of the formal status of freedom, they had been
raised above the slaves and had 'become entitled to the legal
1 It should) be noted that Southern Maryland, however, including six
counties in 1790, and ,seven counties in the same bounds in 1860, gained
only 194, or 0.39 of one per cent, in its number of slaves between 1790
and 1860, while its number of freemen increased 24.3 per cent.
407] INTRODUCTION ! 7
privileges and immunities of freemen under the common
law. Had other things been equal, and had there been no
specific provisions of law applying to their case, freed
negroes and their descendants would have been placed upon
a par with white freemen. But the shifting from one
legal category to another left negro persons unaltered with
respect to fitness for the station they had thereby attained.
It did not make them independent of doles from the larders
and ward-robes of the whites; it did not essentially change
their occupations, their abodes, or their diversions ; it failed
to raise their intellects above those of the slaves, with
whom they continued to associate and consort. Hence in
the economic point of view they were not sharply disting-
uished, and on the social side still less so, from those whose
status, as the law would have had it, was lower than their
own. Their position was anomalous. They were played
upon by a complex of forces, some of which arising outside
the state, were met and crossed by internal, counter forces.
They themselves were impotent. They went hither and
thither as they were impelled.
The history of the free negroes in Maryland may be
divided into two periods, one before, the other after the
general emancipation of the civil war period.
The formal act of emancipation occurred in Maryland in
1864. The first period was marked by the obscure rise of
free negroes among the slaves of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries and by their development in the manner
noted in the above paragraphs. The later period opened
with the merging of all negroes into a common class by the
extinction of slavery, and has witnessed a continued in-
crease in the negro population. It is with the first of these
periods that concern is had here, and unless otherwise in-
dicated, the things said below will be meant to apply to the
Maryland free negroes in that period. This interval may
iS THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [408
itself 'be divided into two periods, the dividing point being
the American Revolution. Before that time the forces that
had produced slavery held sway, and such free negroes as
appeared were only an unmarked incident in the mass of
men of their color. After that time slavery was disinte-
grating, even though until 1810 the number of slaves was
growing, and as it declined, the free negroes advanced. The
more significant part of this study bears upon things that
transpired between the revolution and the great war be-
tween the states.
CHAPTER I
THE COLONIAL PERIOD
BEFORE the year 1634 the territory that is now Maryland
was a part of the North American wilderness. Its human
occupants were a few hundred Indians. The Maryland of
the nineteenth century became such as it was through the
combined efforts of men of the European and African
stocks, the former as active, the latter mainly as passive
factors in state building. The Englishmen who founded
the province came of their own accord to build their personal
fortunes. They found abundant natural resources suited
to their purpose, but a dearth of men to utilize them. They
induced some others of their own nation and of kindred
nations to follow them. But the need of men was urgent
a condition that in course of time developed rapidly. The
best hands to work were most wanted, but in their absence
others were usable. To meet the demand there sprang up
a traffic in laborers, in which fair methods and foul, per-
suasion and force, were used to secure recruits for the
colony. Abundance of labor was desired. And since for
a given number of laborers the abundance of the supply was
in direct ratio to the length of the service of each subject,
it was desirable to avail fully of the services of each worker.
For this purpose they adopted for Europeans a system of
servitude, 1 the duration of which for each of its subjects
1 A Relation of Maryland, 1635, in Hall, Narratives of Early Maryland,
pp. 98-100.
409] 19
20 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [410
was as long as conditions would permit. And yet in the
face of growing demands the number was insufficient.
Some adventurous traders took advantage of the situation
to foist an unrelated race and a second system of servitude
upon the provincial people. 1 They knew that Europeans
were preferred by the colonists; but they also knew that
adventure would make Africans as easily available for the
trade as Europeans, and that furnishing the former, who
could be sold for life, was more lucrative than carrying
Europeans, whose services could be sold only for limited
terms. Through their agency Africa also contributed to
the peopling of Maryland. Its contribution consisted of
an unwilling body of pioneers, dragged out of a primitive
society and rushed without other preparation than the ex-
periences of voyages on slave vessels into the midst of
an advanced race, whose physical, mental and moral char-
acteristics differed strikingly from their own. Neither in
deciding to leave their old homes nor in choosing their lot
in the new one did they have a voice. And in contrast
to their European fellow-men they were placed in a posi-
tion from which no might of their own could extricate
them. Such in brief was the manner of supplying the
labor for the fields and households of the colonial agricul-
turists of Maryland. Its results were to fix upon local
society the institution of negro slavery and in due course
to entail the economic, social and political developments
that followed in its train.
The growth of slavery in Maryland has been described by
Dr. Brackett 2 in such wise that it need not be repeated in
Suppression of the Slave Trade, pp. 1-5.
* The Negro in Maryland, pp. 26-46. Dr. Brackett holds that as the
provincials had no English precedent for "granting any especial rights
and privileges " to negroes, slavery became an incident in the condition
of the colonies, and slave codes grew up as a " matter of local law,"
pp. 26-27. Browne, Maryland: the History of a Palatinate, p. 180,
4 i i ] THE COLONIAL PERIOD 2 1
full here. Throughout the history of the province the
need of more labor was urgent, and the futility of depending
on free laborers, or even on bond servants, to do the work
seemed clear. Therefore negroes who were brought in
almost exclusively as slave laborers, were distributed into
every part of the commonwealth. These laborers became
a subject for special treatment. The same economic in-
terest that had led to their importation, dictated that the
titles to property in their services should be guaranteed by
law. And for negative reasons social interest, based upon
matters of race, soon added force to the same demand. 1
The two combined to strengthen the legal foundations of
slavery. It appears that most of the rules employed for
their regulation were based on custom, but in course of
time statutes were also added. One such measure, enacted
by the provincial legislature in 1664, declared that "all
Negroes and other slaves already within the Province and
all Negroes and other slaves to be hereafter imported into
the Province shall serve Durante Vita. And all Children
born of any Negro or other slave shall be Slaves as their
ffathers were for the terme of their lives." 2 The same
states that slavery existed in the province from its foundations. Time
was required, however, for the more complete definition of the condi-
tions and incidents of the different classes of persons who shared
African blood. (Regarding developments in Virginia, cf. Ballagh,
History of Slavery in Virginia, pp. 27-32, and Russell, The Free Negro
in Virginia, 1610^-1865, pp. 16-21.
1 These reasons were those tangible and intangible grounds of opposi-
tion to the freedom of negroes, who might, as a consequence of becom-
ing free, live among the free whites as citizens.
8 Archives of Maryland, vol. i, pp. 533-34. This act, if literally ap-
plied, would have prohibited free negroes x as such from remaining
under Maryland jurisdiction. Cf. Brackett, op. cit., p. 33, note I. It
would likewise have made slaves of the issue of white women by negro
men. In view of the later condition of the law touching such issue,
cf. infra, p. 13, it is doubtful whether this act was conclusive as to the
condition of the two classes named.
22 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [ 4I2
object was promoted further by an act of 1671 which de-
cided that baptism according to the rites of the Christian
church did not entitle a slave negro to release from slavery, 1
by other acts of the assembly, 2 and by the rules of the courts
which presumed that persons of African blood were slaves,
and which in freedom suits placed the burden of proof as
to status upon the plaintiffs, not Upon their detainers. 3
There was thus a tendency to cement more firmly the ties
binding slave property to its owners, a tendency that was
distinctly adverse to the emergence of free negroes.
But a contrary movement also began in the seventeenth
century. One part of the act of 1664, mentioned in the
preceding paragraph, would have made slaves for life of all
negroes in the province ; another part of it seemed to imply
that at thirty years of age the children of white women by
negro slaves were to be free. 4 According to its amendment
of 1681, the issue from similar unions contracted at the in-
stigation of "masters or dames" were to be "free and
1 Archives of Maryland, vol. ii, p. 272. The motives for this measure
were twofold: To encourage religious instruction of negroes, and to
prevent depletion of the labor force. Cf. Act of 1715, ch. xliv, which
embraced this provision. Also Browne, op. cit., p. 179.
1 Laws, 1681, ch. iv; 1602, ch. xv; 1715, ch. xliv; 1717, ch. xiii; 1728,
ch. iv.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 4 H. & McH., p. 305; 6 G. & J,, pp. 141-44,
388-91 ; 9 G. & J., pp. 174, 179-80; 5 H. & J., p. 190. Certain documents
in the Archives of Maryland, vol. ii, p. 272, and vol. vii, pp. 203-04,
seemed to regard all negroes as slaves.
4 Its actual provision was that such children should serve their parent's
masters until the age of thirty years. Archives of Maryland, vol. i,
p. 534. In that there is a presumption of the slavery of all negroes.
The legislators may have intended here to discriminate and to call the
issue in question " mulattoes " rather than negroes. But whether this
intention prevailed does not matter, because later on both classes of
persons of African blood were deemed " free negroes," or " free per-
sons of color." For the purposes of this study this usage will be fol-
lowed, and either a free negro or a free mulatto will be considered
as the same 'before the law.
4I3 ] THE COLONIAL PERIOD 23
manymitted." * And the same code of laws that pro-
tected the title to property in a negro also recognized the
owner's power to vest that title in the negro, its object. 2 In
spite of certain contrary evidences it is doubtful that that
potential right was ever in abeyance, whatever may have
been true as to its actual use. There is some doubt as to the
administrative policy in the matter before 1690, although
in Somerset County the court dealt with one negro as with
a freeman in the year i667. 3 But that doubt is cleared
away by the fact that freedom suits were entertained in the
courts, by the fulfillment of two promises of manumission,
and by an administration account for a negro's estate, all
of which fell before the end of the seventeenth century. 4
It appears that thereafter slave-owners were allowed to use
at discretion any approved forms of manumitting negroes,
and that fraudulent detention of negroes in slavery, when
brought into the courts, was declared void. Hence in-
dividual negroes could become free, and it was by indivi-
dual accretions that the free negro class came into being.
Its numbers increased much less rapidly, however, than
those of the slaves.
The possible ways of adding free negroes to the population
were voluntary immigration and coerced importation from
1 Op. cit., vol. vii, p. 204 ; infra, p. 13.
1 Cf. Kurd, Law of Freedom and Bondage, pp. 213-16.
3 Somerset Deeds and Judicial Record, Lib. B, pp. 111-16; vide infra,
p. 1 6.
4 Provincial Court Judgments, Lib. 5, p. 579; Charles Co. Recs., Lib.
X, p. 51. Also Provincial Court Recs., Lib. C, pp. 162, 361, referred to
by Brackett, op. cit., pp. 30, 148. For the administration account, vide
Md. Testamentary Proceedings, Lib. 17, p. 210. Cf. also Md\ Wills,
Lib. TB, p. 12 (1700). What appears to have been a move favoring the
prohibition of free negroes in Maryland occurred' in 1715, when a mem-
ber of the legislature reported that no free negro was permitted to
remain longer than a specified term in the province of Virginia.
Archives of Maryland, vol. xxx, p. 16.
24
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
without, general emancipation, individual manumission, and
natural increase of free negroes. In view of certain well-
known conditions the first factor was undoubtedly unim-
portant, although a few free negroes may have come in
from neighboring provinces. Those who were fraudulently
imported and enslaved, but subsequently declared free by
judicial decree, 1 or otherwise, were likewise not numerous.
And no general emancipation occurred until 1864. These
things granted, the last two factors remain. In so far as
free negroes sprang from the slave class, natural increase
was dependent for the most part upon pre-existing free
negroes. Within those limits manumissions originated their
class and thereafter joined forces with natural increase to
swell their numbers. These two factors will now be dealt
with in 'the order mentioned.
The subject of manumissions will be dealt with more at
{ length in the following chapter. The methods employed
,in manumitting were by word of mouth, by last will and
[testament and by deed. The first two were formally abol-
ished by statute in 1752. 2 The third, although not much
employed up to that time, came into general use at the
time of the revolution. In the following paragraphs atten-
tion will be devoted mainly to the causes of manumissions,
since the causes operating in the province were not quite the
same as the more effective causes operating thereafter.
Manumissions in the province were never numerous.
For this fact two reasons may be assigned, first, the labor
situation had not then reached a fitting stage of develop-
ment, and second, the other later powerful causes had not
yet begun to act. As the motives actuating manumitting
1 Provincial Court Judgments, Lib. 13, pp. 108, 193, 615, 618; Lib. 19,
p. 118; Lib. 41, pp. 43-44 46, 49; Charles Co. Recs., Lib. A, no. 2, p. 182;
Lib. B, no. 2, p. 667; Archives of Maryland, vol. xxxi, pp. 409-10; Md.
Appeal Reports, 3 H. & McH., pp. 139, 501-02.
* Laws, 1752, ch. i.
415] THE COLONIAL PERIOD 25
slave-owners were often not stated in their writings we are
left in part to inference to determine what they were.
However, from assigned reasons in some of the cases direct
information may be gleaned. The following chief causes
seem to merit discussion : ( i ) blood relationship to manu-
mittors, or to other white men, (2) good will of masters
earned by faithful service, or otherwise.
The reason for regarding blood relationship as a major
cause here lies in inferences chiefly. A statute of June,
1692, recited that " forasmuch as diverse freeborn English
and white women do sometimes intermarry with and some-
times permitt themselves to be gotten with child by negroes
and other slaves " etc* Now it does not appear that the off-
spring of such unions became the objects of manumissions. 2
But the offspring of negro women by white men were often
manumitted. They were not the issue of regularly married
persons, but appeared as a consequence of the incontinency
of negro women and of their coerced deference to the de-
mands of lustful masters. 3 The conclusion stated rests
further upon population statistics. According to the census
of 1755, given in the Gentleman's Magazine* 357, or .84
1 Archives of Maryland, vol. xiii, pp. 546-47.
2 Infra, pp. 28-29.
* The mention in an act of manumission that the beneficiary was a
mulatto, although it may give rise to suspicion, creates no presumption
that the benefactor was favoring a child of his own. For it may have
been the child of his neighbor, or his father or grandfather, at any
rate the child, or grandchild of some white man. For provisions for the
manumission of mulattoes vide Md. Wills, Lib. CC, no. 3, pp. 482, 508,
831; Lib. n, p. 312; Lib. WD, no. 21, p. 36; Lib. DD, no. 7, p. 13;
Cecil Land Recs., Lib. 4, p. 507 (1749).
* 1764, p. 261. This census, although giving many details is not accepted
as satisfactory, but only as the best available. But inasmuch as its
showing for the aggregate population of all classes corresponds closely
to that used in the volume of History and Statistics of Maryland, printed
by the United States Census, it may probably be regarded as approxi-
mately correct.
26 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [ 4I 6
per cent, in a total of 41,143 negroes, and 1460, or 35.1 per
cent in a total of 4158 mulattoes in the population were
free. 80.2 per cent of the 1817 free persons of color be-
longed to the 9.1 per cent who had white blood in their
veins. Some of them no doubt were born of free negro and
mulatto mothers, some of white mothers, and some may
have come in from the outside world; the rest were ob-
viously born in slavery and manumitted. If manumittors
had been uninfluenced by ties of kinship, it is probable that,
in view of the disparity between the two complectional
classes of slaves, at least as large a number of negroes as of
mulattoes would have become free.
The other chief reason assigned was that on account of
the good will of masters, however gained, manumission was
conferred as a favor. Two early deeds, one in Talbot
County in 1703 and the other in Somerset in 1709, well
illustrate this motive. 1 In the latter the grantor wrote that
he was actuated by " divers good and lawful considerations
of the trusty and faithful services done me by my negro
Sambo and his wife Betty/' He therefore made them both
free. The larger number of such grants were made by
last will and testament. 2 Upon the whole it appears that the
rate of recorded manumissions did not exceed the rate of
increase in total population, which according to the estimates
quoted on page 14 trebled between 1712 and I755- 8
1 Talbot Deeds, Lib. RF, no. p, p. 358; Somerset Deeds, Lib. CD, no. I,
p. 416 and Lib. GH, p. 311; Lib. B, p. 85. Cf. also Baltimore Chattel
Recs., Lib. B, no. G, p. 18 (1762).
2 For examples vide Md. Wills, 'Lib. CC, no. 2, p. 18; Lib. CC, no. 3,
pp. 452, 508, 632, 831; Lib. DD, no. 7, pp. 476, 520, 522; Lib. BT, no. i,
p. 65 and Lib. WD, no. 18, pp. 14, 163, 235.
*No doubt there was an improvement in the economic welfare of the
planters which would have enabled them to incur the sacrifices of manu-
mitting negro laborers. But there were lacking those benevolent feel-
ings which were felt strongly during the contest with the mother coun-
try, and the habit of manumitting negroes did not spring up in the
province.
417] THE COLONIAL PERIOD 27
Of natural increase the normal case was that of descent
from a free colored mother. But some members of the
class were born of white mothers. They early became a
subject of concern. The statute of 1664, already cited,
tells that some freeborn English women, forgetful of
their station, had married negro slaves, and that suits touch-
ing their freedom had arisen in the courts. It enacted that
in future such offenders and their children by slaves should
become slaves of the respective masters of their husband-
fathers. 1 Its manifest design here was to prevent the mar-
riage of white women to negro slaves. But the contrary re-
sult offered an advantage to any slave master who could
bring it about. Hence the terms of servant women were
purchased, and the women themselves were married to
slaves apparently with a view to invoking upon them the
penalties just recited. The legislators returned to the sub-
ject in 1 68 1. They left the general rule as it had been be-
fore but provided an exemption from its application for
cases in which 'the forbidden marriages had been entered
into at the instigation of " masters " or " dames." 2 As
such enslavement could only occur as a result of judicial
decree, 3 opportunity was afforded to avail of the exemption.
But the modification did not do away with this kind of
offence. After some further alterations in 1692,* the
comprehensive negro act of 1715 included free mulattoes
with free white women in the inhibition against marrying
1 Archives of Maryland, vol. i, pp. 533-34; supra, p. 9; cf. also Md.
Appeal Reports, i H. & McH., pp. 372-73.
J Archives of Maryland, vol. vii, p. 204. Fines were to be imposed
upon the owners of slaves and upon the priest's who had to do with
such marriages. It seems that Lord Baltimore was himself instrumental
in securing this change in the law because of a case in which he had
personally been interested. Md. Appeal Reports, i H. & McH., p. 376.
' Md. Appeal Reports, 2 H. & McH., p. 233.
* Archives of Maryland, vol. xiii, p. 547.
28 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [418
negro slaves and fixed the terms of service at seven years
for mothers and thirty-one years for such offspring. 1
The province witnessed many instances of the enforce-
ment of these provisions. Enslavement of offending white
women and their hybrid children had occurred under the
act of i664. 2 One of these cases, that of Eleanor, called
Irish Nell, had aroused the proprietor to take steps to se-
cure the important amendment of the law in i68i, 3 but the
victim and her descendants were apparently held as slaves,
until one of the latter was adjudged free in 1787.* The
lighter penalties imposed under the act of 1715 varied con-
siderably. Leaving aside those on mothers, however, we
find by implication that after their terms of servitude their
children were to become free. In this way two infants in
Charles County, who were sold into servitude till thirty-
one years of age for 1000 and 200 pounds of tobacco re-
spectively, and three successive children of one mulatto
woman in Somerset, sold in the same manner in 1745-60,
were to become free ultimately. 5 But except for making
1 Laws, 1715, ch. xliv, sec. 25 ; cf. 1717, ch. xiii.
1 Archives of Maryland, vol. vii, p. 204; Md. Appeal Reports, 2 H.
& McH., pp. 231-33. MacCormac, op. cit^ p. 68, writes that there had
been "many" such cases.
*Md, Appeal Reports, i H. & McH., p. 376.
4 Op. cit., 2 H. & McH., pp. 232-33. This case was so decided because
there was no evidence from a court of record that Irish Nell had been
adjudged to have incurred the penalties of the act of 1664. Without
conviction in a court of record neither she nor her descendants could
have been legally enslaved. The parents of this successful suitor, both
claiming descent from Irish Nell, had been adjudged free by the Provin-
cial Court, but upon appeal the higher court in 1771 reversed the decree
on the ground that the exemptions of the act of 1681 had not been
designed to apply to offspring of unions contracted prior to its passage.
Op. tit., i H. & McH., pp. 374, 376; cf. 2 H. & McH., pp. 26, 36, 38.
Also MacCormac, op. cit., pp. 67-68.
* Charles Co. Recs., Lib. Q, no. 2, pp. 518, 520; Somerset Co. Court
Judgments, June, 1745, PP- 4<>, 232; 1752-54, PP- 205-06; i757-6o, p. 335.
4 ! 9 ] THE COLONIAL PERIOD 2 g
illegitimate the children thus brought to life, it cannot be
said that the execution of this part of the code was success-
ful. The decline of white servitude and the operation of
the factors which tended to increase the public disfavor for
consortships of whites, especially white women, with
negroes and to establish more definite relations between the
white and black races were probably more effective than the
law. But the important point here is the amount of contri-
bution to the body of free negroes from this source. On
this point no reliable estimate can be made as to that arising
either from this source, from the issue of free women, or
from manumissions of slaves. The public later attached
a too exclusive importance to manumission as the origin of
the free negroes x and frequently referred to them indis-
criminately as freedmen. However that may be, it is cer-
tain that under the act of 1715 the freedom of the mulatto
issue of white women in any case depended merely upon
their outliving their terms of service, whereas that of
mulatto slave children depended mainly upon the uncertain
favor of doting white relatives. And in 1755, 64.9 per
For other cases of the sale of these children vide the following:
Somerset, op. cit., 1722-24, p. 51; 1724-27, PP- 97, 132; I73O-33, P- 28;
1733-36, p. 198; 1736-38, pp. 2-3;; 1738-40, pp. 8, 13; 1 740-42, p. 58;
1742-44, P. 132; 1744-47, P- 99; 1747-49, P- 228; 1752-54, P. 122; 1754-57,
pp. 64, 109; 1757-60, pp. 3, 4, 40, 63, 118, 146, 236, 335; 1760-63, pp. 76, 88,
100, 130, 145, 252; 1765-66, pp. 26, 27, oo ; Charles Co. Recs., Lib. B, no.
2, pp. 211, 244-45 ; Lib. D, no. 2, pp. 9, 70, 136, 196, 197, 198; Lib. E, no. 2,
pp. 207, 255, 301, 304; Lib. I, no. 2, p. 223; Lib. K, no. 2, pp. 127-28, 223,
307 ; Lib. 39, pp. 450, 627-28 ; Lib. R, no. 2, pp. 297-98, 475 ; Lib. T, no. 2,
PP- 6, 37, 46, 142, 188, 220; Lib. 42, pp. 603, 604; Lib. F, no. 3, p. 465;
Lib. K, no. 3, p. 99. Dorchester Co. Land Recs., Lib. 4^2, pp. 157, 165,
176. Dorchester Co., Court Recs., Lib. JP, pp. 88-89; 1754-5, PP. 125-27.
Queen Anne's Co. Court Judgments, June, 1730, Aug., 1730, Nov., 1730,
and March, 1754, Frederick Judicial Rec., Lib. M, p. 323,
1 Kennedy, History and Statistics of Maryland, p. 20; Preliminary
Report on Eighth Census of the United States, pp. 7, 12; American
Farmer, i ser., vol. i, p. 99.
30 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [420
cent of all the mulatto contingent in the population were
still in slavery.
Thus the negroes were passive factors both in entering
Maryland and in falling into the niche to which events des-
tined them. Once located, their personal qualities well
fitted them to stay put. Their ignorance, although they
probably improved somewhat from contact with the whites,
doomed them to a narrow outlook upon life; docility, in-
nate and inculcated, inclined them to acquiesce in the
arrangements made for them by others ; lack of race train-
ing left them unfit for any endeavors that could result in dis-
tinctive achievement; and appreciation of their own im-
potence made submission to the whites a choice without
alternative. They also lacked inherited property and family
connections other than the humblest. They had no power
either to make or to unmake. As slaves their energies were
under the direction of masters, for whose welfare, so far as
they could see, all things existed. Those who became free
saw from a slightly different angle that the old inequalities,
and the powers that maintained them, still persisted; that
in some important points they as non-slaves were still like
the slaves. These circumstances, tempered by a modicum
of knowledge of the industrial arts, and by the little pro-
perty tendered them by the whites, represent the bed-rock
level upon which the free negroes undertook to play a role
in society. As a consequence it was in humble capacities,
not in those of an active, determinative character, that in-
dividual negroes figured. They furnished on the one hand
an element of discord by individual crimes and other dis-
orders, and on the other grateful contributions to the ordin-
ary work of every-day life. The latter absorbed the greater
part of the negro energy expended.
Although offending against social order was a minor
function, it deserves a brief mention here. What is to be
4 2i] THE COLONIAL PERIOD 3 !
said in this paragraph was true substantially of slaves as
well of free negroes. It was mainly for petty offences that
the latter were arraigned before the courts whose records
afford our information. The earliest reference to a free
negro I have found was one in Somerset County, in which
a culprit " confest " that he with two white companions
had stolen some corn from an Indian. And on June 30,
1667 the county court " ordered that the said .... [white
parties named] and John Johnson, negro, that when the
crop of corn is housed they shall deliver two barrels of
Indian corn at Manokin Towne to the king of Manokin
.... and pay all necessary charges." x Another in Dorch-
ester in 1690 was ordered to provide for his bastard child
by a white woman, and was fined 500 pounds of tobacco
for his offence. 2 Such crimes as rape and murder, whose
actual number was perhaps over-rated by the whites, were
committed by negroes and were in many cases punished
vindictively. 3 For these offences slaves and free negroes
were apparently treated without distinction. But what the
whites most feared from negroes were attempts at insurrec-
tions. Although no large number of negroes ever concerted
in such movements, the whites suspected them of plotting and
were easily alarmed and aroused. To forestall dangerous ris-
ings a statute passed in 1723 made each owner of a plantation
responsible for all gatherings of negroes on his premises. At
the same time it empowered each county court to appoint
1 Somerset Judicial Rets., Lib. B, pp. in, 116. It is not stated that
this fellow was a free negro. But he was not mentioned as anybody's
slave, he had both a Christian and a surname, and he was required to
pay his own penalty in property. In the first two of these points it
was not usually so with slaves.
" Dorchester Ca. Court Judgments, Land Recs., Lib. 4 l / 2 , pp. 157, 165, 176.
* Provincial Court Judgments, Lib. E, no. 7, pp. 7, 19-20; Lib. 36,
p. 490; Charles Co. Recs., Lib. P, no. 2, p. 9; Somerset Co. Court Judg-
ments, June, 1763, p. 252; Archives of Maryland, vol. xxxii, pp. 91-92,
163, 178-79, 200, 333, 33SJ vol. xxxi, p. 157.
32 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [422
constables to make periodical visits in the hundreds under its
jurisdiction to the haunts of negroes and to disperse all meet-
ings of negroes which had not been duly authorized. 1 Pur-
suing the course thus laid down constables were appointed to
enforce this act in Charles County in 1735 and 1747, in
Prince George's in 1740, in Somerset in 1736 and in Queen
Anne's in I754. 2 In the last mentioned county the con-
stables each claimed annually 400 pounds of tobacco for a
period of fourteen years for " suppressing tumultuous meet-
ings" of negroes. 3 But no reported disorder seemed to
have been difficult to quell. The Maryland negroes were
not generally rebellious, and the freemen among their num-
ber were not fomenters of discord. Had they endeavored
to throw off their yoke, the excess of whites in the popula-
tion in all parts of the colony was sufficient to have enabled
them to put down any incipient uprising that might have
occurred.
In the matter of earning their livelihood the free negroes
were again both unlike and like their slave brethren. The
formal conditions under which they engaged to work were
fundamentally different from those of slavery. For apart
from the pressure of economic forces they had the power
to accept or to reject particular proffers of employment, to
collect and expend the earnings of work done, or, if they
chose, to attempt to become independent workers of the soil.
And yet for potent reasons they drifted into a position un-
like that of free laborers. These reasons lay in themselves
l Laws, 1723, ch. xv.
' Charles Co. Recs., Lib. T, no. 2, p. 93; Lib. 41, p. 189. Archives of
Maryland, vol. xxviii, pp. 188-91 ; Somerset Co. Court Judgments, 1736-
38, p. 133; Queen Anne's Co. Court Judgments, Nov., 1754; H. Dels.
Journal, 1740, pp. 207, 229, 238, 281, 302.
8 Recs. of Expenditures on Account of the Levy List, Bounties on
Squirrel Scalps, etc., Queen Anne's, 1754-67. Cf. Frederick Judicial
Rec., Lib. M, pp. 151, 363.
423] THE COLONIAL PERIOD 33
and in their environment. As for themselves the handicaps
under which they labored inclined them to become sup-
pliants rather than free agents. To this the conditions of
the environment the rude system of making exchanges,
the strong hold of servitude upon white laborers and the
customary dependence of negroes upon white employers
committed them all the more. As a consequence the few
free negroes continued to perform the same actual func-
tions in the same manner and to be treated by their em-
ployers in substantially the same way as the slaves. Thus
some contracted to work under indentures like those of the
white servants. 1 And inasmuch as in the nineteenth cen-
tury free negroes continued to work for the farmers under
agreements essentially like these indentures, it seems safe to
infer that the details were much the same. 2
Over half of the free negroes of 1755 were persons under
fifteen years of age. Most of the indentures of negroes I
have found applied to the cases of children. Sometimes the
apprenticing was done at the instance oi parents, 3 or of the
children themselves, 4 but more often at that of the county
courts or the justices of the peace. The motives of the
latter were to provide for training the negro children as
laborers and to keep them from becoming a charge upon the
public. Holding these objects in view the contracts re-
quired the masters to maintain, instruct, and upon discharge
give " freedom suits " to their apprentices, and the latter to
* Somerset Co. Court Judgments, 1722-24 p. 142; 1757-60, pp. 209,
226-27; Charles Co. Recs., Lib. P, no. 2, p. 238; Frederick Judicial Rec. f
Lib. M, pp. 323-24, 377. It should be recalled here also that as a conse-
quence of their peculiar descent some free negroes were bound under
indentures.
2 Chapter on "Occupations and Wages," infra, pp. 157-58.
3 E. g. Charles Co. Recs., Lib. B, no. 2, p. 433 ; Frederick Judicial Rec.,
Lib. M, p. 126.
4 Somerset Co. Court Judgments, 1757-60, pp. 226, 227.
34 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [424
be obedient, to render service and abstain from injuring
their masters by absconding and by damage to their pro-
perty. 1 They copied many features of the English system
of apprenticeshp and prepared the way for its more exten-
sive employment by the orphans' courts after the revolution.
Excepting for the smaller variety of occupations and less
stringent rules as to personal conduct these contracts were
substantially like the later ones whose details will be set
forth more fully in a later chapter.
Turning now from conditions of employment we find that
negro property holdings were trifling in amount. They con-
sisted chiefly of movables and small bits of land, part of
which was given them by the whites. In three separate cases
of administrations on negro estates no property at all was
found for administration. 2 The following were some of
the things left to negroes by will: outfits of clothing in
two cases in 1700, small amounts of tobacco and money,*
a horse in St. Mary's in 1722, and a heifer and some fowls
in Prince George's in I73O. 5 But such tenders were not
numerous, and devises of land were still less so. In Som-
erset in 1709 a life interest in a tract of land together with
some cows, calves, pigs, household goods and a year's pro-
visions were deeded to a negro man and wife who were to go
free at the donor's decease. 8 Twenty years later a whole
l Kent Co. Court Bonds and Indentures, Lib. JS, no. 20, p. 234;
Somerset Co. Court Judgments, 1757-60, pp. 226, 224, 227; 1760-63, pp,
62-63, &2, 97, 98, 120, etc. ; 1747-49, P- 6; Frederick Judicial Rec., Lib. M,
pp. 126, 184; cf. also Laws, 1715, ch. xliv, sec. 10.
*Md. Testamentary Proceedings, Lib. 17, p. 210; Lib. 22, pp. 355, 451.
*Md. Wills, Lib. TB, no. I, pp. 12, 29; cf. Lib. OC, no. 3, pp. 565,
766-67 ; Lib. DD, no. 7, pp. 476, 520, 522.
* Op. cit., Lib. CC, no. 2, p. 450 ; Lib. CC, no. 3, p. 453 ; Lib. DD, no. 7 t
p. 293 ; Lib. WD, no. iS, p. 163.
*Op. cit., Lib. WD, no. 18, p. 14; Lib. OC, no. 3, p. 250.
6 Somerset Deeds, Lib. CD, no. i, p. 416.
425] THE COLONIAL PERIOD 35
estate was left to five negroes in St. Mary's County. 1 At
least one negro in the province acquired land by deed as
apparent purchaser. 2 I have no direct evidence as to what
advantages accrued to the recipients of these things. But
judging from the character of the articles transferred the
donors must have expected generally that their benefactions
would not be of long avail. However, two of those men-
tioned might apparently have been made the basis of family
fortunes. It is doubtful that such was the outcome. From
documents existing at the court houses of the counties it is
impossible to find out how much property was possessed by
the negroes of the province. But the records of the general
assessment of 1783 lend weight to the conclusion that its
total was insignificant.
l Md. Wills, Lib. CC, no. 3, p. 632; cf. Laws, 1845, ch. 327.
*Md. Deeds, Lib. ED, no. 9, p. 311.
CHAPTER II
THE GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION
THE fate of the negroes in America was not an apparent
issue in the American revolution. 1 The period in which
the revolution occurred, however, marked a turning point in
the history of the negroes of Maryland. Theretofore fresh
supplies of negroes from a'broad had been frequently ab-
sorbed into the laboring population, and those who bought
them appeared to prosper. 2 After the revolution the
number of slaves increased 28,140, or 33.7 per cent. But
69.9 per cent of that growth took place before a decade had
passed, a decade in which the more important forces that
were to disintegrate slavery had already become manifest.
The operation of these forces at once increased the rate of
manumissions of slaves and the number of free negroes.
The last mentioned class reached a total of 8043, or 7.2 per
cent of the negro population in 1790, and 33,927, or 23 per
cent of the negro population in 1810, notwithstanding that
the slaves alone in 1810 exceeded the total of both classes in
1790. From that time until 1860 the conversion of slaves
into free negroes continued apace, and acting in conjunc-
tion with the interstate slave trade, which drew off many
slaves to the south, slowly reduced the slave population to
x The importation of negroes in British slave ships had been a subject
of protest in the Associations of 1774- MacDonald, Select Charters of
American History, 1607-1776, pp. 363-64.
*Cf. Scharf, History of Maryland, vol. ii, pp. 46-52, 58-60; Jacobstein,
Tobacco Industry of the United States, pp. 27-28, 30-31.
36 [426
427] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 37
78 per cent of its former maximum. Hence the last census
before the end o*f slavery showed that, while the total negro
population had increased 17.6 per cent in the half century,
the free negroes had gained 147.4 per cent and had become
almost equal to the slaves in numbers. Such attention as
is to be given to the slave trade will be deferred to a later
chapter. This chapter will concern itself with the causes,
processes and numerical results of the growth of the free
negro class.
The growth of the free negroes was not unimpeded.
The choice as between their slavery and their freedom lay
with the whites, whose primary object was always to pro-
mote the interests of their own race. For that object they
were willing to make financial sacrifices, if necessary. The
slaves were property, and rights to property were not gen-
erally relinquished without compensation. But aside from
this, what were to be the consequences O'f having a body of
enfranchised negroes in the population? Might they not
form a breadless, half -clad burden upon the whites? Or if
they prospered, might they not acquire property, and event-
ually other things for which property afforded the basis?
Knowledge, the ballot, and even political power might fall
to their lot ! Finally, who could think of treating with them
in general social relations, intermarrying with them, etc., as
with white persons? Yet on what other terms could their
freedom be realized? 1 But as these objections are to be
in evidence at various points in the following chapters,
further treatment of them will be waived here and attention
given to the causes of the change in the negro population.
Some negroes became free as a result of the operation of
the laws against the slave trade. In April, 1783, the legisla-
1 Cf. Md. Appeal Reports, i H. & McH., p. 382 ; 2 H. & McH., p. 201 ;
8 Gill, pp. 318-19; Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, pp. 225-26.
38 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [428
ture enacted a law to prohibit any one to " import or bring
into this state .... any negro, mulatto or other slave,
for sale, or to reside within the state," and enacted further
that any " person brought into this state as a slave contrary
to this act, . . . shall be free." Travelers sojourning in the
state were not, however, to be molested on account of
domestic servants attending themselves ; and citizens of the
United States coming into Maryland to settle permanently
were allowed to bring with them such slaves as they pre-
viously owned, provided that the negroes concerned had
themselves been slaves in the United States for at least three
years prior to their introduction. 1 As re-enacted in 1796
permission was given to heirs of estates to bring back to
Maryland their inherited slaves, in case the latter had been
carried away by executors without consent, or during the
infancy of those entitled to them. 2 Other acts made further
modifications in behalf of those acquiring negroes by cer-
tain rights ex lege and granted limited exemptions to per-
sons who desired to work their negroes on both sides of the
Maryland-Virginia state border. 3 And in 1831 the intro-
duction of slaves for residence was prohibited. 4 Aside
from these changes the main principles were adhered to,
until in 1849 the privilege of importing negroes for residence
was restored. 5 In the meantime the courts had declared
that the law applied only to voluntary importations and not to
those made involuntarily by refugees from the revolution
l Laws, 1783, ch. xxiii. In the act of 1792, ch. Ivi, the number of
domestics allowed to French political refugees from the West Indies
was limited to three for an individual and five for a family.
2 Op. cit., 1796, ch. Ixvii.
3 Op. cit., 1794, ch. 66; 1802, ch. 88; 1804, ch. 90; 1818, dh. 201 ; 1823,
ch. 87; 1832, ch. 317; Md. Appeal Reports, 3 H. & J., p. 491 ; cf. Brackett,
The Negro in Maryland, pp. 60-63, 66-67.
4 Laws, 1831, ch. 323.
5 O/>. cit., 1849, ch. 165.
429] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 39
in St. Domingo, 1 and had set free not only a few non-resi-
dent negroes who had been brought in contrary to law, 2 but
also certain resident negroes who had been returned after
having been employed outside of the state borders with their
masters' consent. 3 However, no large increment came to
the free negro population from this source.
In 1789-91 the general assembly rejected a bill proposing
the gradual emancipation of the slaves by law. 4 In 1790
it restored the long-denied right to set free slaves by
will. What it had refused to adopt as a matter of public
coercion, it here permitted as a matter of private choice.
The exercise of that power of choice became a chief cause
of the growth of the free negro class. The other chief
cause ^ was natural increase. The influx of free negroes
from without was a minor factor. These causes will be
discussed in the order in which they have been mentioned.
The establishment of property in negroes had been a re-
sult of the pursuit of material interests. The law made
that property secure, but permitted its holders to enfranchise
the objects of which it was composed. The rapid increase
in manumissions was a consequence of fundamental in-
dustrial changes which occurred simultaneously with an
awakening in the political and ethical ideas of the whites.
The staple crop of Maryland agriculture was tobacco. It
was an unsteady crop of fluctuating value : 5 its culture ex-
hausted the fertile soils of the province; its product yielded
neither food for men nor provender for cattle; and its pro-
l Md. Appeal Reports, 5 H. & J., p. 86.
a O/>. cit., 3 H. & McH., p. 139; 4 IL & McH., pp. 414-16; 4 H. & J.,
pp. 282-83.
8 Op. cit., 3 H. & McH., pp. 168-69; 4 H. & McH., p. 418; 9 G. & J.,
pp. 29-30 ; cf. also 3 H. & J., pp. 491, 493-
4 H. Dels. Journal, 1789, pp. 64-65; 1791, pp. 19, 31, 38.
6 Jacobstein, op. cit., p. 23.
40 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [430
per handling occupied labor time that might have been
devoted to supplementary crops, had not the tobacco de-
manded it. 1 Nevertheless the Maryland settlement had in-
creased and the proud aristocracy flourished upon the pro-
ceeds of the sales of its staple. 2 The product itself be-
came an early competitor with Virginia tobacco in the
English market, 3 and in the year 1740 exports of leaf to-
bacco from Maryland alone were reported as having totaled
30,000 hhds. of 900 pounds each. 4 Thereafter the normal
quantity produced maintained a substantial level until the
revolution. 5 During the wars, embargoes and non-inter-
course that followed the operations of producing and market-
ing the crop were greatly disturbed. A temporary revival
of the industry in 1 790-92 was soon followed by decline and,
in the chief tobacco-growing counties of Maryland, stagna-
tion, "a miserable and dreary aspect." 8 Another slow
revival raised Maryland's exports of leaf tobacco to 12681
1 Archives of Maryland, vol. vi, p. 38 ; vol. xix, pp. 540, 580. 'Sheffield,
Commerce of the American States, 1784, p. 92; Amer. Farmer, vol. i,
pp. 99, 264-65 ; vol. iii, p. 290 ; Scharf, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 48.
* Scharf, op. cit., p. 46, wrote : " The old Province of Maryland rested
on tobacco. It owed its existence to tobacco." Cf. pp. 46-52; also vol.
i, P. 520-
*Jacobstein, op. cit., pp. 20-22.
* Tenth Census of the United States, Agriculture, p. 922 ; cf. Scharf,
op. cit., vol. i, p. 520.
5 According to Governor Sharpe the tobacco exports of 1748 and 1761
amounted to 28,000 hhds. each. Archives of Maryland, vol. xxxii, p. 23
Lord Sheffield, op. cit., p. 93 and app. table VI, gives tables showing the
exports of tobacco from all the colonies among which Maryland and
Virginia were the chief contributors, as 85,000 hhds., valued at 906,637
. . 18. . i l / 2 , in 1770, and as 10,728,000 Ibs. in 1775. The average in 1770-75
was variously stated at 85,000 to 100,000 hhds. per annum. Cf. also
Pitkin, Statistical View of the United States of America, 1816, p. 108;
Scharf, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 200; Jacobstein, op. cit., p. 33. Maryland ap-
parently contributed about 30 per cent to 35 per cent of the whole pro-
duct exported.
6 American Farmer, vol. i, p. 09; cf\. 12 Niles Register, p. 276.
43 1 ] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 41
hhds. in 1818, and the total crop to 27157 hhds. in 1820 and
about 26000 hhds. in I825. 1 In 1838, 1849 and 1859 the
total product amounted to 24816, 21407 and 38411 thous-
ands of pounds respectively. But this product was con-
fined mainly to five counties of Southern Maryland in which
94.7 per cent of the crop of 1859 was produced. 2
For the sake of the staple the provincials had established
a laboring population of negro slaves. They dwarfed and
neglected the production of cereals for which slave labor
was less adapted than free labor. 3 By the middle of the
eighteenth century, however, the feasibility of cereal crops
had been demonstrated, 4 and an alternative provided for
those who tired of raising tobacco. A line of cleavage then
began to form between tobacco culture and slavery on the
one side and other activities and free labor on the other.
Notwithstanding the stagnant condition of the tobacco in-
dustry, however, slavery continued to grow, although the
real progress made in the state was in the industries carried
on mainly by free labor. 5 Exports other than tobacco
which had amounted to about 10 to 12 per cent of the
total exports of native produce in 1747, reached about
26 per cent in 1761, 54 per cent in 1791 and 63 per cent in
i823. 6 In 1849 tne tobacco crop constituted n per cent
1 Seybert, Statistical Annals, p. 84; American Farmer. On the size
of the hogshead cf. 33 Cong, ist Sess., H. Exec. Doc., no. 307, pt 2,
p. 238.
J Eighth Census of United States, Agriculture, p. 73; Tenth Census,
Agriculture, p. 922.
8 Scharf, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 46; Jacobstein, op. fit., pp. 3O-3 1 > Easton
Gazette, Jan. 22, 1842.
4 Scharf, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 438-39, 520, quoting contemporary documents.
5 Carey, Letters on the Colonisation Soiety, 1832, p. 27; Md. Pub.
Documents, 1843 M, pp. 44-45 ; 1852, L, pp. 3-5 ; 68 Niles Register, p. 332.
'The percentages are given as approximations, based upon figures
found in Scharf, op. cit., vol. i, p. 520; MacMahon, Historical View of
the Government of Maryland, vol. i, p. 316; Archives of Maryland, vol.
xiv, p. 90; vol. xxxii, p. 23 ; Seybert, op. cit., p. 84. Also certain numbers
of the American Farmer.
42 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [432
and in 1859 14* per cent of the aggregate agricultural pro-
ductions of the state. The -five cojunties which produced
94.7 per cent of the tobacco crop of 1859 afforded only 18
per cent of the wheat and 17.5 per cent of the corn grown in
the state. Moreover, slave labor contributed but little to
the teeming industries of the four chief cities.
After the revolution other developments also tended to
weaken the hold of the slave system. Improved facilities
for making money payments favored free labor. 2 The
growth of population increased the ratio of laborers to the
number of places to be filled and relieved the stress upon the
existing labor force. 3 Chains became less necessary for the
security of labor once contracted for. White servitude
went into decay. Moreover, the respective situations and
relations of employers and employees influenced greatly
the course of events. On the part of the former class the
fortunes established in the province had made it possible
to sacrifice, wholly or in part, the value of their negroes, if
sacrifice was necessary in undertaking manumission. 4 But
the extent of these sacrifices can be over-estimated, because
they were in part offset. So long as the numbers and the
efficiency of the laboring class remained unchanged, social
interests were unimpaired by manumissions of slaves. In-
dividual manumittors, however, were affected in a somewhat
1 These estimates for 1849 and' 1859 were furnished 1 Iby F. W. Olden-
berg, Extension Agronomist of the Maryland Agricultural College.
9 C/. Bullock, Essays in the Monetary History of the United States,
ch. vi.
8 This statement is based mainly upon a consideration of the general
situation. But cf. Harford Wills, Lib. JLG, no. A, p. 276. Also
American Farmer, vol. i, p. 99.
4 On the wealth of the provincials cf. .Scharf, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 13,
21, 45. 'Scharf wrote: "The makers of deeds surrendering their prop-
erty, and often their means of subsistence, upon the grounds of con-
science simply," op. cit., p. 103.
433] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 43
different way. When the negroes went free at their mas-
ter's death, the effect was somewhat like that of an irre-
gularly applied inheritance tax. When they were to serve
until, or beyond the age of twenty-five years, the value of
their services already rendered at the time of manumis-
sion went far towards reimbursing their owners for the
trouble and expense of their rearing. 1 Again, the rural free
negroes generally engaged themselves to the landholders,
sometimes to their own manumittors, 2 to work under agree-
ments which, apart from small nominal wages, placed them
in a position substantially like that of the slaves. In so far
as they did so, the grounds for keeping slaves rather than
manumitting them were nearly neutralized, excepting for
those owners who derived benefits from the wages of slaves
hired out to other employers. Finally, manumission some-
times afforded the owner-employer a means of relief from
the burdens of maintaining aged and infirm slaves, from poll
and property taxes on negroes and from the other special
responsibilities attaching to owners of slaves.
Economic developments thus prepared the way for the
freeing of slaves. But on account of the deterrents above-
mentioned some weight in determining the rate of manumis-
sions must be ascribed to other impelling causes. Such
causes were often alleged in the deeds and wills which pro-
! This was true irrespective of the manner of manumission. In all
parts of the state it was possible to bind out negro children of tender
years for their keep until they reached the age of twenty-one years.
Cf. infra, chapter on Apprenticeship.
* Cf. Cecil Land Records, Lib. JS, no. 10, pp. 269, 310, 369 ; Lib. JS, no.
n, p. 221; Lib. JS, no. 12, pp. 22-23, 72, 386, 388; Queen Anne's Land
Recs., Lib. 'STW, no. 4, p. 494; Somerset Deeds, Lib. K, pp. 116, 117,
118, 225 ; Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WIR, no. 10, p. 34.
8 Infra, chapter on " Occupations and Wages," pp. 114-^16; cf. Somerest
Deeds, Lib. K, pp. 117-18, statement that the general use of slaves had
nearly excluded from the labor market persons hiring themselves as
free laborers.
44 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [434
vided for the freedom of particular negroes. Although
their character was varied, chief importance was given to
the political and ethical views and wishes o>f the owners.
The influence of these things was due chiefly to the poli-
tical and religious movements that sprang up after the mid-
dle of the eighteenth century.
The white people of Maryland had been used to the
slave labor system and had adjusted their political views'
to a program for its maintenance. They joined in the
resistance to British policy after 1763 in order to contest
the enforcement of obnoxious laws of the British empire, 1
not to reduce their own population elements to a political
level. They involved themselves, however, in a formal
sanctioning of the political ideas upon the basis of which
their course was to 'be vindicated. Two ideas of especial note
were much emphasized in manumitting negroes. The first
was that of natural rights. Two deeds recorded in Talbot
County in 177073, providing for the manumission of eight
persons, asserted that negroes had an indisputable right in
equity to enjoy freedom. 2 In December, 1782, a manumittor
wrote : " Being conscious to myself that freedom and liberty
is the inalienable right and privilege of every person born
into the world, and that the practice of holding negroes in
perpetual bondage and slavery is .... inconsistent with
the strict rules of justice and equity" 3 . After that time
l Cf. Gambrall, History of Early Maryland, pp. 164-66; MacMahon,
op. cit., vol. i, pp. 423-26; Scharf, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 104-07, 116-17,
* Talbot Deeds, Lib. JL, no. 20, pp. in, 332. A similar reason was
assigned for the freeing of nine other negroes in the Dorchester Deeds,
Lib. Old, n l o. 28, pp. 330, 408 (1781-82). Cf. also Caroline Deeds, Lib.
WR, no. B, pp. 184, 197, 440; Somerset Deeds, Lib. H, pp. 30, 457, 487;
Talbot Deeds, Lib. BS, no. 23, pp. 60, 61, 183. In the Md. Appeal Re-
ports, 2 H. & McH., p. 228 is the following : " Black people are as
much entitled to natural liberty as whites."
8 Dorchester Deeds, Lib. NH, nos. 2-4, p. 120. The following also
435] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 45
such expressions became much more frequent, especially in,
the Eastern Shore Counties. The other idea, implied in,
but less prominent than the first, was that oppression of the
negro was an unwise policy, or according to some, sub-
versive even of law and government. 1 Moreover, slave-
contain expressions more or less like that quoted: Anne Arundel Deeds,
Lib. NH, no. i, p. 377; (Lib. NH, no. 2, pp. 151, 213, 328, 393, 414, 471,
531; Lib. NH, no. 4, p. 148; Lib. NH, no. 8, p. 140; Lib. NH, no. 9,
p. 142; Anne Arundel Wills, Lib. JG, no. 2, p. 220; Baltimore Chattel
ReS., Lib. B, no. G, p. 336; Lib. AL, no. A, p. 310; Lib. WG, no. 4,
p. 132; Lib. WG, no. 2, p. 40; Lib. WG, no. in, p. 74; Caroline Deeds,
Lib. WR, no. B, p. 143; Cecil Land Recs., Lib. 17, pp. 12, 44, 55; Lib. 18,
p. 254; Charles Co. Recs., Lib. Z, no. 3, p. 64; Dorchester Deeds, Lib.
Old, no. 28, p. 330 ; Lib. NH, nos. 2-4, pp. 120, 281 ; Lib. NH, nos. 5-8,
PP- 354, 355, 357; Lib. HD, no. 2, p. 723; Lib. NH, no, 14, p. 414;
Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 33, p. 80 ; Lib. WR, no. 39, p. 57 ;
Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. C, p. 142; Lib. JLG, no. E, pp. 7,
369; Lib. JLG, no. F, p. 282; Harford Wills, AJ, no. 2, pp. 313,
3*19; Montgomery Land Recs., Lib. D, p. 141; Lib. F, p. 107; Queen
Anne's Land Recs., Lib. CD, no, i, p. 183 ; Somerset Deeds, Lib. G, pp.
520, 531 ; Lib. H, p. 457; Lib. i, pp. 156, 673; Talbot Deeds, Lib. RiS, no.
21, pp. 158, 438, 454; Lib. RiS, no. 22, p. 77; Lib. 23, pp. 183, 291-98;
Lib. 27, pp. 54, 60, 317, 372, 373; Lib. 46, p. 207; Talbot Wills, Lib. JB,
no. 3, p. 24; Lib. JB, no. 4, pp. 3-4; Worcester Deeds, Lib. L, p. 65.
Certain of the instruments cited refer each to ,steven, nine, eleven,
thirteen and twenty-three negroes as manumitted. Most of them refer
to smaller numbers, as one to five each. Two more extracts from deeds
ran as follows: From the Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. E, p. 7
(August, 1782) : " Being conscious to myself that the holding of negroes
in perpetual bondage and slavery is repugnant to the law of God and
inconsistent with the strict rules of equity and that freedom and liberty
is the unalienable right of every person born into the world." The deed
freed seven negroes. From the Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH, no. 2,
p. 213 (Nov., 1784) William, McCubbin, manumittor : "Being conscious
to myself that the holding of negroes in perpetual slavery and bondage
is inconsistent with the pure precepts of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
repugnant to the rules of justice and equity and also that freedom and
liberty is the right and privilege of every person born into the world."
1 Queen Anne's Land Recs., Lib. STW, no. 2, p. 85 ; Caroline Deeds,
Lib. WR, no. C, p. 116. In the Dorchester Deeds, Lib. HD, no. 2, p. 723
(1790), occurred the sweeping declaration that it was "wrong and
oppressive to hold negroes in abject slavery, when it is clearly against
46 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [436
holders, participating in the 'glorious revolution,' had
helped to establish liberty for the oppressed. Should they
themselves after the contest was over choke the fruits of
liberty by still enslaving the abject African? x
Ethical ideas were indissolubly bound up with these poli-
tical views. Their demands that slaves should be liberated
were strongly impressed upon the slaveholders. Two religi-
ous bodies, the Quakers and Methodists, especially insisted
upon the moral wrongfulness of slavery. The Quakers in
their Yearly Meeting at Baltimore in 1760 took ground
against the foreign slave trade. 2 They followed this with de-
clarations against slavery itself, and in 1772 counseled their
members to give freedom to their own negroes. 3 In 1776
they further voted that the quarterly meetings should pro-
vide books to record manumissions granted by their
members, 4 and interested individuals labored to induce slave-
holders to manumit. Although success was not instant, the
the principles of law and government, the dictates of reason, the common
maxims of equality, the law of nature, the admonitions of conscience,
and In short the whole doctrine of natural religion."
1 A Caroline Co. deed; Deeds, Lib. WR, no. B, p. 41, providing for the
freedom of ten negroes, referred to the unalienable rights of mankind
"as well as every principle of the glorious Revolution that has lately
taken place in America." Cf. also: op. cit., Lib. WR, no. >C, p. 116, 198,
201, 358; Dorchester Deeds, Lib. nos. 5-8, p. 354; Lib. HD, no. 2, pp.
546, 723; Queen Anne's Land Recs., Lib. CD, no. i, p. 183; Lib. STW,
no. 2, pp. 85, 253; Lib. STW, no. 8, p. 472; Somerset Deeds, Lib. I,
p. 156; Talbot Deeds, Lib. RS, no. 21, pp. 158, 438, 454; Lib. 26, p. 270.
Daniel of .St. Thomas Jenifer in manumitting was moved "by senti-
ments of Christian charity and Humanity, as well as by the spirit of the
declaration of rights that all men are born free." Anne Arundel Deeds,
Lib. NH, no. 5, P- 187. Cf. op. cit., Lib. IB, no. 5, P. 268.
1 Extracts from the Minutes of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting, pp.
359, 360.
* Op. cit., pp. 359-fo, 362-
8 0/>. cit., p. 365. The Harford Land Recs., Lib. HD, no, iR, p. 275,
contain a deed of manumission dated 1803, for a negro who had been
freed in 1779, and the record thereof made in the Quaker records.
437 ] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 47
" testimony" against slavery led to manumissions in several
counties. 1 The Yearly Meeting also supported the pro-
posal to remove the restrictions on manumissions by will,
and assisted in vindicating the rights of free negroes against
kidnappers and in prosecuting claims of freedom. 2 Certain
Quakers too were members of the early anti-slavery socie-
ties/ where their influence was generally a moderate one,
Methodism was established in Maryland in 1760 and its
influence spread rapidly. 4 Its preachers had distinct advan-
tages in having come at a time of great awakening and
change, and in not being hampered either by a past like that
of the established church, 5 or by present dependence upon
livings provided by the state. From the outset they ap-
pealed for moral reformation, and soon began to preach to
negroes as well as to whites. About the end of the revolu-
tion they began to attack the institution of slavery. 6 In
1 Extracts, op. cit., pp. 359, 360, 366. Minutes of Monthly Meetings,
Nottingham 1775-76 (no pagination) ; Deer Creek 1801-19, p. 351. Cf.
Asbury, Journal, vol. i, p. 280; Talbot Wills, (Lib. JB, no. 3, pp. 24, 60,
100; Lib. JB, no. 4, pp. 3-4, 22; Talbot Deeds, Lib. JL, no. 20, p. 481;
Baltimore Wills, Lib. B, no. 4, p. 392. These several instruments pro-
viding for the freedom of sixty-six negroes were made by persons
reputed to have been Quakers.
'* Extracts, op. cit., p. 366. Minutes for Sufferings 1778-1841, pp. 82,
86; Minutes of the Monthly Meeting at Deer Creek, p. 351.
3 //. Dels. Journal, 1791, p. 83; cf. Scharf, op,, cit., vol. iii, p. 306.
4 Scharf, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 554-55; cf. Bangs, Life of Rev. Freeborn
Garrettson, pp. 20-21.
5 Scharf, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 28-34.
8 Rev. Freeborn Garrettson' s conviction of the " impropriety of holding
slaves " dated from 1775. He wrote : " My heart has bled, since that,
for slaveholders, especially those who make a profession of religion;
for I believe it to be a crying sin." Bangs, op. cit., pp. 33-35- Of his
own slaves he said : " I told them that they did not belong to me," and
" that I did not desire their services without making them a compen-
sation." The name of Freeborn Garrettson appears as manumitter in
1783 in Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. E, p. 369, and Anne Arundel
Deeds, Lib. NH, no. 9, p. 143. He freed three negroes by the two
4 8 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [438
1780 and 1783 their conferences, legislating for the churches 1
of Maryland, warned local and traveling preachers, who
were slaveholders, to promise freedom to their slaves, under
penalty of suspension for refusal. 1 In 1784 the noted
Christmas Conference at Baltimore resolved that slavery
was " contrary to the Golden Law of God, on which hang
all the law and the prophets, and the unalienable rights of
mankind as well as every principle of the Revolution." 1
It adopted a set of drastic rules according to which slave-
holding members of Methodist churches were required with-
in twelve months to provide for the liberation of all their
negroes within prescribed time limits. And members were
forbidden to acquire and dispose of slaves excepting for
the purpose of freeing them. 3 Those who declined to com-
ply might withdraw from the communion, or otherwise suffer
exclusion. The climax had been reached. The sensitive
slave-owners at once resented the action, divided the Metho-
deeds. Rev. Francis Asbury, Journal, vol. i, p. 280, wrote on June 10,
1778 that some pious Quakers were " exerting themselves for the liber-
ation of the slaves. This is a very laudable design; and what the
Methodists must come to, or, I fear, the Lord will depart from them.
But there is cause to presume that some are more intent on promoting
the freedom of their bodies than the freedom of their souls."
1 Matlack, American Slavery and Methodism, p. 14; Anti-Slavery
Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church, pp. 55-57-
Both works quote extensively from the Minutes of the Conferences.
1 Sunday Service of the Methodists of North America, 1784, p. 15;
cf. Matlack, op., cit., pp. 58-59. This formula was repeated in some
deeds of manumission ; e. g. Dorchester Deeds, Lib. NH, nos. 5-8, p. 354
(1786).
* Sunday Service, op, cit., pp. 15-16. iSlaves of 40 to 45 years were to
be free within a year ; those from 25 to 40 years within five years ; those
20 to 25 years by the thirtieth, and those under twenty years by the
twenty-fifth year of age respectively. Unborn infants were to be deemed
free from the date of birth. Cf. Matlack, op. cit. ; iStevens, History of
the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, vol. ii, p. 200.
The provision with regard to infants did not harmonize with later inter-
pretations of the act of the legislature of 1752, ch. i, infra, p. 42.
439] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 49
dists in their attitude towards slavery, resisted the attempt to
enforce the provisions, and within a few months forced prac-
tical nullification. 1 Heedless attempts to coerce slave-owners
by conference action, in which the laity had no direct voice,
were henceforth checked by regard for material and social
interests. The general attitude of the church towards
slavery, however, remained formally unaltered. Denuncia-
tion of slavery continued, and compliance with the tenor
of the rules was urged by moral suasion. 2 The Methodist
contribution to the progress of manumissions was distinc-
tive. 3 Other less distinctive moral forces cooperated with
these. They united in inculcating the belief that the liber-
ties of white Americans were not to be vindicated finally,
so long as the black Americans were in chains. As the
awakening proceeded, the indefensibility of slavery on
moral grounds appeared in clearer light. 4 The effects of
the new teachings were signal. It is said that the treat-
ment of slaves became more humane than it had been ; 5 it
1 Matlack, op. cit., pp. 59-62; American Slavery and Methodism, p. 17.
Also Stevens, op. cit., p. 200, and Handy, Scraps of African Methodist
Episcopal History, p. 23.
J Matlack, Anti-Slavery Struggle and Triumph, pp. 63-64.
8 The following occurs in the will of a person who opposed the
Methodist position : "As my son is now of a religious profession
(called Methodist) and it being common for their professors ... to
manumit their slaves," etc. Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB, no. 6, p. 173
(1794). Cf. E. Shore General Court Judgments, Lib. 71, pp. 481-82;
Md. Appeal Reports, 2 H. & McH., pp. 199-201.
4i Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, brought up in the established church in
Baltimore County, had until 1775 " never suspected that the practice of
slave-keeping as wrong; I 'had not read a book on the subject, nor been
told so by any." Bangs, op* cit., pp. 17-18; cf. also pp. 33-34- Rev.
Francis Asbury wrote in 1780: "Spoke to some select friends about
slave-keeping, but they could not bear it." Matlack, American Slavery
<and Methodism, p. 17.
6 15 Niles Register, pp. 5-6, also vol. xxxi, p. 25 ; Seybert, op. fit.,
pp. 52-53, and the will of Jeremiah Banning, Talbot Wills, Lib. JP,
Jio. 5, p. 316.
50 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [440
is certain that generally speaking the intentions of manu-
mitters were humane. In 1768 a resident of Baltimore
County freed a negro woman writing that he had bought
her sixteen years earlier and " soon after grew uneasy
thereat and would fain have returned the girl whence she
came." * Before the revolution was over his example was
followed 'by several others who desired to avoid being " in-
consistent with the rules of Christianity," or with other
standards. 2 After the revolution such cases were multi-
plied, the papers ringing the changes on the inconsistencies
1 The former master of this woman, " being overburdened with those
people refused to take her back as also did the girl to return." She
therefore remained with her new owner, " encumbered " his house with
her hybrid and black offspring, who rambled at night and on Sundays,,
until they were often unfit for service at other times. All, however,
were manumitted. Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. B, no. G, p. 213;
Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. A, p. 276 (1776). The latter deed
conferred freedom on the children of the woman.
2 Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. B, no. G, p. 208, a deed! affecting nine-
teen negroes. Also p. 336 ; Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. A, p. 8 ^
Lib. JLG, no. C, p. 444; Lib. JLG, no. D, p. 142; Dorchester Deeds, Lib.
Old, no. 22, pp. 254, 255, 308, 309, 356; Talbot Deeds, Lib. RS, no. 21 ,
p. 158. A singular state of agitation seemed to have taken a Harford
County slaveholder. Under the great stress of mind he manumitted
nineteen negroes in 1768 (vide first deed cited in this note), but re-
frained from manumitting others on account of " the many temporal dis-
advantages they labor under not being looked on or treated by man in
general with equal justice," etc. Further: " Yet clear I am the Lord is
risen and pleading their cause with the inhabitants of all the earth, be-
fore whom they will shortly appear and to whom they must give ac-
count of their stewardship and, oh, breaths (sic) my soul, may their
oppressors awake and be roused from their present dream of righteous-
ness and do unto them as they would be done unto that so their cryes
may no longer goe (sic) forth and reach the years (sic) of omnipotence
against them." Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. F, p. 59 (1775).
The same name is connected, as co-manumitter, with the liberation
of nine other slaves in 1781. Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. F,.
p. 142; cf. Anne Arundel Wills, Lib. JG, no. 2, p. 220; Somerset Deeds y
Lib. K, pp. 117-18; also E. Shore General Court Judgments, Lib. 7l r
pp. 481-82.
441 ] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION ^
of the slaveholders who had revolted against the British op-
pression, and on their violation of the " precepts of natural
religion," of the " Golden Law of God," of the gospel of
Jesus Christ which teaches that we should do unto others. a#
we would that they should do unto us, and of the principles
of justice and mercy. The conscientious concern to give
the negroes their freedom began also to bear fruit. 1 *
Several minor causes also deserve mention. The hope of
becoming free was gradually implanted in negro minds, and
many slaves made successful efforts to redeem themselves,
compensating their masters in ways that are to be set forth
below. 2 But such compensations were a mere auxiliary fac-
tor, whose sole operation would have left the number of
manumissions negligible. The inclination to manumit irre-
spective of monetary consideration was vital. Sometimes its
existence was attributed to an appreciation of the merits of
the beneficiaries themselves. For instance, in Harf ord County
l Cf. Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH, no. 2, pp. 213, 328, 393, 414; Lib.
NH, no. 5, pp. 187, 486, 500; Lib. NH, no. 8, p. 140; Caroline Deeds,
Lib. WR, no. B, pp. 41, 143, 197, 198, 358 ; Lib. W1R, no. C, pp. 1 16, 201 ;
Lib. WR, no. D, pp. 347, 182; Lib. G, p. 368; Cecil Land Recs., Lib. 17,
pp. 12, 42, 44, 55; Lib. 18, pp. 254, 333; Lib. 19, p. 250; Lib. 25, pp. 16,
17; Lib. JS, no. i, pp. 96, 97; Charles Co. Recs., Lib. Z, no. 3, p. 64;
Dorchester Deeds, Lib. Old, nos. 2-4, pp. 120, 281, 282, 354, 366, 425;
Lib. NH, nos. 5-8, pp. 354, 355, 357; Lib. HD, no. 2, p. 723; Lib. HD,
no. 3, p 35; Lib. HD, no. 14, p. 414; Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WR,
no. 29, p. 87; Lib. WR, no. n, p. 57; Harf ord Land Recs., Lib. JLG,
no. D, p. 142; Lib. JLG, no. E, p. 7; Lib. JLG, no. F, p. 282; Harf ord
Wills, Lib. AJ, no. 2, pp. 219, 237, 319; Montgomery Land Recs., Lib.
D, p. 141; Lib. G, p. 258; Queen Anne's Land Recs., Lib. CD, no. I,
p. 183; Lib. STW, no. 2, pp. 85, 253; Lib. STW, no. 9, pp. 472, 527;
Somerset Deeds, Lib. E, pp. 156, 673; Lib. G, p. 508; Lib. H, p. 457;
Lib. I, p. 156; Lib. K, pp. 117-18; Talbot Deeds, Lib. RS, no. 21, pp. 220,
454; Lib. BS, no. 23, pp. 60, 602; Lib. 26, p. 270; Lib. 27, pp. 54, 60, 317,
372, 373 ; Lib. 46, p. 207 ; Talbot Wills, Lib. JB, 110. 4, p. 3 ; Worcester
Deeds, Lib. V, p. 416; also Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. 2,
pp. 312, 250, 209, 207; Lib. WG, no. 3, pp. 28, 120, 203.
2 Infra, pp. 74-76.
52 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [442
in 1778, goodwill, faithful services and "divers other good
causes " led to the liberation of a female ; x two deeds manu-
mitting twenty-two negroes in Worcester in 1779-82 state
that good behavior and the performance of faithful services
were the warrant for their execution: 2 and in 1790 James
Earle of Queen Anne's freed the wife and three children of
his son's negro, whose services as a foreman had pleased
him. 3 A circumstance that determined the action in some
cases was the blood relationship, or consortship of negroes
with their manumitters or with other whites. 'But apart
from the avowals made by a few French West Indian refu-
gees and by some other persons, 4 direct evidence of the
action of this cause is not abundant. From the tenor
of some documents it can be suspected rather than estab-
lished. 5 It had relatively less influence than it had had in
l Land Recs., Lib. ALJ, no. A, p. 148.
* Deeds, Lib. K, pp. 164, 405; cf. op\ cit., Lib. L, p. 392; Lib. M, pp.
35, 260, 404, 521.
Lonrf Recs., Lib. STW, no. i, p. 505; cf. Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib.
NH, no. 5, pp. 467, 500; Lib. NH, no. 6, p. 63; Baltimore Wills, Lib.
WB, no. 5, p. 170; Caroline Wills, Lib. JR, no. C, p. 474; Cecil Land
Recs., Lib. 16, pp. 11, 99; Dorchester Deeds, Lib. BR, no. I, p. 118;
Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 5, p. 52; Harford Land Recs. t Lib.
AL, no. i, p. 368 ; Kent Chattel Recs., Lib. BiC, no. 3, p. 455 ; Montgomery
Land Recs., Lib. D, p. 164; Lib. E, p. 632; Somerset Deeds, Lib. K, p.
423; Worcester Deeds, Lib. L, p. 392; Lib. O, p. 631 ; Washington Land
Recs., Lib. H, p. 644,
*. ff. Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. N'H, no. 6, p. 131; Anne Arundel
Wills, Lib. JG, no. 2, p. 459; Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. 3,
p. 336; Lib. WG, no. 5, p. 379; Lib. WG, no. 27, p. 92; Lib. ED, no. 10,
p. 88; Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB, no. n, p. 499; Frederick Wills, Lib.
GME, no. 2, p. 669.
'The manumitter of five mulattoes in 1768 wrote: "I being induced
to give the aforesaid molattos their freedom from sundry good and
lawful motives", Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. B, no. G, p. 199. A
mulatto woman and her children, freed) in Anne Arundel County
(Deeds, Lib. NH, no. 7, p. 84 (1796), were not to go near the city of
443] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 53
the provincial period. Although the fact that 63.3 per cent
of all the mulattoes in the state in 1850 were freemen
argues that it was not without importance. 1 But the effec-
tiveness of these minor factors depended upon the negroes'
enjoyment of the favor of their masters, and that of all the
causes depended much upon the state of the public mind,
to whose make-up they all contributed. The practice of
manumitting slaves grew into a quasi-custom.** It was not
followed as a matter of course, because with some owners
necessity, cupidity, or conscientious doubts about its out-
come prevailed against it. The alternatives were retaining
the negroes as slaves until they died, or selling them to
the traders. Stagnation of slave labor enterprises partly
discouraged the first, while a rising sentiment against selling
orderly negroes "out of the state" 2 tended to counteract
any recourse to the latter, even when prices were tempt-
ingly high. Meanwhile the benevolence imputed to honest
manumitters made the imitation of their acts appear to be
an object worthy of emulation in spite of all the reasoning
and prejudice against it.
From causes we next turn to the forms of manumissions.
For more than a century after slavery had been introduced
into the province, so few negroes had been manumitted that
Annapolis. For other cases, cf. Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no.
10, p. 423; Lib. WG, no. 29, p. 377; 'Lib. WG, no. 31, p. 363; Lib. TK,
no. 57, p. 155; Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB, no. 4, p. 45;" Cecil Land Recs.,
Lib. 16, p. 361; Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 28, p. 413; Lib.
WR, no. 30, p. 36.
1 Seventh Census of the United States, Mortality, p. 35.
*C/. Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. 27, p. 72; Lib. AWB, no.
75, p. 12; Baltimore Wills, Lib. I PC, no*. 29, p. 196; Caroline Wills,
Lib. WGN, no. B, p. 47; Cecil Land Recs., Lib. JiS, no. 24, p. 196;
Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 28, p. 413; Frederick Wills, Lib.
GH, no. i, pp. 262, 374; Harford Wills, Lib. TSB, no. 6, p. 328; Kent
Chattel Recs., Lib. JFG, no. i, pp. 146, 215; Md. Appeal Reports,
2 H. & G., pp. 291-95; 6 Md. p., 499; Md. Historical Mag., vol. vi,
pp. 26-28.
/
$ff * L>0
\Wr?
54 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [444
but little attention was paid to the manner in which they be-
came free. 1 The determination of this matter was, as Dr.
Brackett observes, left to the slave-owners and the magis-
trates. 2 Restrictions upon the former were at a minimum.
As a consequence some slaves were allowed by their masters
to enjoy a degree of freedom, without any formal change of
status, and three formal methods of manumission, by word
of mouth, by last will and testament and by deed, came into
use. Now this wide discretion oi masters belonged to the
old provincial era. For as population grew and other in-
terests advanced, there arose a demand for the regulation of
the exercise of this liberty. Although this demand was
in part reactionary, it looked also to the protection of the
public interests. Its sponsors led the legislature in 1752
to hedge about the slave master's right to manumit with
restrictions which with some modification were maintained
throughout the later history of slavery in Maryland.
The practice of allowing slaves to go at large and act as
free persons was obviously irregular. The length of time
for which it was permitted was limited by a statute of 1787
to ten days in the harvest season, the term being extended to
twenty days in 1817. Excepting the case of well-known
pilots, any master's permission to go beyond that limit was
to be penalized. 3 Special provisions were added for four
Eastern Shore counties in i82i-22. 4 But notwithstanding
1 A member of the Assembly reported 1 in 1715 that manumissions were
penalized and freed negroes not tolerated in the province of Virginia.
He probably was opposed to manumissions in Maryland. Archives
of Maryland, vol. xxx, p. 16.
'Brackett, op. cit., p. 148.
8 Laws, 1787, ch. xxxiii; 1817, ch. 104; cf. 61 Niles Register, p. 216;
Senate Journal, 1802, pp. 6, 30, 31 ; H. Dels. Journal, 1802, pp. 89, 96 ;
1817, p. 47-
'Laws, 1821, ch. 183; 1822, ch. 115. In addition to these there were
other provisions to prevent the fraudulent use of certificates of free-
dom by slaves. Op. cit., 1796, ch. 67, sec. 28; 1805, ch. 66; 1807, ch. 44.
445] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 55
the law, slaves here and there were allowed to hire them-
selves and collect their own wages outside the harvest time. 1
Ordinarily their doing so did not affect their owner's rights
of resuming the suspended control at any time, because ac-
cording to a decree of the appeal court in 1850 a mere aban-
donment of claim to a slave was not equivalent to a manu-
mission. 2 But in the opinion in which this declaration oc-
curred the court impliedly endorsed an earlier opinion sus-
taining a claim to freedom in a case in which no express!
promise of freedom was alleged. The case concerned the
offspring of two women who had been undoubted slaves
in 1784. Subsequently they had lived and reared their
children within three miles of their former owner, had fre-
quented his house, worked for and received wages from
him and had transacted other business as free persons.
Their freedom had not been molested after 1797. The
owner died in 1805. His wife settled his estate and her-
self died in 1824. Both had known and acquiesced in the
facts recited, and no attempt had been made to prosecute
either of them for violating the law against allowing slaves
to act as free persons. Hence it was held that evidence to
show that they had violated the law was lacking, that the
two negro women had been freed, and that their offspring,
who had been claimed as slaves in 1832, were free persons. 3
i Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. i, p. 202 (1816) ; Cecil Land
Recs., Lib. H:HM, no. 7, p. 379 (1856) ; Lib. 16, p. 500 (1789) ; Harford
Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. K, p. 249 (1791) ; Harford Wills, Lib. AJ, no.
C, p. 86 (1803) ; Worcester Deeds, Lib. P, p. 15; Dorchester Criminal
Appearance Docket, Jan., 1859; Carroll Criminal Docket, no. i, p. 54 J
Laws, 1860, ch. 322; Md. Gazette, May 29, 1788; Baltimore American,
June 5, 1806; E. Shore General Advertiser, March 24, 1807.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 9 Gill, pp. 122-23, 135-36; cf. published the
recall of a slave's privilege to hire himself, Md. Journal, Aug. 3, 1787;
also op. cit., Jan. 8, 1795.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 6 G. & J., pp. 138-44 (1834)- It will be noted
that the freedom in this case had lasted thirty-five years without inter-
56 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [446
A belated statute of 1860 declared that in future deeds of
freedom were not to be presumed by the courts in behalf
of any negroes who had been acting as free persons without
formal manumissions. 1
Manumission differed from the above-mentioned practice
in that at its maturity it at once raised the slave to the
status of freeman. The forms of manumission, have been
mentioned above. The simplest one was the verbal order,
or promise of freedom. Proof of such an unwritten
promise became the ground upon which a mulatto girl was
adjudged free in Charles County in i6o,8. 2 Although the
frequency of its use is problematical, it seems to have been
adopted as a means of turning out superannuated slaves to
burden the community, until its use was prohibited by
statute in I752. 3 Thereafter its effect was substantially the
same as that of allowing slaves to go at large without pro-
mise of freedom. 4 It secured a temporary freedom to a
few negroes who were eventually enfranchised according to
recognized forms. 5 And in 1851 the court of appeals sus-
tained a petition for freedom that was based upon a verbal
promise. The case was that of a negro child whose mother
ruption. In the case referred to in the last note above the court made
much of the fact that the freedom had) continued less than twenty years.
But it found also that the master had only given a reluctant consent to
allow the slave, a female, to live with her free husband, but no consent
to deem herself a freed person.
} Laws, 1860, ch. 322.
* Charles Co\. Recs., Lib. X, p. 51; cf. similar case in Somerset Co,
Court Judgments, 1722-24, p. 142.
*Laws, 1752, ch. i.
* Cf. Md. Appeal Reports, 9 G. & J., p. 136 ; also 2 H. & McH., p. 201 ;
6 G. & J., p. 197.
5 In 1768 a deed manumitting nineteen negroes stated that some of
their number had really been freed several years before. Baltimore
Chattel Recs., Lib. B, no. G, p. 208; cf. Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB, no.
6, p. 480; Harford Wills, Lib. AJ, no. , p. 86.
447] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 57
had been repeatedly told by her master that she was free
and who had been allowed to live as a free woman from
1830 to 1849. The court adjudged the mother free from
the time she had begun to act as free and her child, born
after that time, as freeborn. 1
Manumissions by written instruments also began in the
seventeenth century. Two wills in Somerset County, one
dated 1680 and the other 1697, each provided for the
freedom O'f a negro, 2 and in 1696 the Provincial Court
ordered a " mallatto .... discharged and set free from
all manner of slavery and servitude" on account of a pro-
vision in his master's will. 3 There followed a slow in-
crease in manumissions by will in the first half of the eigh-
teenth century, 4 and in 1752 " many evils " were attributed
to them. Hence a statute of that year enacted that it " shall
not be lawful for any person or persons, within this pro^-
vince, ... by his, her or their last will and testament, or
by any other instrument in writing, in his, her or their last
sickness, whereo'f he, she or they shall die, to give or grant
f reedom to any slave or slaves." 5 The obvious reason for
this clause was to prevent irrational acts o>f emancipation.
But at the same time it also restricted the right of disposal of
l Md. Appeal Reports, 9 Gill, pp. 483-87 ; cf. 8 G. & J., p. 159; 9 G. & J.,
p. 158.
a Somerset Wills, Lib. EB, no. 5, pp. 128, 137.
3 Provincial Court Judgments, Lib. 5, p. 579 ; cf. Charles Co. Recs.,
Lib. E, no. 2, p. 152 (1712).
4 Cf. Md. Wills, Lib. WD, no. 18, pp. 14, 235, 406 (1722-23) ; Lib.
OC, no. 2, pp. 2, 450, 708! (1725-29) ; Lib. OC, no. 3, pp. 126, 173, 250, 453,
482, 508 (1730-32) ; Lib. DiD, no. 7, pp. 13, 18, 27, 50, 260, 358, 492, 520,
532 (1748-53).
6 Laws, 1752, ch. i; cf. 1766, ch. i; 1786, ch. 35; 1789, ch. 61 ; also
Harford Wills, Lib. AJ, no. 2, p. 237. The " many evils " were ap-
parently due to the turning adrift of superannuated and infirm slaves,
and to manumission in general, rather than to manumissions by will in
particular.
58 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [448
a particular sort of property, 1 and thereby supplied a partial
check upon the rate of manumissions. It did not prevent
the making of many testamentary provisions for the libera-
tion of negroes from slavery, 2 but it did afford a ground
for depriving of liberty every person freed by will before
that act was repealed. 3 After the revolution the Quakers
reported that many freed negroes were painfully apprehen-
sive of being reduced to slavery again. Their memorials
initiated a movement which culminated in 1790 in the repeal
of the prohibition of testamentary manumissions. 4 The
frequent exercise of this restored right contributed largely
to the growth of the free negro population. The follow-
ing cases illustrate some of the conditions under which the
privileges thus granted were realized. In 1793 the General
Court of the Eastern Shore awarded a year's wages and
costs to a negro who had been detained in servitude a year in
excess of the time his master's will had decreed he should
1 Cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1790, p. 15.
1 In Talbot County alone the wills recorded in Lib. JB, no. 3, pp. 19,
24, 60, 73, 82, 100, 154, 189, and Lib. JB, no. 4 PP- 3, 22, 41, 63, 65,
128, admitted to probate while the act was in force, provided for the
freedom of negroes.
3 Cf. E. Shore General Court Judgments, Lib. 71, pp. 481-87; Md.
Appeal Reports, 2 H. & McH., pp. 199-201.
*Laws, 1790, ch. ix; 1796, ch. 67 On the activity of the Quakers vide
Minutes for Sufferings, vol. A, pp. 39, 42, 47; H. Dels. Journal, 1790*
pp. u, 15, 17. For details as to the repeal, vide Brackett, op. fit., pp.
150-52.
Recurring to note 5, p. 57, above, it may be inquired why those who
opposed the multiplication of free negroes permitted this repealing act
to pass the legislature, when apparently they could have prevented it.
It may have been thought, when the act of 1752 was passed, that self-
interest would restrain owners from manumitting, excepting upon
approach of death, and that for a time the increase of manumissions
was checked by the law. But after the revolution the manumissions by
deed became so numerous that it was useless longer to maintain the
ineffective prohibition against those by will.
449 ] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 59
serve. 1 Again a will made in Prince George's in 1817, as-
signed several negroes as slaves to designated persons and
freed all the other negroes owned by the testator. The
executor attempted to make the freedom of a girl, who be-
longed to their number, dependent upon a deed executed by
her own father, to whom he had sold her. The county
court, and in its turn the Court of Appeals, held that the
girl had been entitled both to freedom and to a devise of
land under her deceased master's will. 2 But in an instance
in which it appeared that it had been left to the executors
of a will to fix the time when the freedom of certain negroes
was to begin, the higher court in 1846 remanded the case
for an equity proceeding in the county court from which it
had come. 3 Manumission by will was again prohibited by
statute in i86o. 4
The last form of manumission was that by deed. It
alone was fully recognized by law throughout the history
of slavery in the state. 5 It did not come into common use,
until after the use of the other forms had been prohibited by
statute in i/52. 6 The act of 1752 required that each deed
of manumission should be attested by the signatures of
two witnesses, endorsed by a justice of the peace and re-
corded in the office of the clerk of the county court within
1 Judgments, Lib. 80, pp. 500-05.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 5 H. & J., pp. 100-95.
8 Op. cit., 4 Gill, pp. 250-52; cf. also 5 :H. & J., pp. 3>io-i2 ; 9 Gill, p. 136.
4 Laws, 1860, ch. 322.
6 The act of 1860, ch. 322, occurred too late to form a worthy ex-
ception to this statement.
'Although the list is not given as exhaustive, the following were the
principal deeds of manumission discovered by the writer in the counties
up to 1753: Cecil Land Recs., Lib. 4, p. 507 (1749) ; Somerset Deeds,
Lib. CD, no. I, p. 416 (1709) ; Lib. GH, p. 311 (1717) ; Lib. B, p. 85
(1753) J Talbot Deeds, Lib. RF, no. 9, p. 358 (1703) ; Lib. RF, no. 12,
p. 173; Lib. JL, no. 17, p. 98 (1747).
60 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [450
six months of the date of execution. Furthermore, as was
seen above, no such deed was to be valid, if granted during
the last sickness of the slaveholder making it. 1 The Court
of Appeals seems to have adhered closely to these rules. 2
The legislature, however, passed acts to relieve negroes who,
without its intervention would have been barred from free-
dom on account of defective deeds. Two such acts validated
all duly recorded deeds of manumission, if they were lack-
ing only in respect to the signatures required by law, 31 and
numerous others were passed to cover similar deficiencies
in respect to witnesses and to time and place of recording
in individual cases. 4 But the permanent restrictions upon
the process were left unchanged. 5
Aside from the matter of form the chief restrictions upon
manumissions had to do with the ages and personal con-
ditions of the manumitted and the financial condition of
manumitters. The first provincial statute touching the sub-
1 Laws, 1752, ch. i ; cf. Md. Appeal Reports, 2 H. & McH., pp. 199, 201 ;
also Laws, 1796, ch. 67.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 2 H. & J., pp. 151, 356-59; 5 H. & J., pp. 111-13;
7 G. & J., pp. 255-64.
8 Laws, 1810, ch. xv; 1826, ch. 235. In both instances exception was
made for cases which were, or had been, in litigation. Cf. op. cit., 1832,
ch. 296; 1833, ch. 284.
'Op,, cit., 1819, ch. 63; i8t2O, chs. 113, 115; 1823, ch. 170; 1824, chs.
39, 61, 78; 1826, ch. 208; 1827, ch. 48; 1828, ch. 58; 1830, ch.'6o;
1834 chs. 95, 246, 255, 282; 1835, chs. 3131, 360; 1836, ch. 194; 1838, ch.
100; 1839, ch. 277. Saving clauses occurred here again for the purpose
of preventing conflicts with judicial decrees and with other legal pro-
visions. In 1804 a manumitter in Frederick Co. executed a deed on
account of the failure to record the first one made ten years previously.
Land Recs., Lib. W1R, no. 24, p. no.
6 One deed that had been regularly made provided for a negro's free-
dom to begin in January, 1840. The fellow served in ignorance of the
fact till May 12, 1846. The appeal court refused to award him damages
for the periodi he had served beyond his proper freedom day. Md.
Appeal Reports, 8 Gill, pp. 322-31 ; cf. 7 Md., p. 430.
45 1 ] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 6 1
ject recited that superannuated slaves had been set free by
sundry persons to perish from want, or to become a burden
upon the community. Hence it forbade the liberation of
any slaves, excepting those under fifty years of age, who
were of sound minds, healthy constitutions and ability to
labor for the necessaries of life. 1 The age limits here pre-
scribed were preserved in later legislation, saving that that
for adults was reduced from fifty to forty-five years in 1 796,
and removed altogether between the years 1832 and 1858,*
but in each instance the protective objects of the law were
provided for by holding masters liable for the maintenance
O'f their own freedmen, if dependent, unless the latter
were otherwise eligible for manumission according to law.
In cases of both old and young negroes the Court of Appeals
adhered to the statute. The following cases are in point:
in St. Mary's County a will provided for the freedom of a
female slave who was above the age of forty-five years and
for vesting in her during life the title to her son as a slave,
and also the title to some other property, thus attempting to
secure to her an independent income. The county court ad-
judged her free, but its decree was reversed on appeal in
i8i5. 3 The leading cases affecting children were those
involving the issue of female slaves-f or-terms-of -years, i. e.,
slaves who had to serve for fixed periods of time after the
execution and bef ore the maturity of the instruments effect-
ing their manumission. In old practice manumitters had
l Laws, 1752, ch. i; cf. also 1790, ch. ix.
2 Op. cit., 1796, ch. 67; 1831, ch. 281; 1858, ch. 307; cf. Md. Appeal
Reports, 7 Md., p. 465. In this case the court held that, while a slave
of any .age could be legally manumitted under the act of 1831, the
master was not on that account free from liability for his maintenance,
in case he became unable to support himself.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 4 H. & J., pp. 199-200; cf. 5 H. & J., pp. 191-95;
7 Md., p. 405-
62 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [452
sometimes claimed from such issue terms of service similar
to thqse of their mothers ; x and in 1809 an act of the legisla-
ture empowered manumitters to fix their status, failing
which they were to be slaves. 2 But to cases arising under
manumissions executed prior to this act the earlier law of
manumission applied. Such a case was decided in the ap-
peal court in 1823. A will, made in 1801, had provided that
upon the death of a designated legatee several negroes were
to go free. A child, born to one of these negroes before
her freedom, petitioned for freedom. The court held that
he, as the issue, was a part of the use of his mother that had
been transferred by the will, and that at the commencement
of his mother's freedom he had been too young to work for
his own maintenance. It said; " The policy and object of
the law is to prevent those, who by reason of their tender
years, or of decrepitude, old age, or fixed or permanent
disease, are unable to maintain themselves, from being cast
by emancipation, as a burden upon the community, or
thrown into a state of suffering and want." The petitioner
was adjudged a slave. 3 A later will provided for the free-
l Anne Arundel Wills, Lib. JG, no. 2, pp. 205, 351; Baltimore Wills,
Lib. WB, no. 6, pp. 153, 332; Dorchester Deeds, Lib. HD, no. i, p. 348;
Frederick Land Recs., Lib. W'R, no. 9, p. 14; Lib. WR, no. 25, p. 140;
Lib. J)S, no. 2, pp. 8, 178; Harford Land Recs., Lib. AJ, no. A, pp. 484,
486; Lib. JLG, no. C, p. 268; Montgomery Wills, Lib. B, p. 271; Queen
Anne's Wills, Lib. WHN, no. 3, pp. 120-21 ; Somerset Deeds, Lib. K,
p. 225; Lib. O, p. 196; Talbot Deeds, Lib. BS, no. 23, p. 7; Talbot Wills,
Lib. JB, no. 3, P- 60.
*Laws, 1809, ch. 171.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 6 H. & J., pp. 16-20; cf. op. cit., p. 526; 5 H. & J.,
p. 431 ; 8 H. & J., pp. 32-35. In the last case cited the court said that
" freedom was entirely dependent upon the ' issue's ' ability to gain a
sufficient maintenance." Of the will providing for the freedom it said :
"The intention is express to liberate the issue at its birth, but the
intention cannot be legally perfected', for at the moment of time, when
the freedom is to operate, the petitioner is incompetent to take it; that
is, she was unable to gain a sufficient maintenance." And her having
453] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 63
dom of 'both a woman and " her increase " at the age of
thirty-six years. The court held that both she herself and
every child born to her, before she became free, were to
serve as slaves, until each arrived at the age of thirty-six
years. 1
The manumissions thus either took effect at once, or pro-
vided for freedom to begin in future. A few, especially
in the wills, made the date of maturity dependent upon the
death of designated legatees. 2 More often the future date
was fixed and the present ages of the negroes were stated.
And here some owners took advantage of the latitude
allowed them by law. Endeavors were made on the one
hand to manumit early enough to allow the freedmen an
equal start in life with the freeborn and on the other to
make sure of long service before the release took place.
The ages usually varied from a minimum of sixteen years
to eighteen years for females to a maximum for both sexes
at the legal limit, the females being freed at from three to
seven years younger than the males. 3 Accordingly there was
acted as free for about ten years meanwhile was of no avail in her
behalf.
At least one attempt was made to claim the future issue of a negress,
whose freedom was to begin from the date of grant. Anne Arundel
Wills, Lib. TG, no. I, p. 52 (1781). It is doubtful that such a claim
could have been sustained, Cf. Md. Appeal Reports, 14 Md., pp. 115,
118.
l Md. Appeal Reports, 2 Md., p. 88; cf\. Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB,
no. 6, p. 375.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 6 H. & J., pp. 16, 20; also Wills of: Anne
Arundel, Lib. JG, no. I, pp. 321, 329, 344; Baltim-ore, Lib. WB, no. 5,
p. 145 ; Lib. WB, no. 6, pp. 36, 101 ; Cecil, Lib. 10, p. 274 ; Frederick, Lib.
GM, no. 3, p. 464; Kent, Lib. 6, p. no; Queen Anne's, Lib. TW, no. I,
p. 182. In one case in Montgomery Wills, Lib. B, p. 539, the freedom
depended upon the future marriage of the widow of the testator. Cf.
also Frederick Wills, Lib. GM, no. 3, p. 578.
"The following refer to examples of minimum ages: Anne Arundel
Deeds, Lib. NiH, no. 3, p. 439 ; Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB, no. 4, p. 395 ;
64 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [454
no ground for legal interference with the results in most
cases. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that this part
of the law of manumission was constantly evaded. The
decrees of the courts, to be sure, determined what could
be done under the law ; however, they really regulated only
the adjudicated cases, and others in which either the masters,
or both parties, determined to follow the rules. Whereas,
if both were determined not to follow the rules, the con-
ditions, in the counties at any rate, were such that they
might generally have their way. And in view of the
arrangements made by benevolent masters for old negroes
before the act of 1831, as well as afterwards, 1 of the com-
Harford Land Recs., Lib. AL, no. A, pp. 8, 9; Talbot Wills, Lib. JB,
no. 3, pp. 46-47; Somerset Deeds, Lib. G, p. 359, The following refer
to high ages of the manumitted : Anne Arundel Wills, Lib. JG, no. I,
484; Lib. JG, no. 2, p. 86; Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB, no. 5, pp. 30, 493;
Lib. B, no. 6, p. 375 ; Cecil Wills, Lib. 3, p. 153 ; Lib. BB; no. 4, p. 32 ;
Cecil Land Recs., Lib. 18, p. 242; Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WR, no.
10, p. 84; Lib. WR, no. 18, p. 187; Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no.
A, p. 340; Queen Anna's Land Recs., Lib. RT, no. K, p. 453; Lib. RT,
no. L, p. 181 ; Somerset Deeds, Lib. L, p. 216; Worcester Deeds, Lib.
N, p. 347-
The following compare ages of males and females, the ages of males
preceding in each instance: 21 and 16; Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH,
no. 3, p. 439; Somerset Deeds, Lib. G, p. 359. 21 and 18; Harford
Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. F, p. 59; Kent Wills, Lib. 6, p. 166; Mont-
gomery Land Recs., Lib. A, pp. 67, 453, obi ; Talbot Deeds, Lib. BS, no.
23, p. 7. 25 and 21 ; Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. IB, no, 5, p. 537; Anne
Arundel Wills, Lib. JG, no. I, p. 530. 30 and 25; Anne Arundel Wills,
lac. cit., p. 623; Lib. JG, no. 2, p. 68; Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. AL,
no. A, p. 310; Montgomery Wills, Lib. D, p. 537. 31 and 21 ; Dorchester
Deeds, Lib. iHD, no. 2, p. 61. 28 and 25 ; Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB,
no. 5, p. 30. 45 and 35; Cecil Wills, Lib. 4, p. 154; cf. also Baltimore
Wills, Lib. WB, no. 4, pp. 404, 543.; Dorchester Deeds, Lib. HtD, no. I,
p. 348.
1 E. g., Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH, no. 5, p. 100; Lib. NH, no. 8,
p. 455; Lib. IB, no. i, p. 474; Baltimore Chattel ReS., Lib. WG, no. i,
p. 72; Lib. WG, no. 9, p. 92; Lib. TK, no. 70, p. 200; Lib. ED, no. 10,
p. 88; Baltimore Wills, Lib. WB, no, 4, pp. 304-05, 473, 493; Frederick
455] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 65
plaints about turning old negroes adrift, of provisions
for the manumission of young children, 1 for giving and
selling children to their parents, 2 and of the tolerant attitude
of the people towards orderly slaves who acted as free-
men without burdening the public for support, there must
have been a considerable number both of those too young,
and those too old, for manumission who enjoyed many of
the essentials of freedom.
Finally there were the restrictions imposed in behalf
of the creditors of manumitters. A statute of 1787 had
made the real estate and personalty of deceased debtors
equally liable for the payment of their debts. 3 The act
of manumission of a debtor concerned his creditors, be-
cause it involved a transfer of property. The rights of
creditors existed independently of the act and suffered no
Wills, Lib. GM, no. 3, p. 362; Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. P,
p. 92; Montgomery Land Recs., Lib. D, p. 637; Lib. E, pp. 117, 657.
In the act of 1827, ch. 158, the legislature validated a deed of manu-
mission made in behalf of a negress who had passed the age of forty-
five years, but provided that the master should bond himself to support
her in case of need.
1 Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH, no. 3,, p. 52; Anne Arundel Wills,
Lib. BEG, no. i, p. 184; Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. B, no. G, p. 199;
Lib. AL, no. A, p. 320; Lib. WG, no. 10, p. 66; Baltimore Wills, Lib.
WB, no. 5, p. 170; Cecil Land Recs., Lib. 16, p. 361; Frederick Land
Recs., Lib. W1R, no. 14, p. 158; Lib. W<R, no. 28, p. 186; Lib. WR, no.
39. P 63; Lib. WR, no. 45, p. 287; Lib. JlS> no. n, p. 395; Lib. JS, no.
21, p. 564; Lib. BGF, no. i, p. 686; Montgomery Land Recs., Lib. D,
p. 539J Kent Chattel ReS., Lib. TW, no. i, pp. 7, 134; Somerset Deeds,
Lib. H, p. 507 ; cf. Laws, 1826, ch. 236. A statute of 1858 prohibited the
manumission of children under the age of ten years. Laws, 1858, ch. 307.
* Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH, no. 2, p. 649; Lib. NH, no. 9, pp. 55,
73, 664; Lib. NH, no. n, pp. 363, 500; Lib. NH, no. 6, p. 161 ; Lib. 16,
p. 106; Lib. WSG, no. i, p. 42; Kent Chattel Recs., Lib. TW, no. i, pp.
42, 203, 233, 264, 282, 362, 377; Lib. TW, no. 2, pp. 92, 172, 190, 262,
396, 413, 414, 457, 471.
*Laws, 1785, ch. 72; cf. Md. Appeal Reports, 6 Gill, p. 299. Also
Bradford, Laws of Maryland, p. 155-58, act of April 26, 1715 (D).
66 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [456
diminution because of it. Therefore the validity of the act
was conditioned upon the previous satisfaction of those
rights. For this reason the restoration of the right to
manumit slaves by will in 1790 was made upon condition
that no such manumission was to be "effectual to give
freedom to any slave or slaves, if the same shall be in pre-
judice of creditors." x Now the incipient rights of manu-
mitted persons were derived from the acts of manumis-
sion executed on their behalf. If the acts were valid, the
rights were established, but if voided, they were extin-
guished. The situation gave rise to a conflict in which
the attempt to maintain property rights was repeatedly
attacked in the name of human liberty. The courts affected
no favor for either side. 2 To them the slaves were " both
by the letter and policy of the law, property, and subject to
the same rules of law as other personal property, unless in
cases where discriminations have been made by the statutes
of the state." : Their chief problems were, as cases arose,,
to declare the rights of the parties in interest; to show
creditors whether, when and how they were to attach, or
exempt, manumitted slaves in satisfying their claims; and
to point out to petitioners for freedom the means of ascer-
taining whether the available assets of estates, excluding 1
manumitted negroes, were adequate to pay the debts of their
departed owners. In adjudicating petitions for freedom
the appeal court evolved an interesting body of rules for
the relief of both creditors and petitioners in applying the
l Laws, 1790, ch. ix; 1796, ch. 67.
2 In 1849 the Court of Appeals, quoting the statutes of 1752, ch. i, and
1796, ch. 67, said that the design of the laws authorizing manumission
had been to gratify slave-owners by enlarging their privileges in the
disposal of their property. And that it was not the policy of the state
to encourage these things, nor to attempt to destroy slavery. Reports,
8 Gill, p. 219 (319).
s Ibid., 6 Gill, pp. 388-91.
457] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 67
principles here stated. We first give attention to the side
of creditors.
A will in Somerset County provided for the freedom of
a negro at the age of twenty-eight years. The widow of
the deceased renounced the will and claimed her third of
the estate. The orphans' court permitted her to> take the
negro as a slave for life, on the ground that after paying
her husband's debts, the residue of the estate, exclusive of
the negro, was insufficient to afford her her dower. At the
end of the term designated in the will the negro petitioned
for freedom, but was denied it both in the county court and
in the Court of Appeals. 1 A testator in Kent County at-
tempted to manumit his twelve negroes. He ordered that
his personal estate should be first applied in the discharge
of his debts, and thereafter so much o>f his real estate as
should be necessary for the purpose, "so as to leave my
negroes free as before stated." But the personal estate, even
including the negroes, was not sufficient to satisfy the valid
claims. The negroes, being detained as slaves, sued for
freedom. But since at the time of trial the value of the
real estate had not been duly ascertained, it was not known
whether even the whole estate would satisfy the creditors.
Hence the petition was denied and the judgment affirmed
on appeal. 2 In the next leading case it appeared that the
petitioner had been at liberty under a deed of manumission
for about six years, when he was included as a slave in the
inventory of his master's estate. The appeal court here
stated that in satisfying their claims the creditors must first
exhaust the personal estate, but that in case the latter pro-
1 Op. tit., 5 H. & J. f pp. 59-60.
'The three judges in the higher court gave different opinions as to
the grounds of the decree, but all substantially agreed that a testator
could not compel his creditors to look for payment of their claims to
any particular fund, or portion 1 , of the estate specified by himself.
Op. cit., 2 H. & G., pp. 1-8 (1827).
68 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [458
ved inadequate for the purpose, they could resort to the
real estate also. A deed of manumission was not " opera-
tive, and available, if made to the prejudice of the credi-
tors." But creditors had to prove their own cause. For
that purpose they had a remedy in an equity proceeding,
which could assemble all the assets of the estate, real and
personal, of the deceased, determine whether or not their
value, exclusive of the manumitted slaves, was adequate to
satisfy their demands, and if not, decree the sale of the
slaves for terms of years, or for life, to make up the deficit.
That was a sufficient remedy to protect their interests. 1
Reiterating much of the foregoing in 1848 the court added
that a testator's exemption of any part of his estate from
liability for use for debt payment could not bar a creditor's
suit against his executor, and that in chancery an executor's
testimony as to the sufficiency of real estate to satisfy debts
would not be effective to secure such exemption. Further-
more, negroes manumitted by will were to be entered at
full value in the inventory of an estate returned by an
executor. Their liability to be appropriated for debt pay-
ment was not at an end, until upon full warning creditors
had filed their claims, and the executor by settlement of his
accounts had satisfied the orphans' court that the other
assets of the estate were sufficient to pay the debts. If the
orphans' court found it necessary to sell them, their terms
of service were to be limited only by the requirements of the
debts of their master. 2
l Op, cit., 7 G & J., pp. 96-108; cf. 6 Gill, p. 299; also 12 Md., pp. 274-
80, in which a similar proceeding was finally declared in 1858 for negroes
in behalf of freedom petitions. On the onus of proof, vide 17 Md.,
pp. 92-104 (1861)..
2 Op. cit., 6 Gill, p. 299 ( 1848) . In 1844 the legislature passed an act
imposing a tax of two and a half per cent on every hundred dollars
worth of property passing to legatees. A Howard County manu-
mitter objected to paying the tax on his manumitted slaves. Howard
459] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 69
On the side of petitioners for freedom the evolution of
rules was striking. At the outset the court declined to allow
any preference of real estate to manumitted slaves for set-
tling vested claims against estates. 1 In the second case
cited, however, it was hinted that, if the value of the real
estate had been duly ascertained before the trial, it might
have been first exhausted in favor oi liberating the negroes. 8
The judges expressed commiseration for the hardships re-
sulting to the petitioners but pointed out no way to dis-
cover the final merits of the case. In the next case which
came up, however, (1835) it was held that the act of manu-
mission was " operative and effectual to give freedom to
the slave, unless the rights of creditors are injured by it,"
and that in the act of 1796 the legislature had intended
neither
to make it incumbent on the slave to prove, as a condition
precedent to effective manumission, that the residue of his
master's property was sufficient for the payment of his debts,
. . . nor to suspend the operation of such grant of freedom,
until it had been ascertained . . . that it would not operate
to the prejudice of creditors.
Further that the law charges the whole of the
Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. WG, no. i, pp. 352-61. The case was
carried to the Court of Appeals, where the bequest was deemed a tax-
able legacy in the meaning of the taxing statute. Reports, 6 Gill,
pp. 388-91 (i&*8).
In one will in Frederick County, Ob. GH, no. i, p. 194, provision
was made for the payment of the collateral tax out of the estate to
which the manumitted negro had belonged.
1 Md, Appeal Reports, 5 H. & J., pp. 58-60 (1820).
2 Op. cit., 2 H. & G., pp. 1-8. The ground chosen by the court was
apparently the only safe one on account of the unknown factor, the
value of the real estate. In a later case, reported in 6 Gill, pp. 299-342,
it was said that in a freedom trial in a court of law evidence as to the
value of real estate could not be legally submitted to a jury or form a
subject for its determination.
70 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [460
manumitter's property with the payment of his debts, in
favor of his manumitted slaves, because the act of manu-
mission is to be effectual, if not done in prejudice of creditors;
which plainly and necessarily implies that the residue of his
property is to be appropriated to the payment of his debts,
before the manumitted slaves can be made liable therefor.
Two years later a petitioner, who in an earlier appeal had
been declared a slave, was sustained on the ground that the
accruals of assets to the estate after the manumitter's death
had made it possible to satisfy the creditors without avoid-
ing the bequest of freedom. 2 And in 1848 the court held
that, if a freedom suit was barred because the value of the
real estate of the manumittor had not been ascertained,
equity would suspend the proceedings at law, which had
prevented doing justice, would decree the sale of the real
estate charged with the payment of debts and apply the pro-
ceeds to their satisfaction. After the debts had been paid,
the manumitted slaves could prosecute their claims to free-
dom. 3 In the same year the chancellor held that in a pro-
l Op. cit. t 7 G. & J., pp. 96-108; cf. i Md. Chancery, p. 296. It would
appear that the ruling here as to the suspension of the grant of free-
dom, until the creditors' interests had been secured, was reversed in
the case reported in 6 Gill, p. 299 (1848). Cf. last cited case in preced-
ing paragraph.
J 0/>. cit., 9 G. & J., pp. 158-64. The court said here that the claim
urged against the petitioner that her freedom "must depend upon the
sufficiency of the personal assets of the deceased at the moment of her
death to pay all her debts, has nothing in reason or law to support it."
Conversely, if the assets of the estate, even though at first adequate, had
through no fault of the administrator subsequently become inadequate
for the payment of the debts, the right of freedom would no longer
have existed 1 . For the first appeal, cf. 8 G. & J., pp. 160-66.
8 0/>. cit., 6 Gill, p. 299. The opinion in this case contained criticisms
of an opinion by the United States Supreme Court interpreting the
Maryland act of 1796, ch. 67, as bearing on this point. In 1858 the
court said that the manumitted slaves had a right in equity to discover
the condition of, and their own relation to, the estates of their masters.
12 Md., pp. 274-80. This decision was based upon that of 1848 just re-
ferred to.
461] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 71
ceeding to determine the " invalidity" of a deed of manu-
mission, as in prejudice of creditors, the "negro manu-
mitted is entitled to the assistance of the heir at law, or the
person holding the real esate, in taking account of the
amount thereof, before the insolvency of the deceased manu-
mitter can be legally ascertained." Furthermore, an act
of manumission " though in prejudice of creditors is valid
against the manumitter himself and his legal representatives,
and the negroes manumitted are not assets for the payment
of debts." 1 Investigations of these matters could only
cause short delays to parties in interest, and would guar-
antee the preservation of the " rights of a helpless class, if
any rights they have." 2
In addition to the restrictions thus imposed by law, manu-
mitters themselves sometimes laid down conditions, com-
pliance with which they purposed to regard as necessary to
the freedom of their negroes. Fulfillment was to be some-
times before, sometimes after, the beginning of freedom.
The former involved chiefly continued fidelity in service,
abstention from running away, losing time and other mis-
conduct, until the time of final release. 8 Provisions of this
1 1 Md. Chancery, pp. 296-306; cf. Appeal Reports, 7 G. & J., pp. 96-108.
*0/>. cit., 12 Md., pp. 274-80 (1858). The allusion here to the great
question of contemporary law and politics, upon which a federal judge
from Maryland had then recently given an opinion, will not pass un-
noticed.
3 Anne Arundel Wills, Lib. JG, no. 2, p. 163; Baltimore Chattel Recs.,
WG, no. 3, p. 405; Baltimore Wills, Lib. W1B, no. 6, pp. 416, 512; Caro-
line Land Recs., Lib. H, p. 159; Caroline Wills, Lib. WAF, no. A, p.
141; Cecil Wills, Lib. 9, p. 293; Dorchester Wills, Lib. LLK, no. i, p. I ;
Frederick Wills, Lib. GM, no. 3, p. 150; Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG,
no. A, p. 276 ; Harford Wills, Lib. AJ, no. 3, p. 466 ; Montgomery Land
Recs., Lib. H, p. 481; Lib. O, p. 410; Queen Anne's Land Recs., Lib.
RT, no. L, p. 181 ; Queen Anne's Wills, Lib. SC, no. 7, p. 276 ; Somerset
Deeds, Lib. K, p. 116; Talbot Deeds, Lib. RS, no. 21, p. 220; Talbot
Wills, Lib. JP, no. 9, p. 268; Worcester Deeds, Lib. U, p. 245.
72 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [462
kind were authorized by statutes of 1715 and 1833, the
latter of which enacted that extensions of service might be
made in order to penalize absconding slaves-for-terms-of-
years; 1 and they were apparently upheld by the courts. 3
The conditions to be fulfilled after freedom began were of
two kinds chiefly. Certain of them required service or
money payments to the manumitters' estates, or to design-
ated beneficiaries thereof. 3 A few others, made in aid of
the attempts to effect the expatriation of the Maryland
negroes, forbade those whom they liberated to reside in the
state as freemen. 4 Now the appeal court held that, if the
1 Laws, 1715, ch. xliv ; 1833, ch. 224.
*Cf. Md., Appeal Reports, 6 G. & J., pp. 292-98; i Gill, pp. 395-4O3;
13 Md., p. 181; 7 Gill, pp. 213-16; Baltimore Orphans' Court Minutes,
Lib. 25, pp. 305, 320; Lib. 26, pp. 67, 150; Lib. 27, pp. 142, 402; Lib. 2&,
pp. i, 424; Lib. 29, pp. 78, 112, 161; Lib. 30, pp. 181, 429; Baltimore Co.
Orphans' Court Mins., Lib. JLR, no. i, pp. 115, 189, 157, 274, 279, 316,
413, 437; Harford Orphans' Court General Entries, Lib. BHH, pp. 155,
J 58, 159, 201, 202, 269; Howard Orphans' Court Mins., Lib. WG, no. I,
PP. 272, 339, 342, 347, 363, 383, 404; Lib. TJ, no. 2, pp. 22, 58, 59, 67,
104, 136, 145, 199, 213, 295.
In 1858 the appeal court said that the master might make the free-
dom of a negro dependent on " a contingent event. If the event does
not happen the negro remains a slave." Reports, 14 Md., pp. 115-18;
cf. op. cit., pp. 118-121; also 17 Md., pp. 413-19 (1861).
* Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH, no. 4, p. 269; Baltimore Wills, Lib.
DMP, no. 14, p. 212; Cecil Wills, Lib. 6, p. 76; Dorchester Deeds, Lib.
BR, no. 4, p. 358; Dorchester Wills, Lib. THH, no. i, pp. 197, 363;
Harford Wills, Lib. AJ, no. C, p. 12; Talbot Wills, Lib. JP, no. 9, p. 54;
Worcester Wills, Lib. TT, no. 8, p. 58; cf. Anne Arundel Wills, Lib.
JG, no. i, p. 47; Frederick Wills, Lib. GH, no. i, p. 311; also infra,
chapter on " Property of Negroes," pp. 136, 138.
4 Baltimore Chattel ReS., Lib. TK, no. 70, p. 200; Lib. TK, no. 55,
p. 307; Baltimore Wills, Lib. DMP, no. 16, p. 503; Lib. DMP, no. 17,
p. 479; Lib. DMP, no. 19, p. 448; Lib. DMP, no. 21, p. 177. On the
expatriation policy, cf. Laws, 1831, ch. 281, and chapter on "Coloni-
zation," infra.
A peculiar condition recorded in the Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH,
no. 8, p. 84, was that a mulatto woman and her child were not to go
near the City of Annapolis.
463] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 73
freedom depended upon a contingent event, it could not be
realized so long as the event had not occurred. 1 But in a
case in which a will had warned a manumitted negro that
he would be liable to re-enslavement, if found inside of
Maryland after the lapse of thirty days f rom the beginning
of his freedom, it was held that the power o>f a testator to
control his negro ceased, when the act of manumission took
effect, and that the " conditions subsequent " of the bequest
were not enforceable. The manumitter had no power to re-
store the state of slavery, when once it had been ended.^
Manumitted slaves also enjoyed protection against deten-
tion beyond the terms they were entitled to serve.* An act
of the legislature in 1783 extended this protection to cases
of slaves- f or- terms-of-years| brought to Maryland from
other states: 4 in 1790 the abduction of any such persons
for sale or other purposes was prohibited under heavy
penalty; 5 in 1810 selling them for terms longer than their
legal servitude, and in 1817 selling them to agents of non-
residents, was prohibited, and special formalities were re-
quired for the transfer of all negroes who were to be re-
1 I4 Md. Appeal Reports, pp. 115-18.
*0p. cit., 8 Gill, pp. 315-21 (1849) ; cf. 3 Md., pp. 119-27; 12 Md., pp.
274-80; 14 Md., pp. 109-16. This principle was enacted into a statute
in the act of 1858, ch. 307; cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1854, pp. 196, 604, 605.
3 The following refer to cases in which damages were given to negroes
on account of too long detention : Provincial Court Judgments, Lib. 13,
pp. 615-18 (1712) ; Lib. 35, pp. 347-49, 350-56; General Court Judgments,
E, Shore, Lib. 74, P- 225 (1787); Lib. 80, pp. 500-05 (1793) ; Lib. 82,
pp. 321, 448-53 (1793) ; W. Shore, Lib. 67, pp. 487-90 (1781) ; Somerset
Co. Court Judgments, 1774-75, PP- 214-15; 1798-99, p. 57 2 ; 1804-05, pp.
348-50.
4 Laws, 1783, ch. xxiii; cf. also 1796, ch. 67, in which a fine of $800
was provided for violators of this clause.
8 Op. cit., 1700, ch. ix. The fine of $800 was superseded by sentence
to the penitentiary by the act of 1809, ch. 138.
74 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [464
moved outside of Maryland. 1 Finally in 1858 negroes
serving on account of conviction of crime were likewise
given partial protection. 2 In the case of a manumitted girl
who had been sold to a resident of Virginia the legislature
passed a special act to require the purchaser to secure a
resident of Maryland as his bondsman to guarantee her
release at the end of her legal term. a More than a decade
later there arose two cases of negroes both of whom had
continued to serve beyond the time set for their freedom to
commence. The first one became aware of his title to free-
dom about six years after it should have become effective.
The other was detained by his master, who acting in good
faith had deemed him a slave. Both alike were freed, but
were denied compensation for their excess of service. 4
It was stated above that the manumission of negroes in
Maryland was encompassed chiefly by the whites. Ac-
cordingly the majority of manumissions were ostensibly
gratuitous. Even when the freedom resulted from the com-
bined efforts of slaves and their masters, 5 the instrumentality
of the latter often predominated. Nevertheless the negroes
contributed towards securing their own freedom, first by
self-redemption, and secondly, by manumitting other negroes
l Op. cit., 1810, ch. xv ; 1817, ch. 112; cf. Baltimore Chattel Recs.,
Lib. WG, no. 27, p. 72. In a late case the appeal court decided that
no new act of manumission was necessary to secure the freedom of a
slave- for-term-of years who was sold. Reports, 8 Md., p. 386.
*Laws, 1858, ch. 324.
3 Op. cit., 1840, ch. in. In another case the buyer of a female slave
contracted not to remove her from the state of Maryland. He, how-
ever, sold her to a third party with permission to carry her to another
state. The Court of Appeals decided that the second sale was fraudu-
lent, and that the first seller had a right to damages against the second.
Reports, 2 H. & G., pp. 291-95.
4 Op. cit., 8 Gill, pp. 322-31 ; 7 Md., p. 430.
E. g., Kent Chattel Recs., Lib. TW, no. 2, pp. 396, 413.
465] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 75
that had come into their possession as property. In many
instances money payments were mentioned as partial, or
total, consideration for the execution of deeds of manumis-
sion. Some of them were obviously intended to cover only
the cost of record, 1 and many that were larger than these
were still merely nominal. From this they ranged up to
sums equal to the market prices of slaves for life. 2 Some-
times the receipt of the money was mentioned in the instru-
ments.* But generally the negroes had only their hire with
which to redeem themselves, and several expedients were
employed in order to enable them to meet the obligations in-
curred. Some were allowed to give word or bond to pay
the sums agreed upon, and to labor as freemen financially
obligated to their manumitters as creditors, 4 Some again
engaged themselves to labor under indentures, whose tenures
l Cf. the following, in each of which 55. currency was paid: Frederick
Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 14, p. 158; Lib. W1R, no. 17, p. 153*; Lib. WR,
no. 24, p. no; Charles Co. Recs., Lib. S, no. 3, p. 430.
2 One negro in Somerset was freed for 5 1, currency, equal to $13.33,
Deeds, Lib. G, p. 28. One in Queen Anne's paid 15 1, Land Recs.,
Lib. iSTW, no. 2, p. 390. iln the following cases $400 each was paid:
Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. 12, p. 41 (1806) ; Frederick Land
Recs., Lib. JS, no. 3, p. 415; Lib. JiS, no. 18, p. 101 ; Montgomery Land
Recs., Lib. P, p. 54 (1810). In the following $500 each was paid:
Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. .ED, no. 6, p. 433 ; Frederick Land Recs.>
Lib. JS, no. 10, p. 138. Most of the payments were not large.
*E. g. Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. N'H, no. 5, p. 36; Baltimore Chattel
Recs., Lib. WG, no. 27, p. 24; Cecil Land Recs., Lib. 16, pp. 334, 361;
Lib. 17, p. 544; Frederick Land Recs., Lib. JS, no. 4, p. 577; Mont-
gomery Land Recs., Lib. G, p. 330; Lib. N, p. 260; Lib, O, p. 284; Lib,
P, PP- 54, 537; Lib. T, p. 121; Lib. U, p. 8; Lib. X, pp. 148, 573 J
Worcester Deeds, Lib. WET, no. 2, pp. 90, 120.
Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. n, p. 374; Lib. WG, no. 12,
p. 41; Dorchester Deeds, Lib. HD, no. 17, p. 506; Frederick Land Recs.,
Lib. WR, no. 21, p. 463; Lib. WR, no. 40, p. 69; Lib. no. 42, p. 63;
Queen Anne's Wills, Lib. WHN, no. 2, p. 183; Somerset Wills, Lib.
EP, no. 23, p. 61; Talbot Wills, Lib. JP, no. 5, p. 263; Washington
Wills, Lib. D, p. 1 10.
76 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [466
were deemed adequate to the purposes in view. 1 Others,
finally, fixed as the conditions of release sums which were
to be defrayed by continued service as slaves at agreed rates
of wages, until their debts were respectively discharged. 3
In each case freedom was to follow the fulfillment of the
conditions laid down in the agreement.
Negroes who were already free devoted much energy to
the redemption of slaves. In doing so they adopted many
of the same expedients for the complete or partial indemni-
fication of owners that slaves employed in redeeming them-
selves. Making payment at or before the time of transfer
and giving mortgages upon those transferred were the chief
means of securing possession of slaves thus purchased. 8
1 Cf. citations in note 3, p. 71, supra; Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH,
no. 7, p. 179; Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. 3, pp. 208, 405;
Cecil Wills, Lib. 5, pp. 33-34; Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 47,
p. 236; Kent Chattel Recs., Lib. TW, no. i, p. 652; Somerset Deeds,
Lib. I, p. 555; Lib. K, p. 116; Lib. P, p. 434; Worcester Deeds, Lib.
U, p. 611 ; Lib. AU, pp. 1-5 ; Worcester Wills, Lib. TT, no. 8, p. 58.
2 C/. Caroline Land Recs., Lib. WiR, no. E, p. 516; Dorchester Deeds,
Lib. HD, no. 12, p. 421 ; Frederick Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 16, p. 28.
The following were joint bills of sale and manumissions: Baltimore
Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. 2, p. 462; Lib. WG, no. 18, p. 48; Lib. WG,
no. 29, p. 88; Lib. AI, no. 48, p. 339; Lib. TK, no. 52, p. 77; Frederick
Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 28, pp: 186, 413 ; Lib. JS, no. 38, p. 91 ; Har-
ford Land Recs., Lib. JLG, no. M, p. 563; Cecil Land Recs., Lib. 17,
p. 43; Lib. 19, p. 174; Lib. 18, p. 52. The joint bills of sale and manu-
missions were particularly numerous in Baltimore, Cecil and Frederick
counties. Some of the negroes so disposed of were taken by Penn-
sylvania masters.
'In Frederick County Richard (X) Richardson gave a mortgage for
100 /. currency on a woman named " Hager." Three years and eight
months later the mortgage was released and the slave manumitted by
the mortgagor. Land Recs., Lib. WR, no. 30, p. 460 (1807) ; Lib. WR,
no. 38, pp. 484, 621-22. In Washington Co. in 1847 Thomas (X) Bell
paid one dollar for his wife and children four. Land Recs., Lib. IN,
no. 2, pp. 633, 645; cf. Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. N'H, no. 6, p. 161 ;
Lib. NH, no. 12, p. 175; Lib. NH, no. 13, p. 531; Lib. NH, no. 16, pp.
106, 328; Lib. WSG, no. i, p. 42; Lib. WSG, no. 2, p. 566; Lib. WSG,
467] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION jj
The prices paid varied widely and often bore no particular
relation to the values of the slaves transferred. Thus two
Eastern Shore negroes who purchased wives paid, the one
one cent, while the other engaged to pay twenty pounds
Maryland currency and besides to weave a hundred yards
of woolen cloth for the seller. 1 In Frederick County in
1841 a woman paid $200 for her son, aged six years, and
four years later a man who had himself just been manu-
mitted paid two dollars for two women of fifty-six and
fifteen years of age respectively. 2 Slave-holding by negroes
for purposes of gain was not common in Maryland. Indeed
the instruments conveying slaves to negroes at times either
no. 3, p. 406; Kent Chattel Recs., Lib. JNG, no. 4, pp. 90, 92, 119, 143, 145,
156, 160, 163, 170, 204, 206, 221, 267, 269, 330, 350.
The following two contain curious expressions, which, however, seem
to suggest experiences that others also may have had: In Caroline
Land Recs., Lib. G, p. 248 ( 1801 ) : " Know all men by these presents that
Maryland Troth of Caroline County in the State of Maryland, Laborer,
like good old Jacob the father of the children of Israel, having served
three years for an wife, and have her in peaceable possession," do manu-
mit, etc. And in Lib. H, p. 367 (1803) : Negro (X) Harkless manu-
mitted his wife, " to pay for which I have lost many drops of grease,"
He declared her " to be as fully and freely entitled to her freedom as
I myself am, and continue to be so until the metropolis of Caroline
County shall be rent in pains by the explosion of cannon announcing the
erection of dry-docks for the preservation of ships of war."
1 Caroline Land Records, Lib. M, pp. 500-1; Talbot Deeds, Lib. 26,
p. 221. For prices paid by others in these counties, vide for the former:
op. cit., Lib. O, p. 83; Lib. P, p. 538; Lib. Q, p. 233. In the last one
cited $1000 was paid for a wife and five children. Also Lib. ;S, pp.
214, 346. For the latter county: op,, cit., Lib. 27, pp. 78, 151, 160, 242,
485 ; Lib. 47, p. 65. In Kent in 1834 a woman gave her sons, aged nine
and seven years, to serve until each became twenty-one years of age
for the freedom of her husband. Chattel Records, Lib. JNG, no. 2,
p. 170. It appeared that sometimes the slave consort assisted the free
partner in executing the financial part of the plan for redeeming.
J Frederick Land Records, Lib. HiS, no. 4, pp. 68-69; Lib. WBT,
no. 2, p. 408.
78 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [468
manumitted them, 1 or less frequently stipulated that the gran-
tees were themselves to manumit. 2 But those not so bound
were free to do as they chose, and some of them held con-
sorts, or children, or both as slaves for long periods of
years. 8
Nevertheless the chief reason for these purchases was to
give freedom to the negroes so acquired. Accordingly the
first concern was to secure possession of the buyers' con-
sorts and offspring who were slaves. After these, parents,
brothers, sisters and more distant relatives benefited in
direct ratio to the nearness of their relationship. And
acquisition of those whose kinship was not mentioned was
not unknown.* In manumitting negroes used the same
1 E. g. Anne Arundel Bills of Sale, Lib. JHN, no. i, pp. 30, 53, 82,
256; Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. WG, no. 13, p. 472; Lib. WG, no.
16, p. 59; Lib. WIG, no. 17, p. 135; Lib. WG, no. 42, p. 127; Lib. WG, no.
43, pp. 238, 396, 398; Lib. WG, no. 44, p. 46; Lib. AI, no. 48, p. 165;
Lib. AWB, no. 79, p. 256; Cecil Land Records, Lib. RHC, no. 3, p. 580;
Lib. RHC, no. 4, p. 154; Kent Chattel Records, Lib. JNG, no. 3, pp. 165,
318; Lib. JNG, no. 4, pp. 8, 19, 28, 61, 62, 92, 330; Queen Anne's Land
Records, Lib. <STW, no. 9, p. 490; Lib. STW, no. 10, p. 32. Many of
these were joint bills of sale and manumissions.
a Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. AL, no. A, p. 412; Lib. TK, no. 52,
p. 95; Lib. AWB, no. 74, P- 168; Lib. ED, no. 4 P- 251 ; Harford Chattel
Records, Lib. HDG, no. 2, p. 24; Kent Chattel Records, Lib. JR, no. I,
PP. 390, 39i ; Talbot Deeds, Lib. 60, p. 258.
*E, g. Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. WG, no. 20, pp. 113, 168; Lib.
WG, no. 22, p. 373; Lib. WG, no. 29, p. 48; Lib. WG, no. 31, p. 362;
Lib. WG, no. 43, P- 246; Lib. TK, no. 60, p. 167; Lib. AWB, no. 74, p.
230; Lib. AWB, no. 81, p. 103; Frederick Land Records, Lib. WR, no.
20, p. 495; Lib. JS, no. 5, p. 723; Lib. JS, no. 14, p. 293; Lib. HS, no.
14, p. 69; Ob. BS, no. 9, P- 568; Lib. WBT, no. 2, p. 12; Lib. WBT,
no. 3, pp. 634, 675.
In a few cases the legislature passed special acts to set free families
whose heads as owners had died intestate.
Laws, 1834, ch. 246; 1835, ch. 266', 1852, ch. 207; 1853, ch. 413.
Other acts authorizing negroes to manumit islaves were : 1835, chs. 68,
290; 1836, ch. 167; 1838, ch. 385; 1844, ch. 193; cf. Frederick Land
Recs., Lib. JS, no. 47, p. 186.
*E. g. Baltimore Chattel Recs., Lib. WG, no. 14, p. 464; Lib. GES, no.
469] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION jg
forms of deed and will as the whites. At least one negro
manumitted his family before the revolution, 1 and a boy
bought by his father in 1764 was manumitted in 1782. a
After 1783 others followed their example. By the end of
the century negroes had become manumitters in at least
twelve of the eighteen counties of the state. Their parti-
cipation in the movement fairly kept pace with the deve-
lopment of the free negro population. In Kent and Balti-
more counties instruments made by negroes providing for the
freedom of at least two hundred and eighty-one other negroes
had been recorded -before the beginning of the year 1826,
while considerable numbers had been manumitted in like
manner in Anne Arundel, Frederick, Harford, Dorchester,
Queen Anne's and Talbot countties. Still others not yet
freed had become the property of their negro relatives or
friends. The laws restricting the manumission of negroes
were constantly evaded by transferring slaves to negro
ownership. 3
The second important cause of the growth of the free
negro population was natural increase. It must have had a
minor effect prior to the war of 1812-14, because even a
doubling by birth of the 8043 free negroes of 1790 would
still have left more than two-thirds of the increase in the
two following decades to be accounted for on other
17, pp. 210, 381; Lib. GBS, no. 22, p. 579; Lib. GES, no. 26, p. 385;
Caroline Deeds, Lib. S, pp. 214, 346; Kent Chattel Recs., Lib. BC, no. 4,
pp. 115, 308; Queen Anne's Land Recs., Lib. 'STW, no. 8, p. 324; Talbot
Deeds, Lib. 25, p. 349.
1 Queen Anne's Land Recs., Lib. RT, no. H, p. 56 (1767).
8 The price paid in this case was 52 I. currency. Baltimore Chattel
Recs., Lib. AL, no. A, pp. 298-99.
In 1778 one James Perry of Montgomery 'County, manumitted the
daughter of his slave, James, who had purchased the girl from her
owner in Fairfax Co., Virginia. Montgomery Land Recs., Lib. A, p.
167; Cf. Queen Anne's Land Recs., Lib. 'STW, no. 3, p. 289.
8 C/. interesting article by Calvin D. Wilson, entitled "Negroes who
owned Slaves," Pop. Sci. Man., Nov., 1912, pp. 483-94.
80 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [470
grounds. 1 After that time the rate of manumissions, al-
though still high, had obviously slackened, and dependence
upon it mainly to explain the succeeding decadal increases,
excepting that of 182030, was no longer necessary; 2 a
normal growth of the free negroes might well have pro-
duced at least half of them. The truth as to the relative
contributions made by each of these two factors would lie
in a comparison of vital statistics with those of manumis-
sions. For that purpose the data are incomplete. But from
sources official and unofficial it appears that in 182030
the death-rate among the free negroes of Baltimore City
and County was greatly in excess of that among the slaves, 3
while in the years 1849, 1850, 1852 and 1859 it was actually
less. According to the United States Census the death-rate
of the negroes of the city in thirty-six of the years between
1818 and 1863 had been 3.1 per cent and that of the
whites 2.49 per cent. 4 Again, in the year ending June, 1850,
1 The increase in the two decades was 25 844, bringing up to 33 927
whole number in 1810. Cf. table IV, infra, p. 88.
'The following table shows the increase per decade of free negroes
in Maryland and in the whole United iStates, 1790-1860:
Maryland U.S. Maryland U.S.
1700-1800 143-5% 1830-1840 17.26% 20.87%
1800-1810 73.2 1840-1850 19.44 1246
1810-1820 17.1 25.23% 1850-1860 12.00 10.97
1820-1830 33.24 36.20
History and Statistics of Maryland, Seventh Census of United States,
p. 20. Preliminary Report of Eight Census of United States, p. 7.
The total increase for the half century was 147.4 P er cent.
Griffith, Annals of Baltimore, p. 233; Niles Register, vol. xxv, p.
339J vol. xxxvii, p. 340; vol. xlii, pp. 432, 451; vol. xliii, p. 2. Some
of the data in Niles Register consists of reports of the Board of Health.
4 Eighth Census of United States, Mortality and Miscellaneous Statis-
tics, p. 280. The rates for several other cities, north and south were :
Negroes Whites Negroes Whites
Boston 7.03% 2.72% Philadelphia 3.61% 2.32%
Providence 3.70 2.20 Washington 2.21 1.98
New York 4.09 3.13 Charleston 2.69 2.61
Buffalo 2.16 2.56 .New Orleans 5.21 5.96
Average 3.47 2.75
Cf. Preliminary Report of Eight Census of the United States, p. 6.
GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION Si
in which an epidemic had occurred, 1293 free negroes and
1509 slaves had died, while 2015 living free negroes and
2446 living slaves under one year of age were enumerated. 1
These facts indicate ho permanent excess of deaths over
births in Baltimore County, where, if at all in Maryland,
such an excess should have appeared. It remains to in-
quire whether the whole increase was probably due to manu-
missions. In accordance with the colonization act of 1831
the county officials reported to the state commissioners on
colonization 4199 manumissions between March i, 1832 and
January i, i85i. 2 In 1830-50 the free negroes increased
21875, or P ro rata f r nineteen years 20776. Now, if we
should assume that only a third of the manumissions were
reported, we should yet have to account for an increase of
8179, or 38.1 per cent of the total gain of the free negro
population in that interval. Less than 17 per cent of this
gain was made up of persons born outside of Maryland. 8
The rest must have been born of free mothers in Maryland.
Several other factors also affected the growth of the free
negro class. One which added to their number was migra-
tion from without. Of the 74,723 free negroes of 1850
1.47 per cent had been born in the United States outside of
Maryland, and 0.34 per cent in foreign and unascertained
places. Some of these had doubtless come in as slaves and
hence owed their status to manumission. 4 But their
1 Compendium of the Seventh Census of the United States, pp. 70, 88.
1 Debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1850, vol. ii, p. 221.
Another report gave a slightly different number, 3043. Cf. Laws, 1831,
ch. 281 ; M& Pub. Docs., 1834, P- 3-
'Estimate based upon figures in the Compendium of the Seventh
Census of the United States.
4 On the nativity of the negroes vide, Compendium of the Seventh
Census of the United States. After the Civil War the Compendium
of the Ninth Census, pp. 388-92, showed 4.46 per cent of the negroes as
born outside of the state.
82 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [472
number had been nearly offset by the migration of resident
negroes to Liberia. 1 Still other negroes migrated to the
free states. Moreover, the growth of the free was also indi-
rectly affected by the escape of slaves to free territory, 1 *
and by >the sales of others to the traders to the southern
markets. 3
The results produced by the above-mentioned causes were
far-reaching. The numerical relations of the several clas-
ses of the people underwent striking changes. According
to the census of 1755, as given in the Gentleman's Magazine
of London* the total population of Maryland was 153494.
By 1790 it had grown to 319728, a gain of 108.3 P 61 " cent >
and by 1860 to 687049, a gain of 114.8 per cent over the
number of 1790. Of the population of 1755 45301 had
been negroes. By 1790 their number had risen to 111079,
a gain of 145 per cent, by 1810 to 145429, a new gain of
30.9 per cent, and by 1860 to 171113''!, a gain of 17.6 per
cent, over the last-named figure. Their share of the total
1 These emigrants numbered ion in the period 1831-51. Debates of
the Constitutional Convention of 1850, vol. ii, p. 222. They grew to
1241 by 1856; infra, chapter on "Colonization," p. 241.
* The Preliminary Report of the Eighth Census of the United States,
P- J 37, gives that in the year 1850 279, or one in every 374, and in
1860 115, or one in every 758 of the slaves belonging to Maryland mas-
ters had been reported as fugitives; cf. Laws, 1833, ch. 224.
8 C/. 45 Niles Register, p. 180. This paper stated that the sales of
slaves for the southern markets checked the increase of the slaves in
Maryland; cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. ii, p. 206; Genius of Universal
Emancipation, 2 ser., vol. ii, p. 44. One report had it that about 30,000
negroes were sold from Maryland to the southern markets in 1830-40.
4 1764, p. 261. Although to be taken perhaps with reserve, the aggre-
gates of population shown in this census harmonize well with those of
the other estimates of the population. Cf. History and Statistics of
Maryland, Eighth Census of United States, p. 50; McMahon, op. cit.,
vol. i, pp. 313-14; Maryland, its Resources, Industries and Institutions,
p. 442. Its exhibit of the distribution of numbers corresponds well with
what is known about population developments from other sources.
473] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 83
population which had 'been 29.5 per cent in 1755, became
34.7 per cent in 1790, 38.2 per cent in 1810, and 24.9 per
cent in 1860. The free negroes, numbering 1817 in 1755,
advanced to 8043 in 1790, a gain of 334 per cent, to 33927
by 1810, a gain of 321 percent, and to 83 942, a new gain of
147 per cent by 1860. The free portion of all the negroes
which had been 3.98 per cent in 1755, was 7.24 per cent
in 1790, 23.3 per cent in 1810 and 49.05 per cent in 1860,
while the negro portion of all the freemen advanced from
1.64 per cent in 1755 to 3.24 per cent in 1790, 12.6 per
cent in 1810 and to 16.3 per cent in 1840, and 13.9 in 1860.
The year 1810 marked the highest percentage of negroes
in any census. The correlative changes in the positions of
other negroes and other freemen may be obtained by simple
subtractions, using the figures given. The free gained in
every county of the state in both 1775-90 and 1790-1860.
On the whole the whites gained, but after 1790 they lost
numbers in nine counties, in five of which the losses were
not recovered by 1860, while the slaves lost in fifteen of the
counties without any marked tendency to recovery. 1
The population developed at unequal rates in the different
parts of the commonwealth. The census of 1755 had it
that 37 per cent of the free negroes and 39 per cent of all
the slaves resided in the counties of the Eastern Shore, 42
per cent of each class in the five counties of Southern Mary-
land, the remainder in Baltimore and Frederick counties
and that nearly a third of those in Southern Maryland were
in Charles County alone. By reference to Table VI it will be
seen that in 1755-90 the several sections named gained re-
1 The most marked losses of the slaves were in Cecil, 72.1 per cent
Caroline, 64 per cent, and Kent, 53.8 per cent. All were on the Eastern
Shore, where slavery was obviously marked for extinction. Cecil
County gained 106 slaves and 295 free negroes in 1850-60. For the
percentage increases of the free negroes decade by decade, cf. supra,
p. 55, note 2.
8 4
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
[474
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tou^O M t^ O N ^-OOOOO rf d ON
) 0! HIHlNCiHIHIHIHIHIHIHI
aood uaj^
-i >-i i-i ^
covo vO CO
1-1 Tj-CO"< W COCOCOCON 1-1
O Tl-^coi-i S NH -ivrO\
O CO ON<O O Tl-^coi-i S NH
v5coH-mh-Nn t^vo
OOO vr>C ONiOCOmw tor^
ti W i- covO to CO ON vr> CO CO N
W i- covO
CO t>. to O COOO vO
COCN)
CON
MOO VO t^TfcO"- O t^vO 00 M
W MCO MflNHIMHlCO
vO O Tf C>< O ON COOO ^OO vO co * M
HI COM vO N MMH.MNCO
'SpIAUOO
rfPI t>ot^'<4-M
OO t^ * O O\OO
HI ^ M
ps^uaput
JO
OO tO^-O CONvO lOtOTf^Hi
COONN 0\ t^ r>. HI so tOOO 0\ C
HioO COOO
iot^.tOHi rfvO Tj- N vO
ci r.
|
475] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 85
00 N .
:? 2 N
Age.
Hired o
indente
servants
N ^f ^- in ON
fO O VO N ^
ONU^M
00 SO m
w Io t^ t>. TJ-
rr> ON\) M
sXog
O ro
cooo N f) i-i
f) fO t>.OO N ON O
N Tj-i-i O vorOt-i M
i-i 00 10 ON <N to ON ONVO 1^ * M rf l> I t>.
sXog
10 f< i-i rh t^.
OOfOOO ONNNvONi-i rJ-TfOX)
NvOmHvOi-iSi-irffONP<M
" tt *" a " ' | *
vO ONOO O - f>.vO O O T- -fr ONN ,
N vo OO tooo T- O TJ- to N ON ^00 OO
00 N T to N VOOO CO fOOO vN to N Tf-
sXog
t^> ON t^ rr> t*+ N 1-1 rt'VO OO t^ M ** O *
to <- vO M t>^vO t>. O t^ to O
-vO OOO ^-Tt"N rJ-fO-^-fO
'SXOQ ON -< OO vovo PO N tooo O 00 r
* II'IIllJ"*!!!!
aj .... hft ^ %
"rt
I
J
86 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
TABLE II
SLAVE POPULATION OF THE STATE OF MARYLAND, 1790-1860
[476
County.
1860
1850
1840
1830
1820
1810
1800
1790
Allegany
666
724
812
818
791
620
4QQ
258
Anne Arundel . .
7332
II249
67l8
9819
7191
10347
10613
10301
11077
11693
11369
9760
9673
IOI30
7132
Calvcrt
4600
4486
4I7O
3668
7077
4IOI
43O1
730
808
712
1177
1174
I12O
1861
IO17
Parroll
-W-,
73
975
844
1312
1 7O1
2342
2467
2103
7407
Charles
06 13
0184
Ql82
10129
9419
II431
9558
10085
Dorchester
4123
3243
y3 "1
4282
70 1 7
4227
5001
6370
5168
6681
5032
l67I
4566
5337
3641
Harford.... ...
I800
2l66
2643
2047
4431
4264
3417
Howard
286-2
Kent
2627
2731
4O7I
424Q
4474
C433
Montgomery.. ..
Prince George's .
Quen Anne's. ..
St Mary's
5421
12479
4174
II5IO
4270
5377
10636
396o
1761
6447
11585
4872
6l83
6396
III85
6O47
7572
9189
6381
6000
6288
12191
6517
6^00
6030
III76
66 74
6985
1O80
1188
5377
6116
7241
6071
7432
7O7O
Talbot
41 34
3687
41 73
4768
4878
4771
4777
Washington ....
H35
3648
2090
3444
2546
3130
2909
4O32
3201
2656
4427
22OO
4398
1286
3836
Total
87I8Q
OO368
8Q737
IO20Q4
073 7
111502
IO1631
10 6
y/ J/
spectively 471 per cent, 181 per cent; and 439 per cent in
free negroes, while in 17901860 the first two gained re-
spectively 623 per cent and 542 per cent, Baltimore County
3126.6 per cent and the rest of Western Maryland 1015.6 per
cent. Furthermore it appears that, although the two first-
named sections continued to be the chief centers of negro
population, the several sections witnessed changes in their
respective proportions of the total free negro and slave
classes. Of the former in 1755-90 the Eastern Shore and
Western Maryland gained respectively 10.9 per cent and
4.4 per cent, and Southern Maryland lost 15.4 per cent,
while in 1790-1860 the Eastern Shore and Southern Mary-
land lost respectively 14.6 per cent and 10.2 per cent, and
477] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 87
TABLE III
SHOWING WHITE POPULATION OF COUNTIES OF MARYLAND, 1790-1860
County.
1860
1850
1840
1830
1820
1810
I800
I7 9
14663
oc6o
7664
6176
C7O'J
4C.3Q
Anne Arundel..
7' l j
11704
2 7 T24.2
^ 1%J 66
16542
1 74.8 C 7
*4 uo o
14630
IOC'?'?!
vo u y
13872
Q232Q
/ UU H
13482
7267?
12439
t'72'2'3
D/ W O
21030
4 COCO
II664
3O878
3QQ7
1 / f tJJ
363O
lw ioo*
3c8c.
3788
/* u o:>
571 T
3680
4.21 1
jyy/
76O4
$ 6 S
6096
jjj
f'J'lA
Of 00
624!
7144.
6032
67CO
7028
Carroll . .
22C2C.
18667
3OOH
Cecil
**$*$
IQQQ4
IC.472
I332Q
II478
IIQ23
Q6C2
6^42
IOOC.C,
Charles
iyyyq.
C7QO
*fl
c66c
6O22
6780
6s id.
7^08
QO4.3
IOI24
Dorchester ....
Frederick
Harf ord
D/7 U
II654
38391
1 707 1
jWj
10747
333H
14.4 1 3
10629
28975
I2O4I
10685
367 3
1 1 314
"Vr
10095
31997
II2I7
I04I5
27983
14606
9415
26478
I2OI8
IOOIO
26937
10784
Howard .....
QO8l
Kent
7347
5616
5616
C.O44
C5TC
C222
ecu
6748
Montgomery . .
Prince George's
Queen Anne's..
St. Mary's ....
Somerset
Talbot
H349
9650
8415
6798
*5332
8106
9435
8901
6936
6223
13485
7084
8766
7823
6132
6070
II485
6063
O^^H
I2I03
7687
6659
6097
"371
6201
JJ*J
9082
7935
7226
6033
10384
7 587
^*
9731
6471
7529
6158
9l62
"24Q
8508
8346
7315
6678
9340
6O7O
11679
10004
8171
8216
8272
7231
Washington. ..
Worcester ....
28305
13442
/voq.
26930
12401
24724
II765
21277
nSn
/O/
19247
II232
I559I
II490
I6I08
11523
14472
7626
Totals....
515918
417942
318204
291108
260223
235II7
216326
208649
Baltimore City and Western Maryland gained respectively
24.1 per cent and .7 per cent. Of the latter in the first
period the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland lost re-
spectively 2 per cent and 3.4 per cent, and Southern Mary-
land gained 5.2 per cent, while in the second period South-
ern and Western Maryland gained respectively 8.8 per cent
and .7 per cent, and the others lost as follows: Eastern
Shore 8.8 per cent, Baltimore County .8 per cent. The table
also gives the numerical changes of 'both the free negro and
slave populations and the proportions of the negroes in
each section that were slave and free. Attention is more-
over called to the rapid growth o>f the free negroes of
Baltimore County, to the resulting proportional loss of
88
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
[478
TABLE IV
FREE COLORED POPULATION OF MARYLAND, 1790-1860
County.
Allegany
Anne Arundel
Baltimore
Calvert
Caroline
Carroll
Cecil
Charles
Dorchester
Frederick
Harford
Howard
Kent
Montgomery
Prince George's
Queen Anne's
St. Mary's
Somerset
Talbot
Washington
Worcester
1860
467
2 48 lt
1841
2786
2918
1068
4684
4957
1198
3372
1866
2964
1850
412
4602
1138
3278
&
1840
5083
1474
1 720
3987
2985
2491
1080
2646
3073
1830
222
4076
[ 7 888
1213
2249
85'
3000
2058
2266
1266
1202
2866
1082
2430
1820
12489
694
1390
1783
2496
1777
2067
1096
2138
894
62]
163*
1810
"3
2536
7208
388
1 001
412
2661
783
2221
1979
6 77
4929
1058
2103
1054
1800
101
1833
307
602
373
473
1786
262
648
586
342
449
1790
12
80 4
421
'63
i*
775
164
618
IU
1076
64
178
Totals
83942
62078
53937
19587
nearly 25 per cent of the same class in the Eastern Shore
and Southern Maryland and to the retarded rate of change
in the last named.
Table VI also shows that, while the gains of the free
negroes in both numbers and percentages were large, their
proportion of the total increase of freemen was relatively
large only in the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland in
1790-1860. And the gains of the white population of the
Eastern Shore were mainly at the extremes, viz., in Cecil in
the north and Somerset and Worcester in the south.
479] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 89
w
vo -*-vO O
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. t t
o
covd to 4
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COM COM
g
y
oo
VO M N "^T
CO
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gco
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1
Oil
2
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co-i- N
VO
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11
1
VOVO VO CO
oo' vo M co
Tf N M M
f\
i
~
m
^ . "*i"
** N O
1
d
'3
O
1
vo ^- *2
NVO
00
CO
il
^
V
^Q
M
CO Tl- N
M
M *^ r,, ->- n ^
M
^ t *"
I
1 *^-\
s
gj
N ON tx t^
VO O M o
t
JC "
1
M
co M 4 ON
to N 00 to
u
00
oo* vd vo o%
N to
.
If
ll
0)
M
w
u
T3 'O
13
1
a
tx
ON
M M tOO
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i
1
^ o^ ON co
tx r"vd 00
CO ^l"
11 .
1-:|
<U rt O
J
1
to
5?
00 ON *
coco 4
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m
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CO ^ M
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^-^-v
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(~*\
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OO
tX^-M
r^oo M t>.
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oo co ON M
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ta
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^-* J5 tjj
8
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1
M 00 M M
co N vo ON
oo
txio O *^
vo O O N
ON ON n- ON
TfOO to tx
<?
JH
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VOVO CO M
M
**
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00
2
i
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00 vO ONVO
ON to vovO
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N O 00 ON
53
1
M M N M
ON M co O
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co
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bJO
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Tf VO
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1-4
00^*4 tx oo
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2 'M s
2
-v- '
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Go
VO
vo O to
v>
d VO ro
Tf
o t;
u
VO
cs < t^
^<
vr>
^_ ^.J. ^
ON
"* H 2 Jt
OO N M
* Tt* r^*
pj ^"* r-r. i
"
M
tx ON 00
M
4^*00 O^
CO
. ~ *
M M / _^^
- "/-*-*
*
g, . a
....
....
c .2
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K3 SQ
. . . .
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|
c - -5
.
. . .
t
S 2 .3
. T3* T3
T3 rrt
<L>
Eastern Shore . .
Southern Marylan
Baltimore County
Western Marylan
Eastern Shore . .
Southern Marylan
Baltimore County
Western Marylan
"o
_G
* The reason
Harford and Ci
counties erectec
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
[480
cooo oo
Ov
S
CO O\ w 00
CO
4
C
M
tl M M
^
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i
1
10 0\ w *
C?
u
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10
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ssV
*
to
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c
1
A o
NO ^-NO CO
00
a
kj
5
OxN5
t- N N N
2"
1
8.5
p
te
oooq to
oo 10
00
1O
H
(/>
1
4o
ON NO
NO NO
row NO 10
NO 1O i- O
NO
CO
K
t*
>H ^H
H
S
H
i
to
g
10 o
10 Ox
t^t^
2?T
q
M
i
c
^"^x
CO
w
H
"3
i
y
S-S^ co
t^ N N 10
OO
NO
g
c
W M *^ 1 ~'
**
v v '
fc
w
i
100
. *7* 9
5-
a
t^t^
CONO 10
0\
1
^-^-K
MH
d
K
I.
i
nil
i
CO
OO
o
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a
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CO
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INCREASE
r
M
CON ^2
5
M
* * o\
00 NO NO
NO *> CO
00
t>. 1O >O t^
M M M CO
<
a
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N -NO
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g
M N
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6
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BrJ- O Ox
^ 00 t^
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tit
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iiii
i
481] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION g x
This growth of the free negro population was not con-
fined to Maryland alone. Measures designed to extinguish
slavery had also been undertaken in many other places.
The people in the states north of Maryland adopted the
plan of compulsory gradual emancipation, 1 those of Dela-
ware, and, for a few decades, Virginia, adopted essentially
the same neutral attitude as Maryland, while those of the
other great slaveholding states, after nursing the emancipa-
tion sentiment for a time, yielded but sparingly to its in-
fluence. Free negroes, however, appeared in all the states. 2
The first federal census numbered in the whole country
59527 free negroes and 697897 slaves, the eighth census
488070 free negroes and 3950531 slaves, increases respec-
tively of 719.9 per cent and 466.53 per cent. The total free
population increased 747.6 per cent in the interval. Of the
free negroes of 1790 68.6 per cent and of those of 1860
6 1. 1 per cent resided in the six states of New York,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North
Carolina. Among these states Virginia stood first in point
of numbers, and Maryland second, until at the third federal
census their positions were reversed. But Virginia was like
North Carolina in both advancing free negro and slave
classes, while Maryland, like Delaware, was marked by an
advancing free negro, and a declining slave class.* Mary-
land and Virginia combined had 35.1 per cent of the
nation's total of free negroes in 1790 and 28.8 per cent in
1850. Next to them stood two northern states, Pennsyl-
vania and New York, which had in 1790 18.8 per cent and
1 Cf. Preliminary Report of Eighth Census of United States, p. 10.
O/>. cit., pp. 124-31.
8 The situation in Delaware was remarkable, since there 30.5 per cent
of the negroes were free in 1700, 82.8 per cent in 1830 and 91.6 per cent
in 1860. It was far in advance of the Eastern Shore counties of
Maryland with which it had so much in common.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
[482
1
I
o
H
CO
O ca
<5
M O ^- 10
06 O% O ^
ON O\ *>i t>.
ON
. . . .so I-"
* tx n * * Tf O
^-.ON
VO OO
*^,cofOf<i>-'O
ONOON NO.
*. ^- m ON ON r>OO * O
N ^vO f) m t>. ON ONOO ON . TJ-
vr> O 00 10NO ONOO 00
ONOO N VO Tf Tf
^POIOH^ MOO ONON
N 10 O t^ O ONOO f*i ^- vo
*>. ^- <o N u">iniovO
ON VO fOON*^t^O
*O *$ O *-" "- 1 vO
ONOO 00 O O fOOO to O vO 1 ON
ON m <* m t> ^-vo o >i oo t> >->
10 ON ro ONOO O 1000 t>. ^- 10 O
ON w r>. t^ T- ON ON w>\o N *
i-iONto. ON oo vo oo O >-
fOOO vo * ' 10 ' ON W ONOO m
"^-00 . O tN.t^OvO
O tx 6 ' 1-1 * M -i N vovo
ocx) ON . m . rovo r* m
O\ M- r*i '
O N
oo
O ON O ON O -^-vO OO vO OvO
OO fOCX) VO ON O VO ONOO CO W
oo ioio^mcot-1
*
483] GROWTH OF THE FREE NEGRO POPULATION 93
in 1860 21.7 per cent of that total. Ohio stood sixth in
point of numbers in 1850 and fifth in 1860. In the three
last-named states, as will be seen by reference to Table VII,
only 70.43 per cent, 76.58 per cent and 49 per cent of the
respective negro populations of 1850 were of native birth.
The rest had been recruited mainly from voluntary emigrants
from the other states and from fugitive slaves. In contrast
to the large numbers in all these states were those of the
great slave states of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
That of the first which had 11.69 P er cenr t f th e slaves was
only .71 per cent of the free negroes of the whole United
States. The others had still less. Louisiana stood in an
intermediate position.
CHAPTER III
LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES
IN the early province of Maryland there were apparently
no separate rules of law applying to the free negroes alone.
Until such rules had been created, therefore, their free-
dom was as unqualified as that of the European part of the
population. But the change of slaves to the legal status
of freedom did not alter the marks of race nor raise the
social station of the negroes. As freemen they continued
to live substantially like the slaves lived, to associate with
slaves, and apart from formal rights to be indistinguishable,
from slaves. They tended to reflect the feelings and
thoughts of slaves towards the white master class, and were
themselves regarded by the latter with no less suspicion and
depreciation than the slaves. Some early statutes men-
tioned " all negroes and other slaves " as subject to the
same provisions of law. But it was manifestly impossible
to treat both classes alike. Hence a few separate pro-
visions were early made for free negroes, and when the
" evil " of their numbers increased the statutory provi-
sions affecting their activities increased also. These
statutes endeavored (i) to protect property and personal
rights from infringement by means of negro freemen, (2)
to prevent the free negroes from becoming a financial
burden to the state, and (3) to prevent servile insurrec-
tions. (4) A fourth object, probably, was that of prevent-
ing the growth of the free negro class, irrespective of its
consequences. The complex restrictions covered a part
94 [484
485] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 95
of the field of legal relations, in the rest of which free
negroes were governed like the whites. This chapter will
deal chiefly with that part, viz. the exceptions to the
ordinary rules made on account of the free negroes.
The legislature of Maryland did not intend that the
negro's freedom from slavery should become a freedom
from labor. The feeling that he was falling short in in-
dustry led to repeated efforts to correct his failing in that
point. The statute of 1796 provided that any free negro
who should be found by a magistrate guilty of going at
large and living without visible means of support might be
compelled either to give a bond for thirty dollars for his
own good behavior or leave the state within five days. If
he refused to comply, or if he complied and returned within
six months, he was to be liable to imprisonment, and if he
failed to pay his prison charges within twenty days, to be
sold into servitude for six months. 1 In 1825 the term al-
lowed for leaving the state was increased to fifteen days',
and as an alternative the offender might hire himself to a
responsible citizen to work. Any aged or infirm free negro,
who could not labor, was to be supported by the county,
if in want. 2 Further changes were made in 1839. In a
county where there were no local magistrates, jurisdiction
over vagrancy was vested in the orphans' court. This
court like the magistrate was empowered to summon witnes-
ses and take testimony as to accused parties; and upon
proof that a negro had neither visible means of support
l Laws, 1796, ch. 67, sec. 20; cf. act of 1804, ch. 96, authorizing the
Criminal Court of Baltimore 'County to commit to hard labor in the alms-
house as vagrants all persons living without employment, all beggars,
prostitutes, jugglers, fortune tellers, common gamblers, vagabonds, etc.
Also acts applying to Annapolis and Georgetown; 1796, ch. xxx; 1797,
ch. 56; and Acts of 1811, ch. 212; 1818, ch. 169.
3 0/>. cit., 1825, ch. 161. The constables were here enjoined to be
vigilant in apprehending vagrants and idlers.
96 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [486
nor habits of industry, it might order him sold as a slave for
the remainder of the year. From the proceeds of the sale
the costs were to be defrayed, and the residue turned over
to the offender at the end of his term of service. But if
he offended again, he was to be liable to a renewal of the
same penalty. 1 It was a habit of agitators to prate and
to petition the assembly about the " idle and vagrant habits;
of a large portion of the free negroes." 2 The law was ap-
plied, however, with discrimination. Strange negroes were
dealt with, as will 'be shown below, under the fugitive slave
and immigration laws. Those who were thievish were pro-
secuted as criminals. Those who did not keep themselves
employed were commonly first warned to get to work. If
they declined, they might be apprehended and fined. But in
Baltimore County, for a time at least, commitment of offend-
ers to the alms-house under the general vagrancy act was
apparently preferred to selling them into servitude. 3 Else-
where the penalty was invoked in extreme cases, but in any
event its consequences did not differ strikingly from the con-
ditions under which the rural free negroes constantly
l Laws, 1839, ch. 38. Amendment of conduct was effective to avoid
a repetition of penalty. In 1842 jurisdiction over this offence was also
vested in justices of the peace. Laws, 1842, ch. 281 ; cf. Md. Col. Journal,
vol. vi, p. 236.
'. g. Md. Pub. Docs., 1841, H, p. 4; 1843, M, pp. 45-47; H. Dels.
Journal, 1852, pp. 99, 619; cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. x, p. 138, for a
comment on this habit.
8 Reports of Baltimore Co. Almshouse, Appendices to Ordinances of
Baltimore City, 1851-60; cf. also same for 1835, 1836; Brackett, op. ctt.,
p. 221 ; Laws, 1831, ch. 58; 1854, ch. 116.
For cases in the counties cf. the following: Baltimore Sun, July 31,
1855 ; Cecil Whig, Jan. 29, 1853, a negro was sold for $22.50 ; Dorchester
Criminal Appearance Docket, no. 19, July, 1860; Frederick Orphans'
Court Mins., April, 1845, negro fined $20 and costs ; Md. Col. Journal,
vol. vi, p. 236; WasJtington Orphans' Court Mins., 1835-46, pp. 238, 247;
cf. also Dorchester Co. Court Mins., April 14 1857; Howard Criminal
Docket, no. 12, Sept., 1841.
487] ' LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 97
labored. The manner in which the children of free negroes
were trained for labor will be taken up in a subsequent
chapter. 1
Aside from the coercion of the vagrancy laws the free
negro enjoyed a wide liberty in getting a living. He had
a right to engage in agriculture, in the mechanical trades,
in business, or to hire himself to any employer whom
he could serve and to collect and expend his earnings.*
The law barred him wholly from no legitimate callings
saving politics, and military service, and according to
the code of 1860 peddling. 3 That his energies were con-
fined mainly to manual labor was due to his disqualification
for other things to which he has since attained. But the
law restricted his exercise of certain other callings with a
view of promoting fair dealing. These restrictions had to
do with navigating the waters of the state, with service
contracts and buying and selling.
Vessels traversing the navigable waters of Maryland
afforded means of escape to absconding slaves. Hence a
special regulation was passed by the legislature in 1753 for-
bidding concealment or employment of any slave or ser-
vant on board a vessel within the province without his
master's consent. 4 Another act of 1824 required ships'
masters to keep careful registers of all colored persons
employed on their vessels and prohibited them from carry-
ing out of the state any negro or mulatto who did not have
an authenticated certificate of freedom issued by a clerk of a
1 Governor Hicks in his inaugural address stated that there was more
negro vagrancy in the lower counties on both shores than in the rest
of the state. Senate Journal, 1858, app., p. 13.
1 Regarding certain of his rights vide Md> Appeal Reports, g G. & J.,
pp. 19, 27 and 12 Md., p. 464.
8 Code of Laws of Maryland, 1860, art. 56.
4 Laws, 1753, ch. x.
98 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [488
county court or register of wills. 1 A decade later it was
objected that negroes were engaged in an illicit trade on
Chesapeake Bay, and especially that some vessels were com-
manded by negro captains and manned by negro crews; 5 *
and that the efforts of slaves to abscond were facilitated
thereby. Upon this there followed a new statute requiring
that a white person above the age of eighteen years should
be chief navigator on each vessel navigating or working in
the waters of the state. But in the counties of Baltimore
and Anne Arundel this act was not operative between the
years 1837 and i853. 3 To these general laws other local
laws were added at the instance of certain of the counties.
From Worcester County it was reported that free negro
participation had become an injury to the oyster industry,
and from 'Charles and Prince George's Counties arose com-
plaints against negroes boating on the Potomac River and its
creeks. Accordingly in 1852 negroes engaged in the oyster
industry in Worcester were especially restricted, and after
one unsuccessful attempt in 1856 a law applying to boating
on the Potomac in the latter two counties was passed. Of
slaves it required their master's permits to have or use boats ;
of free negroes it required a magistrate's license issued only
upon proof of good character by the word of two or more
respectable landholders, and revocable without remedy upon
their recommendation. 4 Oral reports have it that the state-
wide law against negroes acting as chief navigators was
generally observed, although a merely nominal compliance
l Op. cit., 1824, ch. 85. This act was especially aimed at those who
might attempt to carry away slaves to Hayti.
S H. Dels. Journal, 1835, pp. 66, 180.
* Laws, 1836, ch. 150; 1837, ch. xxiii; 1853, ch. 446.
'Op. cit., 1852, ch. 57; 1858, ch. 356; Senate Journal, 1856, pp. 161,
474; cf. Laws, 1861, ch. 57; H. Dels. Journal, 1838, pp. 35, 196; 1858,
PP- 35, 639.
489] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 99
with its terms was sometimes permitted. At least two
Eastern Shore negroes ran their own vessels in trade to
Baltimore without molestation.
The legislation directed against negro competition in
trade was of minor importance. In 1836 a committee of the
House of Delegates was ordered to inquire whether licenses
to trade arid to keep ordinaries should not be withheld. In
1840 a bill to withhold from negroes retailers' licenses
failed of enactment. 1 But in 1852 such a bill applying to
the counties of Anne Arundel, Somerset and Worcester wast
passed. As suggested above it excluded negroes from the
liquor trade. In order to sell any other merchandise the
negro was to be required to get at least twelve respectable
free-holders of the vicinity of the proposed shop to re-
commend to the circuit court the issuance of a dealer's
license to himself. No license was to be given a white per-
son to enable him to trade in partnership with a negro, and
no white merchant was to employ a negro as clerk or sales-
man in a retail shop. 2 This law did not exclude negroes
from the trade in any of the counties, however.
Beginning about 1825 a long-sustained effort was made
to exclude the negroes by law from certain occupations. 3
It was not successful. In 1836 began a movement to pass
another act requiring negroes to fulfill the labor contracts
to which they were parties. 4 It led to the statute of 1854
which declared any free negro who quit service before the
end of the term of his contract guilty of a misdemeanor.
1 H. Dels. Journal, 1840, pp. 85, 296. For other such proceedings vide
Brackett, op. cit., pp. 209-10; also H. Dels. Journal, 1837, PP- 25-26.
'Laws, 1858, ch. 288.
1 Genius of Universal Emancipation, 2 ser., vol. ii, p. 10; H. Dels.
Journal, 1840, pp. 209, 32-5; 1844, pp. 257, 261, 379; 1847, p. 145; 1860,
pp. 292, 309.
*H. Dels. Journal, 1837, pp. 25-26, 108, 173; 1845, p. n; 1853, pp. 260,
923-24.
I0 o THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [490
He might be compelled by a justice of the peace to 1 serve the
rest of his term, to lose the wages for the time lost and to
pay the costs of his trial. If his contract was in writing,
he was to be bound to render the service called for. Upon
refusal to comply he was to forfeit to his first employer 40
per cent of his wages earned from any other employer.
And the second employer was to be liable to pay damages,
if he hired any negro against whom he know such a judg-
ment had been rendered. But such redress of the first
employer was barred, if not sued for within a month after
the offence. 1 Two years later the provisions were extended
to verbal contracts in which a portion of the stipulated
wages had been paid in advance. 2 Negroes who were
treated in a cruel or improper manner by employers were
probably denied redress excepting such as came from the
moral reprobation of the neighbors oi their employers. 3
Slaves frequently bought and sold articles without fraud,
although they could have claimed no legal right to do so.*
The general statute of 1715 forbade all persons to deal with
servants, whether hired, indentured or slave, without the
consent of their masters. 5 An act of 1747 forbade the sale
of liquors to servants, negroes and other slaves within three
miles of any Quaker meeting in either Talbot or Anne Arundel
County. 6 Such provisions thus applied to the free negroes,
excepting those who were working for other persons.
In the nineteenth century their number was increased. As
l Laws, 1854, ch. 273.
2 Op. cit., 1856, ch. 252.
1 1 have found but little evidence bearing upon the application of this
act by the justices' courts.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 9 G. & J., p. 27 (1837).
*Laws, 1715, ch. xliv; cf. Act of 1692, Archives of Maryland, vol. xiii,
P- 455-
Op. cit., 1747, ch. 17.
49I ] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES
applied to free negroes they had in view two objects : ( i ) to
protect the interests of property holders, and (2) to prevent
disorders on the part of negroes under the influence of rum.
In 1805 it was reported that free negroes had been sell-
ing farm products which they had received from the hands
of slaves. A statute of that year denied to any free negro
the right to sell corn, wheat or tobacco without having first
procured from a justice of the peace a license stating that
the seller was an orderly person of good character. The
license was to be renewed annually, and any such sale with-
out a valid license was to be punished by a fine of five dollars
on the seller and double that amount on the purchaser. 1
An attempt was later made to amend this act with more
detailed provisions. It led the legislature in 1825 to
authorize a fine of a hundred dollars on any purchaser of
tobacco from a negro, unless the latter had a justice's certi-
ficate stating the quantity and quality of the produce to be
sold. But the justice was to issue the permit therefor
only on proof by a respectable citizen that the seller had
acquired the tobacco by honest means, 2 In the act of 1831
the whole law was restated. It was made also to apply to
sales of bacon, beef, pork, oats, and rye and required the
vending negro, if a slave, to have his master's permit, but
if a free negro, a certificate as before from either a justice
of the peace, or three respectable persons, stating that he
had probably come into possession of the articles honestly.
Other clauses noticed elsewhere were to regulate the sale
of spirits, powder, shot and lead to negroes. 3 These
general provisions survived as such until the civil war
l Laws, 1805, ch. 80; cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1805, p. 80; Senate Journal,
1805, p. 37; also Laws, 1817, ch. 227, sec. 5.
2 Laws, 1825, ch. 199; c-f. H. Dels. Journal, 1807, PP- 28, 29, 36.
9 Lam?, 1831, ch. 323.
102 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [492
period. The notable additions to them were that of 1842,
according to which a free negro convicted of trafficking in
stolen goods might be sold to serve as a slave outside of the
state for a term of five to ten years, and that of 1856 pro-
hibiting the sale of lottery tickets to free negroes. 1 Further
protection was extended to certain localities from which
came special complaints of lawlessness. It was first granted
for Kent County in i8i8, 2 but the act granting it was re-
pealed in the following year. And in 1841-45 the county
courts of four Southern Maryland counties, or in their re-
cesses the justices of the peace, were authorized to revoke
the licenses of traders who were guilty of dealing with
negroes contrary to law. 3 These restrictions, wherever
they were enforced, subjected negro farmers to a certain in-
convenience, yet without great apparent obstruction to
legitimate enterprise. For disregarding them some negroes
and some whites were prosecuted. 4 But in dealing with
negro offenders the county courts obviously concerned them-
selves with the initial offence o<f stealing rather than with
that of the subsequent disposal of the produce stolen. It
can hardly be doubted that the free negroes were credited
with an undue share of the blame for the traffic in question.
The second object stated was that of counteracting the in-
l Laws, 1842, ch. 279; 1856, ch. 195. A negro sold out of the state
under this act of 1842 was not to be allowed to return to the state to
reside after serving out his term.
'The act declared it unlawful for any one to sell to or buy from any
unlicensed negro any cereals, bacon, or merchandise between sunset and
sunrise. Licenses were to be for twelve months each, and to be kept
on record by the magistrates granting them. Op. cit., 1818, ch. 170;
cf. repeal of this act 1819, ch. xiv.
*Laws, 1841, ch. 273; 1845, chs. 131, 281.
*E. g. Dorchester Criminal Presentments, Oct., 1795, no. n; Oct.,
1850, no. 8; Oct., 1851, no. 4; Harford Criminal Docket, 1846-51, p. 71;
Howard Criminal Docket, i, nos. 15, 16; Somerset Co. Court Judgments,
1821-22, p. 438; Baltimore Sun, Jan. 17, 1853.
493 ] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES " 103
fluence of rum upon the negroes. Expedients were devised
to prevent or discourage their efforts to buy the stuff. In
1817 it was made a penal offence for a retailer of liquors
to allow a negro, without leave from the latter' s master or
employer, to visit his shop at night. The act authorizing 1
it extended to the counties of Anne Arundel, Calvert and
St. Mary's. 1 At the next session after this had been passed,
a similar provision applying to the sale of liquors between
sunset and sunrise and on Sundays was enacted for the
Bounties of Charles, Dorchester, Prince George's, Somerset
and Talbot. But in 1819 both provisions were repealed,
so far as concerned the counties of Dorchester and Talbot
and the City of Annapolis. 2 By the act of 1 83 1 no retailer
was to sell any liquors to any negro anywhere in the state,
unless the purchaser bore a permit for the purchase, signed
by a justice of the peace and directed to the seller, or if the
purchaser was a slave, a written permission from his
master. 3 And after this two local acts were passed, one to
apply to seven counties, and the other to Annapolis City
and its environs. 4 The first practically revived the act of
1818, while the second attempted to bar sales of liquor to
any negroes who could not get a certificate of good character
and temperate habits. Finally, a discrimination was made
against negroes entering the liquor trade. In 1827 any
negro who might be found dispensing spirits or wine within
l Laws, 1817, ch. 227; cf. act of 1747, ch. xvii.
s Op. cit., 1818, ch. 184, 1819, ch. 18. The inclusion here of a provision
to penalize persons who bought produce from negroes without permits
authorizing them to sell, seemed to strike at the reputed sale, or barter,
of stolen produce by negroes for rum. Cf. acts of 1854, ch. 194, 1818,
ch. 170.
*Laws, 1831, ch. 323, sec. 10.
4 Op. cit., 1854, ch. 194 ; in this the counties mentioned were Anne
Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Howard, Prince George's, iSt. Mary's and
Somerset, and 1858, ch. 55.
I0 4 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [494
a mile of a camp-meeting 1 became liable to thirty-nine
stripes, which were to be inflicted at least a mile away from
the meeting-place. 1 In 1831 the power of granting licenses
to negroes to retail liquors was limited to the respective
county courts and the city court for Baltimore City, and
precautions in conferring 1 them were further enjoined. 2
And in 1852 this power was taken away altogether from
the courts of Anne Arundel, Somerset and Worcester. 3
During the legislative session of 1832 a member of the!
lower house said that the rule passed in the preceding ses-
sion to govern the sale of spirits to negroes had been a
complete failure. 4 The Committee on the Colored Popula-
tion was instructed to look into the matter and report, but no
definite action was taken as a result. 5 Some persons, both
colored and white, were prosecuted for illegal practices in
selling liquors. For instance, two negroes in Carroll County
were fined in 1847 f r " selling liquor without License/'
and at Baltimore in 1855 a person was fined for selling to
negroes who had no permit to buy. 6 But the determination
to use the law to keep liquor from the negroes was not
general. Repeated enactments did not strengthen it per-
manently.
Notwithstanding the above-mentioned restrictions the
negroes still had the right to acquire and dispose of prop-
l Laws, 1827, ch. 29.
s O/>. cit., 1831, ch. 323, sec. n.
9 Op. cit., 1852, ch. 288. For one year a negro's name was to be re-
garded as having no weight when signed to a saloon petition in Kent
County. Op. cit., 1818, ch. 170; 1819, ch. xiv.
*H. Dels. Journal, 1832, p. 55; cf. op. cit., 1834, P- 499-
6 Op. cit., 1833, PP- no, 197-98; also 1834, P. 499-
6 Carroll Criminal Court Docket, no. i, pp. 105, m; Baltimore Sun,
Mar. 30, 1855; cf. Carroll Criminal Docket, no. I, p. 14, no. 2, p. 4;
Howard Criminal Docket, i, no. 20; Somerset Co. Court Judgments,
1821-22, p. 194.
495] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES
erty. In doing so they could employ any oi the common
methods of effecting transfers employed by other citizens.
It will be noted that none of the statutes referred to applied
to transfers of any kind of property by the law of descents
or to real estate transfers, whether to negroes or from
negroes. In 1817 the appeal court held valid a devise of
real property to a negro girl, 1 and in two later cases in which
manumitted negroes were to be supported out of the rents
of real property whose possession was to be vested in white
persons, it held that they were entitled to receive the benefits
intended for them. 2 If a negro died intestate and devoid of
heirs born in lawful wedlock, his estate could not be taken
by any other person claiming under him. Several acts were
passed by the legislature to empower particular negroes td
transmit property to heirs in cases in which it had been
l Md. Appeal Reports, 5 H. & J., pp. 191-95; r/. 12 Md., p. 450.
2 Op. cit., 5 Md., pp. 137-40 ; 12 Md., pp. 87-96. iln the latter case the
court said: "It is certain that their being devisees of real estate, will
not give them any rights not enjoyed by others, but as long as they
are allowed to remain in the state, why may they not have landi of their
own? If set free without any such devise in their favor, they might
hold land acquired in any other way, and if they remove, the title to
the land would remain in them."
In 1831 the act had passed forbidding any negro manumitted there-
after to remain in the state without the permission of the orphans' court
of the county wherein he resided. Laws, 1831, ch. 281. A will executed
in 1843 freed several slaves, ordered that out of the assets of the
estate a house should be built, and devised such a house and two acres
of land adjoining it to them and their heirs forever. It appeared sub-
sequently that after making certain money payments to the heirs, in-
cluding the negroes, the personal assets of the estate were insufficient
to build the house as specified in the will. It was held in chancery in
1848 that the testator had not intended that the house should be built
out the assets arising from the realty; hence the house could not be
built, there could be no two acres of " adjoining land," and the devise
was void. I'Md. Chancery, pp. 355-58. At the end of the report of the
opinion it was stated that no appeal was taken in the case.
I0 6 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [496
alleged they were incompetent to do so. 1 But in response
to an application for similar action in another case the House
of Delegates took the view that the existing laws did not
" preclude free negroes from holding and transmitting real
estate to their legitimate descendants/' a
The legislature also passed two acts to validate titles to
real estate. 9 But this did not mean that other titles were
incomplete without such validation. 4 Free negroes enjoyed
the right to hold property by all of the common methods of
possession and ownership. The sole exceptions to this rule
in point of either kind or quantity were found in the
restrictions on keeping dogs and guns.
The general act of 1715 forbade any negro or other slave
without his master's consent to carry a gun or other offen-
sive weapon, when away from his master's premises. 5
In 1806 in response to petitions for further regulations the
legislature prohibited the keeping of either a dog or a gun
by a slave. It also enacted that a free negro going at large
with a gun was liable to forfeit the same and to payment of
costs, unless he had a magistrate's certificate stating that
he was an orderly person. Such a certificate was valid for
his protection for only twelve months. 6 Subsequent peti-
tions called for more legislation so insistently that from
l Laws, 1834, ch. 187; 1856, ch. 337; 1858, dis. 75, 296, 408; cf. Md.
Appeal Reports, i H. & McH., pp. 559-63.
*H. Dels. Journal, 1835, pp. 68, 356, 357. The committee here referred
to the act of 1825, ch. 156.
*Laws, 1834, ch. 112; 1854, ch. 52.
4 The legislature several times declined to take final action upon pro-
posals to take away titles to real estate from free negroes. H. Dels.
Journal, 1836, pp. 23, 243; 1849, P- 416; Senate Journal, 1838, pp. 14-15;
Md. Pub. Docs., 1845 G., p. 2; cf. Md. Appeal Reports, 12 Md., pp.
462-64.
*Laws, 1715, ch. Ixiv, sfec. 32.
'Laws, 1806, ch. 81.
497 ] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 107
1824 to 1 83' i the privilege of keeping firearms was entirely
denied to negroes. 1 But this stringent provision was re-
laxed by the act of 1831. This act allowed the free negro
to keep powder, lead, a fire-lock, or military weapon, but
only on condition that he procured a license therefor from
the court of the county or corporation wherein he resided :
his license was to be renewed annually and was liable to be
recalled sooner. Moreover, he was liable to forfeit any
such articles found in his possession without license, and
for a second offence to be whipped with not exceeding 1
thirty-nine stripes. 2 In the following year remuneration
was voted to negroes for arms taken from them up to that
time and not yet forfeited to the informers, 3 but sentiment
did not recoil in favor of a restoration of the privilege
denied. 'As for keeping dogs the act of 1806 provided that
a free negro might procure a license yearly from a justice
of the peace allowing him to keep only one dog which any-
body might kill if found at large. 4 The law remained at
this, with the exception that in 1854 an act applying to
Kent County created a dog tax, added a fine for a free
negro who kept a dog without a license, and a treble fine
for keeping a bitch in any case. 5 Under these laws some
guns were seized. In 1859-60 for a time the privileges)
granted were revoked in some counties and special searches
made for weapons. 8 On complaint also negroes' dogs were
1 Op. cit., 1824, ch. 303 ; cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1813, pp. 62, 98, 99.
'Dealers were likewise to be penalized, in case they sold any of these
forbidden articles to negroes who 'had not special magisterial permits
for the purchase. Laws, 1831, ch. 323, sec. 7; cf. Md. Republican, Nov.
12, 1831.
*H. Dels. Journal, 1832, p. 84.
'Laws, 1806, ch. 81.
*0p. cit., 1854, ch. 262; cf, H. Dels. Journal, 1838, pp. 271, 422, 690.
6 Annapolis Gazette, Oct. 18, 1860; Baltimore Sun, Nov. 17, 1859;
Easton Gazette, Dec. 3, 1859; Somerset Union, Jan. 5, 1860; cf. Balti-
more Clipper, Jan. 6, 1849.
I0 g THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [498
killed by the constables, when they increased beyond the
numbers permitted by the law. But as a rule these regula-
tions were well enforced only in and near the cities and
towns, while in the more remote rural districts there was
less interference with violations of the law.
The early prohibition of marriages between negroes and
whites was referred to in the chapter on the provincial period.
It was there noted that according to a law of the year
1663-64 both white women who married negro slaves and
their children by slave husbands were to be condemned to
slavery. This provision was also extended to marriages'
with free! negroes. 1 After some later modifications an
act of 1717 provided that a free negro or free mulatto
marrying a white person should become a slave for life,
saving that, if the mulatto offender was a child of a white
woman, he was to serve only seven years. 2 A minister or
magistrate solemnizing such a marriage was to be fined.
This statute became a permanent part of the code. 3 But
as the relations between the races became more definitely
fixed, intermarriage between whites and negroes became
much less frequent and the uninvoked prohibition practically
became a dead-letter. Free negroes formed unions with
persons of their own color, either slave or free, subject to
the same conditions as those governing the whites, saving
that the legal incapacity of slaves affected the results'
materially in many cases.
The vexed question of the system of involuntary labor
was that of keeping the workmen at home. In Maryland
the masters and officials generally cooperated in intercept-
1 Archives of Md., vol. xiii, pp. 546-47 ; vol. xxii, p. 552.
*Laws, 1717, ch. xiii. For penalties on the offspring, vide, 1717, ch.
xliv; cf. also 1790, ch. ix.
' Code of 1860, art. 30, sees. 127, 128; cf. sees. 151, 152, on white
women guilty of fornication with negroes.
499] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 109
ing and returning absconders to their places, and the law en-
deavored to facilitate their efforts. Restrictions on the free-
dom of negroes which were designed to protect masters'
interests were passed by the legislature. The earliest
statutes referring to negroes had to do with their running
away. 1 They dealt mainly with the unfree, but they also
concerned indentured free negroes who ran away and free-
men who aided or harbored fugitive servants. 2 But besides
this the free negroes were hampered in going from place to
place on their own account. Although they were generally
protected, so long as they remained among those who knew
they were free, once outside the circle of such acquaintances
they were liable to be suspected and to be treated as fugitive
slaves. According to the act of 1715 they could be ar-
rested, and if unable to prove satisfactorily that they were
not runaways, returned to their masters, or sold into servi-
tude to pay the costs of their detention and trial. 3 Delays
in the trial of causes led to accumulation of such expenses.
In order to cover them the terms for which the prisoners
were sold were sometimes long. 4 To free negroes who had
l Laws, 1641, ch. vi; 1649, ch. v; 1654, ch. xxx; cf. also 1671, ch. ii;
1676, ch. ii.
2 For the last named offence the penalties were, according to the act
of 1641, ch. vi, death and forfeiture of land and goods ; according to
that of 1715, ch. xliv, a fine of a thousand pounds of tobacco, or im
default of payment a term of servitude; and according to the act of
1748, ch. xix a hundred pounds of tobacco for every hour the fugitive
was harbored
*Laurs, 1715, ch. xliv. For a few cases of such detentions, vide
advertisements in the Md. Journal, (Dec. 15, 1786; Aug. 21, 1789; Feb.
9, May n, June n, Aug. 3, (Sept. 24, 1790; June 3, 1791; Nov. 15,
1793; July 15, 1793; (May 16, Aug. 8, Oct. 13, 1796; Baltimore Chattel
Recs., Lib. WG, no. 14, p. 454; Lib. WG, no. 20, p. 23.3; Lib. WG, no. 23,
p. 142.
'Niles Register, vol. 21, p. 32; vol. 31, p. 25; also Baltimore Chattel
Recs., as in the last note.
IIO THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [500
offended only by coming into a community this seemed an
unmerited hardship. In 1817 therefore the legislature
enacted that in future the counties were to meet the ex-
penses thus incurred from other sources. 1 But its act of
justice to free negroes left upon the counties a financial
burden for which no revenue was now forthcoming. This
was particularly true in Baltimore County, to which many
negroes came from the rest of the state. To relieve its em-
barrassment another statute was passed requiring justices
who committed negroes to jail to produce the names and
places of residence of supposed owners and to state the
grounds upon which commitment had been made, in order
that final disposition of their cases might be made within
forty-eight hours from time of commitment. Only those
recommitted after examination were to be advertised as
suspects. 2 According to an act of 1828 the expenses incur-
red on account of those who were finally released without
penalty were provided from the state treasury. 3
The general negro act of 1715 impliedly sanctioned the
use of passes by servants sent on errands for their masters.*
Similarly free negroes sometimes secured from their manu-
mitters, or often from county officials and magistrates,
papers to enable them to go about without interference.
l Laws, 1817, ch. 112.
*0/>> cit., 1824, ch. 171.
I 0p. cit., 1828, ch. 98; cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1828, p. 609; Washington
Orphans' Court Minutes, 1850-52, pp. 18, 69; 1855-59, PP- 33$, 536, 681.
In 1826 such fees had been paid by the county. 31 Niles Register, p. 25.
The act of 1840, ch. 237, provided that the county should pay the prison
fees and remit the fine of a free negro imprisoned at Frederick.
Rev. Charles T. Torrey wrote in 1844 that he thought he had broken
up " the old, but now illegal practice of imprisoning men of color who
were free, and then selling them for their jail fees," while he was
imprisoned at Annapolis. Lovejoy, Memoir of Rev. Charles T. Torrey,
p. 130; cf. also 131.
'Laws, 1715, ch. xliv.
LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES
Within proper limits this practice would have been a great
convenience to all concerned. But after the revolution its
use spread too rapidly, certificates were counterfeited and
transferred and no longer served as a sure means of identi-
fication of persons. The ruses thus employed enabled
slaves to escape when otherwise they would have been de-
tained, 1 and eventually gave rise to doubts about the genu-
ineness of many bona-fide freedom papers. They injured the
interests of both masters and negroes entitled to freedom.
In order to correct the confusion and the other evils that
resulted, the legislature in 1796 enacted a provision that any
free negro who should give or sell a certificate of freedom,
issued to him by a magistrate or clerk of a county court, and
should thereby enable a slave to escape from service, should
be liable to fine of a hundred and fifty dollars, one half of
which was to go to the offended slave-owner. 2 It was a
time of rapid growth of the free negro population. " Great
mischiefs " still arose from the possession o>f freemen's certi-
ficates by slaves. In 1805, therefore, another act was pas-
sed to confine the issuance of freedom certificates to the
clerks of the county courts, registers of wills and local magi-
strates of the counties where the manumissions of parties
were recorded, and in 1807 this function was limited to the
first two classes of officers. Stipulations were made that
certificates were to be recorded and that applicants for them
1 For mention of such papers, cf. Baltimore Gazette, May 13, 1829;
Cecil Whig, July 24, 1858; Md. Gazette, Oct. 28, 1790; iMay 15, 1788;
Md. Journal, Jan. 7, 1783; June 14, 1793; Md, Republican, Oct. 8, 1825;
Nov. n, 1828; Oct. 7, 1817. They were often mentioned in connection
with advertised runaways. Copies of such passes may be found in Md.
Land Recs., Lib. DD, no. 6, p. 566 (1781). And Somerset Land Recs.,
Lib. K
*Laws, 1796, ch. 67, sec. 28. In the code of 1860 this fine was given
as $300, art. 30, sec. 154. Cf. Cecil Whig, Nov. 10, 1860 ; also Md,. Pub.
Docs., 1850, pp. 264, 395.
112 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [502
were to give satisfactory evidence of their titles to free-
dom and satisfactory account of papers alleged to have been
lost. Papers were moreover to contain particular descrip-
tions of the persons, the ages, times of manumission and
places of origin of their bearers. Freeborn negroes might
secure papers similar to these saving the reference to manu-
mission. 1 Any grants of such certificates excepting by
those so authorized were to be severely penalized. The
volumes of copies of these papers, as " Records of Freedom
Certificates," or " Records of Free Negroes " in the several
counties, 2 show a literal compliance with the tenor of these
provisions. Later proposals to require annual or periodical
renewal of freedom papers by all free negroes were rejected
by the general assembly.*
The laws restricting the introduction of slaves into Mary-
land were mentioned in the preceding chapter. Their ob-
ject had been to check the growth of the negro population,
and their enactment had come at a time when none could
have foreseen the results of the manumission movement.
The subsequent growth of the class of f reedmen at home and
in the neighboring states aroused fears that the coming of free
negroes might defeat the ends of the exclusion policy. A new
barrier was, therefore, raised by a statute of 1807 which made
it an offence to be penalized by a fine of ten dollars a week
for any non-resident free negro to come. into the state and
remain there longer than two weeks. In default of pay-
ment of the fine the intruder was to be sold into servitude
to pay his fine and costs. Exception was to be made only
for sailors, and for waggoners and messengers in the actual
service of non-resident employers. 4 This law failed to be
l Laws, 1805, ch. 66; 1807, ch. 164.
*Cf. Bibliography, infra, p. 12.
*H. Dels. Journal, 1835, pp. 39, 48; 1843, pp. 145, 552, 649; 1853, pp.
37, 755, 1038.
4 Laws, 1806, ch. 56.
^03] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 113
effective and attempts were made to strengthen it. Finally
in 1823 a supplementary act was passed mainly on account
of reports about conditions in the counties bordering on the
Potomac River. It refused exemption to offenders with-
out respect to the length of their residence in Maryland and
to those found in the state after having been penalized and
required especial vigilance in executing the law in nine of
the counties. 1 The provisions were reaffirmed in 1831 and
1839, an d heavier penalties were added to their violation.
First the period of sojourn of the non-residents without
penalty was reduced to ten days, and the fines to be im-
posed for their remaining beyond that limit were quintu-
pled, and in the case of those who harbored or employed
them doubled ; 2 while the second act made the mere inward
crossing of the state boundary finable, and raised to five
hundred dollars the penalty for either a refusal to leave the
state within five days after having been fined, or for re-entry
after expulsion.* The federal district, however, afforded
a loophole through which negroes continued to come in,
claiming immunity on the ground that the place from whence
they came was not outside of Maryland. The whites in
the neighboring quarters of Maryland were annoyed and
" greatly injured " by it. Hence in 1845 the provisions of
the act of 1839 were extended to apply to negro residents
of the District of Columbia. 4
In outward aspect these laws created a Chinese wall
1 Op. cit., 1823, ch. 161. The nine counties were Allegany, Anne
Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's, Somer-
set and Worcester. Cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1823, pp. 52, 70, 88.
*Laws, 1831, ch. 323.
1 Op. cit., 1839, ch. 38. Thus far, it appears, there had been no further
penalty for refusal to leave the state after conviction of a first offence.
Md. Appeal Reports, 12 G. & J., p. 335.
'Laws, 1845, ch. 153-
H 4 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [504
which mounted ever upward. Under them some offenders
were penalized. 1 But with the increase of the free negro
population the immigrant's facility in escaping detection by
those who would be likely to report him was increased. In the
case that came before the Court of Appeals in 1842 it was
declared by counsel whose view the court upheld that any
proceeding to lay a fine had to be instituted within twelve
months after the alleged offence had been committed. 2 Irt
some cases negroes could stay about unobserved for a
year, or until they seemed from long residence to belong
where they were. The whites on their part, although some-
times vigilant, hardly loathed their coming enough to
favor a stringent execution of the exclusion policy. 8 Com-
plaints that they were apathetic, or that the law was ineffec-
tive, did not avail to create a consistent demand for better
enforcement. And the legislature, although maintaining
the enactments in the manner indicated above, passed other
acts making exceptions to its own cherished policy. To be
sure, it rejected or ignored the majority of the petitions
asking that the law should be waived on behalf of indivi-
duals, but it found sufficient, special pretexts for heeding
Baltimore Gazette, Jan. i, 1831 ; Carroll Criminal Docket, no. I, p.
85, no. 2, p. 76; Cecil Land Recs., Lib. JlS, no. II, p. 181; Cecil Whig,
Oct. 22, 1859; Jan. 12, 1861 ; E. Shore General Advertiser, Mar. 24, 1807;
Easton Star, Oct. 30, 1849; Frederick Orphans' Court Proceedings, April
9, 1845; Howard Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. TJ, no. 2, p. 48; Wash-
ington Criminal Appearance Docket, no. 8; Washington Orphans' Court
Minutes, 1835-46, pp. 208, 289; 1852-55, pp. 72, 261, 360, 559, 5^3; I855-5&
pp. 174, 336, 649. No doubt some of the negroes taken up as runaway
slaves and sold for jail fees, or discharged without penalty, were immi-
grant free negroes. Some of them claimed to be such.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 12 G. & J., pp. 335-36; cf. preceding paragraph,
act of 1823, ch. 161. The act referred to by this advocate was one of
the year 1777, ch. vi.
1 E. g. H. Dels. Journal, 1823, pp. 52, 70, 88; Republican Star and E-
Shore General Advertiser, July 16, 1822.
505] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 115
others. 1 Even after the penalties had reached their ex-
treme height in 1839, three such petitions were granted.
But in two of them restrictions as to the place of residence
were imposed. 2 And in another case a negro resident of
the District of Columbia was permitted to go under bond
to visit his wife in Prince George's County for periods of
four days at a time. 8
Another form of exclusion appeared as a part of the
colonization scheme. As a complement to the: provision
requiring manumitted negroes to leave the state, one of the
hydra-headed laws of 18311 enacted that, if a resident negro
should spend a period of thirty or more days outside the
state, he should be regarded as having established a domicile
there, unless he should have signified in writing to the clerk
of the court before leaving both the object of his journey
away and his intention to return to Maryland. Exception
was again made for sailors, waggoners and hired domestics
in the employment of non-residents.* Thirteen years later
one act repealed the clause regarding the written statement
to the clerk of the court ; and a second act of the same ses-
sion explained that the first was not to be construed to pre-
vent colored residents from going and staying outside longer
than thirty days between the first of May and the first of
November each year, provided they procured the required
permits from the orphans' courts. But no such permit
was to be had without the endorsement of three " respect-
able" white persons. 5 Up to that time negroes had been
l Laws, 1807, ch. vi; 1816, ch. 211; 1822, ch. 54; 1826, chs. 120, 121, 166;
1827, ch. 169; 1837, chs. 117, 345. Bracket* records that out of twenty
petitions offered eight were granted in the years 1806-31. The Negro
in Maryland, p. 177.
1 Op. cit., 1847, ch. 133; 1854, ch. 261; 1858, ch. 364.
8 Op. cit., 1847, ch. 103.
* Op. cit., 1831, ch. 323.
8 OA cit., 1844, chs, 16, 283, For specimen permits, vide Kent Chattel
>
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [506
allowed to sojourn outside the state for periods of less than
thirty days each and to return at will. Complaints came
from certain Eastern Shore counties that that privilege had
been abused by negroes running to and from Delaware. In
response the legislature in 1849 enacted that free negro
residents of Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne's counties, who
should return after having once left the state, should be
liable to the high penalties of the act of 1839 against im-
migrating free negroes. 1 This measure, however, went
too far, and soon a modification of it was desired. Ac-
cordingly in 1853 it was so changed as to allow the return
of free negro employees of white persons in Cecil County
from business errands across the state border within twenty-
four hours of the time of their going out, 2 and three years
later the same privileges were extended under like condi-
tions for ten-day periods to colored employees hired by the
month to white farmers of the two counties of Cecil and
Kent. 3
The observance of these restrictions was subject to the
same condition as that of the immigration laws. The people
willingly countenanced some vigilance in regard to the move-
ments of the negroes. But they did not generally favor in-
terference with innocent travel. Many permits to leave
Maryland and return were given in some of the counties, 4 "
Recs., Lib. JGN, no. 2, pp. 396, 431, 529, 531, 535; Lib. JGN, no. 3,
pp. 15, 461, 462 ; Washington Orphans' Court Minutes, 1835-46, pp. 303,
3io, 315, 355, 356, 362 and passim.
1 Laws, 1849, ch. 538, supra, pp. 78-79.
*Op.cit., 1853, ch. 177.
Op. it., 1856, ch. 161.
4 Supra, p. 81, note 2; Cecil Land Recs., Lib. JS, no. 31, pp. 43, 119;
Lib. GMoC, no. 8, p. 145 ; Somerset Deeds, Lib. LH, pp. 121, 289, 381 ;
Washington Orphans' Court Minutes, 1850-52, pp. 103, 260, 261, 264, 270,
275, 278, 279, 282, 296, 307, 411, 412, 426 and passim; 1852-55, pp. 147,
164, 196, 197, 198 and passim.
507] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES nj
and it appears that the special restrictions applying to the
three Eastern Shore counties were for a time enforced, 1 but
complete enforcement of the statewide law did not follow.
The legislature also made exceptions to its rules. It voted
to grant immunity from penalities to negroes who visited
Trinidad, Guiana and Liberia with a view to migrating from
Maryland. 2 In doing so it could plead obvious necessity in
facilitating the execution of the colonization plan. But aside
from this it allowed the merits of certain individual appli-
cations for re-entry to outweigh considerations of that
public policy: it passed acts in 1854-60 permitting the re-
turn O'f at least eleven negroes, whom the act of 1831 would
have barred. 3
The free negro had the right to maintain actions at law
in the Maryland courts. Notwithstanding that this had
been the practice, a doubt about it, or a wish that it had not
been true, lurked in some minds until late in the history of
slavery. A! case in point came up in the Court of Appeals!
in 1858. It was contended that a negro could not sue with-
out first having proved that he was of free condition. The
court, on the contrary, held that not only was it not necessary
for the free negro to prove his freedom in such a case but
that he need not even declare himself a " free negro " in
his pleadings. Reciting the cases in which the negro suf-
fered disqualification on account of his color, it further
stated that in all other cases legal policy and social welfare
alike required that he should be allowed to defend his
person and his property in the courts. The denial of these
rights could confer no benefit upon others, while their pro-
1 Cecil Whig, Aug. 7, 14, 1858; Baltimore Sun, June 10, 1859, report of
slaveholders' convention.
*Laws, 1839, ch. v; Md. Col. Journal, vol. iii, p. 354; vol. iv, p. 17;
infra, chapter on "Colonization," p. 284.
*Laws, 1854, ch. 66; 1856, chs. 37, 84, 229, 271; 1860, ch. 345.
1 18 THE FREE' NEGRO IN MARYLAND [508
tection would become the incentive to thrift and respectab-
ility. 1
In respect to giving evidence in the courts, however, the
rights of negroes were limited. A statute of the year 1717,
declaring that " dangerous consequences " would follow an
unrestricted admission of negro evidence, enacted that no
negro or mulatto slave, free negro, or mulatto born of a
white woman during the servitude appointed by law, should
be accepted as " good and valid evidence " in law in any
matter depending before a magistrate or a court of record,
wherein a Christian white person was a party. 2 In 1846
the provision was extended to the cases of whites who were
not Christians. 3 But in a case involving the interests of free
negroes in which other competent testimony was lacking,
this evidence might be introduced, provided it was not
a cause involving life or limb. The logical consequences of
the act are, thus set forth by Dr. Brackett : " The child of a
white man and a mulatto slave would be during life incap-
able of witnessing against a white ; the child of a black man
and a white woman .... would 'be so disqualified during 1
the limited term, only, for which he was put to service. AJ
free mulatto was good evidence against a white person." *
An act of 1796 excluded from freedom trials the testimony
of negroes freed according to the terms of the act of 1783 ; 5
beginning in 1801 slaves were permitted to testify against
l Md. Appeal Reports, 12 Md., pp. 450-51, 462-64. The cases of dis-
qualification were that of in competency to testify in a suit to which a
white person was a party, and that of assuming the burden of proof in
any suit involving a negro's own liberty.
3 Laws, 1717, ch. xiii.
*Op. cit., 1846, ch. 27; cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1852, p. 19; 1856, p. 127.
4 Brackett, The Negro in Maryland, p. 191 ; cfr Md. Appeal Reports,
3 H. & J., p. 97.
*Laws, 1796, ch. 67, sec. 5.
509] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES
free negroes who were charged either with stealing, or re-
ceiving stolen articles from others, and in 1808 the restric-
tions upon the use of negro evidence in criminal prosecutions
of negroes were entirely removed. 1 In the test cases
brought ibef ore its bar the appeal court upheld the principles
set forth in theses statutes, 2
Under the constitution of 1776 white persons and negroes
were allowed to vote at elections for members of the lower
house of the legislature without discrimination on account
of color. For those negroes who were freed before the
year 1783 this privilege was continued for another quarter
of a century, and those who were otherwise qualified had a
part in political life. 3 But a statute of 1783 denied to
persons manumitted thereafter the privileges of office-hold-
ing, voting at elections, giving evidence against white per-
sons, and all other rights of freemen excepting those of
acquiring and holding property and obtaining redress at
law and equity for injuries to person and property. 4 But
this law did not affect the position of free negroes residing
in Maryland prior to its passage. Their privileges were,
however, regarded with jealousy, and an ineffectual attempt
to bar them from voting for members of the House of
Delegates, for the electors for state senators and for sheriffs
*0p. cit., 1801, ch. 109; 1808, ch. 81; cf. also 1820, ch. 88.
*Md. Appeal Reports, 3 H. & J., pp. 97-98, 491; cf. op. cit., p. 158;
I H. & J., p. 750; 5 H. & J., p. 51 ; 12 Md., p. 274; Baltimore Sun, Dec.
19, 1856. Vide attempt to disparage the testimony of a white who, it
was alleged, " associated and kept company with negroes." Md. Appeal
Reports, 3 H. & J., p. 241.
*It was alleged that James McHenry availed of free negro support
in agitating for the ratification of the federal constitution by the con-
vention of Maryland, Md. Journal, ;Sept. 30, 1788; cf. election notice in
Md. Journal, July 10, 1775.
* Laws, 1783, ch. xxiii. Substantially the same provisions were re-
enacted in the act of 1796, ch. 67.
120 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
was made in I8O2. 1 It was followed by the constitutional
amendment of 1810 which took away their rights and limited
the suffrage in local, state and national elections to white
persons. 2 Subsequent legislation wrought no changes in
their behalf. The right of petition for redress of grievances
remained and was frequently availed of, although it was
asserted that its existence did not diminish the legislature's
power to make such disposition of the free colored popula-
tion as seemed good to it. 3
The next question is that of holding negro assemblies.
The perpetuation of the relations existing between the
white and black races in Maryland society was conditioned
upon the indisputable control of affairs by the former.
Efforts were made by the whites to organize themselves to
maintain that control. The same end was also held in
view in the endeavors to make sure of an absence of organ-
ization on the part of the negroes. The chief measure taken
was that to prevent rebellious action by negro assemblies.
The acts passed for this purpose in the eighteenth century
did not provide for separate penalties for slaves and free
negroes. But those laws became the basis for the later
legislation affecting the free negroes. An act against the
frequent assembling of negroes was passed in 1695.* It
was followed in 1723 by an act authorizing constables to
flog negroes found in tumultuous meetings without permis-
sion, 5 in 1725 by special prohibitions of both tumultuous
1 Official publication in the Herald and E. Shore Intelligencer, May
4, 1802.
* Kilty, Laws of Maryland, vol. iii, p. xxxviii; cf. Laws, 1809, ch. 83,
sees, i, 2, 4.
*Cf. Declaration of Rights in Constitution of 1850-51. Also Md.
Pub. Docs., 1845 G, pp. 3, 4, 5, and Brackett, op. cit., p. 187.
4 Laws, 1695, chs. 6, 26.
5 Op. cit., 1723, ch. 15. Cf. chapter on Colonial Period, p. 32.
LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES I2 i
meetings and the sale of spirituous liquors within three
miles of any of the Quaker meetings in Anne Arundel and
Talbot counties, and later by acts enjoining the bailiffs of
Easton and certain other towns to prevent tumultuous
meetings of negroes, slaves and " other disorderly and dis-
solute persons within the limits " of their authority. 1 But
in re-enacting the provisions of the old general law in 1806
it was added that any free negro found in a tumultuous
meeting was to be fined or imprisoned, if he had been dis-
orderly, but if not, to be bonded for good behavior and
for appearance in the county court. 2 Under the authority
of these laws the constables had deputized citizens to assist
in their searches. In four of the counties in 1820 the law
was extended to enable the justices of the: peace, on com-
plaint of three persons, to organize companies which were
to be composed of fifteen persons of military age in each
instance, to search for and break up " riotous and unlaw-
ful " meetings of negroes and to bring actual and suspected
offenders before the magistrates for trial. These com-
panics, or patrols, were to have power to search negro dwell-
ings and other buildings by force and were to make especial
marks of negroes away from their own homes and offenders'
against negro exclusion laws. The law was first enacted for
four counties of Southern Maryland, 3 and was later ex-
tended to Calvert, Frederick and Kent counties. 4 The
patrols were first designed chiefly to keep slaves at home
1 Laws, 1725, ch. 6; 1747, ch. 17; 1790, ch. 14; 1796, ch. 30; 1804, ch. 70.
1 Laws, 1806, ch. 81. In 1809, ch. 38, the offence of raising an insur-
rection, which had long been a capital crime for slaves, cf. act of 1737,
ch. 7, was expressly made capital for free negroes also.
* Laws, 1820, ch. 200. Cf. Amer. Farmer, vol. i, pp. 98-99, letter from
a whilom (resident of Southern Maryland 1 .
4 0/>. cit., 1822, ch. 85; 1826, ch. 210; 1856, ch. 177; cf. also 1842, ch.
281, sec. 5.
I2 2 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [512
at night, but were used against free negroes as well as
against slaves, and according to common report too often
degenerated into the use of undue violence without salutary
results. 1
The act of 1806 had not been directed against innocent
assemblages. Although there had been some jealousy of
the independent African church, its meetings were gener-
ally unmolested. But the religious services held in an old
meeting house at Piscataway in Prince George's County
excited the displeasure of the whites. They reported that
they were a nuisance and induced the legislature to prohibit
all meetings there excepting on Sunday and on Easter and
Whit-Monday between the hours of seven o'clock a. m. and
five p. m. Free negroes who violated the prohibition were
to be fined, slaves striped. 2 These restrictions were local
and comparatively mild. Three years later the legislators
were seized by the frenzy that followed the Southampton in-
surrection in Virginia and by reports of a similar plot in
Anne Arundel County, Maryland. They then enacted that
outside of the cities of Annapolis and Baltimore free negroes
were not to assemble nor to attend any religious meeting
which was not conducted either by a licensed white preacher,
or by some respectable white person of the neghborhood.
In the two excepted cities white ministers were authorized
to grant permits to negroes to hold meetings before the
hour of ten o'clock p. m., and slave owners could permit like
meetings on their own premises. Negro meetings not thus
authorized were liable to be dispersed and those in attend-
ance to be punished. 3 In 1844 camp and bush-meetings
1 Cf. Md. Republican, April 16, 1817 ; Nov. 12, 1831 ; Somerset Union,
Nov. 8, 1859.
1 Laws, 1828, ch. 151.
8 Laws, 1831, ch. 323, sees. 7 and 8. Cf. Md. Republican, Nov. 29,
1831.
513] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES
and all other meetings of negroes excepting those held in
regular and appointed houses of worship according to the
act of 1831 were prohibited. But in the following session
an amendment confined this prohibition to camp and bush-
meetings, 1 and stated that the negroes might attend the
camp-meetings held by the whites of any of the religious
sects.
The act of 1831 seemed inadequate to cover the cases of
fraternal and benevolent societies. Hence another act was
passed in 1842 prohibiting free negroes to become members
of any secret societies, or to allow meetings for such pur-
poses to be held on their premises. The penalty for viola-
tion of this provision was to be a fine of fifty dollars to be
paid, or satisfied, by servitude of the offender, and for a
second offence slavery for life outside of the state of Mary-
land. White persons furnishing meeting-places for such
societies were to be liable to terms of service in the state
penitentiary. 2 But the facility of interference here afforded
struck at the charitable and burial societies of the " honest,
industrious and peaceable" colored people of Baltimore
City. White friends of these enterprises interceded in
their behalf. In response to their appeal the legislature
amended the act so as to allow the mayor of Baltimore to
grant annual permits to free colored residents of that city,
who paid five dollars, or more, each in taxes, to form charit-
able societies and hold meetings to promote their objects.
But a police officer was to attend each meeting, to sit
throughout and to report to the mayor upon its doings. 3 In
1 Op. tit., 1845, ch. 94, and 1846, ch. 166. Cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1844,
pp. 40, 105, 265; 1845, pp. 8, 22, 163. Also Senate Journal, 1845, P- *
and M d. Republican, Nov. 29, 1831.
3 Laws, 1842, ch. 281. Cf. Senate Journal, 1842, p. 142. H. Dels.
Journal, 1841, pp. 222, 226.
* Op. cit., 1845, ch. 284.
124 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
1846 an act withheld from the free negroes the privilege of
incorporating lyceums, masonic and other lodges, fire com-
panies, and literary, dramatic, social, moral and charitable
societies. 1
The negroes had warmly cherished the privilege of hold-
ing assembles. They regarded its curtailment with deep re-
gret and yet with submissiveness. The more repressive re-
strictions had been enacted at a time when alarmist whites
had apprehended negro violence. They had been adver-
tised, until they became as well known as any part of the
negro code. Possessing this knowledge the negroes in
general preferred to observe the restrictions rather than
provoke the wrath of the whites by breaking them. In this
endeavor they enlisted the assistance of whites, many of
whom desired to mitigate the hardships resulting from the
laws. Negro meetings led by white preachers fulfilled the
law to the letter. Those led by negroes were legitimized by
the presence of whites acting as " protectors." In carrying
out the law the scrutiny of negro conduct varied consider-
ably. Forbearance was often shown towards omissions.
But if there were fears of disorder, systematic interference
was sure to follow. Aside from the churches there were in
the counties some colonization societies and a few short-
lived schools, all of which were tolerated only so long asi
they were not suspected of sinister designs. In Harford
County in 186061 three negroes were prosecuted and fined
" for being members of a secret association." 2
The negroes of the city of Baltimore had a variety of
negro organizations, whose managers apparently conformed
well to the demands of the law. The whites there were
more tolerant than those of the rural counties, but in cases
of violation of the law the police supported by the courts
1 Op. tit., 1846, ch. 323.
* Harford Criminal Docket, Lib. WG, pp. 52-53.
LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 125
interfered to restore order. 1 The rules regarding negro
assemblies constituted an eminent infringement of the fun-
damental rights of freemen.
The provincial laws of Maryland exempted the negroes
from the duty of serving in the militia. 2 But in the fall of
1780, when a draft was authorized in order to secure a
thousand additional soldiers for three years service, slaves
and freemen alike were to be admitted. And in the follow-
ing year it was added that " every free male idle person,
above sixteen years of age, who is able-bodied, and hath no
visible means of an honest livelihood, may be adjudged
a vagrant by the lieutenant, and by such adjudication
he is to be considered as an enlisted soldier." 3 Beginning
again in 1793 the militia service was confined to the whites, 4
But in 1814 the negroes of Baltimore were both invited and
" required " by the committee on vigilance and safety to aid
in constructing fortifications for the defence of the city. 5
Property holders in Maryland without distinction as to
color contributed to the ordinary public revenues. In pro-
viding for public roads and free schools, however, the
negro became the subject of certain discriminations. It was
held that many free negroes paid no taxes and performed
no military duty, and that it was but reasonable that they
should contribute to repairing the public roads. Accord-
l Cf. Baltimore Clipper, Feb. 24, 26, 1849; Baltimore Sun, Mar. 10,
1854; Jan. i, 1857; July 26, 1858; May n, 12, 1859; Oct. 3, 1860; Payne,
History of the A. M. E. Church, pp. 231-32. Cf. also Bracket*, op. cit.,
pp. 204-05.
8 Laws, 1715, ch- 43J 17^2, ch. 15; 1733, ch, 7. Cf. 1777, chs. 3, 17-
9 Laws, November, 1780, ch. 43 ; May, 1781, ch. 15. The quotation
here given' is from the abstract of the act given in the General Laws,
published in 1787.
* Laws, 1793, ch. 53.
'Baltimore American, Sept. 12, Oct. 29, 1814. Cf. also Laws, 1822,
ch. 58.
126 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
ingly the public road act passed for Caroline County in
1822 authorized each road supervisor to call upon any free
negro over eighteen and under fifty years of age residing
in his district to work upon the roads for one day in each
year. 1 The act for Talbot in 1825 laid a similar burden
upon non-tax-paying free negroes and able-bodied slaves ; a
while that for Worcester two years later required three
days labor of free negroes, and two days labor of whites
who paid no taxes. 3 These statutes virtually imposed poll
taxes upon negroes, although they were not wholly discrimi-
natory. In respect to the schools, of which the negroes
did not have common use, a few discriminations were made
in the opposite direction. An act applying to the first elec-
tion district of Baltimore County made all white persons
above the age of twenty-one years, who were not otherwise
taxable, subject to a personal tax for school purposes, but
omitted all references to negroes who paid no property
taxes. 4 The exemption of the property of negroes from
school taxes was authorized in the act of 1834 applying to
Kent, in that of 1838 applying to Montgomery, and in the
code of 1860 as applying to Anne Arundel. 5
The penal clauses of the negro code were of varied char-
1 Laws, 1822, ch. 58.
Op. cit., 1825, ch. 196. Cf. 1827, ch. 96.
' Op. cit., 1827, ch. 56. Cf. 1826, ch. 73. Also 1849, ch. 534, act apply-
ing to Anne Arundel, Charles, Kent, Montgomery, and Prince George's.
It authorized the calling upon free negroes who were not employed by
white persons by the year, or who had no taxable estates in excess of
$150 each.
4 Laws, 1826, ch. 263. By the act of 1829, ch. 146, the free whites
over twenty-one years of age were designated as those who were to
vote on the question of establishing free schools in districts in which
they held real estate.
* Op. cit., 1834, ch. 263 ; 1838, ch. 327. Code of 1860, art. 2, sec. 157.
Cf. Kent Co. Levy List 1860.
5 !7] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES 127
acter. According to the provincial laws death had been the
penalty for negroes committing, or attempting to commit,
the crimes of raising insurrection, of murdering or poison-
ing whites, arson and the rape of white women. 1 The
penalties on slaves for perjury were flogging and cropping
the ears, and for absconding and rambling abroad at night
either flogging, branding on the cheek, or cropping the ears. 3
But a change in the direction of less severity began in 1809.
It was attended also by some discriminations between slaves
and free negroes. The penalty for attempted insurrection
by any negro freeman then became service in the peniten-
tiary for not less than six nor more than twenty years,
while for this and for other non-capital crimes by slaves the
courts were at liberty to decree either service in the peniten-
tiary, or flogging, or banishment to a foreign country.^
And after 1817 the minimum term for which any negro
could be sentenced to the penitentiary was one year, after
1825 two years, until in 1839 it was again altered to eighteen
months. 4 For offences which seemed to merit lighter pains
than such services, fines, flogging or jail sentences were to be
substituted, as the courts deemed most fitting. After 1818
slaves were to be excluded from commitment to the peniten-
tiary their offences being thenceforth penable by flogging
on bare back, by banishment from Maryland, or by trans-
portation abroad. 5 And for the interval between two ses-
sions of the legislature in 1825-1826 the same thing was true
1 Laws, 1751, ch. 14. Cf. Session Laws, 1729, ch, 24; 1737, ch. 7;
1740, ch. 7; 1744, ch. 18; 1747, ch. 16. Also Archives of Md., vol. xxxi,
p. 157; vol. xxxii, pp. 91-92, 163, 178-79, 200, 246-48, 333. Death was
the penalty for burglary also. Op. cit., pp. 178-79.
1 Laws, 1851, ch. 14.
' Op. cit., 1809, ch. 138.
4 Op. cit., 1817, ch. 72 ; 1825, ch. 93 ; 1839, ch. 37.
* Laws, 1818, ch. 197. Cf. also 1819, ch. 159.
128 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
of free negroes, saving that they were never to be sold to
serve for terms in excess of those set for whites to serve in
the penitentiary for similar offences. But on account of
fears that this might entail life servitude upon those who
were to foe sold out of the state an act of 1826 restored the
penalty of service in the penitentiary, which was to be fol-
lowed on release by banishment from the state. Any negro
found in the state later than sixty days after such release
was to be liable to be sold into slavery for a term equal to
his original prison term. 1 In 1831 the courts were again
given the option of decreeing banishment of free negroes to
foreign countries for non-capital offences in lieu of other
penalties at home. 2 And in 1835 it was enacted that the
criminal courts were to ascertain whether free negroes
found guilty of crimes had previously served terms in the
penitentiary. Those who had so served were to be liable
to be sold out of the state as slaves for terms of years. 3
The common law was not regarded as adequate to give
nice justice to the free negro. Courts and executive offi-
cials were often embarrassed with the problem of what to
do with him. Their labors were often lightened by assist-
ance from two sources. One was that of the negro's " next
friend/' generally a white man, who undertook to vouch
for him. The other was the passing of statutes by the legis-
lature to cover defects in the law. Now some of the
statutes enacted were probably obstacles to the course of
justice. Others, however, served to enhance the highest
political privileges of the citizen. The laws, although cur-
tailing the privileges of the negro, still guaranteed to him
many of the fundamental privileges of citizenship. It was
1 Op. cit., 1825, ch. 93 ; 1826, ch. 229.
' Op. cit., 1831, ch. 323.
8 Op. cit., 1835, dh. 200. Cf. also 1838, ch. 69, on the distribution of
the returns from such sales.
519] LEGAL STATUS OF THE FREE NEGROES
claimed by some that he fell short of legal equality with the
whites but little more than the ignorant, unenfranchised
rural laborer of contemporary Europe fell short of equality
with his landlord. He was protected in his essential rights
and was permitted to improve his own condition.
CHAPTER IV
THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN
THE function of the negro in Maryland was to do manual
labor. The rules of the negro code were designed mainly
to facilitate the use of him in that capacity. The laws re-
ferred to in the preceding chapter had to do mainly with
adult negroes. Provision was also made for the training of
negro children to take up the work of the various trades, as
they grew to manhood. Reference has already been made
to the practice of binding out children to labor as apprentices
under the supervision of the county courts of the province. 1
The same general policy was continued by the orphans'
courts to whose hands the execution of the law was trans-
ferred during the revolution. The county courts had
bound out white and colored children almost without dis-
crimination on account of color. But because of the rapid
growth of the free negro population the orphans' courts
made a significant departure from that course. In certain
of the counties they began early in the nineteenth century
to omit the provision for education of negro apprentices.
This innovation was copied in other counties, was sanc-
tioned by statute in 1818, and thereafter tended to prevail
outside of the city and county of Baltimore and Harford
County.
The free negroes generally lacked knowledge of affairs,
social prestige and power to command the use of material
1 Chapter on the Colonial Period^ p. 18.
130 [520
5 2i] THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN
resources for their own betterment. To some extent they
also lacked the opportunities and other stimuli necessary
to the endeavor to acquire these things. Those who pros-
pered in spite of adverse circumstances were sometimes
able to look well to the needs of their children. Those who
tended to exert themselves only to the extent necessary to
acquire a mean living generally fell short in rearing their
offspring. From the latter number came most of the
negro children who were bound out by the county officials
to learn to labor.
Various reasons were assigned for apprehending them.
The mother of an Anne Arundel County boy was a " com-
plete pauper : " he was naked and breadless. The mother
of another had died, and his father was a slave. 1 Two
women left their children in Talbot County; one went to
Baltimore and the other to Philadelphia. 2 Some others
were mentioned as orphans in " entire destitution," some
were taken from the county alms-houses, and some were
illegitimates, and were without visible means of support. 8
1 Anne Arundel Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. 216, pp. 112, 245. Cf.
op. cit., pp. 257, 269, 270, 274; Lib. 217, pp. 368, 369-75, 377; Talbot In-
dentures, Lib. 3, p. 340; Lib. 6, pp. 29, 136, 137. The last cited refers
to a boy whose father was a slave and whose mother was serving a
term in the state penitentiary.
* Talbot Indentures, Lib. 4, pp. 332, 468. Cf. op. cit., p. 9; Anne
Arundel Orphans' Court Minutes, 'Lib. 217, p. 321 ; Baltimore Co. In-
dentures, Lib. JLR no*, i, p. 118.
3 Anne Arundel, op. cit., Lib. 216, pp. 277, 294; Lib. 217, pp. 12, 35, 36,
370-77 ; Lib. 218, p. is ; Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. I, pp.
8, 17; Carroll Indentures, Lib. JB no. A, pp. 29, 53; OrpJtans' Court
Minutes 1854-56, pp. 95, 367; Frederick Orphans' Court Minutes, May
22, 1826; Lib. R, p. 165; Dorchester Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib.
THH no. 2, pp. 53, 280; Harford Orphans 1 Court General Entries, Lib.
AJ no. 3, PP. 38, 114, 154, 216, 271, 277, 283; Lib, TSB no. 2, pp. 74,
178, 182, 205, 260, 276; Talbot Indentures, Lib. 3, pp. 18, 160; Lib. 4,
p. 230; Lib. 6, p. 127; Washington Indentures, Lib. 3, pp. 121, 163, 244;
Lib. 5, p. 319-
I3 2 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [522
Again it was alleged of some that they were the children
of " lazy and worthless free negroes," that they lacked
"good and industrious habits/' or were not at service or
learning trades. 1 Waiving consideration of other conse-
quences to these unfortunates, were nothing done for their
relief, their growing up without learning to work was to be
deplored. 2 Slaveholders and others voluntarily saved some
of them from destitution without compensation. The rest
were fit subjects for the apprenticeship system.
A general act of the legislature, passed in 1794, ordered
that the Orphans' Courts in the several counties " shall and
may bind out as an apprentice every orphan child, (the in-
crease of profits of whose estate .... is or are not suffi-
cient for maintenance, support and education, of the said
child,) to some manufacturer, mechanic, mariner, handi-
craftsman, or other person .... until such orphan child,
if a male shall arrive to the age of twenty-one years, or if
a female, to the age of sixteen years." 3 The powers here
conferred were sometimes exercised by the justices of the
peace. Contracts that had been so sanctioned were valid-
ated by a statute in 1826, provided they conformed to the
law in other points. 4 Prior to this, however, the legislature
had begun to enact special laws dealing with colored children
1 Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. WSG no, 16, p. 49; Baltimore Co., op.
cit., p. 8; Carroll Orphan^ Court Minutes, 1854-56, p. 367; Cecil 7n-
dentures, Lib. 3, p. 331; Dorchester, op. cit., p. 256; Howard Chattel
Recs., Lib. 2, p. 336; Orphans' Court Recs., Lib. -WIG no. i, p. 133;
Talbot Indentures, Lib. 4, p. 279. In this one it was stated that "The
income and profits of her estate not being sufficient for her education,
support and maintenance," etc. Also, Worcester Deeds, Lib. EDM no.
7, P. 8.
2 Cf. expressions of this sentiment, in Anne Arundel, op. cit., Lib.
216, p. 153; 'Lib. 217, p. 21.
' Laws, 1793, ch. 45.
4 Op. cit., 1826, ch. 155.
523] THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN
alone and at each succeeding step extended the provisions
for disposing of them. According to an act of 1808 any
child of a lazy, indolent or worthless free negro could be
bound out as an apprentice on the order of the orphans'
court, or in its recess by the trustees of the poor. 1 But an
act of 1 8 1 8 made the condition of the child the occasion for
the action. Accordingly any free negro child who was not
at service, or working at home, became liable to be appren-
ticed to learn a useful trade, The parents of such child were
only to be consulted as to the choice of a master. 2 In 1825
it was made the duty of the officials to inquire as to the wel-
fare of negro children who were not properly fed and
clothed and to apprentice them. 3 And in 1839 the orphans'
court was given power to summon before it any negro
child in the county, to inquire whether his parents were able
and willing to support him and train him in habits of in-
dustry, and if not, to bind him out to a white master.* This
was followed seven years later by a special act applying to
Harf ord County alone. It provided for warning free negro
parents to employ or bind out their children, and in case
they failed to do so, made it the duty of the constables and
justices of the peace to apprentice them. Failure on their
part was to be a misdemeanor. 5
The parties to the apprenticeship contract were quite
1 Op. tit., 1808, ch. 54.
* Op. tit., 1818, ch. 189.
' Op. tit., 1825, ch. 161. The trustees of the poor had already been
empowered to bind out negro children in their care. Op. cit., 1824,
ch. 87.
4 Op. tit., 1839, ch. 35. A female bound under this act was to serve
only till the sixteenth year of age, but under the act of 1849, ch. 341,
till the eighteenth year of age. For indentures under this act, vide
Carroll Chattel Recs., Lib. JiS no. 2, pp. 272, 319, 374; Ob. JBlB no. 3,
p. 262; Lib. JBB no. 5, p. 53; Howard Chattel Recs., Lib. 2, p. 336;
Orphans' Court Minwtes, Lilb. WG no. I, p. 133.
s Ibid., 1846, ch. 355.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [524
unequal. A recurrence to conditions of virtual slavery was
prevented by the formation of specific contracts establishing
between masters and apprentices mutual obligations which
were to 'be fulfilled under the supervision of the public
authorities. With the master, as the major party in each
case, rested the chief responsibility for fulfilment. He was
bound to maintain his apprentice, give him industrial train-
ing and moral discipline and provide such instruction, and
at the end of the term, such freedom dues as the indenture
called for. But it is necessary to look at the indenture from
the other side also in order to get a correct idea of its
character. The apprentice was bound to subordinate him-
self to his master's lawful commands, to be faithful in ser-
vice, to protect his master's interests and to refrain from
conduct that was hurtful either to his master's good name,
or to his good character. We first give attention to the
obligations of masters and then to those of the apprentices.
Throughout their terms of service apprentices were to
be maintained by their masters. The indentures set forth
with varying fulness the minimum accommodations that
were to be provided for that purpose. Sometimes there
was merely a general statement that the supply should con-
sist of such fit and convenient things as were generally en-
joyed by persons of the class to which apprentices belonged, 1
a reminder of the allowance system of slavery. Sometimes
good and sufficient food and clothing, or comfortable cloth-
ing and maintenance were required. 2 'Again a mention was
made of sufficient meat, drink, clothing, washing, lodging
and other necessaries. 3 And some indentures stipulated
1 E. g. Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. N'H no. i, p. 521.
J Dorchester Co. Court Judgments, Lit. HD no. 5, p. 264; Howard
Chattel Recs., Lib. WG no. i, p. 84; Queen Anne's Orphans' Court
Minutes, Mar. 18, 1800.
8 Caroline Indentures, Lib. IT no. E, p. 17 ; Frederick Orphans' Court
Minutes, Apr. 14, 1801. Cf. Laws, 1793, ch. 45.
525] THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN 135
that apprentices were also to be cared for in sickness, that
medicines and medical aid were to be provided. 1
But the matter of chief concern in apprenticeship was.
the training of a labor force. The apprentices were to be
taught how to work for their own support and, as far as
possible, to be disciplined in habits of industry. 2 Regular
employment was to be afforded. In many cases it was left
to the parties to choose the " useful " and " lawful " trades
in which training was to 'be given. 3 Common labor was the
lot of some. Generally, however, the 'occupations were
specified, the leading part being taken outside of Baltimore
by farming for boys and domestic service in its several de-
partments of cooking, washing, ironing, knitting, sewing
and spinning, for girls. 4 A few girls in Montgomery
1 Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. i, pp. 16, 18, 80; Carroll
Indentures, Lib. JB no. A, pp. 23, 53 ; Cecil Indentures, Lib. 2, p. 455 ;
Harford Orphans' Court General Entries, Lib. TSB no. 2, p. 35 ; Kent
Bonds and Indentures, Lib. 6, p. 35; Talbot Indentures, Lib. no 1 . L, p.
138; Washington Indentures, Lib. 2, p. 388. In, 1794 an indenture in
Anne Arundel provided for the inoculation of a negro boy against the
small-pox. Deeds, Lib. NH no. 7, p. 179. An indenture recorded in
Baltimore County after 1850 provided* that a negro apprentice was to
be decently interred in case of death. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. I, p. 80.
7 E. g. Anne Arundel Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. 216, pp. 44, I53
250, 290.
3 Cf. Harford, op. cit., Lib. B'HH, pp. 131, 178, 183, 192, 208, 240, 241,
278; Kent, op. cit., Lib. 3, pp. 32, 168; Lib. 6, pp. 520, 539, 540; Somer-
set Orphans' Court Minutes, 1811-1823, pp. 70, 71. In Anne Arundel a
girl was apprenticed to do " such -work as colored women usually do
in country places." Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. 218, p. 26. The in-
denture in Washington Indentures, Lib. 6, p. 156, merely pointed to a
"useful calling".
*E. g. Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. I, pp. 8, 11, 51, 52, 97,
125, 140, 148, 153, 161, 168, 179, 181, 182; Kent Bonds and Indentures,
Lib. 6, pp. 20, 33, 34, 520, 532, 636, 665; Talbot Indentures, Lib. I, pp.
235, 268 ; Lib. 3, pp. 32, 147, 210, 243, 256, 290. Work about the house
was variously designated as domestic vocations, house-keeping 1 , house-
service, house-work, house-wifery, etc.
I3 6 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [526
County were bound to " house and field work," a few else-
where to farm work, and some boys to house service. 1 Un-
skilled labor was thus to claim the energies of the majority
of negro children bound out. But there was also a goodly
number of candidates for the skilled trades. Among them
chief importance was attached to blacksmi thing, with shoe-
making and cordwaining in second place. 2 Outside of.
Baltimore City the other chief trades represented were
butchering, carpentry, coopering and tanning. And scat-
tered among the counties were one or more candidates for
each of the following: baker, barber and hair-dresser,
brewer, brick-maker, cabinet-maker, caulker, confectioner,
distiller, hatter, jackscrew-maker, manufacturer, mason,
miller, plasterer, ropemaker, seamstress, tinner, spinster,
weaver, well-digger, pump-maker, wheelwright, whip-saw-
yer, and whitesmith.
The statute of 1793 required that, so far as was practic-
able, apprentices should be taught to read and write. Fol-
lowing the practice established in the province the orphans'
courts continued to require in a part of the indentures of
negroes that some such instruction should be given. 31 And
1 Montgomery Land Recs., Lib. JGH no. 5, pp. 195, 296, 456, 489, 626;
Lib. JGH no. 6, p. 347 ; Anne Arundel Testamentary Proceedings, 1787-
1808, pp. 525, 559; Queen Anne's Orphans' Court Minutes, May 23, 1804,
and Apr. 18, 1812.
1 Cordwaining was mentioned frequently in Southern Maryland!, and
especially on the Eastern shore. E. g. Anne Arundel Orphans' Court
Minutes, Lib. J'HH no. 2, pp. 218, 241, 499; Lib. 216, pp. 72, 124, 150;
Lib. 217, p. 13; Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib. 6, pp. 13, 292, 477;
Lib. 12, pp. 66, 73, 152; Somerset Co. Court Judgments, 1791-94, p. 306;
Orphans' Court Minutes, June 14, 1822, Mar. 5, 1828.
* For indentures requiring education in the province, vide Anne Arun-
del Deeds, Lib. PK, p. 220 (1697) ; Frederick Judicial Rec., Lib. M,
pp. 126, 184; Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib. JS no. 20, p. 234;
Somerset Co. Court Judgments, 1757-60, pp. 224, 226; 1760-63, pp. 63,
82, 97, 98, 120. For later contracts in which education was required!,
vide Harford Orphans' Court Minutes, 1778-97, pp. 53, 64, 129, 139, 140,
146; Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib. 3, pp. 102, 103, 203, 221, 225,
326, 342; Lib. 6, pp. 140, 154, 159, 165, 168, 194, 201, etc.
527] THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN
although the provision was not made universal, the number
of negroes so to be taught was greatly increased. The
specific provisions as to education were of two kinds, (i)
those which required school attendance for stated periods of
time, and (2) those in which the instruction was to result
in definite attainments. Thus a 'boy of thirteen years in
Washington County was to be schooled for one or two
months, two in Cecil for six months each, and one in each
Cecil and Kent for nine months, 1 and another in Cecil for
two months in each of seven years. 2 The attainments sub-
stituted for school attendance were chiefly to teach to read,
to read and write, or "to read, write and cipher as far as
the rule of three." 3 Three orphans in Montgomery County
were to have a " reasonable education " in reading and writ-
ing. 4 In Kent in a few instances it was enjoined that the
master should not only provide instruction but, as stated in
one case, keep the child " to it so that he may retain his
learning when at age." 5 Two negro children in Cecil
County were to receive their instruction in the public
schools, 6 while in certain cases in Talbot and Kent the ful-
1 Washington Indentures, Lib. 2, p. 462; Cecil Indentures, Lib. i, pp.
346, 375- The last (referred to called for six months in a public school.
Op. cit., p. 400. Kent Bonds and Indentures, (Lib. 4, p. 231. The fol-
lowing 'referred 1 to a year's schooling, which probably meant not more
than nine months in aggregate: Cecil, op. cit., pp. 88, 140; Harford
Orphans' Court General Entries, Lib. AJ no. A, p. 349; Kent, op. cit.,
Lib. 4, p. 337.
3 Cecil, op. cit., p. 365. The following required each eighteen months
schooling: Harford, op. cit., p. 414; Kent, op. cit., Lib. 3, p. 32.
8 E. g. Anne Arundel Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. JHH no. 2, pp.
197, 217, 218, 233, 241, 244, 485 ; Talbot Orphans' Court Minutes, 1787-
95, pp. 225, 273, and Aug. 14, 1798; Indentures, Lib. 2, p. 66; Cecil In-
dentures, Lib. i, pp. 15,. 277, 315, 329, 347, 354; Somerset Co. Court
Judgments, 1791 -94, pp. 101, 305, 306.
* Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. D, p. 485.
5 Bonds and Indentures, Lib. i, p. 66. Cf. Lib. 3, pp. 168, 207, 326;
Lib. 4, p. 246; Lib. 6, pp. 156, 466.
* Indentures, Lib. i, pp. 375, 400.
138 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [528
filment of the obligation to educate was conditioned upon
the discovery of teachers who " could be prevailed upon to
undertake such teaching on common reasonable terms." L
Although the attendance of negro children at the rural day
schools was not common, it was not unknown. But generally
those apprentices who were taught at all, were taught in
private either by tutors or by members of the households of
their masters.
The education provision did not become universal at any
time. Its insertion in the indentures without distinction of
racial lines was encouraged by the progress of the doctrines
of natural rights and of political equality of all men. As a
consequence the orphans' courts for about a generation after
their establishment tended to give the negroes a square deal
in respect to education. But the spread of anti-free negro
sentiment with its objections to educated negroes brought
about a change. The orphans' court of Talbot County
in binding three boys to a farmer in 1804 expressly absol-
ved their master from the obligation to teach them to read.
Similar proceedings were recorded in Anne Arundel in
1803, and in Kent in i8o5- 2 The courts in several other
counties also soon followed their example, the notable excep-
tion being Baltimore. But in the counties of Frederick,
Carroll, Harford and Cecil contrary forces long impeded
the progress of the change. All these counties were advanc-
ing in wealth and population, all lay on the Pennsylvania
border, and all felt the pressure of the influences from
across that border. In Frederick about a third of all the
1 Talbot Indentures, Lib. 2, p. 337 ; Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib.
6, p. 141 ; Lib. 12, p. 62. According to the act of 1793, ch. 45, this con-
dition might have been made general.
2 Talbot Orphans' Court Minutes, Dec. 11, 1804; Anne Arundel Or-
phans' Court Minutes, Lib. JHH no. 2, pp. 312, 315, 316; Kent Bonds
and Indentures, Lib. 6, pp. 140, 154, 159, 165, 168 (1805) ; 194, 201, 203,
214, (1806).
529] THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN
negroes apprenticed before 1830 were to receive some
" learning," but thereafter the proportion was lower. In
Cecil nine negroes were appointed in 1832: three of them
were to have education. In Southern Maryland and the
Eastern Shore, however, the movement prevailed to such
an extent that, saving when parents or other friends were
instrumental in fixing the terms, the education provision
was generally omitted.
Meanwhile the provisions for white apprentices con-
tinued without apparent change. Equal treatment for
those of both races seemed to demand that some indem-
nification should be made for the loss. At first no such in-
demnification was made, but the statute oi 1818 already re-
ferred to, contained a clause stating that the orphans' court
might require that a negro apprentice should be taught to
read and write, or in lieu thereof paid a sum of money not
in excess of thirty dollars in addition to the freedom dues
allowed by law. 1 Six years later similar powers were
vested in the trustees of the poor in binding out children
from the alms-houses. 2 But in neither case was it man-
datory to adopt either of the two courses. The result was,
therefore, chiefly to cause payments to be required in lieu
of education, another practice that failed also to become
universal. It was followed in Washington and Caroline in
1819 and in Montgomery and Kent in 1821-22.* It pre-
vailed in Kent to a greater extent than in any other county
visited by the writer. It was common in Caroline until
about 1830, became common in Frederick and Washington
after 1832, in Carroll from the date of its formation in
1 Laws, 1818, ch. 189.
2 Op. cit., 1824, ch. 87.
8 Washington Indentures, Lib. 3, pp. 143, 184 ; Caroline Indentures,
Lib. IT no. E, pp. 102, 138, 139; Montgomery Orphans' Court Recs.,
Lib. M, p. 426; Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib. 10, pp. 84, 122.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [530
1837, and in Anne Arundel after 1845. In Cecil and Har-
ford it was almost unknown. In a few cases masters were
allowed the option of education or making the money pay-
ments as they chose. 1
Trade discipline and school training were designed to
develop the power to labor. It was desired also to in-
culcate in the negro laborers respect for social conventions
v and especially for the laws of the state. Masters were thus
everywhere expected to assume the duties of controlling the
conduct of apprentices and of teaching them submission to
law and at least something of the other principles of moral-
ity. 2 Going beyond this an Anne Arundel indenture re-
quired teaching the Christian conception of duty to God
and one's neighbors. 4 In Cecil and Harford counties much
emphasis was laid upon religious instruction. In the
former a mulatto, apprenticed in 1807, was to be taught the
Lord's prayer, the creed and the shorter catechism, 4 and at
least half of the negroes indentured between 1794 and 1860
were to be " brought up in Christian faith."
Besides what has been already indicated, two kinds of
material obligations were assumed by masters, (i) free-
dom dues, payable upon discharge at the end of the term,
and (2) other payments as compensation for service.
Dues of the first class were customary in the early province
1 Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. i, p. 13; Howard Orphans'
Court Minutes, Lib. WG no. i, pp. 41, 56; Washington Indentures,
Lib. 3, P. 238.
1 A boy in Caroline, for instance, was to be taught morality and good
conduct, " if capable to learn." Indentures, Lib. WAF no. A, p. 181.
* Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. NH no. 7, p. 602 (1795). Cf. Harford
Orphans' Court General Entries, Lib. TSB no. i, p. 139.
4 Cecil Land Recs., Lib. JS no. 3, p. 356. Cf. Harford, op. clt., Lib.
BHH no. 5, p. 57; also Records, 1828-33, pp. 115, 141, 152. A slave
girl, hired 1 out by her owner in Carroll in 1842, was to have the privi-
lege of church attendance " every other Sunday during her term of
servitude." Indentures, Lib. AJ no. A, p. 23.
53 1 ] THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN
and later became almost, if not quite, universal. The obli-
gation to pay them did not depend upon contract, and men-
tion of them was sometimes omitted from indentures. 1
The act of 1715 concerning servants and slaves provided
that every male servant " at the expiration of his servitude "
was to be allowed and given "one new hat, a good suit;
that is to say, coat and breeches, either of kersey or broad-
cloth, one new shift of white linen, one new pair of French
fall shoes, two hoes and one axe, and one gun of twenty
shillings price; " and every woman servant " a waistcoat and
petticoat of new half -thick, or pennistone, a new shift of
white linen, shoes and stockings, a blue apron, two caps of
white linen and three barrels of Indian corn." 2 These
clauses, enacted at a time when those discharged from
servitude were mostly white persons, furnished the standard
for the legal and customary freedom dues after adult white
servitude had declined. 3 And although various forms of
payment were allowed, the principle of freedom dues was
adhered to consistently by the orphans' courts. The in-
dentures which they sanctioned generally enumerated the
articles that were to be tendered, but sometimes in the later
decades of the period under consideration stated only the
values of the outfits required. Accordingly we find in
them lists of particular articles of apparel, 4 in imitation of
1 E. g. Harford Land Recs., Lib. JLG no. L, p. 88 ; Lib. HD no. Q,
pp. 128, 129, 130; Harford Chattel Recs., Lib. ALJ no. 2, pp. 159, 163;
Dorchester Orphans 1 Court Minutes, 1845-54, pp. 76, 77.
* Laws, 1715, ch. 44, sec. 10. Cf. Archives of Maryland, vol. xxii, p.
548.
1 Cf. Anne Arundel Testamentary Proceedings, Lib. IG no. I, p. 4126;
Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. WSG no. n, p. 83; Baltimore Co. Inden-
tures, Lib. JLR no. i, pp. 4, n ; Cecil Indentures, Lib. I, p. 14; Lib. 2,
p. 323 ; Harford Orphans' Court Minutes, 1778-97, p. 139.
*. g. Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lilb. 2, pp. n, 66; Lib. 3, pp. 168,
207; Lib. 4, pp. 217, 219; Talbot Indentures, Lib. I, p. 146; Orphans'
Court Minutes, 1787-95, P- 254; Cecil Indentures, Lib. i, pp. 332, 379,
420, 421.
I4 2 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [532
the statute, and mention of one or two suits to a single ap-
prentice, of working and Sunday suits, 1 of clothing of a
stated money value, 2 of payments partly in clothing and
partly in money, of options to contracting parties to choose
between clothing and money payments, 3 of cash in lieu of
all other freedom dues, 4 and finally of presentation of
tools such as axes, malls and wedges, spades and grubbing
hoes. 5
Dues of the second class were of but little importance
until late, and even then recurred only in a minority of con-
tracts. The contracts in which they occurred often
amounted to virtual sales of children into slavery for terms
of years. 6 If the apprenticeship laws were to take their
course, parents were entitled to such compensation for the
use of the children whom they had reared. In order to
secure them that benefit, a special act was passed by the
legislature in 1856 to apply to four counties on the Eastern
Shore. It provided that the orphans' courts in apprenticing
1 Anne Arundel Orphans? Court Minutes, Lib. 217, pp. 186, 201, 360,
368; Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. I, pp. 14, 15, 48, 58, 66,
78, 103, 104, 108, 126; Cecil Indentures, Lib. 3, pp. 230, 286; Kent Bonds
and Indentures, Lib. 12, pp. 62, 177, 337.
1 Caroline Indentures, Lib. GAS no. F, pp. 31, 47, 58, 60, 128, 153, 182,
186, 187; Harford Orphans' Court General Entries, Lib. AJ no. 3, p.
152; Lib. TSB no. 2, pp. 65, 71, 74, 107, 158, 176, 178.
3 Caroline Indentures, op. tit., pp. 23, 59, 61, 65, 144, 151, 164, 188, 215,
224, 249, 250; Talbot Indentures, Lib. 3, pp. 80, 86, 93, 109, 115, 124,
130, 139.
'Dorchester Orphans' Court Minutes, 1845-54, PP. 187, 284; Lib. THH
no. 2, pp. 150, 152, 157, 160, 201 ; Washington Indentures, Lib. 2, pp.
232, 271 ; Frederick Land Recs., Lib. BGF no. i, p. 715.
6 Frederick Orphans' Court Minutes, Jan. 8, 1821 ; Queen Anne's
Deeds, Lib. JT no. 3, pp. 464, 465, 466, 468, 659; Washington Inden-
tures, Lib. 2, p. 466. Cf. also op. tit., Lib, 3, pp. 95, 120, 121.
The following refer to sales of children by their parents: Kent
Chattel Recs., Lib. WS no. i, p. 192; Caroline Land Recs., Lib. S, pp.
347, 377; Lib. T, pp. 118, 128, 236, 381; Lib. U, p. 371.
533] THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN 143
children might require such amounts to be paid as would
reasonably and justly indemnify parents for expenses in-
curred on their account. 1 The amounts thus to be paid
varied as wages vary. A Cecil County indenture provided
for the payment of seventy-five cents a month through-
out the term, one in Kent for thirty shillings a quarter, 21
another in Kent for fourteen pounds currency in ten annual
instalments, one in Washington for twenty dollars, and one
in Anne A'rundel for thirty dollars a year. 3 The periodical
payments were generally to be in equal amounts, and their
continuance was apparently conditioned upon continuance in
service. Lump sum payments which at once satisfied all
demands, were employed no less than instalments. Thus
thirty-five dollars was paid in one case in Howard County,
and a hundred and seventy-five in a case in Frederick. 4
Under the statute of 1715 a master was liable to be fined
either for failing to provide sufficient meat, drink, clothing
and lodging for his servant, for unreasonably burdening
1 Laws, 1856, ch. 87. The four counties were Caroline, Kent, Somer-
set and Worcester. In Washington Coun'ty in 1842 an apprentice was
assigned one-half of the payment to be made on his contract. Inden-
tures, Lib. 5, p. 302.
8 Cecil Indentures, Lib. 3, p. 579 ; Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib. 4,
p. 231. C'/V Baltimore County Indentures, Lib. JLIR no. I, p. 30, op.
cit., p. 167, a requirement of a dollar a month for three years, and there-
after two dollars a month for ai period of two years. The apprentice
was a girl of two years at the date of the indenture.
8 Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib. 4, p. 217; Washington Indentures,
Lib. 6, p. 145; Anne Arundel Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. 217, p. 173.
Cf. op. cit., Lib. 218, p. 63; Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. I,
p. 138, requirement of $140, on<e- fourth ,to be paid down and the rest in
annual instalments of $13.12^ each, Kent, op. cit., Lib. 6, p. 507;
Talbot Indentures, Lib. 6, p. 176; Washington, op. cit., p. 169.
4 Howard Orphans 1 Court Minutes, Lib. WG no. i, p. 9 ; Frederick
Land Recs., Lib. BGF no. 4, p. 648. Cf. also Anne Arundel Orphans'
Court Minutes, Lib. 218, p. 18; Harford Chattel Recs., Lib. ALJ no. 2,
p. 159; Kent Bonds and Indentures, 1849-59, Pp. 220, 249.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [534
him with labor, debarring him from necessary sleep and
rest, or for beating excessively or otherwise abusing him.
For a third offence he could be deprived of further use of
the aggrieved servant, 1 who was himself to be set at liberty.
But the act of 1793 substituted for this grant of liberty,
transference to another master. By the latter act also a
master was forbidden to carry an indentured servant out of
the state. And upon information of such designs justices
of the peace were empowered to demand securities that no
such action should be taken. 2 Selling apprentices out of
the state, excepting under decrees of competent courts,
was prohibited, and after 1 793 the sales of terms of appren-
ticeship belonging to the estates of deceased persons were to
be legalized only by the sanction of the orphans' courts. 8
It was stated above that the obligations of masters and
apprentices were mutual. Those of the latter were mainly
submission to and compliance with the wills of their
masters. They were to show honor and respect to their
masters and to the members of their master's families, 4 to
obey their masters' lawful commands, to be faithful and
honest in service, and in all things to demean themselves as
good apprentices ought to do. 5 They were to render such
reasonable service as their masters required, a duty
1 Laws, 1715, ch. 44, sec. 21.
1 Op. cit., 1793, ch. 45, sees. 7, n. Cf. op. cit., 1840, ch. in. Also
Md. Appeal Reports, 2 H. & G., pp. 291-95.
9 Laws, 1793, ch. 45. Cf. 1839, ch. 35; 1844, ch. 247; 1856, ch. 78.
*. g. Carroll, Orphans' Court Minutes, 1845, p. 3; Indentures, Lib.
JB no. A, p. 4; Montgomery, Orphans' Court Recs., Lib. M, p. 232;
Land Recs., Lib. JGH no. 6, p. 186.
5 Caroline Indentures, Lib. IT no. E, p. 17; Lib. JR no. D, p. 332;
Carroll, Orphans' Court Minutes, Oct. 1845, p. 3 ; 1848, p. 18 ; Lib. JB
no. A, p. 8; Lib. JB no. I, p. 52; Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR
no. i, pp. 18, 21, 138; Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib. I, p. 76; Somer-
set Land Recs., Lib. I, p. 355; Lib. GH 1 no. 3, p. 259; Washington In-
dentures, Lib. 2, pp. 271, 374; Lib. 5, p. 302.
THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN
which outside of the towns might have included service
in the harvest fields for artisan apprentices. 1 They
were to be loyal to their masters' interests, to keep their
secrets, not to waste or destroy their goods, not to lend, buy
or sell such goods without due leave, not to embezzle them,
and neither themselves to injure, nor suffer any other
person to injure, their masters' interests without notice
or interference. 2 Moreover, they were to refrain from
injuring the good names of their masters and injuring
their own characters by immoral conduct. Thus some
indentures forbade the apprentices to swear, to drink in-
toxicating liquors, to play cards, throw dice or engage in
any other " unlawful games," forbade them to frequent
taverns, ale and play-houses and gaming places, and finally
forbade them to commit fornication or contract matrimony. 8
But it appears that the sanctions of the sumptuary re-
strictions were chiefly moral suasion and community de-
mands for average decency.
According to the act of 1715 complaints arising between
masters and servants were to be heard and settled in the
provincial courts and the county courts. In 1793 jurisdic-
tion over such matters was given to county and criminal
courts and in 1842 transferred to the orphans' courts with a
right of appeal to the county courts. Servants were sub-
ject to correction by their masters for minor offences, but
no servant was to be given more than ten lashes for any
1 Laws, 1793, ch. 45, sec. 13.
1 E. g. Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. i, p. 138; Caroline
Indentures, Lib. JR no. D, p. 332 ; Kent Bonds and Indentures, Lib. 4,
p. 222; Talbot Indentures, Lib. i, pp. 138, 217; Lib. 6, p. 217.
1 Anne Arundel Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. 217, p. 343; Caroline
Indentures, Lib. IT no. E, pp. 284, 385; Cecil Indentures, Lib. 2, pp.
394> 397; Harford Orphans' Court General Entries, Lib. AJ no. 3, p.
304; Howard Orphans' Court Recs., Lib, WG no. i, p. 29; Montgomery
Orphans' Court Recs., Lib. D, p. 285 ; Queen Anne's Deeds, Lib. JB no.
I, p. 138; Talbot Indentures, Lib. 6, p. 217.
146 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [536
one offence without a previous hearing before a justice of
the peace. 1 After 1793 servants guilty of ill behavior or in-
corrigible tempers were liable to be transferred to new
masters and their former masters awarded compensation
for the loss of service incurred. For running away or
being absent from service the " satisfaction " to be rendered
under the act of 1715 was additional service of not more
than ten days for each day's absence. Under the act of
1793 the form of satisfaction was to be " either by service
or by payment of money as justice and equity may require."
In 1804 it was added that such compensation was to be
made only in case it appeared that the absconding was not
due to ill-conduct or mistreatment by the master. 3 Injum>
tions against absconding were also frequently inserted in
the indentures, 3 and the courts consistently compensated
masters who suffered by it by extending the terms of their
offending employees. In Harf ord County, for instance, oc-
curred additions of three, five and ten years respectively, in
cases brought before the orphans* court.* Flagrant mis-
conduct and insubordination were sometimes penalized by
selling the unexpired terms of service to non-residents. 5
1 Laws, 1715, ch. 44; 1793, ch. 45; 1842, ch. 25.
1 Op. cit., acts of 1715 and 1793; also 1804, ch. 90. Cf. also 1839, ch.
35, sec. 4.
*E. g. Baltimore Co. Indentures, Lib. JLR no. I, pp. 21, 138; Cecil
Indentures, Lib. i, pp. 381, 411, 412, 413; Harf ord Orphans' Court Recs.,
1828-33, p. 151 ; Worcester Deeds, Lib. K, p. 187; Lib. AC, p. 158.
4 Harf 'ord Orphans' Court General Entries, Lib. TSB, p. 289; Lib.
BHH, pp. 145, 155. Cf. op. cit., pp. 120, 158, 159, 201, 202; also Dor-
chester Orphans' Court Minutes, 1845-54, PP- 286, 395; Howard Or-
phans' Court Minutes, Lib. WG no. I, pp. 339, 342, 347, 383, 404 1 Lt>.
TJ no. 2, pp. 145, 199, 213, 295, 324, 326.
6 Baltimore Orphans' Court Minutes, Lib. 25, p. 305; Lib. 27, pp. 142,
402; Lib. 29, p. 78; Lib. 30, p. 429; Harf ord, op. cit., Lib. BHH,
p. 155; Howard, op. cit., Lib. WG no. i, p. 404; Lib. TJ no. 2, p. 58;
IJb. TB no. 2, p. 339.
537] THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NEGRO CHILDREN
If the apprentice was convicted of a finable offence, his
master might himself pay the fine and be indemnified by the
extension of the term of the offender. 1 The unexpired terms
of apprentices were transferable, the sole results of the
transfers being that the unfulfilled obligations of the
grantors were to 'be assumed by the new masters. 2
With the few exceptions noted above the old forms of in-
dentures survived to the end. In their fulfillment a great
deal depended upon the manner in which the respective func-
tions were performed. Judging from what appears in the
court records of several counties, masters fell short of their
obligations less frequently than did apprentices. The sup-
ervision of the county courts and the orphans' courts at-
tempted to enforce such an observance of the terms of the
indentures as custom demanded. The free negroes lived
and worked like the slaves, and in the public mind their
lot was associated with that of the slaves. What the
public desired, therefore, was that negro apprentices should
be treated about as well as slaves were treated, that they
should be so subjected to authority, so fed, clothed, housed
and attended when sick, so employed, and so trained for
labor in the trades to which they had been apprenticed. 3
In this way the apprenticeship system collaborated with
1 Laws, 1793, ch. 45. According to the act of 1797, ch. 54, such an
offender in Baltimore City was to be striped 1 , unless his master con-
sented to pay the fine.
a For cases of transfers, vide Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. W1SG no.
i.i, p. 517 (1826) ; Cecil Indentures, Lib. 2, p. 219 (1822) ; Lib. 3, pp.
118, 230, 419; Washington Indentures, 1835-46, p. 184; Orphans' Court
Minutes, 1855-59, P- S2OJ Worcester Deeds, Lib. AP, pp. 445, 446, 447;
Lib. EDM no. 2, p. 313.
'Obviously the inquiry of the Queen Anne's Orphans' Court, cf.
Minutes, Jan. 4, 1791, as to whether apprentices were being taught
their trades, or rigorously turned to common labor with axe and) hoe
referred mainly to the condition of white apprentices.
I4 8 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [538
slavery in training up those who were to become free
negro laborers. Its leading contributions were farm and
household laborers, and among skilled workmen smiths and
shoemakers in the counties and smiths, barbers and caulkers
in Baltimore City.
CHAPTER V
OCCUPATIONS AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES
THERE was no question as to the occupations in which the
free negroes worked. But as to their industrial capacity
and the reasons why they held an inferior position there
were two opinions between which one must steer carefully
in order to get at the truth. One view was that they were
rather systematically excluded from the most desirable oc-
cupations and that in the rest they were subjected to op-
pressive conditions. And further that but for the injustice
thus done them, they should have risen much above the
level upon which they were working. This view was
mainly held, or implied in the utterances, by persons residing
outside of the state who were not fully conversant with the
actual conditions. And although an unguarded reading
of certain statutes and legislative documents would create
the impression that it was true, it lacked much of being en-
tirely correct. The other view was that the negroes were
essentially inferior, degraded, lazy and improvident beings,
and that instead of using liberty to provide well for them-
selves and their families, they often deliberately went un-
employed and depended upon gratuities and stolen stuffs
to supply what they lacked. As a consequence they tended
progressively to want and depravity : they were " an incubus
upon the land." x This view was put forward in Maryland
1 Md. Col. Jour., no. 19 (1838). Cf. op. cit., vol. ix, p. 279; vol. x,
p. 34; Genius of Universal Emancipation, Sept. 16, 1826; Frederick
Examiner, March 24, 1858; Easton Gazette, Nov. 13, 1858; Baltimore
Sun, Jan. 7, 1856; Letter of General Harper to E. B. Caldwett, p. 8.
Letter of R. S. Reeder to Dr. Dent, p. 18.
539] 149
1 50 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [540
by those who had an interest in disparaging both negro ac-
tivity and negro prospects in the future. Its propagators
too often suppressed many facts that were available and
argued from those whose magnification suited their pur-
poses. 1 It was a one-sided view also, but excepting for
its insistence upon the retrogression of the negroes who
were not slaves, it lay nearer the truth than the first.
The negroes who were brought to Maryland had been
abducted from a life that was probably in either the hunting
or the pastoral stage of economy. They were then two or
three cultural stages behind the whites whom they had come
to serve. At the close of the revolution very few of their
families were farther than three generations removed from
that primitive life, and the majority were not so far. Their
experience as slaves had been one of forced labor. They
were treated as laboring machines, not as children who
were to be carefully educated and prepared for the role of
citizens. They had not had time either to grasp the white
man's point of view or to adjust themselves to the white
man's orderly methods of getting a living. They were
fitted for manual labor but too often loathed it 'because of its
irksomeness and because of the stigma attaching to it. To
such as held this idea the hope of freedom was cherished as
a refuge from strenuous toil. 2 The living as freemen was
to be had without it somehow. Moreover, the slave, wages
of food, raiment and shelter had -been no stimulus to
achievement. 8 It was on a low plane, therefore, that all
manumitted negroes, excepting a favored few, began to do
for themselves in the world.
1 Cf. Genius of Universal Emancipation, loc. tit.; Md. Col. Jour., vol.
iii, p. 290; vol. x, p. 138.
* Cf. Frederick Examiner, March 24, 1858.
*Cf. Md. Col. Jour., 1838, p. 82, on the madvisability of offering
certain incentives to slaves.
54 l] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES 151
We have seen that certain rules of the negro code were
designed to keep the free ngroes from being idle, and that
others debarred them from the callings of peddling, poli-
tics, public service and soldiering. They were excluded also
from the learned professions and the other " higher pur-
suits " only as a result of the conditions in the market for
personal service. Over such conditions the state exercised
no control. 1 One must avoid laying too much emphasis
upon the callings from which the negroes were excluded.
For after all there was a large variety of outlets for negro
talents. As freemen they did not forfeit the kind of work
in which they had engaged as slaves, and besides engaging in
manual labor as employees, they went into farming and
several kinds of business as managers of their own con-
cerns. Moreover, some men found their livelihood in
preaching and teaching their own people, and a few others
devoted at least a part of their time to attending to affairs
from which were derived independent incomes. In none
of these enterprises were they subjected to special taxes, and
they had but few other restrictions to which the whites were
not also subjected. There was left then no mean liberty
for earning, collecting and expending or accumulating the
fruits of their labor. 2 Attention will now be given in turn
1 Had there .been no other differences between white men and black
men than mere color of skin, it seems reasonable to say that there
would probably have been no differences or preferences in respect to
occupations. Remarks of a "colored physician of Baltimore." Cf.
also Md. Col. Jour., vol. vi, p. 74.
* Cf. remarks of Reverend 1 R. J. Breckenridge in Md. Col. Jour., vol.
Hi, pp. 174-75. Contemporaries said and wrote a great deal that did
not harmonize with the view here stated. Cf. Genius of Universal
Emancipation, vol. ii, p. 10; The Maryland Scheme of Expatriation
Examined, p. 8 ; Letter of R. S. Reeder to Dr. Dent, p. 13 ; Md. Col.
Jour., vol. ii, p. 206; vol. vi, pp. 6-7; Frederick Examiner, March 24,
1858; H. Del. Journal, 1844, pp. 257, 261, 379.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [542
to the participation of the negroes in common labor, skilled
labor and agriculture and business affairs in the order men-
tioned.
The energies of the negroes that were turned to industry
were devoted chiefly to common labor for which some
thought they had been providentially intended. As slavery
declined and the population increased, an increasing pro-
portion of the work to be done fell to the hands of freemen.
In some places the whites took the major portion of this
work, but everywhere the negroes divided it with them,
and in parts of Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore
took over almost the whole of it. 1 Negro women every-
where cooked, washed and ironed the linens, did housework,
served as nurses, as body servants, sometimes as midwives a
and often worked also in the fields. Negro men also served
as domestics and hostlers and as general menials, where ob-
sequious devotion was required. Free negroes were al-
lowed to bear the brunt of heavy work, such as leading the
gang in cradling wheat and lifting heavy burdens. In Bal-
timore City they long took the lead as carters, draymen and
carmen, as hod-carriers and assistants to building trades-
men, as stevedores, grain-measurers, coal-handlers and as
warehousemen. 3 They were not less conspicuous as team-
sters and cab- and hack-drivers throughout the state. At
the factories and foundries they served as forge-men, bar-
l Cf. Somerset Union, Feb. 14, 1859, and Feb. 21, 1860; 27th Annual
Report of Amer. Anti-Slavery Society, pp. 209-10; Governor Hicks' s
Inaugural Address, p. 13; Md. Col. Jour., vol. i, p. 201.
f C/. Ledger A of Zachariah MacCubbin, 1789-1800; Md. Journal,
Jan. 6, 1795.
*Cf. Annapolis Republican, Nov. 2, 1819; Genius of Universal Eman-
cipation, vol. ii, p. 10; Md. Col. Jour., vol. ii, pp. 103, 206; vol. iii, p.
5 ; vol. vi, pp. 71, 73 ; Maryland Scheme of Expatriation Examined, p.
9; H. Del. Journal, 1840, p. 325; Md. Pub. Docs., 1847, no. 5, pp. 3-4;
Hall, Baltimore, pp. 235-36.
543] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES
row-men and firemen and as helpers. 1 And they were
sometimes employed in the mines, the tanneries, frequently
in the fisheries and on vessels as common sailors. 2 In the
rural districts their labor was regarded by the slave-holders
as supplementary to that of the slaves. They were thus
employed as wood-cutters and extra harvest hands. But
to many non-slaveholders they were of primary importance,
because to them there was often no other choice but their
hire. 3 This became conspicuously true of Caroline County.
Between 1790 and 1860 its total negro population had in-
creased 36.7 per cent and its white population 8.1 per cent,
but its slaves had fallen from 83 per cent to 20.9 per cent of
all its negroes. In several of the counties in the last years
before the civil war the labor supply was insufficient to meet
the demand, although no doubt in places the failure was 5
partly due to unwillingness of negroes to do all that was
asked. 4
For skilled labor no less than common labor the people
depended upon the negroes. In the provincial era the me-
chanical trades had been carried on by white men and by
negroes who were mainly slaves. 5 But with the growth of
1 Cf. Patuxent Iron Works Journals A and B, 1774-85 ; Elk Forge
Ledger G, 1812-13; Cornwall Furnace Journal M, 1760-62.
* Ma. Col. Jour^ vol. vi, pp. 71-72; 68 Niles Register, p. 332.
9 Cf. Baltimore American, June 9, 10, 1859; Somerset Union, Feb. 21,
1860; 27th Annual Report of Amer. Anti-Slavery Society, p. 210;
Gross, A Few Thoughts to Mr. Jacobs, p. 4; Easton Gazette, May 7,
1859-
4 C/. Governor Hicks'* Inaugural Address, p. 13. Also letter from
" East Maryland " in Easton Gazette, May 7, 1859. The writer of this
letter complained that "during the busy season of the year the farmers
are compelled to procure laborers from the cities at enormous expense
of time and money, for these negroes can not ibe induced to work," so
long as they could live by other means.
*A slave carpenter was freed in Queen Anne's in 1749. Another
negro in St. Mary's was freed two years earlier and endowed by his
154 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [544
the slave population the proportion of whites apparently
declined excepting in Baltimore and Western Maryland.
Some of the slaves " hired their time " and worked as free-
men, and some were able by self -purchase and by grace of
their owners' favor to become legally free. Within two
decades after the revolution at least fourteen such negroes
had been freed in eight of the counties, 1 and still others were
added to their number by means of the training dispensed
under the apprenticeship system.
The city of Baltimore was the chief labor market of the
state. Its varied employments and higher wages attracted
laborers from all of the counties. But through apprentic-
ing negro children to the trades it also trained up artizans
from its own population. Between 1794 and 1820 about
one-third of all the colored children bound out by the county
orphans' court were assigned to the skilled trades. 2 There-
after the proportion among new apprentices was somewhat
reduced, but the change did not of itself affect the training
and subsequent activities of those already bound out. The
city directories from the year 1819 onward, 3 although not
conclusive as to numbers engaged in any trade, show both
master with all the " carphindor's . . . showmaker's ( sic) . . . and
cooper's tools " with which 'he had been accustomed to work. Maryland
Wills, Lib. DID no. 7, pp. 476, 520.
1 Anne Arundel Wills, Lib. TG no. I, p. 55; Lib. JG no. i, pp. 221,
361; Lib. JG no. 2, p. 144; Cecil Wills, Lib. 6, p. 239; Harford Wills,
Lib. 6, p. 239 ; Harford Wills, Lib. AJ no. 2, p. 183 ; Montgomery Land
Records, Lib. E, p. 632; Queen Anne's Wills, Lib. WHN no. 3, p. 191;
Lib. S'CT, p. 183 ; Queen Anne's Land Recs., Lib. SCT no. 5, p. 31 ;
Somerset Wills, Lib. EB no. 5, p. 60; Talbot Wills, Lib. JB no. 3, p.
297; Lib. JB no. 5, p. 318; Dorchester Deeds, Lib. HD no. 6, p. 23;
Md. Jour., Aug. 3, 1787.
Cf. e. g. Indentures, Lib. WB no. I, pp. 171, 236, 269, 328, 330, 353,
427; Lib. WB no. 2, pp. 276, 350, 422, 498, 539, 578, 637.
'The Directory for 1819 was apparently the first that attempted to
classify occupations of persons with names listed.
545] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES 155
a wide and an enlarging range of negro activities, and in
certain branches increases in numbers that more than kept
pace with the growth of the city's negro population.
Among them were to be found
barbers, cigar-makers, ship-carpenters,
blacksmiths, comb-makers, ship- joiners,
a brass founder, coopers, shoemakers,
bricklayers, mantua-makers, a stone-mason,
butchers, milliners, a stone-cutter,
broom-makers, musicians, tailors,
brush-makers, painters, a wheelwright,
cabinet-makers, plasterers, a iwhip-maker,
carpenters, a plumber, a sawyer and
caulkers, rope-makers, a whitesmith,
cordwainers,
The following table is compiled from the city directories :
Number in Trade at Date Given
1819 1831 1840-41 1856 1860
Blacksmiths 8 13 18 29 30
Barbers 18 12 45 86 117
Caulkers 14 37 3 75 74
The numbers in each grew to some extent according to the
demand but were also affected by the increasing competi-
tion of the whites, from whose labor organizations the
negroes were sometimes excluded. 1 As ship-carpenters,
brick-masons, co'Opers, cordwainers and shoemakers the
negroes played a useful part. But they were most promin-
ent in barbering, blacksmithing and caulking. In the first
and last of these it is said that they furnished nearly all the
labor, until the middle of the nineteenth century, 2 that they
were unexcelled as horse-shoers and that they retained a con-
siderable share in the general trade of blacksmithing.
1 Cf. Baltimore Charter Records, Lib. ED no. 2, p. 413.
8 Hall, Baltimore, pp. 235-36.
1
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [546
The relative importance of negro mechanics and skilled
workmen was greater in the counties than in the city. This
was particularly true in Southern Maryland and the Eastern
Shore, where the dependence upon negro labor in general
was greatest. In these counties the demands were smaller,
the variety of trades was correspondingly narrower, and
there was a tendency to promote versatility rather than
specialization. A few individuals attained proficiency in
several trades each. Thus in Talbot County a certain negro
who was a shoemaker by trade at times turned boat-builder,
wagon-maker, wheel-wright and general wood-workman.
Anne Arundel, Cecil and Kent each had a nearly similar
case. Many more persons practised each a single trade with
a second as accessory, combining, for instance, blacksmith-
ing and wagon-making, carpentry and cabinet-making or
carpentry and shoemaking. The trades most commonly re-
presented were barbering, blacksmithing, shoemaking, car-
pentry and in the southern part of the Eastern Shore whip-
sawing. 1 In some places the shoemakers worked in fixed
places. In the country districts, however, they often went
from farm to farm, making at each place the supply of
shoes from leather furnished by the master of the premises.
A group of five shoemakers, all members of one family,
worked in Talbot County. 2 At Chestertown and Cambridge
the principal butchers just before the war were negroes.
There were negro plasterers in nearly every part of the
state and negro ship-wrights and caulkers at the ship-yards
in the tide-water districts. At Ellicott's Mills a negro cooper
l Cf. Queen Anne's Land Records, Lib. iSTW no. 7, pp. 31, 201, 214;
Wills, Lib. SCT, p. 183 ; lib. TCE no. 2, p. 12 ; Orphans' Court Min-
utes, Dec. 4, 1813; June 10, 1815, and Jan. 10, 1824; Talbot Land Recs.,
Lib. 33, p. 105 ; Lib. 39, p. 10 ; Lib. 49, pp. 204-05 ; Lib. 50, p. 527 ; M d.
Col. Jour., vol. i, p. 319.
' They were a father, two sons andi two sons of one of the latter.
Their reputed' capacity was thirty-seven pairs of shoes a week.
547] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES
made the barrels for the flour and grist of the miller and
two negro harness-makers received a liberal patronage
among all classes of users of harness. Other trades re-
presented here and there were brick-laying, hewing and
whip-sawing.
In some trades owing to the nature of the service inde-
pendent negro laborers worked under the piece system.
This was true, for instance, of many barbers, of some
blacksmiths and other mechanics, of wood-cutters and whip-
sawyers and of some foundry-men and forge-men. But
it was otherwise where continuous employment at the same
work was demanded. Freedom seemed to imply as great a
voice for negroes as for white men in engaging their service.
But in communities served almost wholly by slaves very
little was known about free labor conditions by either
negroes or whites, 1 There were then no truly free labor
customs to serve as a guide for the freed negroes. In fact
the environment seemed to foster the preservation of
the conditions existing before they became free. It was
particularly tenacious in the agricultural sections which
made up most of the state. The land-holders also had an
advantage of which they made liberal use to secure their
own interests when employing free negroes. They offered
arrangements which were strikingly like those of involun-
tary servitude and which could not be lightly avoided by the
workmen. The negroes on their part felt that they were
no longer to be treated as slaves, but their lack of tactical
advantages left them impotent in bargaining. 2 They needed
to be supplied with the means to live, they would not strike
out to the frontiers to get them, they cherished the con-
1 A sidelight on this view is seen in the instrument recorded in the
Somerset Land Records, Lib. K, pp. 117-18.
2 Supra, pp. 30 and 130.
I5 8 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [548
tinuance of the doles and other things they had been ac-
customed to receive at the hands of the whites and they pre-
ferred to trust to the whites to help them to get on. Ac-
cordingly they acquiesced in the terms that were offered.
Some of their number, to be sure, attempted to take time
off and quit their contracts without sufficient cause. There-
by they put their employers to inconvenience and caused
much wrath but failed to change the customs governing
their working conditions. Free labor customs, therefore,
compromised with, rather than supplanted, those of slavery,
until other outside factors were introduced.
For the slaves the duration of service was for life, or
less if the masters so willed it. For the bond servants it
was for terms of years, although subject to termination
earlier for sufficient cause. The contract laborers, how-
ever, were bound to work only so long as they had agreed
to work. The objects of such contracts, as seen by em-
ployers of free negroes, were to assure the use of the labor
throughout the crop and harvest seasons. Hence on the
farms both free negroes and hired slaves were commonly
employed from " Christmas to Christmas," or as in Cecil
County for terms of nine or ten months each. But extra
hands at harvest time and other busy seasons were hired
for shorter terms, as by the day, or week, or until the crop
had been put away. In the eighteenth century f oundrymen
and forge-men were likewise hired and paid for shorter
terms. 1 As to the other features of contracts, as constancy
in service, attendance during sickness, time of payment and
subordination to authority, the treatment of adults was not
far different from that of apprenticed children and of
slaves also.
1 Cf. Elkridge Furnace Journal CC, pp. 4, 56, 74 79 ; Cornwall Fur-
nace Journal N, pp. 77, 83, 85, 107, 266, 270, 283, 322; Hopewell Forge
Journal T, pp. 63, 103, 122.
549] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES 159
Regarding the quality of negro labor it was difficult to
speak without racial bias. Some facts about it seem clear
nevertheless. In the provincial period it was deemed inferior
to that of the whites 1 but for reasons already given it was
strongly established in place of white labor. After the revo-
lution had passed it won the highest favor it ever enjoyed,
as emancipation sentiment was being asserted strongly and
it was purposed to give the freed negroes a chance to carry
on the trades and by their industry to demonstrate the wis-
dom of the policy of free manumission. The results were
significant. -As tonsorial artists negroes were hardly sur-
passed by any in the state. In the counties they continued
doing repair work as blacksmiths, as rough carpenters <
building gates, fences and out-buildings and making into
shoes the rough leather of the native tanneries in cases
where fit and finish were not the most exquisite. Some-
times they performed the nicer work of the different trades. *
In course of time they were superseded in part by the
whites. 1 They probably made slow progress in what was;
left to them, but they were confined chiefly to farm, house-
hold and common labor. Their partial success as a labor
force resulted in causing a vacating of pursuits by the emi-
gration of whites* which continued to deplete the white
population of some of the counties until as late as 1850. In
the counties on the Pennsylvania border and in Somerset
and Worcester, however, such depletion as occurred from
this cause came before 1820, and excepting in Harford and
Worcester, before 1810. These counties, especially those in
1 Supra, pp. 7-8.
* Cf. Md. Col. four., vol. iii, p. 86; vol. v, p. 361.
Op. cit., vol. i, pp. 225-26 ; vol. vi, pp. 71, 73, 74 ; Md. Pub. Docs.,
1852 L, p. 4 ; 34th Ann. Report of American Colonisation Society, p. 57.
4 Cf. History and Statistics of Maryland, Seventh Census of United
States, p. 20.
160 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [550
the north, together with Baltimore City, prospered in in-
dustry, while the rest of the state complained of stagnation
and retrogression. 1 The increasing quantities of both skil-
led and common labor were done largely by the whites.
Their progressive agriculture which abandoned the ancient
staple tobacco and their other industries, for whose prod-
ucts Maryland had formerly looked to outside sources, were
established and carried on mainly by white labor. The
reason for the course taken in these things was apparently
that white labor was superior in the competition between
races.
The absence of free labor customs left the determination
of the compensation of negro laborers to the factors that
were present. Custom had rewarded the slave with main-
tenance, and the bond-servant with maintenance, freedom
dues and sometimes with the payment in addition of a
nominal wage or redemption money. The occasional gratui-
ties in the case of either could hardly have been regarded as
compensations. A few negroes voluntarily submitted them-
selves to a nominal slavery, 2 and others were subjected to
temporary "slavery" by orders of the courts. 3 This
slavery, however, was apparently very like indentured servi-
tude, many of whose features were copied in the long-term
contracts of the free negroes. The basic thing in making
compensation was maintenance, while in compensating rural
workers and domestic servants about equal emphasis was laid
1 M d. Pub. Docs., 1841 H, pp. 3-5.
1 Dorchester Deeds, Lib. EIR no. 6, pp. 5, 175; Worcester Deeds, Lib.
K, p. 187 ; Lib. GMH no. 3, p. 537 ; Lib. GMH no. 9, p. 261. The last
cited refers to a case of submission to life slavery in consideration of
the negro's debts. Cf. also Kent Bonds, Indentures etc., Lib. 10, p. 152.
Montgomery Land Records, Lib. BS no. 2, p. 226.
' Cf. supra, chapter on Legal Status, pp. 35-37 ; Baltimore Sun, Feb.
20, 1860.
55 1 ] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES t6l
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THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
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553] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES 163
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!64 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [554
upon maintenance and nominal wages. Thus we find the col-
loquial " victuals and clothes " of the Eastern Shore counties.
With these as a partial reward for their work the free negroes
were fed, housed and clothed much like the slaves. Accord-
ingly they ate and slept at the houses of their employers, or if
their numbers were too large for that, in " quarters " where
they received the contractual or customary allowances. A 1
bushel of meal and fifteen or twenty pounds of meat
formed a mean monthly allowance for food for a laborer.
The clothing allowed for a man, as for instance in Worcester
County, consisted of a winter suit, hat, pair of shoes, two
shirts and pair of trousers ; and in Queen Anne's, of Kersey
coat and trousers, summer trousers, hat, two Oznaburg
shirts, a pair of shoes and pair of stockings. Additional
articles were to be purchased out of earnings or awarded as
gratuities. It was usual to give out a considerable part of
the clothing and to pay any remainder of unpaid wages
owing just before the Christmas holidays.
The rates of nominal wages are indicated in the tables
just given. The data given is incomplete for the period ex-
piring before 1850. It indicates, however, a considerable
variation in the wages paid in different parts of the state
and a higher scale of money wages in the middle of the
nineteenth century, especially in the northern and western
counties, than at the close of the revolution. 1 The rise in
the currency value of labor was in part offset by a like
rise in that of other things.
The diversity of wage conditions was partly due to the
differences in natural resources in different parts of the
state but perhaps mainly to the differences in the character
of the laboring population. Laborers of either race seem
to have drawn substantially the same wages for work of
1 Cf. Carey, Slavery in Maryland, pp. 31-32; Md. Pub. Docs., 1843 M,
and 1845 G.
555] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES 165
the same kind and amount. Both the two races nowhere
stood together long on a par with each other. The changes!
that occurred in either wages or other relations in progres-
sive industries generally turned out to the advantage of the
whites. And as a consequence of their efficiency they re-
ceived higher wages than the negroes. 1 Now it may be
questioned whether the helpless free negroes were pecu-
liarly oppressed in their labor. It is undeniable that the
whites often took advantage of their superior position to
practice frauds upon them and treated them with injustice. 2
They often acted so towards white men as well. More-
over, some labor organizations, savings associations and
building and loan associations extended their benefits to
white persons only. 5 Again negro evidence was not fully
available against whites in redressing injuries in the courts,
and in seeking justice in general the negroes were subject
to the same disadvantages that have been common to the
humbler classes. 'But the proposals deliberately to hamper
negro enterprise by statutory exclusion of negroes from
certain trades, by avoidance of their land titles or by general
re-enslavement either failed to pass the legislature, or such
as were passed went the way of the colonization fiasco.
Such narrowing of the field of their activities as occurred in
manual employments seemed to be due to the preference!
of employers for the more efficient white labor, while in
clerical and professional capacities it was mainly due to the
same cause and only secondarily to racial bias. In this!
1 Letter of General Harper to E. B. Caldwell, pp. 8-10. Hall, Address
to the Free People of Color of Maryland, p. 3 ; Md. Col. Jour., vol. vi,
pp. 70-71 ; Md. Pub. Docs., 1834, pp. 8-9, and 1843 /M, p. 47. Genius of
Universal Emancipation, vol. ii, p. 10. Somerset Union, Feb. 21, 1860.
2 Cf. Somerset Union, loc. cit.
1 Baltimore Charter Record, Lib. ED no. i, pp. 232, 240, 245, 252, 272,
319, 322, 419, 455 ; Ob. ED no. 2, p. 451 ; Lib. GES no. 4, PP- 13, 17, 23,
29, 60, 99, 107. Brackett, Negro in Maryland, p. 188.
;J 66 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [556
course the Maryland employers were following the lead of
those of the northern states.
It was stated above 'that free negroes sometimes engaged
in business affairs on their own account. The callings thus
entered were chiefly farming, trading, catering and shop-
keeping, most important of which in point of numbers en-
gaged was the first. They carried on truck-gardening and
farming both as proprietors and as tenants of other pro-
prietors. They followed the example of the whites both in
the choice of crops and in the methods of cultivation, and
their imitations here succeeded to about the same extent as
they succeeded in competing with white laborers when work-
ing for wages. In nearly every county a few of them pros-
pered. Some built up good estates. The number who
thus rose above the shiftless multitude increased consider-
ably between 1800 and i860. 1
Notwithstanding their lack of material resources and
credit the negroes played a small role in business affairs
which was much heralded among the whites. They en-
gaged in two forms of trading, selling farm and truck pro-
duce, and huckstering and marketing. They were often
accused of foul practice in both, but more especially in the
former. In fact it was reputed that there was a constant
traffic in stolen farm produce in which negroes were credited
with a large part. 2 The scenes in which it originated were
chiefly the forest-shrouded bays and inlets of the tide-water
districts. Here water-craft stole into appointed recesses
at night-fall, dropped anchor, received their freights from
1 Cf. infra, pp. 174-75, chapter on Property Holdings. In the Balti-
more City directories are indicated 1 for 1819 two negro gardeners, in
1824 six, in 1831 twelve, in 1841 and 1850 four each, and in 1860 five.
1 Letter of General Harper to E. B. Caldwell, p. 10 ; H. Del. four.,
1844, p. 106. Supra, pp. 101-02, chapter on Legal Status. Also Amer.
Farmer, vol. i, p. 09. Oral tradition also relates much albout this trade.
557] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES
persons on land and steered themselves away before day-
break. The operation's were facilitated by the cooperation
of slaves who helped to smooth the way to their masters'
store-houses from which the spoils were taken. Attempts
at preventive legislation failed to check the growth of the
practice. It seems, however, that reports grossly exag-
gerated the extent of such trade, and of such as was
carried on much was no doubt done with the help or
at the instigation of white men who reaped the major part
of its profits. Kidnaping negroes to sell as slaves, a prac-
tice in which a few negroes acted as decoys, was a shocking
form of illicit traffic. 1 Huckstering, hawking and market-
ing required small capital and were suited to the negroes'
tastes. They were pursued chiefly by some of the more
enterprising who resided in the environs of the cities and
towns. Thus Baltimore in 1824 and 1831 had eighteen
hucksters, in 1841 'thirteen, in 1850 twenty and in 1860
forty-one. Garden and dairy products, eggs and poultry
were the chief things disposed in this trade. In some com-
munities fish and oysters were added to the list.
Another form of negro business enterprise was seen in
catering and restaurant-keeping. They were not open to
the same objections that were raised against negro grog-
shops. 2 'On the contrary some of them were habitually
patronized by the whites, as they represented a proper ex-
ercise of a business in which the excellence of their man-
agers was acknowledged. Passing mention should be made
of the cake-shops and booths that were often located on
vacant lots in the towns, or at convenient places on camp-
meeting and picnic grounds. Their keepers dispensed pat-
ties, other delicacies and sometimes more substantial foods.
1 Cf. 26 Niles Register, p. 96.
9 Cf. Laws, 1827, ch. 29; 1831, ch. 323; 1852, oh. 288; chapter on
Legal Status, supra, pp. 103-04; Baltimore American, May 21, 1859.
!<58 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [558
Catering for picnics and banquets and keeping ice-cream
saloons were done chiefly by negroes, until near the middle
of the nineteenth century when a part of such business in
Baltimore fell to the whites. In some of the counties th
best restaurants were conducted by negroes. One each at
Qiestertown, Easton and Princess Anne was favored by
general public patronage and often graced by the presence
of the elite circles of the Eastern Shore. The first chief
steward of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis
was a free negro. 1
Retail shop-keeping was more difficult for negroes to
enter than either of the other forms of business mentioned.
Nevertheless some negroes who had been employed at or
about retail shops and others who had served apprentice-
ships for that purpose turned to merchandizing. 2 The city
of Baltimore is here again the principal center of interest in
the state. The earliest advertisement of a negro's business
I have found in Maryland was that of the Union Blacking
Shop advertised in the Baltimore American in the year
i8o9. 8 Its proprietor prospered well for one of his race.*
His venture was followed by others by whom several dif-
ferent lines of goods were handled. The following table,
compiled from the city directories, gives a partial indication
1 Cf. Laws, 1847, ch. 133.
1 Cf. Baltimore Indentures, lib. WB no. 6, p. 127 ; Lib. WiB no. 8,
p. i ; Lib. WIB no. 10, p. 366 ; Lib. D'MP no. 16, p. 107 ; Baltimore Or-
phans' Court Minutes, Lib. 13, p. 76; Anne Arundel Orphans? Court
Minutes, Lib. 217, p. 186.
* Issue of Jan. 31, 1809. The proprietor announced to his " friends
and fellow-citizens" that he had discovered "a blacking 1 , in point of
utility and elegance, not to be surpassed in North America." He had
also a powder for cleaning plate excelling any ever before offered to
the public. Cf. his will in the Baltimore Wills, Lib. WiB no. 10, p. 343;
Lib. WB no. n, pp. 603-05. He disposed of a moderate fortune, a part
of which apparently came as a legacy in 1817. He was a leader among
his people in the city.
559] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES 169
of these activities. 1 Many of these were apparently unsuc-
cessful. But failure was not a necessary consequence of en-
gaging in merchandizing, for a respectable negro tobacconist
and cigar-maker in " Old Town," Baltimore, continued in
his chosen business from 1833 till as late as 1859." Out-
side of Baltimore also were several respectable negro mer-
chants. At Easton in 1819 a West Indian Negro was ad-
vertizing a variety of fruits, provisions, meats, hard and
soft drinks and sporting goods.* About ten years later his
creditors closed up his business and even sold the property
of the negroes' church to satisfy their demands.* In the
last decade before the general emancipation several pro-
minent negro merchants appeared. One was a well-to-do
tobacconist at Annapolis, a second a versatile variety store-
keeper, ship-owner, and mariner of Chestertown, a third a
prosperous merchant at Salisbury whose business seemed
to keep up well till he was prosecuted for having possession
1 1819 1824-27 1831 1841 1850 1860
Confectioners o i i 2 8 17
Druggists o o o o o 2
Feed stores i o o i 2 i
Flour merchant o i o o o o
Grocers o i 7 i 3 3
Milliners o i o i 3 o
Tobacconists i o o 4 2 i
Wholesale dry goods d'ealer . . o o o I o o
* Cf. Vade, View of Baltimore, 1833, p. 162 ; Md. Col. Jour., vol. ix,
p. 88. The firm name of Burley arid Jones as dealers in feed occurred
in successive directories for a number of years.
3 Republican Star and Eastern Shore General Advertiser, Dec. 7,
1819 to Feb. i, 1820. Also Nov. 14 to Dec. 5, 1820, April 29 to May 6,
1823, and Sept. 13-20, 1835.
* Talbot Land Records, Lib. 48, p. 427 ; Lib. 49, pp. 400-02. A report
of long currency among the negroes was that "white clerks" in th
shop had robbed this store from the inside and ruined its proprietor.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [560
of a copy of Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and
financially ruined. But all of these were eclipsed by the
career of Captain Robert Henry of Pocomoke City. Several
years before the war broke out he became a partner with
a southern gentleman in a general store. He also owned
and operated some small vessels plying in the trade between
Baltimore and points on the peninsula. He won a re-
markable reputation for probity and enterprise and con-
tinued in his business until his death in 1898.
From the point of view of labor conditions the history
of Maryland free negroes may be divided into two periods,
one before and the other after the war of 1812-14. It has
been seen above that the systems of slavery and bond-servi-
tude prevailed in the province and that the latter had largely
passed into history when the revolution came on. After
the revolution for a time white labor seemed to decline,
while the growth of slavery, in numbers at least, continued
until after the beginning of the nineteenth century. During
that same period a great number of negroes were set free
from slavery. Those who were thus freed remained for
the most part in the communities where they had resided as
slaves and worked in the midst of the slaves in the manner
already described. Their employers generally wished them
well, advised, aided and encouraged them and sought to
give them a chance to prove their efficiency as free labor-
ers. They were further favored by the prevalence of
slavery whose stigmatization of manual labor caused many
of the whites to retire before the advance rather than
attempt to compete with them directly. Wherever the
whites did not compete strongly, acute prejudices due to the
color line did not manifest themselves prominently. Ap-
1 Cross, A Few Thoughts to Mr. Jacobs, p. 4. Cf. Md. Col Jowr.>
vol. 2, p. 73 ; vol. 6, p. 74. Letter of J. H. B. Latrobe.
56 1 ] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES
parently the negroes might have monopolized the pursuits
of manual labor, had they used their opportunity to the ful-
lest extent. 'As it was they improved their situation some-
what but the majority of their number were not strikingly
superior to the slaves. It appeared, therefore, that they had
not shared well in the boasted boon of liberty resulting from
the gloriously achieved American independence. They
seemed to remain essentially the same kind of economic labor
force for whose employment and utilization the whites were
still to be responsible. 1 Colonial conditions, as told in the
growth of servile labor, were thus protracted for a genera-
tion after the revolution.
But this tendency did not prevail to the same extent over
the whole of the state. As early as the time of the revo-
lution the growing city of Baltimore was becoming a free
labor center. Free negroes also had begun to congregate
there, but by far the greater part of the growth of the urban
laboring classes consisted of whites. That condition was
permanent. On the other hand sixteen of the counties
actually lost in numbers of whites, although after a time
seven of these overcame such losses, And after i8'2O all 1
the counties on the Pennsylvania border and Anne Arundel,
Somerset and Worcester gained appreciably more in whites
than in free negroes. The causes of the changes are found
in the industrial expansion that followed the Peace of Ghent.
Industries were established affording unprecedented de-4
mands for labor for which whites were desired and efforts
were made to check their migration to the frontiers. 2 At
the same time European immigrants in large numbers were
attracted to United States, part of them coming to Mary-
1 Cf. Letter of General Harper to E. B. Caldwell, pp. 8, 10, n ; Balti-
more Sun, Jan>. 7, 1856.
* History and Statistics of Maryland, Seventh Census of United
States, p. 20.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [562.
land. 1 They settled chiefly in Baltimore and in the north-
ern and western counties, 70 per cent of them in the cities
and towns. They readily engaged in manual labor, and
owing largely to their lead white competition with negroes
began to grow. In the course of time they demonstrated
their superiority in work which had once been done almost
wholly by negroes. 2 As a consequence certain ominous dis-
placements of negroes with whites particularly Germans
and Irish took place in Baltimore. 5 The increased im-
migration at the middle of the century brought into clearer
light the progress of the change. In 1851 J. H. B. Latrobe
said:
In Baltimore, my home, ten years since, the shipping at Fell's
Point was loaded by colored stevedores. The labor in the coal
yards was colored labor. In the rural districts around Balti-
more . . . free colored laborers, ten years since, got in the
harvests, worked the mine banks, made the fences, and indeed
supplied to a great extent, all agricultural wants in this respect.
Now all this is changed. The white man stands in the black
man's shoes, or else is fast getting into them. 4
In another instance the same man said : " In the rural dis-
trict where I reside in summer, ten years ago, I could not
get a white man to work for me; now I can't get a black
man." 6 Furthermore the whites became jealous of negro
competition in trades that had once been carried on mainly
by negroes. In riots against negro laborers in Baltimore
immigration of foreigners in 1820-30 was 10,552; in 1831-40,
55,322; in 1841-50, 68,392. Op. cit., p. 20. In 1850, 12.85 per cent of
the whole white population were of foreign 'birth.
* Carey, Slavery in Maryland, p. 39; Md. Col Jour., vol. ii, p. 203.
' 31 Niles Register, p. 305. Md. Col. Jour., vol. ii, p. 103 ; vol. vi, pp.
71-73. Genius of Universal Emancipation, vol. ii, p. 10.
* Md. Col. Jour., vol. vi, p. 71.
6 34th Ann. Report of American Colonization Society, p. 57.
563] OCCUPATION AND WAGES OF FREE NEGROES 173
they imitated the examples set in the northern cities.*
To some persons who discerned what was happening these
things seemed to portend the eventual exclusion of negroes
from the labor field and their exile or destruction by
natural causes. 2 But the demand for labor was generally
sufficient to afford employment for the men of both races.
This became true even in certain of the slave-ridden coun-
ties, where wages suddenly rose a few years before the
war. a The change to white labor was neither sudden nor
thorough-going, and it proceeded less rapidly in the rural
districts than in the cities. The main body of the negroes
were quite unperturbed about it. Their ignorance of causes
and their experience with the white people and the govern-
ment inspired them with confidence rather than fears for the
future. They declined both to leave the state and to change
radically from what they had been as a labor force.
1 Cf. Baltimore Sun, July 5, 1858 ; June 28, 1859 ; M d. Col. Jour., vol.
i, pp. 49-50, 225-26. Also Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, pp.
311-12. Some negroes even left the state in order to avoid further
con/tendon, it was alleged. 40 Niles Register, pp. 452-53.
1 34th Ann. Report of American Colonization Society, p. 57; Md.
Pub. Docs., 1852 L, p. 4. Maryland Scheme of Expatriation Examined,
p. 9. Md. Col. Jour., nos. 17, 18, 19 (1838). The efforts to create a
preference for white labor on purely racial groundis probably did not
receive much encouragement, although there is no doubt that, other
things being equal, a white laboring population would have been pre-
ferred to the then existing negroes. Cf. Md. Col. Jour., vol. vi, p. 74.
31 Niles Register, p. 305. Letter of General Harper to E. B. Caldwell,
pp. 12, 15.
Baltimore Sun, Jan. 3, 1855 ; Jan. 7, 1856 ; Boston Gazette, May 5,
1859-
CHAPTER VI
PROPERTY ACQUISITIONS AND HOLDINGS
IN the preceding chapters it has been seen that the free
negroes furnished an important part of the labor employed
in Maryland industries. The extent of their liberties with
respect to industry and property has also been shown.
Their position was mainly that of employees and their
share of what was produced was small. Their disposal
of their wages was prodigal rather than provident, and
hence they accumulated a smaller total of property than
either their earnings or their numbers should have made
possible. Nevertheless they had acquired some property
in several of the counties before the general assessment of
1783, and after that time they increased its amount much
more rapidly than their own numbers increased. As far as
occasion offered, they used the same forms in acquiring and
the same tenures in holding property that the whites used.
As to acquisition the chief concern now is with the original
acquisition by negroes as a result of production and of
transfers from whites by sales, gifts and bequests.
Whatever a free negro produced as a result of his own
investment and management became his own property.
The forms of independent negro enterprises noticed in the
preceding chapter thus became the means of procuring the
ownership of property according to the customs of the
whites. It seems probable that the major part of the ac-
cumulated property held by negroes was acquired as a result
i74 [564
565] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS
of such activities. 1 But for much of what they possessed
they owed thanks to the whites no less than they owed their
manumission to the same class. Wherever this was true,
the occasion for transferring things to them lay not in the
circumstances common to business transactions but in the
peculiar relations of the whites and negroes.
A part of the property was given for the purpose of pro-
viding for the support of old negroes and others who were
unable to labor for their own support. In certain statutes
that have been referred to above it was forbidden to manu-
mit any negroes who were above the age of fifty years or
those who for any reason could not earn their living.
These laws also required masters to make sufficient pro-
vision for old and infirm slaves, failing to do which they
were liable to be placed under bond to provide such support. 3
The enforcement of these rules, aided by the moral awaken-
ing that attended the revolution, obviously improved the
average treatment of superannuated slaves. For although
complaints of improper treatment and turning them adrift
were renewed for a time after 182 5, it was asserted that
such cases were exceptional in the middle of the century and
after. The wills furnished abundant evidence of appro-
priations of parts of estates for the negroes' benefit. In
1780, for instance, a citizen of Caroline County enjoined
upon his wife to " well cloth and maintain my old man
Pompey in sickness and health during life." And sixteen
years later in Queen Anne's a will ordered that two old
1 The property assessed! to negroes appeared much greater than the
sum total of recorded bequests and gifts discovered. Evidence from
individuals who had been acquainted! with conditions before the civil
war corroborated this view.
J Laws, 1752, ch. i ; 1790, ch. g ; 1796, ch. 67. The bonding provision
was inserted in the last two of these enactments.
1 Genius of Universal Emancipation, Oct. 7, 1826; 37 Niles Register,
p. 340. Cf. note 5, supra, p. 49.
176 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [566
negroes should be kept in a decent manner. 1 The practice
of thus making both the dwelling-place and the support of
old negroes a charge upon the general assets of estates pre-
vailed in many of the wills. 2 In others the appropriations!
for the purpose were either to be derived from specified
property or to become special burdens upon particular lega-
tees or heirs. 3 The forty dollars a year to be given to an old
negro in Kent, in case he was not otherwise provided for,
represented about mean money value of such bequests. 4 Pro-
visions were also sometimes made to enable old negroes,
whether manumitted or not, to continue to occupy particular
places of abode and to continue the exercise of functions they
had been accustomed to on their masters' farms. 5 But such
gifts were not sufficient in any case to aid greatly in building
up material fortunes.
The provisions noted were only such as the law demanded
for the sake of protecting the public interests and were less
often extended to slaves under the age of forty-five years
1 Wills: Caroline, Ob. JR no. A, p. 42; Queen Anne's, Ob. WHN
no. 3, p. 193. Cf. Cecil Wills, Lib. 8, p. 74, in which the testamentary
provision is made in the form of an indenture.
* Cf. e. g. Wills : Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 6, p. 241 ; lib. IPSC no. 28,
p. 245; Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. i, p. 473; Baltimore County, Lib.
JLR no. i, p. 92; Caroline, Lib. WAF no. A, p. 399; Cecil, Lib. 6, p.
297; Dorchester, Lib. THH no. i, p. 38; Frederick, Lib. GME no. 3, p.
82; Harford, Lib. AJ no. 2, p. 244; Lib. TSB no. 6, p. 82; Howard,
Lib. WG no. i, p. 56; Montgomery, Lib. WT of R no. 2, p. 343; Queen
Anne's, Lib. TCE no. i, p. 104; Talbot, Lib. JiP no. 6, p. 300; Wash-
ington, Lib. D, p. 195 ; Worcester, Lib. MH no. 27, pp. 19-20, 80.
Wills: Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 12, p. 131 ; Frederick, Lib. RB no. I,
p. 484; Harford, Lib. SiR no. i, p. 516; Howard, Lib. WG no. i, pp.
105, 176, 251, 346; Kent, Lib. 10, p. 23; Montgomery, Ob. O, p. 436;
Talbot, Lib. JP no. 5, p. 77; Washington, Lib. D, p. 254; Lib. E, p.
274 ; Worcester, Lib. MiH no. 7, p. 556.
* Kent Wills, loc. cit. Cf. infra, p. 181, on grants of annuities.
Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. TTS no. i, p. 333; Caroline, Lib. JR no.
B, p. 138; Frederick, Lib. GM no. i, p. 360; Harford, Lib. TSB no. 6,
p. 107 ; Talbot, Ob. JP no. 7, p. 83 ; Washington, Lib. E, p. 278.
567] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS 177
who were able to work for their own support. Most slave
owners gave to their f reedmen but little more than was re-
quired of them. But there was a minority who felt that some-
thing more was required. To them the slaves were depend-
ents who had had a part in building up the estates on which
their labor had been spent and who as a consequence merited
something more than mere pittances for what they had
done. Their view was expressed by one in Dorchester
County who wished " to do what is right and becoming "
for his negroes but found himself " after an experience of
thirty years as an owner, and a much longer period of
anxious reflection, wholly at a loss to make a satisfactory
disposition of them." x They were variously moved by
moral obligation, by desire for fair play and even by
" affectionate regard " on account of devoted service ren-
dered by beneficiaries. 2 They knew both the hardships of
the negroes and the weaknesses of their character and de-
sired to make in their behalf provisions which would most
effectively aid them in the struggle for their livings. A!
few individuals here and there over the state were also
moved to take this course because of concubinage with
negro women or of blood relationship with hybrid child-
ren. 8 Ais a consequence gifts and bequests of property to
1 Dorchester Wills, lib. THH no. I, p. 4. This testator further
wrote of his slaves that he deemed it an "imperative duty to treat
them with kiridness and forbearance and to strive ... to enlighten
them so as to prepare them for a higher scale or sphere of existence."
He freed! several, gave property to some and ordered that the rest be
treated "with the kindness due to childiren." Cf. also Wills: Talbot,
Lib. JP no. 5, p. 316; Lib. JP no. 9, p. 101 ; Baltimore, Lib. ;NH no. 25,
p. 48.
2 Wills: Baltimore, lib. D'MP no. 15, p. 453; Frederick, Lib. GME
no. 2, p. 115; Harford, Lib. AJ no. A, p. 105; Lib. :SR no. i, p. 258;
Kent, Lib. no. 5, p. 80; Talbot, lib. JlP no. 5, p. 316; Lib. JP no. 7, p.
83 ; Washington, lib. E, p. 278.
1 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. 2, p. 459; Baltimore, Lib. WB
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [568
manumitted negroes were common, and some property was
sold to them at nominal prices and on easy terms of pay-
ment. 1
Gifts and bequests were thus made in the same way as to
whites. Accordingly there were grants of lands and houses
and of various kinds of personal property. There were
grants in perpetuity, grants for life and for specified terms
of years, grants giving full rights of possession and disposal
and grants in which only the incomes or annuities were to-
be received from designated property or invested funds.
The following paragraphs will more fully set forth their
character and give partial indications as to their amounts.
Grants in perpetuity will be first considered and after them
those in which rights of reversion were reserved to the
estates concerned. Among grants in perpetuity were some
which included whole estates. Their number and value,
although small, were still sufficient to warrant mention
here. 2 Of more importance were those of portions of
no. 7, p. 169; Lib. WB no. n, p. 499; Ob. NH no. 26, p. 309; Dor-
chester, Lib. THH no. i, p. 126; Frederick, Lib. GME no. 2, p. 669;
Harford, Lib. SR no. i, p. 13; Washington, Lib. E, p. 454. Other cases
leading to suspicion of the same motive were the following: op, cit.>
Anne Arundel, Lib. BEG no. i, p. 321 ; Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 9, p.
334; Frederick, Lib. HS no. i, pp. 39, 45; Montgomery, Lib. B, pp.
388-89; Lib. WT no. 2, p. 31 ; Talbot, Lib. JP no. 6, pp. 5-6; Lib. JP
no. 7, p. 14.
1 For cases of evident favors shown in the matter of prices, cf. Balti-
more Chattel Records, Lib. GES, n/o. 26, p. 421 ; Dorchester Deeds,
Lib. ER no. 10, p. 590; Lib. WJ no. 3, p. 89; Harford Land Records,
Lib. JLG no. E, p. 300 ; Lib. HDG no. 35, p. 259 ; Somerset Deeds, Lib,
LH, p. 64 ; Worcester Deeds, Lib. GMH no. 5, p. 208 ; Lib. EDM no. 2,
p. 96. Cf. Frederick Wills, Lib. GME no. 3, p. 299; Lib. GM no. i r
p. 361.
1 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. TTiS no. i, p. 547; Lib. BEG no. I, p.
81 ; Baltimore, Lib. WlB no. 12, p. 80; Lib. WB no. 15, p. 453; Harford,
Lib. <CWB no. 7, P- 226; Frederick, Lib. GME no. 2, p. 48; Mongom-
ery, Lib. B, pp. 388-89. Cf. Md. Wills, Lib. CC no. 3, p. 632.
569] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS 179
estates of which white legatees were the chief beneficiaries.
iAl house and lot in Calvert street in Baltimore which were
together assessed for taxation at $12093 in 1859 formed
the most valuable single gift in this class I have found. 1
But inasmuch as these transfers generally took place in
connection with the manumission O'f slaves, they were re-
latively less numerous in Baltimore than in the rural coun-
ties. In at least four instances in these counties tracts of
more than a hundred acres each were willed to negroes; 3
tracts of smaller size and long-term leases were given much
more frequently, 3 and in some instances in place of land
money was left to purchase homes for negro beneficiaries.
Besides these there were assignments of property to parents,
or to other trustees, of children in whom the rights of own-
ership in fee were ultimately to be vested. 4 The great
majority of the testamentary transfers, however, were be-
quests of personalty, conveying articles that would minister
directly to personal wants or aid the recipients in acquiring
a livelihood. Of the former were grain and pork, cloth-
ing, bedding, household goods, furniture and kitchen uten-
1 Baltimore Wills, Lib. WH no. 26, p. 309. Cf. Baltimore Tax Ledger,
1859, no. 3, p. 49.
2 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. EV no. I, p. 88; Kent, Lib. no. 9, p.
149; Montgomery, Lib. B, pp. 388-89; Queen Anne's, Lib. TCE no. 2,
P. 3-
8 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. I, p. 52; Baltimore, Lib. DMP
no. 15, p. 453; Lib. DMP no. 21, p. 237; Lib. WB no. 9, p. 185; Balti-
more County, Lib. JLR no. 2, p. 80; Carroll, Lib. JB no. I, p. 39;
Cecil, Lib. no. 9, p. 347; Dorchester, Lib. THH no. I, p. 4; Frederick,
Lib. TS no. i, p. 45; Queen Anne's, Lib. TCE no. 2, p. 13; Washing-
ton, Lib. E, p. 234; Worcester, Lib. TT no. 8, p. 172. The Frederick
County will cited in this note was that of John C. Fritchie, husband
of one Barbara Fritchie.
'Wills: Baltimore County, Lib. JLR no. 2, p. 80; Frederick, Lib.
TS no. i, pp. 28-29; Lib. HS no. 2, p. 212; Lib. GME no. 2, pp. 356,
669 ; Kent, Lib. no. 19, p. 141 ; Queen Anne's, Lib. TCE no. 2, p. 3.
!8o THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [570
sils, 1 and of the latter barnyard fowls, swine, milk-stock,
hoes, scythes, cradles, oxen, plows and gearings, looms,
spinning-wheels and mechanics' tools. 2 Two negroes were
to receive each a horse and dray, another the choice of his
master's riding horses with bridle and saddle, and a few
others such articles as jewelry, burnished shoe buckles,
mahogany furniture, plate and guns. a In place of giving
articles already in hand some testators set aside money for
their purchase. A testatrix in Harford County in 1802
willed to a negro boy a hundred dollars to enable him to
establish a business and twenty dollars pocket money be-
sides/ Moreover there were unconditional gifts of money
ranging from the debt of ten dollars forgiven by a creditor
in Cecil to two thousand dollars to a single individual in
Howard and five thousand dollars to a group of negroes in
1 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. 39, p. 140; Lib. JG no. I, p. 96;
Lib. JG no. 2, pp. 351, 473; Baltimore, Lib. WlB no. 9, pp. 23-24, 188;
Caroline, Ob. JR no. B, p. 203 ; Lib. WAF no. A, p. 351 ; Cecil, Lib.
no. 6, p. 115; Dorchester, Lib. THH no. i, p. 139; Frederick, Lib. BB
no. i, pp. 72-73, 484; Lib. GME no. i, p. 533; 'Lib. GMiE no. 2, p. 345;
Harford, Lib. AJ no. 2, p. 466; Lib. AJ no. C, p. 103; Lib. R, p. 205;
Howard, Lib. WG no. i, pp. 101, 174, 175, 306; Kent, Lib. no. 9, p. 80;
Queen Anne's, Lib. TCE no. 2, p. 305 ; Lib. WHN no. 3, p. 191 ; Talbot,
Lib. JP no. 8, pp. 210, 384; Washington, Lib. D, p. 231; Worcester,
Lib. MH no. 27, pp. 80, 286.
1 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. 2, pp. 471-74; Lib. JG no. I, pp.
83, 154; Lib. TTS no. i, p. 89; Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 8, p. 101 ; Lib.
WB no. 12, p. 251 ; Carroll, Lib. JB no. i ,pp. 79, 275 ; Frederick, Lib.
US no. i, p. 230; Lib. GM no. 3, p. 134; Harford, Lib. AJ no. 2, p.
157; Howard, WG no. i, pp. 174-76; Queen Anne's, Lib. WHN no. 3,
p. 191 ; Talbot, Lib. JB no. 2, p. 297; Lib. JP no. 5, pp. 317, 257; Lib.
JP no. 6, p. 372.
* Wills: Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 10, p. 402; Lib. DM'P no. 13, p. 502;
Lib. D'MiP no. 14, p. 119; Lib. WH no. 25, p. 307; Cecil, Lib. no. 8> p.
275 ; Dorchester, Lib. TiHiH no. i, p. 229 ; Howard, Lib. WG no. i, p.
174 ; Talbot, Lib. JP no. 6, pp. 5, 6.
* Wills, Lib. AJ no. c, p. 103.
571 ] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS
Washington, 1 and tradition tells hazily of gifts of still:
larger sums. The money was either given outright or in
the form of annuities, the latter occurring more often at
or near the city of Baltimore than anywhere else in the
state. The annuities were to be paid in annual, semi-
annual or quarterly instalments. 2 One in Queen Anne's)
amounted to ten dollars a year, while one in Baltimore
amounted to five hundred dollars a year for five years. More
often the amount to be paid was approximately that of a
negro's wages. In place of definite annuities we find also)
bequests of securities, as stock of Baltimore City, bank
stocks and savings deposits and funds to be devoted to their
purchase. Of some of the legacies both principal and in-
terest were to accrue to beneficiaries. In case the lega-
tees were manumitted persons owing further service, the
payments were to begin or to be made, when the manumis-
sion took effect. A few unemancipated servants were also
offered the hire for their own labor. 5 Finally slaves were
1 Wills: Cecil, Lib. no. 6, p. 362; Howard, Lib. WG no. i, p. 99;
Washington, Lib. D, p. 408.
3 Witts: Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. 2, p. 64 ; Baltimore, WB no. 6,
p. 148; Lib. WB no. 9, p. 265; Lib. WB no. 10, p. 10; Lib. WB no. n,
p. 526; Lib. DMiP no. 20, p. 10; Lib. DMP no. 20, p. 153; Lib. NH no.
6, p. 64; Baltimore County, Lib. JLR no. I, pp. 133, 315; Lib. JLR, no.
2, p. 121 ; Queen Anne's, Lib. WHN no. 4, p. 103; Lib. TCE no. i, pp.
407, 445; Talbot, Lib. JP no. 8, p. 427; Baltimore County Chattel
Records, Lib. HMHT no. 2, p. 371 ; Frederick, Lib. TS no. i, p. 28.
Wills: Queen Anne's, Lib. TCE no. i, p. 445 ; Baltimore, Lib. WB
no. 6, p. 148.
4 Wills: Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 9, p. 186; Lib. no. 10, p. 10; Lib.
DMP no. 13, p. 181; Lib. NH no. 26, p. 478; Lib. IPC no. 29, p. 136;
Baltimore County, Lib. JLR no. i, pp. 91, 285; Carroll, Lib. JB no. 2,
p. 318; Frederick, Lib. GH no. i, p. 250; Lib. GME no. 2, p. 356.
* Wills: Baltimore, Lib. DMP no. 13, p. 242 ; Kent, Lib. 8, p. 261.
Unider a will recorded in the Baltimore Wills, Lib. DMP no. 19, p. 491
(1842), a Delaware negro was to receive $1.50 a month for tobacco and
sundries. ! Cf. also Wills: Caroline, Lib. JR no. B, p. 203; Kent, Lib.
II, p. 120; Queen Anne's, Lib. WHN no. 4, p. 304; Lib. TCE no. 2,
p. 211.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [572
bequeathed to be given or sold to their free consorts, to
parents or to children in the same manner and for the same
reasons indicated above in the chapter on the growth of the
free negro population. 1 Apparently some slave-holders
used this means of ridding their estates of the burdens of
supporting worn-out negroes, 2 although some of the f reed-
men to whom burdens of their keep were shifted received
from their manumittors material help in addition to their
own freedom. 8
Life estates and term estates were also mentioned above.
In addition to the ordinary grounds for bestowing this
form of bequest many testators were moved by fears that
their negro beneficiaries were more likely to waste than to
use economically things that were given to them in complete
ownership. Although a few grants of usufructs were ap-
plied to ordinary articles of personalty, 4 they had to do
chiefly with realty and income-bearing personalty. But
usual freedom from rents on such grants did not apparently
carry with it freedom also from tax payment, 5 although ad-
1 Supra, pp. 59, 77-;8. Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. 2, p. 351 ;
Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 9, pp. 184-86 ; Lib. N'H no. 6, p. 351 ; Baltimore
Co., Lib. JLR no. i, p. 371 ; Cecil, Lib. 6, pp. 230, 278; Dorchester, Lib.
ULK no. i, p. 18; Frederick, Lib. TS no. i, p. 30; Queen Anne's, Lib.
TCE no. 2, p. 13 ; Washington, Lib. D, p. 651 ; Worcester, Lib. TT no.
8, p. 256.
s Wills: Caroline, Lib. WON no. B, p. 25 ; Cecil, Lib. 10, p. 7 ; Fred-
erick, Lib. GME no. i, p. 420; Montgomery, Lib. P, p. 315; Washing-
ton, Lib. D, p. 424.
3 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. TTS no. i, p. 52; Queen Anne's, Lib.
TCE no. 2, p. 211 ; Dorchester, Lib. THH no. i, p. 26; Frederick, Lib.
GH no. i, p. 19; Montgomery, Lab. O, p. 474. Some slaves were given
to negroes to be used for profit, if desired Cf. Wills: Anne Arundel,
Lib. TTS no. i, p. 481 ; Lib. JG no. i, p. 83; Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 7,
p. 179; Montgomery, Lib. B, pp. 388-89.
*. g. Wills: Frederick, Lib. GME no. 3, p. 139; Lib. HS no. 3, p. 14.
5 For cases of express exemption from tax payment and from other
public burdens, vide Wills: Baltimore, Lib. NiH no. 26, p. 477; Caro-
573] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS 183
ditional bequests were frequently given to the recipients.
Thus one negro in Dorchester was to have the privilege of
cutting firewood and rail-timber from certain land without
charge, and a negress in Talbot was to have ten dollars a
year and a sufficient supply of firewood cut and duly de-
livered at the door of her life tenement. 1 The munificent
provision of a Baltimore County decedent consisted of the
use for life of a house and as much land as the negro could
cultivate, the privilege of getting fire-wood, two cows, four
ewes, a sow, a horse and a life annuity of forty dollars. 3
On the other hand the life estates became the occasion fre-
quently for imposing conditions and restrictions upon their
holders. The stated objects of such restrictions were
varied. In part they had to do with the manner of use. In
several cases they made occupation by the beneficiary essen-
tial to continued enjoyment of benefits and expressed or
implied denial of the right to lease to any other parties. 3 '
In at least three instances the holders were to be warned
that any attempt on their part to bargain away their allot-
'line, Lib. JR no. B, p. 62; Frederick, Lib. GME no. I, p. 71 ; Howard,
Lib. WG no. i, p. 91; Kent, Lib. no. n, p. 328; Worcester, Lib. LPS
no. i, pp. 388, 400. Under the law of this state the holder of the life
estate paid the ordinary public burdens and at least a share of the
special assessments levied upon the property. Cf. Williams' case, 3
Eland's Chancery, p. 253.
1 Wills: Dorchester, Lib. THH no. i, pp. 139, 233; Talbot, Lib. JP
no. 9, p. 204.
1 Wills: Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 10, p. 10. Cf. nearly similar terms
in the following: Frederick, Lib. HS no. 3, p. 14; Talbot, Lib. JP no.
5, p. 316. Cf. also Anne Arundel, Lib. ITS no. i, p. 150; Baltimore,
Lib. WB no. 9, p. 265 ; Lib. NH no. 27, p. 31 ; Frederick, Lib. GME no.
.3, p. 166 ; Harford, Lib. AJ no. C, p. 183 ; Lib. CWB no. 7, p. 62, anSd
especially Howard, Lib. WG no. i, p. 306.
3 Wills: Cecil, Lib. no. 10, p. 428; Dorchester, Lib. LLK no. i, p. 54 J
Harford, Lib. AJ no. C, p. 183 ; Lib. OWE' no. 7, p. 62 ; Washington,
Lib. D, p. 85 ; Worcester, Lib. LPS no. i, p. 344.
184
THE F#E NEGRO IN MARYLAND
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PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS
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1 86 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
TABLE III
NEGRO PROPERTY HOLDERS IN VARIOUS COUNTIES, 1859-1860
[576
County.
Totals.
Holders of minima of $ each.
$500
$1000
$2000
$5000
98
%
184
35
'45
11
274
24
i
ii
14
9
137
ii
5
I
40
2
i
IO
I
Carroll
Cecil
4
Dorchester ..........
178
291
167
3 2
283
5i
7
3i
19
3
14
4
3
7
7
i
6
2
I
2
Harford
Howard
Kent
2
I
215
28
7
I
St. Mary's
205
184
27
13
6
2
Talbot
Totals
2210
505
214
57
12
ments would lead to forfeiture. 1 A will in Harford County
exacted an annual rental of twenty dollars for a house, one
in Talbot reserved the right to the fruit from certain trees,
and one in Frederick forbade the clearing of the timber and
the obstruction of the springs on a tract of land conveyed. 2
Some provisions again were designed to continue the exer-
cise of supervision over the conduct of negro estate holders
1 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. BEG no. i, p. in; Harford, Lib. AJ no.
C, p. 183 ; Queen Anne's, Lib. TCE no. 2, p. 4.
2 Wills: Harford, Lib. CWB no. 7, P. 62; Talbot, Lib. JP no. 6, p.
372 ; Frederick, Lib. GME no. 3, p. 166. Cf. also Baltimore, Lib. IMP
no. 13, p. 229; Harford, Lib. TSB no. 6, pp. 55, 107.
577] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS
by executors or major heirs. For instance, in Washington
County the returns from the labor of two slaves were be-
queathed to two other negroes, one of whom was the mother
of two children. This mother was not to marry or to
harbor as consort any negro until the youngest of her
children had reached the age of thirty years. 1 Lastly
there were the restrictions inherent in the administration
of legacies by trustees. A few of these applied to realty a
and money and to securities. An early instance was
that of a trusteeship of a hundred pounds Maryland cur-
rency willed for the benefit of a " free negro woman " at
Frederick in I788. 3 It was followed by others all of which
were in effect almost the same as annuities. Limited term
estates differed from those for life chiefly in that .their dura-
tion was fixed at the outset. In Cecil County in 1784 the
usufruct of a house and lot was given to a negro for a
period o>f three years, 4 and in the next quarter of a century
a few other cases of the same kind occurred in Baltimore
and Talbot Counties. 5 Gifts of slaves- fo-r-terms-of -years
1 Washington Wills, Lib. E, p. 390. Cf. also Baltimore, Lib. DMP no.
16, p. 389; Lib. IPC no. 28, p. 270; Cecil, Lib. no. 7, p. 156; Dorchester,
Lib. LLK no. i, p. 54 ; Frederick, Lib. GME no. 3, p. 4 ; Lib. GH no. I,
p. 514; Harford, Lib. CWB no. 7, pp. 36, 62; Washington, Lib. E, pp.
234, 390. Some of the conditions were set under the influence of fears
that negro property rights were insecure under the law. Cf. Wills:
Anne Arundel, Lib. EV no. n, p. 88; Worcester, Lib. LBS no. I, p. 400.
1 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. 2, p. 417 ; Baltimore, NH no. 26,
p. 477; Baltimore County, Lib. JLR no. 2, p. 80; Worcester, Lib. LBS
no. i, p. 344.
s Wills: Frederick, Lib. GM no. i, p. 305. For other cases vide Balti-
more, Lib. WB no. n, p. 95; Lib. DMiP no. 19, p. 322; Lib. NiH no.
27, p. 2215; Baltimore County, Lib. JLR no. i, p. 348; Cecil, Lib. no. 9,
p. 528; Dorchester, Lib. THH no. i, p. 126; Frederick, Lib. GM no. I,
p. 361 ; Lib. GME no. 3, p. 166 ; Lib. HIS no. 2, p. 336 ; Montgomery,
Lib. WT of R no. 2, p. 31.
* Wills: Lib. no. 5, p. n.
5 Wills: Baltimore, Lib. WiB no. 7, p. 211 ; Talbot, Lib. JP no. 6, pp.
5-6 ; Lib. JP no. 9, p. 437.
188 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [578
were made to yield incomes which, although of uncertain
duration, were in effect much like those of incomes from
other property.
A complete account of the property holdings of the free
negroes is rendered impossible by gaps in the records, 1 and
by the failure of the existing records to indicate with names
all persons who were negroes. Presuming, however, that
the tax records did mark as negroes nearly all the negro
tax-payers, an attempt will be made to give an approximate
statement. It has been seen that small amounts of prop-
erty came into the hands of negroes in the province. The
amounts of such holdings were apparently fluctuable but in
the long run tended to increase as the negro population it-
self increased. At the general assessment of 1783 negro
persons were accredited in certain districts of the counties
of Anne Arundel, Charles, Queen Anne's and Worcester
with taxable estates valued in the lists at $2066.65, an d
in three other counties ten years later twenty-seven negroes
held property valued at $2439.47. The increases there-
after may be seen in Table I. In sixteen counties, in-
cluding Baltimore City, these increases brought up the
totals by 1860 to $1,100,191. Since the shares of the coun-
ties represented in these totals were unequal, any attempts
to make them the basis for estimates for the amounts held
in the counties not represented would seem to be hazardous.
On that basis, however, a hypothetical computation will be
attempted for the increase from the year 1793 to 1860.
Dividing the period in half we find three counties repre-
sented in the column for 1793, nme m tnat f r 1825-26 and
sixteen for 1860. In order to attain the total given for 1825-
26, the holdings in nine averaging the same as the three re-
presented in 1 793 would have had to increase 566 per cent ;
and in the same way in order to attain the total given for
1 Cf. Bibliography, pp. 359.
579] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS jgg
1860, the holdings of sixteen counties would have had to in-
crease 1 1 64 per cent after 1 82 5 -26. The growth of negro pro-
perty holdings was then one and one-half times as fast as
that of the free negro population in the first period and
more than ten times as fast in the second period. 1
In certain of the counties the increases can be studied
with less fear of discrepant results. The changes varied
greatly in different counties. In Talbot in 1793 eighteen
negroes were assessed in the aggregate $1766.30. By 1804
eighty-eight negroes held $6132.50 in assessed values, but
a slump followed reducing the number of holders by 38.8
per cent and the aggregate holdings by 47.9 per cent by the
year 1825-26. The recovery was delayed and despite the
rapid growth of the aggregate after 1841 the county never
regained the pre-eminence it had once had in negro pro-
perty holdings. 2 In Frederick County in 1798 three
negroes were assessed $49.66; in 1825-26 forty-seven were
assessed $1025; and in 1860 two hundred and ninety-one
were assessed $86765. The per-capita holdings in the two
counties which had been $2.00 and $0.11 respectively in
1793 and 1798 became in 1860 $12.19 and $17.50 respec-
tively. The case of Kent was nearly normal. There the
forty-nine holders of an aggregate of $3794.88 in 1804 were
succeeded by eighty-five persons holding $9152 in 1825-26,
the slump that followed was less signal than in Talbot and
the subsequent growth steadier. In the three counties the
average holdings at the earlier dates given were $98.10,
$16.55 an d $77-43 respectively, and in 1860 $196.38, $298
and $249 respectively. The percentage increases in Kent
1 The free negro population bad increased approximately 396 per cent
in 1790-1820, anld 111.2 per cent in 1820-1860.
8 Talbot County also experienced a decline in both white and slave
populations before 1860.
190 THE FREE NEGRO 'IN MARYLAND [580
and Talbot were less and those in Frederick greater than in
the state at large.
The total assessments to negroes in the sixteen counties
in 1860 were $i 100191. As those of six rural counties are
unaccounted for in this total, a pro-rated estimate added
for these counties would give a grand total of $1360610.
But since the average free negro population in five of those
counties was less than half of that of the counties where
negro property was most abundant, a deduction of at least
$100000 from this figure is proper, leaving a remainder of
$1260610. The free negroes constituted 12.21 per cent of
the total population of the state, and 13.99 P 61 " cent f the
free population. But of the total assessed property of the
state they held not 13.99 P er cent, but only 0.44 of one per
cent, or 3.1 per cent of what a distribution according to
numbers would have assigned to them. Their proportion
of the total wealth was greatest in the counties having the
least wealth and vice versa. In Carroll County, where they
formed 4.9 per cent of the total population, they had only
0.09 of one per cent of the taxable wealth; in Frederick,
where they formed 10.6 per cent of the population, they
held 0.4 per cent of the wealth; while in Caroline, where
they formed 25 per cent of the population, they held 2.8 per
cent of the taxable wealth. In the counties represented in
the table their per-capita holdings were on the Eastern
Shore $i 6. 1 2 and on the Western Shore $i i .99. The high-
est per-capita occurred in the counties of Caroline, Kent and
Queen Anne's, adjoining counties in the Eastern Shore and
the lowest in Baltimore, Carroll and Howard, all west of
the Chesapeake. Excepting for Baltimore City the propor-
tion of negro property holders to total negro numbers
varied but little from county to county.
In the rural counties the taxable wealth held by them
varied from very small amounts of which the assessors
581] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS IO/I
barely took notice 1 to the $6104 of Moses Coker in Caroline
and the $8059 of William Bishop of Annapolis. 2
Table III, indicates that seventy-six negroes outside of
Baltimore City were each assessed at $1000 or more, and
that two hundred and thirty-one were each assessed at $500
or more. The average holding in these counties was valued
at $333.36; there was one taxable holding for every 20.6
free negro residents. In those counties whose tax records
distinguished the different kinds of property in detail the
larger holdings consisted chiefly of real estate, while the
smaller ones were made up of certain of the following:
small lots O'f land with inexpensive dwellings, horses, oxen,
cows, hogs, sheep, petty furniture, farming implements,
tools, and occasionally a carriage or gig, a watch, some plate
and along the water courses water-craft. 3 ' A few negroes
were assessed for notes, bank deposits and securities, 4 and
1 In 1852-60, $50 worth was apparently the smallest amount listed to
one assessable person. Cf. Somerset Tax Ledger, 1852, Dame's Quar-
ter, pp. 74, 100; Frederick Tax Ledger, 1853, Dist. no. 8, p. 112. For
smaller amounts listed in earlier assessments, vide Kent Tax Ledger,
1804-13, p. 115; Somerset Records of Commissioners of Taxes, 1810-12,
Pocomoke Hundred, name of Negro Tobias whose taxable estate was
listed at 10 pounds currency ($26.66).
* Caroline Tax Ledger, 1853-59 B, p. 20. Anne Arundel Assessment
List, Annapolis District, 1859. According to verbal reports a negro in
Worcester also held more than $5000 worth of taxable property. The
Land Records bear out that he was holder of different farms the
largest of which embraced 469 acres. Vide Worcester Deeds, Lib.
GMH nb. 6, pp. 339, 341, 491 ; also Lib. EDM no. 4, p. 237. He was a
slaveholder and was reputed to have been a thriving farmer.
* Vide Somerset Tax Ledgers, 1852, especially those of the Dame's
Quarter, Lower, Potato Neck, and Tyaskin Districts. Kent Assess-
ment Books, 1852, Chestertown District. Cf. also Cecil Land Records,
Lib. JS no. 21, p. 270; Lib. JS n'o. 23, p. 308; Lib. JS no. 39, p. 321;
Queen Anne's Deeds, Lib. TM no. I, p. 432; Lib. TiM no. 2, p. 315;
Lib. TM no. 3, pp. 192, 559.
* Frederick Tax Ledger, 1853-66, District no. 2, pp. 17, 28, 37, 43,
195; District no. 8, pp. 14, 131. Caroline Tax Ledger, 1840-51, p. 333.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [582
in Dorchester, Caroline Frederick and Somerset some were
assessed for slaves. 1 In the city of Baltimore ten negroes
were assessed at more than $5000 each, a hundred and thirty-
seven at $1000 or more each and two hundred and seventy-
four at $500 or more each. The largest amount assessed to
an individual was $20506 to one, Thomas Green, 2 and the
largest amount for a single piece of property was $12093 in
a case referred to above. 5 * There was but one taxed estate
to every 73.8 negroes in the city, and the average value of
the taxed estates was $1290.60, or four and seventy-seven
one hundredths times as large as the average in the state as
a whole. This property consisted chiefly of real estate,
aside from which were furniture, work stock, carts and
some plate and securities.
The unrestricted rights of negroes as to legal tenures of
property have been stated. They were supplemented by
squatter rights and rights on sufferance. The portions
held under the several different tenures can here be stated
only in general terms. The number of life estates, al-
though never large, was sufficient to have accounted for at
Caroline Assessment Book, 1852-53, Lower, pp. 68, 71, 92, 104. Queen
Anne's Assessment Books, 1852-53, District no. 3, names of Thomas,
Taylor and! Wright. Cf. Dorchester Deeds, Lib. ER no. 15, p. 116
($750). Harford Land Records, Lib. HOG no. 37, p. 52 ($667). Kent
Deeds, Lib. JNG no. i, p. 119 ($500). Queen Anne's Deeds, Lib. TM
no. 3, p. 559 ($40). Worcester Deeds, Lib. WET no. 2, p. 230 ($55).
1 Dorchester Tax Ledgers, 1852-66, Cambridge District, p. 152. Fred-
erick Tax Ledgers, 1853-66, Creagerstown, p. 112. Liberty, pp. 21, 112.
Urbana, p. 46. Woodsborough, pp. 163, 178. Somerset Tax Ledgers,
1852-66, Trappe, p. 74. In 1841 negroes were assessed! for $4600 worth
of slaves in Somerset anld $3450 in 1860. In 'Caroline the widely known
Rixom Webb had been assessed $530 for three slaves in 1842. Tax
Ledger, 1840-51, p. 333.
* Tax Ledger, 1859, no. 3, pp. 53, 410. This appears to have been the
largest estate assessed to any negro in the state, although the writer
was told 1 of a larger one in the same city.
8 Supra, p. 133-
583] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS
least a small portion of the total taxable property given. It
would be hazardous to attempt to say that this total was 5
per cent or 10 per cent of the whole at any time, 1 but as
that total grew the percentage of it in life estates probably
declined. If this is true, an increasing proportion of the
real property was held in fee and under lease. It appears
that in Baltimore City nearly all the real prooperty was
held under the long-term leases. Outside the city, although
such leases were not infrequent, 2 the greater part of the
property was held in fee. As for these holdings it is im-
portant to know the extent to which they were hypothecated.
It can be said that much of what they had, both of land and
chattels, was mortgaged. Evidences of financial embarrass-
ment, such as cases of insolvency, 3 and arrearages of
taxes, 4 are not far to seek. But many releases from debt
for other purposes than on account of slaves purchased for
manumission were won by negroes. 5 Their management
1 Cf. supra, p. 182, note 5, on tax payment by holders of life estates.
Also 3 Eland's Chancery Reports, p. 253.
Vide Dorchester Deeds, Lib. BR no. 18, p. 98 ; Lib. WJ no. 2, p.
586; Harford Land Records, Lib. HD no. 36, p. 257; Talbot Deeds,
Lib. no. 57, pp. 66-67 ; Lib. no. 62, pp. 183, 317 ; Lib. no. 63, p. 99. For
briefer terms of lease, vide Worcester Deeds, Lib. M, p. 473 ; Ob. AL,
pp. 125-26.
8 Vfide Deeds or Land Records; Caroline, Lib. R, p. 365 ; Lib. U, p.
393; Cecil, Lib. JS no. 44, p. 192; Dorchester, Lib. ER no. n, p. 615;
Lib. WJ no. T, p. 454; Talbot, Lib. no. 53, pp. 118, 292; Lib. no. 54, p.
359; Lib. no. 55, pp. 249, 251 ; Lib. no. 58, pp. 273, 332; Lib. no. 60, pp.
43, 224, 374; Worcester, Lib. WET no. 2, p. 340; Lib. no. 6, p. 503;
Kent Chattel Records, Lib. JR no. I, p. 530.
4 Vide published lists of delinquent taxpayers : Federal Gazette, Jan>.
2, 1819, July 18, 1820; Frederick Examiner, Jan. 19, 1859; Maryland
Republican, June 26, 1824; Nov. 5, 1825; Aug. 13, 1826.
* Deeds or Land Records: Frederick, Lib. HS no. 3, p. 328; Lib.
HS no. 14, p. 360; Harford, Lib. JLJ no. 7, p. 7; Lib. ALJ no. 6, p.
426 ; Lib. WG no. 10, p. 61 ; Worcester, Lib. AB, p. 107 ; Baltimore
Chattel Records, Lib. GES no. 26, p. 421 ; Lib. GBS no. 18, p. 369.
I94 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [584
in such matters was not so defective as some expressions of
current opinion would have had it.
It is said that in some communities the opposition of the
whites nearly precluded negroes from investing in land. In
other places the negroes tended to segregate themselves
and to form close settlements. They acquired small tracts
of land and affected to develop separate community life.
Inquiry in all the counties visited by the writer disclosed
that outside of the municipalities whose population were
chiefly whites the chief negro communities were at George-
town Cross Roads in Kent and Sandy Springs in Mont-
gomery. At the former the purchase of lots began at the
end of the eighteenth century. 1 One Cornelius Comegys,
grantor of most of the deeds, acted as patron. For a few
years the number of settlers grew, 2 but for some reason
anticipated enterprises failed to develop and the growth
was permanently checked. In 1852, the year of the last
general assessment here drawn upon, seventeen colored tax-
payers were reported in the place, and among their number
the highest individual valuation was $450.* The Sandy
Springs settlement has become widely advertised through
the account of it given in a bulletin of the United States
Bureau of Labor. 4 Traditions of antiquity surround it. The
land purchases there, taken for the most part from the
" Charley Forest " tract, in so far as the Montgomery
County records give evidence, began in i848. 5 Its subse-
1 Kent Deeds, Lib. BC no. 4, pp. 31, 413.
8 Op. cit., Lib. TW no. 2, pp. 368, 534; Lib. TW no. 3, PP- 68, 3<>8,
508, 519, 549; Lib. BC no. 5, pp. 28, 29, 73, 304; Lib. BC no. 6, p. 487.
3 Kent Assessment Books, 1852, no. 3, pp. 3, 25, 37.
4 The Negroes of Sandy Spring: A Social Study, Bulletin no. 32,
1901.
6 Montgomery Land Records, Lib. BS no. 2, p. 26; Lib. JGH no. i,
pp. 40, 70. Cf. also Lib. JGH no. 2, pp. 25, 38, 39; Lib. JGH no. 3, p.
24; Lib. JGH no. 4, pp. 71, 78, 121; Lib. JGH no. 7, pp. 151, 170; Lib.
JGH no. 8, p. 289. Clues to earlier grants were not discovered.
585] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS
quent growth was apparently similar to that of the settle-
ment in Kent County. A third negro community was that
at Quaker Neck in Kent. 1 Generally, however, the negroes
and the valuable property of the negroes were mingled with
or clustered about the population centers of the whites. In
some of these a partial secondary segregation of negroes
took place, as was true in Friendship Street and in Busy,
Honey and Happy Alleys in the City of Baltimore.
The wills of the negroes are interesting. Of more than
two hundred such documents found in seventeen of the
counties, including the city of Baltimore, twenty were re-
corded in Frederick, twenty-three in Queen Anne's and
sixteen in Talbot. 2 Their authors seemed to feel appre-
hensions of restraint in providing for the disposal of their
estates. They imitated both the forms and the kinds of
provisions employed by the whites. They chose executors
and other trustees from men of both races. They generally
followed the principle of equal division of their property
among the several heirs. 3 The date of such partition was
sometimes postponed, as when a widow received a life in-
terest in the whole of the property or in her thirds with
final division after her death. 4 Specific provisions were
used to avoid equality and to cut off unfavored ones with
no shares or only nominal shares. A Worcester negro
1 Kent Assessment Books, 1852, District no. i. Cf. Md. Col. Jour.,
vol. x, p. 24.
8 Some wills could hardly be identified certainly as those of negroes.
For instance, inf the Talbot Wills, Lib. JP no. 5, p. 296 (1798), one
James Freeman signed with the mark and referred to his 'wife, named
Henny, but <did not state that he was a negro.
*E. g. Wills: Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 11, p. 322; Lib. WB no. 12, p.
85; Anne Arundel, Lib. JG no. 39, p. 187; Lib. BEG no. i, p. 414;
Somerset, Lib. JP no. 5, p. 95.
4 Wills: Baltimore, Lib. EWMP no. 16, p. 385 ; Frederick, Lib. GH no.
i, p. 384-
I9 6 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [586
thus willed to each of certain children one shilling currency. 1
Some testators showed favor to male rather than female
children. One at Baltimore gave his whole estate to his
sons. 2 Some willed that the daughters should receive noth-
ing except in case all the sons died without issue.* In case
the natural heirs were unmanumitted slaves, they were incom-
petent in law to inherit property. Those belonging to negro
testators were generally freed, although a few were to be
treated like other property. Some that had belonged to
negroes who died intestate were freed by acts of the legisla-
ture and empowered to receive the property under the law
of descents. 4 But if as slaves they had belonged to other
owners such relief was impossible. Special provisions
were, therefore, made in order to secure the kind of disposi-
tions desired by the deceased. Among them were trustee-
ships of executors or others set for one or more of the
following purposes: (i) to hold property for delivery to
beneficiaries upon the attainment of freedom; 5 (2) to man-
age the property and at the 'same time negotiate for the re-
lease of intended beneficiaries from slavery; 6 (3) to ad-
minister property for the benefit of children who obviously
were slaves without provision for freedom, 7
1 Wills: Lib. JP no. 5, p. 303 ; cf. Baltimore, Lib. WB no. 8, pp. 474-
75; Caroline, Lib. WAF no. A, pp. 65-66; Frederick, Lib. GME no. 2,
p. 366.
1 Wills, Lib. DMP no. 21, p. 10.
Wills: Baltimore, Lib. DMiP no. 13, p. 93; Queen Anne's, Lib. STIH
no. i, pp. 20-21. Cf. Baltimore, Lib. DM'P no. 21, p. 85.
4 Vide supra, p. 78, note 3.
*Anne Arundel Wills, Lib. TTS no. i, p. 333; Cecil Wills, Lib. no.
6, p. 530.
* Wills: Baltimore, Lib. WB no. n, pp. 96, 604-05; Montgomery, Lib..
WT of R no. 2, p. 180.
7 Wills: Anne Arundel, Lib. TTS no. i, p. 233 ; Baltimore, Lib. WB
no. 9, PP. 374, 604-05 ; Washington, Lib. D, pp. 443, 494.
587] PROPERTY ACQUISITION AND HOLDINGS
As shown by the following table the negroes had savings
in two of the leading savings banks of Baltimore.
Name of Bank
Eutaw Savings Central Savings
1850 1855 1860 1860
Accounts open 23 67 117 325
iDitto closed) 89 187
(Ditto total 206 512
Amount total $2,390.79 $9,156.29 $14,956.06 $5,871.69
Ditto ave. 103.95 136.66 126.97 18.07
CHAPTER VII
EDUCATION AMONG THE NEGROES
THE province of Maryland had made no general pro-
vision for the education of the youth. In some of the
parishes the established church had conducted schools, 1 and
just before the revolution the ministers and teachers of cer-
tain dissenting sects took up teaching with great ardor. 3
But a great deal of the instruction was imparted in private
classes and schools and by tutors and governesses in the
homes of the well-to-do. According to a clergyman of
Charles County about two-thirds of the private teachers
there in 1773 consisted of "indented servants and trans-
ported felons " whose time had been bought at low prices
and who were employed and treated like common redemp-
tioners. 3 For more advanced schooling children were sent
1 Perry, Historical Collections Relating to the Colonial Church, pp.
215, 222, 224.
2 Bacon, Four Sermons Preached at the Parish Church of St. Peter's
in Talbot County, 1753, pp. 16, 139. In 1773 Reverend 1 Jonathan Boucher
of 'Charles County deplored the inactivity of the established church,
while marking the " conduct of the various sectaries . . . springing up
among us, like weeds in a neglected soil. They not only plant their
schools in every place where they can have the most distant prospect
of success; but they have conducted their interests with such deep policy,
that . . . they have almost monopolized! the instruction; of the youth."
Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution, 1797, p. 191.
Cf. Scharf, History of Maryland, vol. ii, pp. 28-34.
' Boucher, op. cit., pp. 183, 184, 189.
198 [588
589] EDUCATION AMONG THE NEGROES
to the mother country. And from the ranks of those thus
educated " at home " were drawn many of the leaders and
public servants of the colony. 1 This " very reproachful
neglect of education" for the whites 2 was more than
matched by the lack of provision for educating the negroes.
The latter had come from a country that was almost " with-
out history, literature or laws." They had lacked the incen-
tives to intellectual endeavor there, and after being " for-
cibly transported to a state of slavery here," a were cut o-ff
from contact with any other people than their masters and
their own kind. Their enlightenment was generally beneath
consideration. Some of their number attended the services
at the churches, some were given a modicum of religious in-
struction by the white ministers, 4 and a few favored in-
dividuals received special instruction from their masters or
other white friends. Yet in 1773 Reverend Jonathan
Boucher wrote : " It is no necessary circumstance, essential
to the condition of a slave, that he should be uneducated : yet
this is the general, and almost universal, lot of slaves." 5 For
the free negroes the opportunities were hardly more favor-
able than for the slaves. Both classes alike were unen-
lightened. At the beginning of the nineteenth century more
than half of the negro founders of negro schools and
1 Sellers, " Education in -the Colonial Period," in Steiner, History of
Education in Maryland, pp. 13-14, 32.
2 Boucher, op. cit., p. 185. This writer applied to his people the re-
mark of Diogenes to the people of Megara: "Seeing they took great
care of their property, and paid little attention to the rising generation,
he said, it was better to be one of tiheir swine than one of their chil-
dren."
3 Cf. Eighth Census of United States, Population, p. xi. Cf. Payne,
History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 394.
4 Bacon, op. cit., pp. 16, 147. Perry, Historical Collections relating to
the Colonial Church, vol. iv, Maryland, pp. 304-07.
5 Boucher, op. cit., p. 187.
200 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
churches used marks instead of writing their names in
signing documents. l
The white people of the province were thus generally
indifferent about educating the negroes. Although many
remained in that attitude permanently, changes of far-reach-
ing importance were ushered in by the awakening that came
in the period of the revolution. There arose two different
views, corresponding to the two rival views of the emanci-
pation problem, and the adherents of both alike professed
benevolence for the negroes. The first was that the negroes
were to be educated in order to prepare them for eventual
sharing in the citizenship of the commonwealth. Acting in
the light of it the Quakers in their annual meetings at Balti-
more in 1770, 1785 and 1793 and also in certain of their
quarterly meetings enjoined upon the members of their con-
gregations to instruct in useful learning all young negroes'
in their service. 2 The Methodists too, although at first en-
grossed with evangelization, gave the negroes some religious
instruction, 3 and later took the lead in giving instruction
through the day schools also. The second view was op-
posed to the education of the slaves, 4 and seeing that the free
1 Of the six names attached to the first constitution of Bethel Church
in 1816 two were written by their bearers. Baltimore Chattel Records,
Lib. WG no. 20, p. 84. Substantially similar was the condition of the
signatures in- the case of the charter of the (Sharp Street Church, op.
tit., Lib. AI no. 48, p. 349 (1832). In Frederick County at Mount
Tabor in 1853 it was proposed to secure the services of a white person
to act as secretary-treasurer of a negro church. Frederick Records of
Incorporation of Churches, p. 186.
* Extracts from Minutes of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting, pp. 359,
360, 362-, 367, 369, 370. Minutes of Deer Creek Monthly Meeting,
1801-19, pp. 273, 276, 358, 364.
* Matlack, Anti-Slavery Struggle and Triumph, p. 66.
4 A plan was projected 1 in 1818 at the state capital to educate some
slaves. A local editor wrote about it: "If those who are at the head
of this plan are actuated by pure and! philanthropic motives, let them
59I ] EDUCATION AMONG THE NEGROES 2 OI
negroes were so closely associated with the slaves, opposed
also to the education, of free negroes. Its adherents gener-
ally either regarded manumission as a doubtful boon, or felt
that it would be impossible for white freemen and black
freemen to dwell together in a state of peace. 1 To them
it was sufficient to train negroes to do efficient manual labor
and to give them instruction in those principles of Christ-
ianity whose inculcation would tend to make them obedient
an3"~jpeaceable,n5ut~to" train them further was to risk im-
planting in their minds ambitions that could not be realized
as long as they remained in Maryland. 2 They helped to
bring" about the omission of the educational provisions from
the indenture contracts of negro apprentices. 3 And while
they tolerated some instruction of negroes in private, and in
scattered instances permitted a few negro children to attend
the day schools of the whites, af terjthe rise of the abolition
movement in the northern states they suppressed negro
schools and negro classes, whenever danger from them was
apprehended. Their influence was exercised, however,
most effectively outside of Baltimore City. 4
exercise their charity on more useful objects." In the same issue of
his paper occurs a letter from one signing himself "A. B." who was
altogether opposed! to the " education of slaves." He held that, if
taught, they ought to be simultaneously freed Maryland Republican.
Aug. 8, 1818.
1 Genius of Universal Emancipation, vol. i, p. 79. Cf. General Har-
per's Letter to E. B. Caldwell, pp. 15-16; -Dr. Hall, Address to the Free
People of Color, pp. 2-3.
* Cf. Md. Col. Jour., no. 20, p. So.
3 Supra, pp. 138-39.
4 There is a tradition that there was a statute that either forbade
negro schools or forbade the education of negroes in .Maryland. The
author had found statutes, as those of 1821, chs. 139, 168; 1825, ch.
142 ; 1834, ch. 263 ; 1835, ch. 303 ; 1837, chs. 35, 163, providing for "free
schools" and specifying that the children of white persons were to
attend them, but no express exclusion of negro children' was discov-
ered. If such provisions were intended to exclude negroes, they were
202 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [592
The schools attended by the majority of colored pupils
were Sunday schools. In the counties they were inconse-
quential, but in the city of Baltimore in 1838 nine Sunday
schools were reported, seven of which had enrolled six
hundred and twenty pupils ; they had thirty-eight white and
more than a dozen colored teachers. 1 Their brief sessions
were divided between inculcating religious and moral pre-
cepts and teaching the elementary studies of the common
schools; the line distinguishing them from the day schools
was not, therefore, to be strictly drawn. Their beginnings
were obscure. The annalist Griffith relates that in 1793
persons who were closing up the affairs of the Society for
Promoting the Abolition of Slavery transferred to the re-
ligious people of color a building on Sharp Street which had
been erected for the use of an African school. 2 Ten years
later a deed conveyed to certain negroes a lot and building
in the same street and bound them to use it as a school for
" African children " and as a church for Africans of the
Methodist Episcopal connection. 3 In the three following)
years the holders had paid for the property and erected a
violated in some cases. If there was a state-wide law precluding the
education of negroes, it was grossly violated in Baltimore. Cf. Dr.
Hall, op. dt., p. 2. The History of the Negro Race in America, by
Williams, vol. i, p. 385, states that " from the moment that slavery
gained a foothold in North America until the direful hour that wit-
nessed its dissolution . . . learning was the forbidden fruit that no
negro dared taste. . . . Every yearning for intellectual food was an-
swered with whips and thumbscrews." Again : " Positive and explicit
statutes everywhere drove him away hungry from the tree of intellec-
tual life; and all persons were forbidden to pluck the fruit for him,
upon pain of severe penalties." As far as Maryland was concerned
these statements were rhetorical rather than historical. Perhaps Mary-
land was the exceptional case.
l Md. Col. Jour., 1838, p. 68.
* Annals of Baltimore, p. 128.
3 Baltimore Land Records, Lib. WG no. 70, p. 521.
593 ] EDUCATION AMONG THE NEGROES 203
new structure upon it. The growth of the church and
school led them in 1805 to make an appeal to the public for
financial assistance. Aided by a committee of white and
colored persons and a white person as treasurer they secured
" subscriptions and individual donations " which enabled
them to purchase adjoining property in 1811 at a cost of a
thousand dollars. Thus relieved of the congestion that had
been previously felt, they kept open schools f oFnegro child-
ren almost uninterruptedly thereafter. The preaching and
much of the teaching was done by white Methodists with
whom the participants in this organization were linked in
the church conferences. In 1828, however, a negro master
from Fell's Point, named William Lively, was put in charge
of the school. He gave it the name of the Union Seminary
and projected a curriculum of liberal dimensions. 2 Its
teachers were as well known and probably as well equipped
as those of any like school in the city. 3 The allied congre-
gation of Asbury Church also maintained a school in the
eastern part of the city intermittently after 1831.*
The independent African Methodists also founded
schools. At first they were handicapped because as contu-
macious separatists they were not heartily assisted by the
white people and because their own membership lacked
permanency. 5 The origin of their first school is likewise
obscure, although it was obviously established soon after
1 Op. cit., Lib. WG no. 115, p. 625. Cf. Baltimore American, June 6,
1805.
J Genius of Universal Emancipation, vol. ii, p. 120.
8 Cf. Varle, View of Baltimore, p. 33 ; also Baltimore Chattel Records,
Lib. AI no. 48, p. 347; Journal of Lambert Nicholson, p. 49; Baltimore
City Directories 1840-41, 1849-50.
4 Directories, 1831, name of Clement Burke, and 1841, name of John
Fortie.
5 Infra, pp. 217-18.
204 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [594
that at the Sharp Street Church. 1 Before 1817 its sessions
were held in a rented building in Fifth Street and were pro-
bably more or less irregular. Its manager and teacher was
the gifted Daniel Coker, pastor of the flock of dissident
Methodists who had formed Bethel Church. In 1816 he
announced a Sunday school whose two-hour sessions were to
be open to all colored persons without charge. 2 Although
his usefulness was once impaired by his expulsion from the
membership of the church, his reputation as a teacher in-
creased and his school grew rapidly. For a long time it
was aided but little by the whites, but it held public exercises
on festal days and through them endeavored to enlist the
interest of the benevolent-minded. 3 ' In 1818 it took the
name of Bethel Charity School, having as such two teachers,
ninety-five pupils and a supporting committee of three white
and nine colored men. 4 But in 1820 its organizer went as
a missionary with some emigrants to Liberia, leaving the
school to less energetic and less efficient hands. Its growth
was checked, although it survived the general depression of
negro affairs that set in a few years later. 5
This school from its foundation was a branch of the work
of Bethel Church. In the forward movement that followed
the slump this active church became a missionary of the
educational idea among the churches of the Baltimore con-
ference. Through its leaders it recommended the members
of all the churches to get wisdom for themselves and by all
means to educate their children. It moved the annual con-
ference of 1837 to attempt to impose an educational test
1 Handy, Scraps of African Methodist Episcopal History, pp. n, 37.
1 Federal Gazette, Aug. 16, 1816.
8 Federal Gazette, May 31 and June i, 1816; Feb. 4, 1819; Jan. 24, 1820.
4 Op. cit., Feb. 4, 1819.
5 Vide Varle, View of Baltimore, p. 33 ; Handy, op. cit., p. 38.
595] EDUCATION AMONG THE NEGROES 205
upon all candidates for its ministry. 1 It built up its own
schools again under difficulties, and fostered the establish-
ment of schools among the other churches also. 2 In 1844
the annual conference heard reports from nine Sunday
schools with 869 pupils, three day schools with 128 pupils
and an educational society and at Washington, D. C, a
library of 45 volumes. 3 As a result of the zeal incited by
that report the Bethel 'Church was authorized by the con-
ference to establish a high school at Baltimore. The reso-
lution therefor was an expression of a pious wish whose
realization lay still in the future when another similar one
was passed in 1859.* However, the historian Payne thought
that is was a step in the course that ultimately led to the
founding of a higher institution of learning for the negro
race. 5
Other church societies likewise conducted schools for
negroes. Foremost among them were the Presbyterians
who in 1818 had eighty-nine pupils in the Baltimore African
1 Payne, op. cit., pp. 49, 121, 141, 407.
1 In 1837 it .was said that it had a Sunday school of 160 scholars and
"a library of a thousand school 'books." A flood swept through its
building, ruined the library and caused; a falling off of the attendance
to about 80 scholars. Md. Col. Jour., p. 68. It still had nine colored
teachers at that time.
*The following data are taken from Payne, op. cit., pp. 135, 139, 176.
For the year 1841 they are for Baltimore City alone, for the other two
years for the entire conference.
Sunday Schools Day Schools
Number Teachers Scholars Number Teachers Scholars
1841 ........ 2 19 208 i i 50
1842 ........ 12 2
1844 ........ 9 869 3 128
If the data is reliable, it indicates more or less sporadic efforts.
4 Baltimore Sun, May 6, 1859.
6 Payne, op. cit., pp. 182-83.
206 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [596
Association School in Paca Street, 1 and in 1838 two large
negro Sunday schools. 2 The school at the St. James Pro-
testant Episcopal Church, founded in 1823, endured for a
long period. 3 A third school, conducted for years in the
wing of a down-town Baptist church building, was aided by
the abolitionists, Lundy and Garrison. It was forced to
seek new quarters, when the church moved from its old site
in 1828.* In Richmond Street was located the Providence
African Catholic Asylum. It consisted of a charity school
and a boarding school for girls. Its foundation had been
due to the clergy of the Catholic Church and according to
Varle received financial support from Negroes in Philadel-
phia. 5
Of the other schools and classes formed in the city many
were shortlived. The most pretentious of them all was the
Union Seminary of William Lively at Fell's Point. In
1825 it announced the offer of day and night instruction in
the branches of an " English Education," with Latin and
French for those who desired them. A few months later
it also announced Sunday sessions of two hours each for
women.* In 1828 both teacher and name were transferred
to the school of the Sharp Street Church. 7 The city direc-
tories give the names of the following numbers of colored
teachers in the years indicated in the following table. 8 In
1 Federal Gazette, Sept. 23, 1818.
8 Md. Col. four., op. cit.
*Cf. Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. WG no. 41, p. 389; Varle, op.
** P- 33 ; Baltimore American, Nov. i, 1850.
4 Genius of Universal Emancipation, vol. ii, p. 175.
* Varle, op. cit., p. 33-
6 Genius of Universal Emancipation, Oct. 8, 22, 29, and Nov. 5, 12, 19,
26, 1825, and Feb. n and July 16, 1826.
7 Op. cit., May 31, 1828.
8 Other schools reported were a Sunday school conducted for years by
597] EDUCATION AMONG THE NEGROES 207
1824 1827 1831 1841 1850 1860
Teachers 3 4 6 6 8 12
Musicians 5 6
certain of the counties also appeared a few temporary negro
schools. But here the teaching of negroes came to be as-
sociated in the minds of the people with abolitionism and
sinister designs. At Hagerstown, says a report, a day
school was opened, but after a short time a hostile public
forced its suspension for a period of fifteen years. A Quak-
eress held a night school in Kent County, a philanthropic
slave-owner held one in Talbot, the notable colored Way-
man family held one in Caroline and a mulatto named Hall
one in Anne Arundel. It each instance the teacher was soon
intimidated and the effort ceased. It was rumored, and
by negroes at least believed, that a negro school-master at
Cambridge had been spirited away by the " Georgia buyers."
As preventives of negro schools these things were quite
effective. The absence of such institutions, however, is
to 'be attributed mainly to the weak financial position of the
negroes and to a lack of real demand for such education.
Certain well-to-do negroes in the counties sent their children
to Baltimore to school rather than attempt to have them
educated at home.
The duration of the average negro pupil's attendance at
school was short. Opportunity for advanced study was
thus lacking. 1 Most O'f the schools professed to do nothing
more than teach the "rudiments of knowledge. Reading,
spelling, writing and arithmetic were the things that engaged
their attention. The New Testament was the commonest
a white lady in Fortune Hall, a day school held in an upper room over
an ice-house near Lexington Market, and that of the Quaker, Edward
Needles, in Uhler's Alley 'back of his own residence. On the last, vide
Genius of Universal Emancipation, Sept. 5, 1825.
1 Cf. Handy, op. cit., p. 15.
208 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [598
reading text after 'the beginner's 'book had been learned.
Ability to read in it was an attainment worthy of remark/
Adding to the above-mentioned subjects a modicum of
English grammar and geography we find what obviously
constituted an " English education." Very few negro
scholars took up the other subjects with profit, although
in 1828 one school advertised that it would give instruction
in several subjects that more commonly belonged to the
academy and college. 2 The work of the schools was sup^
plemented by a considerable amount of instructing of both
slaves and free negroes by the whites with whom their
duties brought them into close contact, by reading of papers
and books, by curious-minded domestics and by the superior
opportunities of the few who were sent to educational in-
stitutions in the northern states. 3
1 Md. Col. Jour., p. 68. Cf. supra, pp. 136-39, educational provisions
of indentures of apprenticeship; Comics Reading and Spelling Book,
Byberry, 1842, was one of the primers used
* Genius of Universal Emancipation, May 31, 1828.
8 Cf. Md. Col. Jour., vol. ix, p. 88.
CHAPTER VIII
' !
THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES
THE principal organized moral force in the province of
Maryland was the established Anglican 'Church. Its mem-
bership was confined to no particular social class but was
substantially controlled by the land-holding slave owners.
This class, although influenced somewhat by the missionary
ideas of the day, had once hesitated to provide for the
religious instruction of their negroes and to allow them to
be baptized, because they feared that they had no legal right
to hold baptized persons as slaves. A statute of the year
1671 which held that baptism should not be held to entail the
manumission of a slave * obviated that as a ground of ob-
jection to preaching to negroes, but otherwise accomplished
nothing towards missionary endeavor among them. From
one parish it was reported that the masters were " so
brutish " that they would not allow their negroes to be
catechized or baptized. 2 In another parish, on the other
liand, were masters who gave personal attention to the
spiritual concerns of their slaves. 9 As a rule, however, they
were willing to allow the clergy to teach the slaves, al-
though they often regarded it as a fruitless task and would
not themselves " be at the pains and trouble of it." 4 In
1 Archives of Maryland, vol. ii, p. 272; vol. v, p. 267. Laws, 1715, ch.
44. Archives of Maryland, vol. xiii, p. 506.
2 Perry, Historical Collections Relating to the Colonial Church, vol.
iv, p. 304-
8 Op. cit., pp. 190, 203-04.
* Op. cit., 305. Cf. also pp. 201, 203, 216, 240, 262, 292, 304, 307.
599] 209
2io THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [600
some parishes the clergymen warned them that " care should
be taken about their slaves for the saving of their souls." *
In 1 724 the Eastern Shore clergy united in an appeal to the
Bishop of London to enjoin upon the laity of their parishes
the solemn duty of providing for the spiritual welfare of
their negroes, and seven years later themselves undertook to
work to that end in the course of a visitation to the people. 2
They preached as time and opportunity allowed, catechized
many and baptized those who were deemed eligible for
church membership. 3 In some communities the Quakers
and Roman Catholics also had negro members of their
churches. 4 But the efforts of all the churches were inade-
quate to the task of ministering in the way that some de-
sired to all of the negroes in the province. The established
church later, some thought, became unfitted for work of
moral reformation, 5 and when the early Methodists came
preaching, they reported that the negroes were treated as if
they had no souls. 6
The advent of the Methodists and the bearing of theiri :
activities upon the manumission movement have been relatedj
above. 7 They endeavored to preach the same gospel to all!
classes of the people. They fraternized with negroes in the
churches. They established mixed congregations in which
the two races worshipped " in harmony." Says Bishop
Handy : " They sat on the same seats, and when they died,
1 Op. dt., pp. 240, 262, 292, 296, 304.
1 Op. dt., pp. 240, 292.
* Op. cit., pp. 192, 194, 195, 198, 208, 214, 215, 227, 262, 304, 306, 307.
Among the new communicants were a family of free negroes in Kent
Island-, circ. 1724. Op. cit., p. 214.
* Op. cit., pp. 222, 227.
5 Cf. Scharf, History of Maryland, vol. ii, pp. 28-34.
6 Bangs, Life of Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, p. 144.
7 Supra, pp. 47-51.
6oi] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 2 Il
were buried in the same .... burial ground.'* * They
gave negroes a voice in the meetings and a role in the labors
of the church but were reluctant to ordain them as minis-
ters. 2 "Black Harry/' an illiterate but eloquent fellow,
traveled and preached with the founders of the Methodist
Church; he and Richard Allen of Philadelphia sat in the
Christmas Conference that met at Baltimore formally to
launch the Methodist Church of the United States, 3 ' It was
chiefly as local preachers, class leaders, exhorters and as-
sistants * and faithful responders that they participated.
These things, however, gave them greater recognition than
they had ever received in the other churches. The Metho-
dists, too, declared that it was " contrary to the Golden Law
of God .... and the unalienable rights of mankind ....
to hold .... in abject slavery .... souls that are cap-
able of the image of God." 5 For a time they sternly in-
sisted that their slave-owning members must manumit their
negroes or suffer expulsion from the church, and notwith-
standing their weakening on that point still stood marked as
the friends of the oppressed. The negroes flocked to their
services and were received into their membership in unpre-
cedented numbers. At the beginning of the nineteenth
century after many defections there were in the Baltimore
1 Scraps of African Methodist Episcopal History, p. 22.
1 Op. cit., p. 23. Matlack, Anti-Slavery Struggle and Triumph, p. 73,
quoting Simpson, Hundred Years of Methodism, says negroes were
ordained! as early as 1796.
1 Handy, op. cit., p. 23 ; Stevens, History of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, vol. ii, pp. 1 74-75; Payne, History of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church, pp. 88-89. Cf. mention of an " Ethiopian preacher
of very distinguished merit " in Maryland Gazette, May 9, 1774.
4 Class Records of the Light Street M. E. Church, 1803-09 and 1819-23.
Suday Service of the Methodists of North America, 1784. p. 15, cf.
Stevens, op. cit., p. 199.
212 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [602
churches twenty-one classes of negroes whose membership
was more than a third of that of all the classes in the City. 1
The two races thus labored together in building up the first
two Methodist congregations in Baltimore. 2 But soon after
the revolution the color line was drawn. The whites avoided
too close association with the colored members and tended
to control the organization without consulting them. The
latter whose growing numbers seemed to entitle them to
greater recognition, were over-awed and felt aggrieved. 31
Their increasing discontent wrecked the plan of continuing
the worship in mixed congregations, and they, as the
weaker party, were the ones to move out. Those whoyfelt
most keenly the discriminations withdrew and worshipped
apart. 'Although some of their number returned to the
mixed meetings, a considerable body held themselves aloof
until after nearly a generation they established a separate
organization of their own. The others who declined thus
to secede were specially provided for within the parent
church. Evidently it was to them that the abolition society
1 Class Records of Light Street M. E. Church, 1803-09. Also Church
Record of same, 1790-1837. In the classes in 1799 were numbered the
following :
Whites Negroes
1799 53i 290
1800 504 306
1803 412
In a manuscript history of the Sharp Street Memorial M. E. Church
it is stated that in 1802 the Methodists of the city had 852 white and
482 colored members. In 1819 there were thirty negro classes in the
city churches. Records of the Light Street M. E. Church, 1819-23.
'These two were the Strawberry Alley and Lovely Lane churches
which have since become the Centennial and the First Methodist
Churches. Journal of Lambert Nicholson, p. 41. Cf. Handy, op. cit.,
pp. 22-23.
8 Asbury, Journal, vol. ii, p. 280. Cf. Hamilton, Colored Methodist
Episcopal Church, pp. 21-22.
603] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 213
gave possession o>f a building located on Sharp Street in
1792.* Separate class meetings were established and separ-
ate preaching services were held for them. In 1801 two
of their number secured under deed o-f trust two city lots.
According to the deed the profits from the sale of these lots
were to be applied to " the purchase of some proper and con-
venient house for the accommodation of the members of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church .... as a house!
of worship," and for such other purposes as the trustees
might direct. 3 After a formal division of the congrega^
tions in 1802 the assets realized from the sale were invested
by a self -perpetuating board of trustees in the property on
Sharp Street which became the site of their church. 4 The
deed to this property bound the trustees to hold it to " serve
as a school for the education of black children of every
persuasion " and for the benefit of the Africans in the city
of Baltimore belonging to the communion of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. The ministers oi that church were to
be allowed to preach in the building. 5 The negro members
came to this fold with alacrity. The Lovely Lane Church
was almost deserted by them. 6 The new congregation was
managed as a member of the organic body of the churches
of Baltimore until its incorporation in 1832 as a separate
body. One; staff of preachers served all the churches
white and colored interchanging in all their duties as the
1 Cf. Griffith, Annals of Baltimore, p. 128.
1 Bangs, op. tit., pp. 144-45 ; Asbuiry, op. tit., p. 280.
8 Baltimore Land Records, Lib. WG no. 142, p. 243; Lib. WG no. 71,
pp. 124-25. The lots were to be sold within two years, Cf. Payne, op.
tit., p. 89.
4 Baltimore Land Records, Lib. WG no. 78, pp. 538, 643 ; Lib. WG no.
70, pp. 520-21. $1650 was realized from the sale of the lots and the
purchased lot cost $1450.
6 Op. tit., Lib. WG no. 70, p. 523.
6 Journal of Lambert Nicholson, p. 41.
2i 4 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [604
needs of the situation required. 1 A substantial growth fol-
lowed, and the Sharp Street Church became for a long time
the principal negro church in the city. Asbury Chapel,
founded in 1830, was united with it under the charge of one
minister. Two other chapels were founded in 1834 and
1839 respectively. 2 The racial segregation of the congrega-
tions proceeded more slowly outside of the city, but four
separate chapels were founded in Dorchester County, four
in Harford and one in Anne Arundel. 31 They were located
chiefly in communities where the independent African
church did not take root.
The Wesleyan ideal of equality between the members of
the laity did not long prevail in the Methodist churches of
Maryland. The whites filled the positions of greatest
responsibility, transacted the important business and ad-
ministered the discipine. Before 1814 they also bore
most of the expenses of the common enterprise of the
two races. Dissatisfaction with this on their part, linked
with unequal pastoral care in which there was discrimina-
tion against the negroes, threatened to disrupt the organiza-
tion. In March 1814, however, the members adopted some
articles " of peace and union .... among themselves and
with the preacher." They agreed to have a minister to meet
each of the classes in every church every quarter, to visit
the sick as far as practical and prudential and to baptize the
children in church, if they were well, but in private, if not.
Finally they implored the African branch of the society
1 Records of Classes of Light Street Church, 1803-09, cover page. Cf.
Smith, History of Sharp Street Station M. E. Church, pp. 4-5.
1 Journal of Lambert Nicholson, p. 41.
8 Dorchester Deeds, Lib. WJ no. 3, p. 373 (1847) ; Ob. PJH no. 2, p.
601 ; Lib. FJH no. 4, PP- 95, 263 ( 1857 and 1859) ; Harford Land
Records, Lib. HO no. 13, p. 300 (1830) ; Lib. H'D no. 36, p. 69; Lib.
HDG no. 37, p. 320; Lib. ALJ no. 9, p. 243 (1857) ; Anne Arundel Deeds,
Lib. JHN no. 8, p. 576 (1859).
605] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES
to prepare itself to bear its share of the expense of the
preacher. 1 This modus vivendi apparently forestalled a
more serious breach of relations but did not preclude dis-
content on the part of the blacks. They still felt that
they had not been given the voice in church counsels that
their numbers entitled them to, and that their own preachers,
although licensed and given subordinate positions, were
not being promoted to the higher ranks of the ministry.
The Sharp Street and Asbury congregations were incor-
porated under negro trustees in 1832 but were still served
by white pastors. 2 At intervals the negroes made known
their displeasure, importuning the Baltimore Conference
repeatedly to make a change. Finally on the eve of the
general emancipation the larger pastorates of negro
churches were opened to negro preachers and a separate
annual conference established for the churches of Maryland
and the District of Columbia. 3 Their relations to the white
churches were thereby vitally altered, but not until long
after the establishment of a thoroughly Africanized society
by those who had held aloof from the parent church.
The independent African churches were founded by those
who had felt most keenly the causes of separation just des^
cribed. Methodist zeal was unable permanently to over-
come the obstacles to equality and unity in the mixed society.
The relations between races soon became again like their
relations in the state generally. The results were a grievous
disappointment to those negro members who on account of
Methodist declarations had hoped for a different state of
things. 4 Some felt that in a separate church of their own
1 Records of Classes of Light Street Church, March, 1814.
8 Nicholson, op. tit., p. 41 ; Handy, op. tit., p. 36 ; 'Payne, op. tit., p.
88 ; Reports of the Quarterly Conference of Frederick Circuit, 1805-46,
p. i.
* Nicholson, loc. tit. ; Smith, op. tit., p. 6.
* Payne, op. tit., p. 9.
216 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [606
they might have the advantages of church life without white
domination. In the summer of 1787 the seceders men-
tioned above held independent prayer meetings, discussed
plans and finally projected a permanent organization.^
However welcome this step to individuals of independent
mind, the difficulties of those who participated in it had
only begun. Their position was a hard one. They were
financially embarrassed, their members were poor and had
but little credit, they owned no lot or building and had to
hold their meetings in an irregular manner. Their organi-
zation had been effected in a bootblack shop in a basement
room. 2 For nearly a decade they met from house to house,
as convenience dictated. In 1795 they consulted Bishop
Asbury "about building a house," 31 but without avail.
About this time they first rented the property in Fish Street
which has since become the Mecca of African Methodism.
Arrears of rent, however, soon closed this place to them,*
and again they met from house to house, until finally one of
their number provided them a permanent room. Besides
they had a shifting membership and a rudimentary organ-
ization. They had separated themselves from the mixed
churches because they had been aggrieved at the whites'
supremacy there, but they still desired to be within the
Methodist Church. They manoeuvred to secure recognition
as a part of it. In a conference with Bishop Asbury they
1 Handy, op. c*X pp. 13, 24. The founding of this society was almost
contemporaneous with that of a similar one at Philadelphia, it is said.
Each one was independent of the other. Dr. Payne, op. cit., concludes
that the secession at Baltimore preceded by three weeks the date of the
lawsuit by which those at Philadelphia secured) their "freedom". The
latter, however, were first to procure title to church property.
* Handy, op. cit., p. 24.
1 Aslbury, Journal, vol. ii, p. 266.
4 Handy, op. cit., pp. 14, 24. Cf. Baltimore Land Records, Lib. TK
IK). 279, p. 65.
607] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 217
presented a project for the launching of a distinct " African,
yet Methodist Church." But their plan called for such a
large degree of control o>f temporalities by the local stewards
and trustees that it was rejected by the bishop. 1 They were
regarded by the whites as a body o>f malcontents whose
efforts to establish themselves separately were to be ob-
structed rather than encouraged. 2 They were held together
by external pressure, and yet each new step seemed to
render their separation less revocable. Their difficulties,
to be sure, caused some to desert their ranks for the mother
church and deterred others from coming out to them. But
the roots of their dissent struck deeply, resolute spirits held
on and defections from their number were more than made
up by new recruits. Among the latter were Stephen Hill,
a sturdy layman, and the talented Daniel Coker who became
pastor. 3 Thus strengthened the church effected temporary
arrangements for the reoccupation of the property in Fish
Street and finally in 1817 to purchase it. The purchase
contract bound them to make ten payments of $500 each in
1 Asbury, op. cit., pp. 266, 280.
J Handy, op. cit., p. 24.
8 This Daniel Coker, whose childhood name had ibeeni Isaac Wright,
was born a slave im a Maryland county. He owed! his early education,
writes Bishop Handy, to his youthful master's refusal to attend school
without the attendance of his servant. The latter was an apt pupil.
He later stole away to New York, became a Methodist and was or-
dained; by Bishop Asbury. Returning to Maryland, he concealed his
identity, until he 'had been redeemed and formally manumitted. After
a time at Baltimore he cast inl his lot with the separatists, was sent by
them to the Philadelphia conference in 1816, where he acted as secre-
tary; was later expelled from the church; was restored and sent to
Africa as a missionary with the first body of exiles carried away by
the American Colonization (Society. He acted as manager and teacher
of Bethel Church school while in Baltimore. Cf. Payne, op. cit., pp.
88-90; Handy, op. cit., pp. 35-39; Republican Star and Eastern Shore
General Advertiser, June 17,, 1820.
2i8 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [608
addition to the ground rents which were to be gradually
extinguished as the principal itself was being paid. 1
This purchase came at the end of a period of thirty years
whose vicissitudes had tried and seasoned a group of
staunch leaders. It was the last of three successive events
which taken together had given Bethel Church permanency
and a connection with an organized church outside. One
of the other events was the organization of this church it-
self. The loose aggregation that has been described num-
bered 633 persons in 1816, according to Bishop Handy. In
that year they adopted a constitution and elected trustees to
act under the corporate name of the African Methodist
Episcopal Bethel Society. 2 Amendments were added to the
constitution in 1819, and owing to defective construction
of the old an entirely new instrument was drafted in 1820.*
The third event was the establishment of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. This event took place in
Philadelphia in 1816 in a conference in which five churches
were represented. To that meeting Bethel 'Church sent
six of the sixteen delegates. 4 On April 9, 1816, Stephen
Hill of Baltimore moved that " the people of Philadelphia
and Baltimore, and all other places, who should unite with
them, shall become one body under the name and style of
the African Methodist Episcopal Church." His motion
was seconded by Daniel Coker also of Baltimore and accord-
ingly passed. The body next adopted the discipline of the
Methodist Episcopal Church for temporary purposes, sav-
1 The annual rental was at first $360. Baltimore Land Records, Lib.
WiG no. 140, pp. 599-601 ; Lib. TK no. 279, p. 65.
1 Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. WG no. 20, pp. 83-84.
3 Op. tit., Lib. WG no. 24, p. 233 ; Lib. WG no. 25, pp. 269-70.
4 The other churches represented were located one each at Philadel-
phia, Attleborough, Pennsylvania, Salem, New Jersey and Wilmington,
Delaware. Payne, op. tit., p. 13.
609] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 219
ing that part relating to the presiding elders. 1 The dele-
gates then attempted to make Daniel Coker bishop, but he
declined the place and Richard Allen of Philadelphia was
selected and consecrated in his stead. When its delegates
returned home the Bethel Church ratified the action of the
convention and thereby acquired a definite status in the
church world.
This church had begun to do missionary work before the
conference at Philadelphia. It now zealously renewed its
efforts and its representatives found the people in many
places eager to become associated in the new connexion.
By 1817 three missions had been established and others were
appointed later. 2 In 1820 was established the Baltimore
Annual Conference to which came representatives from
nearly all the congregations belonging to the new society in
the state. 3 In the course of time churches also sprang up in
four more or less distinct groups outside of Baltimore. We
shall first consider briefly these outlying churches and then
return to those in Baltimore, (i) One group were the
churches of Southern Maryland and the District of
Columbia. In 1818 there were two congregations in this
quarter, and in 1823 a third " under the African bishop and
conference " was mentioned as being in Anne Arundel
County.* The church at Piscataway was practically closed
by an act of the legislature in 1828 which restricted its
meetings. 5 The more active churches in this section were
1 Payne, op. cit., pp. 13-14; Handy, op. cit., p. 15.
* Handy, op. cit., pp. 25-26.
Handy, op. cit., pp. 50, 54. The Snow Hill church in 1818 had been
affiliated) with the Philadelphia Conference.
4 Handy, op. cit., pp. 27-28; Anne Arundel Deeds, Lib. WSG no. 9, p.
425.
1 Laws, 1828, ch. 151. It is not mentioned in? the later lists given by
Payne, nor in those in the Baltimore Sun, May 6, 1857, and April 24,
1860.
220 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [610
in the federal district. (2) Western Maryland. In this
part of the state progress was rapid. In 1822 a congrega-
tion at Frederick sent delegates to the annual conference,
and in 1824 a second one was reported. 1 Others were
founded, so that in 1833-34 the circuit, established with
Frederick City as a center, was able to supply its chief
preaching stations with preaching services only once a
quarter. Long after the need had arisen a second circuit
was established. 2 After much opposition and delay the
Frederick and Hagerstown churches were promoted to the
rank of stations at "full time." 3 (3) Harford and Cecil
Counties. A missionary was assigned to three societies in
Cecil County in 1818,* But only one of them, that at Port
Deposit, endured under its original name. In 1824 there
was in Harford County a circuit with four appointments
and a total of a hundred and seventy-five members. 5 Two
churches in Cecil and one in Harford acquired corporate
property, 6 but the further progress here was less marked
than that in any other part o>f the state where the connexion
was established. (4) The Eastern Shore. Three congre-
gations were established in Caroline and Talbot Counties-
in 1819, and were related to the elder of Baltimore, ap-
parently as a circuit in i82i. 7 The next year three hundred
and thirty members were reported, and two years still later
1 Handy, op. cit., p. 28 ; Payne, op. cit., p. 42.
* Payne, op. cit., pp. 51, 99, 138.
' Op. cit., p. 156. Baltimore Sun, May 2, 8, 1855. The Frederick
church was incorporated in 1855. Frederick Records of Incorporation
of Churches, 1805-88, p. 78.
* Handy, op. cit., pp. 27-28.
5 Payne, op. cit., p. 42.
6 Land Records, Lib. GMoC no. 13, p. 31 ; Lib. iHHM no. 19, pp. 278,
279, 566; Lib. HHM no. I, p. 21 ; Harford, Lib. HDG no. 34, p. 408;
Lib. HDG no. 36, p. 268.
T Payne, op. cit., pp. 20, 29; Handy, op. cit., pp. 28, 57.
6n] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 2 2I
five hundred and forty-three members in eight churches. 1 -
After that time progress was slow. The church at Easton
nearly succumbed to financial difficulties, 8 and subsequently
became at best the chief congregation in a circuit, while
that at Denton, for a time a member of a circuit, became
later a station supplied from the Baltimore station. 3 In
addition to these scattered churches the Baltimore Annual
Conference included churches in both Pennsylvania and
Delaware ; it sent a missionary to Hayti and exercised wide
powers in planting the church in the newer states west of
the Alleghanies. 4 The church at Snow Hill was apparently
not affiliated with this conference. 5
Baltimore City. The situation was more favorable for the
growth of the negro churches in Baltimore City than in the
counties. One of the three mission stations mentioned in
1817 was located at Fell's Point. 6 Although financially
weak, its growth in numbers was substantial. 7 It was in-
corporated as the African Methodist Union Bethel Church
1 Payne, op. cit., pp. 24, 42.
*This church had purchased property in 1820, ibut by some mishap
the title became vested) in one member of the board of trustees who
was a merchant. When he became financially embarrassed in 1829, his
creditors seized) the church property. It was sold and soon re-conveyed
to a new body of African trustees. Talbot Deeds, Lib. no. 42, p. 453 ;
Lib. no. 48, p. 427; Lib. no. 49, pp. 400-02. For the charter of its in-
corporation, vide op. cit., Lib. no. 62, pp. 149-51.
Payne, op. cit., p. 09 ; Baltimore Sun, April 24, 1860. Cf. also op.
cit., May 8, 1855, and May 6, 1857.
4 Baltimore Sun, May 2, 1855, April 24, 1860; Payne, op. cit., pp. 55,
2IO.
6 Cf. Handy, op. cit., p. 54. Vide also Worcester Deeds, Lib. GMH
no. i, p. 468, and Lib. EDM no. i, p. 250, on the purchase of church
property by negroes in ;Snow Hill.
6 Supra, p. 219.
7 It had 426 members in 1842. Payne, op. cit., p. 139.
222 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [612
in 1844 and raised to the rank of a station about I855. 1 In
1835 Bethel Church acquired the residual term of an exting-
uishable lease of a lot in order to get a mission site in the
southern part of the city. 2 Although this mission also
grew rapidly, no progress had been made in extinguishing
the ground rent before 1848. At that time the property
was assigned for a nominal sum to the trustees of the con-
gregation who desired to build a new edifice.* About the
same time it was incorporated as Bbenezer Church, soon
became a station and took its place as an independent
church. 4 The last of the new foundations before 1860
was Waters Chapel, situated between Bethel Church and
Fell's Point. By 1847 it had become a well established
mission and in 1856 engaged the services of a worker from
the parent body. It was incorporated separately in 1859
and within three weeks thereafter acquired a site on Spring
Street, paying at once eighty per cent of the purchase price. 5
Bethel /Church was a center of great activity also in itg
section. While it was giving financial assistance to
those outside and contributing of its members to other
churches in the city, its own interests at home developed
steadily. Its final payment of the debt on its building site
was made in 1838, twenty-one years after it had been con-
1 Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. TK no. 69, pp. 106-07; Baltimore
Sun, May 8, 1855. It secured 1 possession of its site in fee in 1856, price
$800. Baltimore Land Records, Lib. ED no. no, p. 346.
'The ground rent in ithis case was $264 a year and the purchase
price $3860.66. Baltimore Land Records, Lib. TK no. 250, p. 289.
Payne, op. cit. t p. 230; Baltimore Land Records, Lib. AWiB no.
379, P- 113, and Lib. AlWB no. 401, p. 35.
4 Baltimore Chattel Records, lib. AWR no. 76, p. 219. Cf. Baltimore
Sun, May 8, 1855.
* Baltimore Sun, April 15, 1856; Baltimore Charter Records, Lib.
GES no. 4, pp. 190-91; also Baltimore Land Records, Lib. GES no.
165, pp. 36, 38, 40.
613] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 223
traded. 1 Its enduring power had been tested during the
slump of negro affairs, and after the crisis was over, it en-
tered upon a new era of expansion. A great revival in 1 1842
resulted in such an increase in membership that a project for
a new building was mooted. Difference of opinion, how-
ever, led to its postponement for several years. 2 Another
accretion of members came in en bloc five years later. In
1842 an independent Wesleyan Methodist society had been
formed. 3 Unsuccessful financing had brought upon it a
train of difficulties. The members therefore, applied to the
Baltimore Annual Conference for admission to the African
Methodist Church. After investigation the petition was
granted without discussion. For three years the church
attempted to continue as a separate organization, but at last
allowed its membership to 'be merged in the other churches.*
About this time the proposal to build a new house of
worship for Bethel 'Church was revived. The plan offered
was to let the contract for the work as soon as a third of
the necessary funds had been secured. The occasion of
the vote to ratify became dramatic. At a preconcerted sig-
nal a band of supporters of the project grouped themselves
about the altar to signify assent. A show of opposition
by others was followed by a futile protest in the annual con-
ference that followed. The plan, however, was enthusias-
tically carried and executed. Within a year after the vote
the treasurer had in hand a fund of $5000; on August 2,
1847 a corner-stone was laid; and within another twelve-
1 Baltimore Land Records, Lib. TK no. 279, p. 65.
* Payne, op. cit., pp. 232-233.
8 Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. TK no. 64, p. 374. Baltimore Land
Records, Lib. TiK n'o. 329, p. 422. The annual rental on this congrega-
tion's property had been $173.50. Cf. Payne, op. cit., p. 208.
4 Payne, op. cit., pp. 208-10. This body reported 337 members, a
Sunday 'School of 159 and seven preachers.
224 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [614
month an imposing Romanesque edifice had been built and
consecrated. The debt upon it was cleared away in the
appointed period of eight years. 1 The consequences of this
achievement Were far-reaching, says Dr. Payne. It justly
heightened the self-esteem of the builders, while to the rest
of the community whites and blacks it appeared as a
triumph of independent African enterprise. The imputa-
tions of indolence and vacuity cast upon the church by a
critical public were modified, and in some quarters sup-
planted by a more friendly and judicious regard.
This period of outward progress was marked also by
signal changes within the church. A! reforming pastor had
come in 1843. He found that two of the classes led by
one elder had grown to about a hundred and fifty members
each, and that others also were too large. He scented
danger in such conditions and advised that the classes
should be scaled down to the original Wesleyan number of
twelve each. He soon carried through a resolution to that
effect. His success and his conformity to the discipline and
to Methodist traditions completely disarmed criticism of the
step, but they stirred the wrath of the chief offender and es-
tranged other workers whose confidence and support the
minister could not regain. When he proposed to raise a
building fund, opposition arose and the bishop was called
from Philadelphia to mediate between factions. Less than
a hundred dollars was subscribed. 2 In other ways also
the church failed to co-operate, and when the pastoral term
ended, the preacher's influence had been almost destroyed.
His successor found discord among the members. At once
upon his arrival he was advised by some to allow a return
to the large classes. He declined and for a time held aloof
1 Payne, op. cit., pp. 232-35. The total cost was about $16,000.
1 Payne, op. cit., p. 233.
615] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 2 2$
from alliance with either faction. In the course of the<build-
ing operations in 1847, however, the church became the
scene of a trial on a charge of " sowing dissensions," and a
member was expelled for " outrageous conduct and an un-
governable spirit." 2 And when in the following year it
was proposed to transfer the lot in south Baltimore to the
trustees of the Ebenezer Church, five of the trustees of
Bethel dissented. After a second vote on the matter they
affected to acquiesce, but came late to the place appointed
for signing the deed of transfer and became enraged be-
cause the pastor had already signed before they arrived.*
In the quarterly conference a few months later they pro-
posed to pass a set of resolutions which proved to be a fire-
brand. Other members objected that they were sowing dis-
cord and Pastor Payne declared that the enforcement of
their proposed measures would drive a wedge between the
church and the connexion -outside. Counter resolutions
protesting against their course were introduced and passed
by a vote of 123 to 24. " Down went the five members'
resolutions." 4 In February 1849 the chancery court of the
city set aside the five trustees. Nothing daunted they con-
tinued their obstructions, until they were at last arraigned
before the conference for discipline. They came to the
meeting supported by wives and henchmen, some of whom
were armed with bludgeons. The testimony was overwhel-
1 Payne, op. cit., pp. 233-34.
* Bethel Quarterly Conference Records, July 9, October, and Novem-
ber 12, 1847.
' Payne, op. cit., p. 231.
* Bethel Quarterly Conference Records, Oct. 22, 1848. Tihe counter
resolutions recited that the church had already lived under its consti-
tution' for a generation and could continue so for ten generations to
come ; and that since the constitution ihad been in force their connexion
had spread successfully into thirteen states of the union,
9 Op. cit., Feb. 9, 1849.
226 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
mingly against them : rejoinders were offered and the body
was about ready to vote. Suddenly two females rushed
forward to attack the conference officers. The pastor
eluded his assailant, but one of the secretaries was felled
speechless and a general melee followed. When the city
police officers had restored order, unclaimed weapons of
various kinds were strewn about the room. 1 Those who
were imprisoned gave bail in order to get free and the
trouble was renewed again. The conference again sat in
judgment and expelled the five members for " rebellion
against the spiritual and temporal government of the
church." The annual conference sustained the action of
the local conference and the affair was finally at an end. 3
Its final settlement was followed by the withdrawal of the
elder who had resisted the reform of the class organization^
and forty-five of the adherents of the expelled trustees.
Acting together they became the nucleus of a new society
under the Methodist Protestant system.*
1 Payne, op. cit., pp. 231-32. Baltimore Clipper, Feb. 24, 26, 1849.
Cf. also Clipper, Jan. 2, 1849, andi Bethel Quarterly Conference Rec-
ords, January 1849.
1 Payne, op. cit. Payne states that for years there had been a
struggle between pastors and trustees for supremacy in the conference.
1 Payne, op. cit., p. 236. The local church had prepared to resist the
reinstatement of the five members. Pastor Payne declared in the con-
ference meeting that the time had come for every man to determine
whether he would " sustain the government of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church connexion." He therefore put the question: "Will
you sustain the government of the church against the spirit of rebel-
lion?" Bethel Quarterly Conference Records, April 14, 1849. The
resolution against reinstatement ran in) part as follows : " Believing as
we do that any such step would involve the church in a great and
crying evil, strengthening the hand of rebellion, and plunge our be-
loved Zion in war, tumult and bloodshed."
4 Payne, op. cit., p. 232. For the charter of their church, vide Balti-
more Chattel Records, Lib. AW1B no. 78, pp. 252-53. Other churches
of the same order were chartered in 1859 and) 1860. Baltimore Charter
Records, Lib. GES no. 4, pp. 166-68; Lib. GHC no. 4, pp. 175-77.
617] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 227
TABLE OF STATISTICS OF THE BALTIMORE ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Congregations Circuits Stations Pastors Membership
1817 6 i i 3 1066
1826 29 4 i 7 2403
1836 6 2 4 2052
1856 76 15 ii 23 5279
Membership
Baltimore Churches Bethel Church
1816 633 1845 1302
1824 715 1850 1460
1842 980 1852 1504
1860 1400
Compiled from data given in the volumes of Payne, Handy and of the
Bethel Quarterly Conference Records.
The above table is incomplete, and yet it indicates that
there was a substantial growth in the churches of the Balti-
more conference. The decline in numbers in the years
1826-36 was due in part to the reaction that followed the first
flush of success and in part to the same causes that counter-
acted the other interests of the negroes in that period.
After that time the progress, although not unimpeded, was
rapid. The preeminence of the churches in the city is not-
able. The free negroes there were about 30 per cent of all
in the state, while before 1820 the city churches had nearly
all, and in 1852 about 50 per cent, of the total church
membership oi the conference.
The history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
was one of progress. A chief cause of its success lay in
that many negroes found in it a sphere in which they could
act voluntarily. But its growth was not achieved without
organization. In its government and customs it attempted
to imitate the Methodist Episcopal Church whose discipline
it adopted with slight alterations. The bishop resided in
Philadelphia until 1852. The General Conference was 1
composed of representatives from the different states meet-
228 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [618
ing quadrennially. The authority of both alike extended
over the Maryland churches, but in neither case was it con-
fined to this state. Next below the General Conference was
the Annual Conference. The Baltimore Annual Confer-
ence, although including some churches outside the state,
and not including all those within the state, 1 was essentially
the conference of the churches of Maryland. For years
it met chiefly at Bethel 'Church, although later its entertain-
ment was shared with the churches of Washington, D. C.,
and elsewhere. It was the chief formative agency with
which concern is had here.
The Annual Conference was regularly composed of re-
presentatives of all the churches under its authority. In
its early history, however, circumstances practically threw
the conduct of its sessions into the hands of those from
Bethel Church. It had thirty-^two members in 1819 and
thirty-nine in 1843, according to Dr. Payne. By 1859 it
had increased to forty-one. 2 But for the change made in
the rules governing its membership, it must have grown
much larger than that. At the outset certain laymen were
admitted because of their prominent part in the founding
of the church and because of the paucity of qualified
preachers to act in their stead. 31 The first three boo&
stewards in the history of the conference were laymen.
Local preachers were allowed seats in 1821 but no voice
in the proceedings as against traveling preachers. But in
1827 a resolution was passed limiting the membership to
ministers of, or above, the rank of licensed exhorters.
After that time laymen and unlicensed ministers, although
1 Payne, op. tit., p. 42 ; Baltimore Sun, April 15, 1856.
3 Payne, op. cit., pp. 27, 138, 155; Baltimore Sun, April 29, 1859.
8 Cf. Payne, op. cit., pp. 13, 19, 27, 29, 47.
4 Op. cit., pp. 20, 23, 47. Cf. Handy, op. cit., p. 29.
619] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 229
not wholly excluded, 1 participated but little in the confer-
ence proceedings. In 1841 office-bearing laymen were ad-
mitted to seats but were denied any voice. Those admitted
to the later meetings were thus bishops, elders, deacons and
licentiates. 2 The presiding officer was the bishop, or in
his absence the senior elder present. The other officers were
the recording secretary, the book steward who was ap-
parently a treasurer, a corresponding secretary, the head
of the book concern and the door-keeper. 3 Temporary
committees were appointed to investigate and report upon
matters which the whole conference could not take up at
first hand. Later on there appeared standing committees
having to do with the book concern, education, finance,
memorials, the post office and public worship. 4
In the period oi the early sessions of the conference the
members had been unused to yield obedience to persons of
their own color. The local preachers tended to be insubor-
dinate, and many were disposed to evade the rules, to show
discontent, to tattle and act as tale-bearers. 5 The officers
likewise, " unaccustomed to command or to rule," bore
their part in a way that gave rise to complaint. As a con-
sequence much time was wasted in enforcing the rules of
order. But several causes contributed to the improve-
ment of conditions. For a time fines were imposed for
breaches of decorum. Unlicensed preachers were denied
the right to speak from the floor; the presiding officer was
given power to exclude non-members from the conference
rooms during the sessions; the book steward was ordered
1 Payne, op. cit., pp. 39, 57.
Op. cit., pp. 134, 135, 155, i&2.
* Op. cit., pp. 16, 27, 61, 189; also Baltimore Sun, April 29, 1859.
4 Op. cit., pp. 15, 46, 183, 210; Handy, op. cit., p. 34; Baltimore Sun,
April 25, 1857.
6 Payne, op. cit., pp. 21, 28, 30, 52, 53.
230 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [620
not to allow an examination of his books without vote of
the house; and members were forbidden to betray the con-
fidential proceedings and were held responsible for their
conduct both inside and outside the sessions. 1 Time too
had a salutary effect. Petulance at restraint wore off and
regard for the significance of their church produced a
sobering sense of responsibility for its progress. One of
its later sessions, reported for the Baltimore Sun, "might
have been taken as a model for similar assemblages among
those who have higher pretensions." 2
The Baltimore conference exercised extensive powers.
Within its own bounds it was practically autonomous.
Guided by its own sense of what was proper, it determined
its own membership and endeavored to meet the needs of
every occasion. It freely took measures affecting the local
churches below and apparently also the General Conference
above. It made provisions for church extension both
within 3 and without its own conceded jurisdiction. In the
former it received church organizations into the connexion,
adjusted the rank of each congregation as mission, member
of circuit or station, 4 and prevented the transfer of one of
its Pennsylvania circuits to another conference. 5 It also
assessed the local churches for certain purposes. Appar-
ently it did not venture too far without first ascertaining
the wishes of those concerned, but it did make 1 its power felt.
It enforced the discipline upon the clergy, excepting the
bishop. In a few instances it also inquired into the conduct
of other members of the churches, gave such judgments as
1 Op. dt., pp. 15, 27, 42, 48, 53.
7 Baltimore Sun, May 8, 1855.
* Payne, op. dt., p. 210.
4 Op. cit., pp. 21, 22, 42, 157, 208-10; Baltimore Sun, May 2, 1855, and
May i, 1857.
5 Payne, op. cit., pp. 134, 157, 170.
62 1 ] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 231
the circumstances seemed to warrant and informed the in-
terested churches of its action. 1 It selected the delegates!
to the general conference, excepting in 1839-47 when that
duty was committed to the elders. 2 Acting in the wider
arena it one time fixed the meeting-place of the general
conference. 3 In 1822 in the interval between the general
conference meetings it initiated steps for electing a bishop's
assistant by taking a ballot whose result was not announced
until after the Philadelphia Annual Conference had followed
its example. The compiled returns were then published
and an election declared. In 1821 it was at work determin-
ing the conference connections of churches situated west of
the Alleghany Mountains, and in 1827 sought to determine
the location of a mission station in the island of Hayti.*
Its assumption of powers was limited only by its own re-
sources and the needs of the church.
The development of a corps of ministers was also a func-
tion of the annual conference. Preachers coming from the
regular Methodist <Church were admitted to the same rank
they had held in that body, 5 and those who had been thus 1
admitted were promoted according to the Methodist plan.
Owing to the backward state of negro education most of
the candidates that offered were barely literate, or illiterate,
and ignorant and poorly qualified for their calling. Al-
though some were able to improve themselves creditably, 6
they found the task of preaching to impecunious parishion-
1 Op. cit., pp. 15, 47, 247, 248-59; Handy, op. cit., p. 34.
Payne, op. cit., pp. 20, 121, 211, 249, 3-17. Cf. Baltimore Sun, May
6, 1859.
1 Payne, op. cit., p. 20.
4 Op. cit., pp. 21, 22, 55 ; Handiy, op. cit., p. 29.
* Payne, op. cit., p. 14. Cf. Baltimore Stm, May 2, 1857.
4 Payne, op. cit., p. 53-
232 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [622
ers unfavorable to study. For two decades the church it-
self insisted buit little upon the better preparation of its
ministers. But in 'the forward movement after 1835 ardent
champions of education arose. In 1838 Bishop Morris
Brown addressed the conference on the subject and pre-
pared the way for the resolution of the following year which
imposed upon applicants an examination in the articles of
faith and religion. 1 At the instance qf Reverend Daniel
Payne three years later the conference recommended all
ministers to study arithmetic, geography, grammar, history
and theology. 2 Ait its next meeting three candidates for
the ministry were examined. The majority of the examin-
ing committee recommended their acceptance; the one
member in the minority reported that they did not measure
up to the standard of the discipline and advised their re-
jection. A heated controversy ensued, one member ex-
citedly inquired whether it was necessary to know Hebrew,
Latin and Greek in order to be ordained. Education and
promoters of education were roundly denounced, until at
last the presiding bishop declared that, adhering to the dis-
cipline, he would ordain none of the applicants, even
though the conference might admit all of them.* Even be-
fore that time educational qualifications had been a criterion
for judging of the fitness of ministers. But it did not
suffice merely to turn down 'illiterates, because the interests
of the church required competent ministers and intelligent
laymen. Steps were, therefore, taken to promote educa-
tion. There was a desire for a high school. In 1845 tne
conference initiated the movement which led to the holding
of an education convention at Philadelphia. 4 In 1846 the
l Op. tit., pp. 118, 121.
* Op. tit., p. 141. Cf. Handy, op. tit., p. 141.
Payne, op. tit., pp. 155-56. Cf. op. tit., p. 117.
4 Op. CT/., p. I&.
623] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 233
preachers were asked to form education societies in the
churches and to foster the zeal for education among the
people. 1 A decade later the members of the; churches
were advised to get wisdom, and, as in 1838, preachers were
instructed to lead the minds of the people back to the sub-
ject. The moral and political elevation of their race, it
was said, depended upon their enlightenment. 2 As a result
of the agitation the desire for enlightenment was consider-
ably furthered, the Sunday schools and day schools were
strengthened, and private study, by those who had the
opportunities for it, was stimulated. The standard of
literacy for the ministry, although still low, was raised
somewhat.
The financial organization of the annual conference was
simple. In its early history its demands for money were
small. It received a trifling sum from the fines imposed
upon its members in the meetings, 8 but derived most of its
funds from voluntary contributions. The total receipts re-
ported in representative years were as follows :
1818 1825 1826 1836 1856
$437-90 $582.04 $498.30 $342.19 $577.91*
* Exclusive of pastors' salaries.
After the depression of the thirties a reorganization of the
finances resulted in the creation of separate funds for specific
purposes. In 1842 a "regular collection" of two cents a
month was ordered for ministerial support, and pastors were
to see that it was taken in their respective churches on pain
of expulsion, if they failed. Its fruits were $60.31 in 1842,
1 Op. tit., p. 197. Cf. also p. 118.
1 Op. cit., pp. 118, 406-07. Cf. Baltimore Sun, April 9, 1856 and May
i, 1857.
1 Payne, op. cit., p. 48.
234 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [624
$193.28 in 1855 and $122 in i856. x As early as 1854 there
was a separate collection for episcopal support. In that
year it amounted to nearly $2OO. 2 The principal ordinary
expenditures were for pastor's salaries. Of $472.04 col-
lected for that purpose in 1825, 42 per cent went to the pas-
tor of Bethel 'Church and the remainder was divided among
five others. 8
The foundation of the annual conference were the local
churches. Each church held a quarterly conference to
transact its own local business. The attendance at its ses-
sions was a privilege of all members, but votes on some mat-
ters were confined to adults and on some others to free male
adults. Although any member could initiate measures, its
proceedings consisted mainly of matters presented by its
officers, boards and committees. Excepting the naming of
delegates to the annual conferences, its functions were of
purely local import. Such things as elections and pro-
posals affecting the church budget, poor relief and the ad-
ministration of the discipline recurred often in the meetings.
In cases affecting laymen it was competent to act. In
cases affecting members who held seats in the annual con-
ference, however, it was permitted to investigate and acquit,
or to silence offenders and refer their cases to the annual
conference. 5
1 Payne, op. cit., pp. 139, 317, 415.
'Payne, op. cit., p. 317. For this fund $400 was voted in 1859.
Baltimore Sun, May 10, 1859.
1 Payne, op. cit., p. 46. Cf. Handy, op. cit., pp. 30, 73.
* Cf. Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. W>G no. 20, p. 84.
Payne, op. cit., p. 24. On June 28, 1850, 'Reverend) Darius Stokes,
chief steward of Bethel Church, was ordered by the quarterly confer-
ence to give up his office. Three months later he was declared) "re-
bellious" for holding a "bush meeting" without permission of the
elder in charge of the church, and was suspended for six months.
Quarterly Conference Records, June 28 and September 27, 1850. He
625] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 235
Aside, from this assembly of the whole church the chief
local authorities were the pastor, the stewards and the
trustees. The first was the chief personage. His duties
included the conduct of the general church services, ad-
ministration of the ordinances and the care of the flock.
He visited the homes of the members, attempted to' look to
their comfort and spiritual Welfare, and wherever meet, re-
commended cleanliness and decency. He nominated the
stewards, directed the clerical members of the congregation,
presided at the trustees 7 meetings and the quarterly con-
ferences. 1 He attended the bishop, when the latter came
into the parish, gave him all needful information as to the
state of the church and on his own retirement gave like in-
formation to his successor. 2 Moreover, he was the leading
representative of his church in the annual conference. Of
the two advisory-adminiistrative boards in the church the
stewards stood first. They were nominated by the pastor
from both ministerial and lay members and elected in the
quarterly conferences. They assisted in the conduct of the
church services and took charge of the collecting, disburs-
ing and accounting for the funds for the support of the
church and the pastor, and for sick and poor relief; they
objected to the manner of his suspension and 1 continued to preach,
baptize, bury the dead and officiate at the marriage altar. He was
charged with contumacy and expelled from the connexion. Op. cit.,
March 28, 1851. He appealed to the annual conference to have the
action nullified, his petition was denied, but (before adjournment of
this body he was restored to "his official standing in the church."
Payne, the (historian, writes that both the deposition by the quarterly
conference, the ratification by the annual conference and the restora-
tion were alike irregular. Op. cit., pp. 244-49.
1 Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. WG no. 25, p. 269 ; (Lib. TK no. 69,
p. 106; Lib. AW!B no. 76, p. 219; Lib. GES no. 4, p. 190; Bethel Quar-
terly Conference Records, 1857-58, March 14, 1860; also Handy, op.
cit., p. 48.
1 Op. cit., p. 48.
236 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [626
aided the pastor in ministering to and encouraging the
people, in correcting disorders among the members and in
trying to realize the ideals of the church life. 1 They sat as
members of the early annual conference meetings but in
1826 were deprived o>f their right to vote therein. 2 The
chief steward was second in authority to the pastor. The
trustees were composed of the pastor and elected members,
the latter holding their places for terms of from one to
four years each. 3 Only free persons were eligible to their
membership. 4 Their chief duties were to care for and
maintain in good condition the real property held by the
church and to transact all business matters appertaining
thereto. They acted under the instructions of, and re-
ported their doings to, the quarterly conference.
As the negro churches grew and multiplied, their interests 1
became more varied, and auxiliary societies with special
functions were founded. At the annual conference meet-
ings of 1843 and 1844 three temperance societies were re-
ported. In the latter year also an educational society was
reported, and a missionary society for the Baltimore con-
ference was formed "as an auxiliary to the Parent, Home
and Foreign Society." 5 In 1857 the report of the treas-
urer of Bethel Church contained an item of $101.00 for rent
paid by societies that had met in its building. Some of these
were probably not church auxiliaries at all. 6 At that time
1 Handy, op. cit., p. 51. Cf. Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, 1 9th edition (1817), pp. 190-91.
8 Payne, op. cit., p. 47.
1 Frederick Records of Incorporation of Churches, 1805-80, p. 78.
Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. WIG no. 25, p. 269.
*Cf. references cited in note one, p. 183, and last note preceding:.
Also Talbot Deeds, Lib. no. 62, p. 149.
6 Payne, op. cit., pp. 157, 176, 183. Far mention) of societies, some
of which had) quasi-'religious objects, vide Md. Col. Jour., p. 68.
* Quarterly Conference Records, Feb. 13, 1857.
627] THE CHURCH AND THE NEGROES 237
the church had among its members a sewing circle whose
labors were devoted to charitable objects, 1 and in 1859 the
annual conference set to work to found a preachers' aid
society. 2
Notwithstanding the strong attractions of the Methodist
Church the Protestant Episcopal, Baptist, Presbyterian and
Catholic churches each had a following among the negroes.
The Episcopal church and school were under the pastoral
care oi a colored, ordained minister in 1823^ In 1824 they
united themselves under the name and style o>f St. James
First African Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1828 be-
came an incorporated body. 4 They denied the privileges of
voting and office-bearing in their midst to any person not
of African descent. On account of its school this congre-
gation was one of the best known among the negroes of the
city. At many other places in the state the negroes were
received as communicants in the Episcopal churches of the
whites. 5 In 1837 a body of negro Baptists in Baltimore
elected five " sober and discreet " members as trustees and
became an incorporated church. 6 Their charter divided the
trustees into classes and provided for the selection of the
pastor and for admitting members to the church. In 1842
they purchased the lessor's rights in the lot on which their
building had previously 'been erected. 7 In 1854 a second
Baptist church was chartered. A part of its trustees were
1 Op. tit., 1857-58.
2 Baltimore Sun, May 10, 1859.
1 Journal of the Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
Maryland 1823, p. 5.
'Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. WG no. 41, pp. 343, 389; Lib. WG
no. 37, PP. 166-67.
6 Journals of the Conventions, op. cit,, 1823, p. 9; 1824, pp. 17-19, 20,
23, 24, 25; 1827, pp. 26, 27; 1828, pp. 29, 30; 1830, p. 38.
Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. TK no. 57, pp. 158-61.
* Baltimore Land Records, Lib. TK no. 322, p. 234.
238 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [628
selected by the Maryland Baptist Union Association of
the whites' churches. Otherwise its rules were similar to
those of its sister church. 1 The Presbyterians exercised a
considerable influence among the negroes of Baltimore City
and organized one separate negro church. 2 The Friends
had negro members in certain of their congregations, espec-
ially those of Baltimore City and Harford County. The
Roman Catholics also received some negro members and
maintained for them a female society called the Oblates, or
Sisters of Providence. 3 In 1853 a union church, calling itself
the Colored People's Congregation of Mount Tabor, was!
chartered in Frederick County. Its members were adher-
ents of the German Reformed, Lutheran and Methodist
Episcopal Churches. 4
1 Baltimore Charter Records, Lib. ED no. i, p. 393. Cf. Laws, 1856,
ch. 262. A free negro's will, recorded in the Baltimore Wills, Lib.
DMP no. 13, p. 46, mentioned an Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Md. Col. Journal, p. 68.
8 Baltimore Wills, Lib. I PC no. 28, p. 65. Fide on the Friends, op.
cit., Lib. DMP no. 19, pp. 268-69.
4 Frederick Records of Incorporation of Churches, 1805-80, pp. 193-97.
CHAPTER IX
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
AT different points in the previous chapters there have
been references to general social conditions. But there has
been no attempt to emphasize as such the standard of life,
unemployment, pauperism and mortality among the free
negroes. Regarding these matters the evidence left by
contemporaries is quite fragmentary, and much of what
there is was recorded by biased persons. Nevertheless it
seems necessary to give some account of them from such
facts as are available. The first matter to be treated will
be the negroes' home life, and in that connection attention
will be devoted to dwellings, provisioning and apparel, to
sanitation and medical attendance and to material relations
and the social evil.
The buildings inhabked by the negroes were generally of
mean character often such as white persons could not be
induced to occupy. A common type of rural dwelling was
the low structure of one or two compartments built of logs.
The tapering space underneath the rafters was often made
to answer the demand for additional rooming space. The
principal opening was the doorway, as window space was not
highly prized. The chinks of the walls were not well
daubed, and ceiled or lime-plastered walls did not generally
prevail. For floors the bare earth, or in the region of
severer winter temperatures, rough boards, did service.
A ramshackle stove pipe, a hole in the roof or a chimney
carried aloft the smoke from the hearth-fire. The room
629] 239
240 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [630
contained as furniture a few faded pieces such as safe,
table, stools, a bedstead, or in its place a straw-tick, and a
few other things. The floor was strewn with things that
should have been placed elsewhere to be in order. Its
aspect vied with that of the walls adorned with rags, leaf-
tobacco, coon-skins, pot-hoops, spiders, kettles and other
utensils. Dust, soot, smoke and soiled fingers had added their
respective contributions to make the character complete.
The appearance of the interior bespoke a poverty as to
possessions, but even more poverty as to arrangement and
care of what was there. The place served as kitchen, din-
ing and living room, receiving and bed room. Into such
quarters the master of the house huddled his family at
night and barred the door to keep out the unknown terrors
and the fresh air. In Baltimore City the negroes' dwell-
ings presented contrasts similar to those of the whites, al-
though less extreme in degree. The buildings were rather
more substantial than many of those used by the rural neg-
roes but hardly furnished more comfort on that account. 1
Indigence and plenty occurred within a stone's throw of
each other. On the one hand families crowded themselves
into insufficient tenements whose reeking vermin and squalor
were true signs of slums. 2 Winter cold and summer heat
alike added to their discomforts, -And on the other hand
some well-to-do negroes in both the city and the country
lived in better^class houses in a degree of comfort that
would have done credit to many a white family. 3
1 Cf. 28 Niles Register, p. 100; also Baltimore Assessment Books,
1823, 1 2th Ward, p. 159.
1 Cf. Buckler, History of Epidemic Cholera, 1849, p. 5.
3 For contents of certain houses, cf. Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib.
WG no. 29, p. 377 ; Lib. WG no. 30, p. 52 ; Harford Chattel Records,
Lib. ALJ no. I, p. 390; Worcester Deeds, Lib. GMH no. I, p. 513;
Lib. GMH no. 4, p. 258 ; Lib. GM'H no. 7, p. 84.
631] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 241
The food and raiment of the free negroes was varied in
amount and quality. The 'best fed of all were the welRo-do
and thrifty whose women were skilful cooks and those
who were numbered in the small gangs that worked for and
hence ate in the kitchens of the well-to-do white farmers.
When freemen served under indentures or under wage
contracts by the year, they were provided for substantially
like the slaves. The allowances for the slaves thus became
a sort of standard to which free negroes aimed to attain
when providing for themselves. The majority fared ap-
parently about as well as did the slaves excepting some-
times in the winter season. Both free negroes and slaves
varied their diet with garden vegetables and game, while
many of both classes earned a part of what they lived on
and foraged for the rest. 1 In the matter of wearing ap-
parel there was wide variety, although free negroes were
generally garbed in such articles as were commonly allowed
to slaves and apprentices. 2 In addition to these, or in place
of them, they wore many of the things that had been laid
aside by their white employers. But to some negroes dress
that pleased the fancy was valued above the necessaries.
They therefore took pride in being nicely appareled, as
1 Vide almost contrary opinion as to free negroes in 1 Baltimore City
about 1820-25, 28 Niles Register, p. 100. Cf. also Griffith, Annals of
Baltimore, p. 233, and Md. Col. Journal, no. n.
* The " allowance " of clothing for a slave varied but little from
county to county. For winter it consisted substantially of the follow-
ing named articles given at Christmas time: for -a male, Kersey coat
and trousers, two shirts, a pair each of shoes and stockings, a cap and
a handkerchief; for a female, Kersey petticoat and jacket, shift of
linens, shoes, stockings, cap and handkerchief ; and in the spring for a
male, a change of shirts and a pair of trousers, and for a female a
change of linens. But, as in the case of provisioning, time was often
allowed to slaves to earn! a little money to supplement these minimal
supplies. Fide supra, p. 141, and Frederick Douglass, Life and Times,
pp. 45-46.
242 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [632
witnessed their appearance on holidays and festal occasions.
Domestic servants who were free were dressed in the same
manner as were slaves acting in a similar capacity.
Although the negroes lived in a rude manner, they did
not lack the social spirit. They loved to mingle in the
crowds that gathered in the towns on Saturdays, holidays!
and market days and at picnics, churches, camp-meetings
and other places. They also took delight in moving about
among their friends and receiving the latter at their homes,
whether such friends were slaves or freemen. Sometimes,
however, there was a fear of slave-holders' wrath and, there-
fore, some restraint about entertaining and visiting slaves. 1
When not interdicted by the whites they held parties, and
in the city of Baltimore cake-walks and balls at which the
hilarity was unbounded. 2 Such affairs, however, were
scrutinized by the peace officers and the patrollers and after
1831 were liable to be broken up summarily. 3 In Baltimore
this regulation was supplemented by an ordinance requiring
an official permit for holding any negro meeting excepting
for certain approved purposes. But it was applied in a
manner that allowed many social privileges to the law-
abiding.
The marriage relations of the free negroes were in a state
of disorder. The customs they had been used to in Africa
were not followed here, because the conditions of the slave
system had not admitted of it: the rules or practices had
to be flexible enough to allow the owners to manage their
slave property for their own advantage. The practices that
sprang up in the province were perpetuated in the state and
tended to prevail among the free almost as much as among
l Cf. Letter of General Harper to E. B. Caldwell, p. 8; H. Dels.
Journal, 1829, p. 337, and 1830, p. 136.
' Baltimore Sun, Jan. I, 1857, March 10, 1854, and (May n, 12, 1859.
* Laws, 1820, ch. 200, and 1822, ch. 85.
633] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 243
the slaves. The legal regulation of the marriage of the
slave lay entirely in the hands of the master. His consent
was necessary to its making and maintenance, 1 and he might,
therefore, dissolve it, in case he chose to sell or remove one
of the parties out of the community. As a consequence slave
marriages generally lacked the formalities and the delibera-
tion that attended those of the whites. 'And although the
rule of one consort at time prevailed, there was widespread
disregard for the usual obligations of such consortships and
too little concern about the consequences of repudiating them.
The marriages of the free were raised but little above those
of the slaves, since they also lacked exact legal sanction.
When a free person consorted with a slave, marital obliga-
tions were not to be enforced at law, unless the slave party
had become the property of the free party. But inasmuch
as many of the reasons for holding these bonds inviolable
did not commonly obtain here, this question tends to be
mainly academic. Slaves and free persons did consort with
each other, and such objections as slave-owners made to the
practice were generally for other than legal and moral
reasons. 2 The children of slave mothers became slaves
and those of free mothers free persons, no matter what the
status of their husbands. The mixed marriages were,
therefore, not more formal than those of the slaves, al-
though in one instance in Worcester County a license was
issued for a slave to marry a free colored woman.* In
case both parties were free, however, it was possible to have
1 Vide illustration of this in Douglass, op. cit., pp. 37-38.
2 About the close of the revolution the Harford County Orphans'
Court threatened one, Jared Hopkins, with proceedings for contempt
because he ihadi married a free woman; to a negro slave. Minutes,
1778-97, p. 34. Cf. Douglass, op. cit., pp. 37, 118-19.
8 Marriage Record, May 31, 1811. On the matter of distribution of
property as affected by such marriages, vide chapter on Legal Status,
supra, pp. 105-06.
244 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [634
a regular marriage. Accordingly many marriage licenses
were issued in favor of free negroes, 1 and often a ceremony
followed. The effect of this was to add an element of
deliberation and to impose a partial check upon utter license
in 'this important matter. Thus, although whims, fancies
and passion for novelty of marital connections were not
ended, some beginnings were made towards the adoption of
the whites' custom of establishing permanent households on
the monogamous plan.
An emigrant from this country to Liberia stated that
" the pure African has no conception of morality and virtue
other than is drawn from the civilized beings with whom he
is placed in contact." 2 How much that conception was
improved by the environment of the slave system depended
upon circumstances. Those who were either exposed to the
influences of unprincipled white men, or left most of the
time to untaught negroes, remained much like their fathers
had been. 'Chastity in either sex was at a discount, and
both alike were impotent to prevent the invasion of this
realm by non-African men. No evil to which they fell
victim was more contemptibly condoned than this. 3 It was
deplorable, and yet it was not universal, because female
domestics in some slave-holders' homes and the offspring
of some free negroes were sacredly protected against being
corrupted ; and some were so schooled in the " precepts of
morality and virtue" that they went undefiled to the mar-
riage altar and maintained their repute for conjugal fidelity
to the end of their lives. 4
Second only to the love of the crowd was the negroes'
l Vide Marriage Records of Caroline, 1816-58, Dorchester, 1799-1859,
and Worcester, 1795-1860.
3 Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 281.
*C/. Douglass, op. cit., pp. 118-19.
*O/>. cit., pp. 37, 118-19.
635] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 2 45
love of ardent spirits. It asserted itself both early and late.
The account books of certain supply stores afford facts of
interest. At Elk Ridge Furnace in 1767 a slave named
Sampson purchased four pints of rum for four shillings and
two and a half yards of cloth for four shillings sixpence;
other entries show that in the two preceding months he had
paid in four shillings for rum and eight for other articles. 1
Another negro at the Cornwall Furnace in 1762 closed his
account amounting to sixty-seven pounds, seven shillings
and eleven pence half -penny for " store liquor and general
charges." 2 And many others had small accounts for
liquors alone. The detrimental effects of their consumption
were noticed before the end of the eighteenth century, and
legislation that has been noticed elsewhere 3 was enacted to
restrict or to prevent the sale of liquor to negroes on certain
occasions. But verbal reports, corroborated by inferences
from legislative and other records, indicate that the con-
sumption of liquors by negroes increased in the nineteenth
century. The measures taken against their purchasing
the stuff were not of great avail, notwithstanding the desire
of many to check it. They probably procured much of it
in compliance with the laws. But in addition to this some
negroes were frequently " treated " to drinks by their em-
ployers, and others found means of getting theirs outside
the law. 4 They were thus favored by portable dispensers
and by the clandestine purchasers of the farm products
which they stole and bartered away. How much liquor
1 Ledger A of Caleb Dorsey & Co., p. 199. Cf. also pp. 48, 62, 132,
233.
* Cornwall Furnace Ledger L, p. 307, and Journal N, pp. 38, 108. Cf.
same journal, pp. 114, 115, 118, 121-27; also Ledger A of Jesse Richard-
son, 1790-91, PP. 24, 29, 31, 36, 77, 80; also Patuxent Iron Works
Journal, 1767-68, pp. 5, 7-10.
3 Supra, pp. 103-04, chapter on Legal Status.
4 Supra, p. 103, note 3.
246 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [636
they consumed it is impossible to calculate, but it seems
beyond doubt that they constantly -spent on this form of
indulgence a considerable part of their earnings, and that
many of the crimes they committed were due to its incite-
ment.
Hygienic conditions about the negro dwellings have been
already hinted at. The air in their poorly ventilated houses
was not good, and cleanliness within was not general.
Sanitation too was greatly neglected. Offal was imperfectly
disposed of, cess-pools located without necessary regard for
the demands of health, drinking water often carelessly pro-
vided and personal squalidness treated as a matter of course.
Added to these things was the vermin which found a wel-
come in the conditions described. The sloth which allowed
these things to spring up took little thought of measures to
remove them. And in none of these particulars were there
marked differences between the lot of slaves and that of
freemen, saving that in some instances masters compelled
their slaves to clean up the premises. As for medical at-
tendance the slaves o<ften enjoyed an advantage over free-
men on account of the interest of masters in the health of
their human stock. And yet it is said that many physicians
endeavored faithfully to attend the cases of free negroes
who were sick, whenever invited and needed. Nevertheless,
the co-existence of these conditions along with others in the
negro home was sufficient to impair their own health and
the strength of their progeny to an appreciable degree.
The conditions described in the foregoing paragraphs
affected the negroes first of all. Of themselves they were
not of primary concern to the whites, but they had their
counterpart in other conditions that were of concern to the
latter. Such were those of unemployment, poverty and
disease. The extent to which the free negro was kept em-
ployed was a source of constant anxiety to many of the
637] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 247
whites. They had much to say about the subject. Their
utterances generally agreed in pointing out weaknesses and
disparaging the industrial character of the unenslaved negro.
Because his personal resources consisted mainly of mere
brawn, he lacked the power to think for himself, he had
to have guidance and protection, and he was, therefore,
forced to work in the lowest callings in which he received
for his services smaller real wages than any other class of
the people. 1 Attention was called to the disadvantages and
the lack of incentives under which he labored through his
exclusion from certain 'occupations to which white men were
admitted without prejudice. 2 He had, moreover, no pro-
perty or other independent sources of income from which
to derive his living his own labor alone generally stood
between himself and starvation. But his sloth and indis-
position to arduous work inclined him to be unproductive,
and hence to lack the things necessary for his own support.
He, therefore, tended to exert himself only so far as to get
a meager subsistence. 3 His dependence upon the white
man was scarcely less than that of the slave, and he was a
burden to the state. Now some evidence to support these
views was discoverable. It was magnified and generalized
for political effect, and manly quackish legislative pro-
posals were based upon it,* but a closer examination of the
subject shows that, although there was much improvidence,
1 Cf. e. g. Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 225, 28 Niles Register, p. TOO,
and Hall, Address to the Free People of Color, p. 3.
2 Cf. supra, pp. 151-53; also Md. Col. Journal, no. 19.
8 In addition to the references given in the last note, vide Md. Col.
Journal, vol. i, p. 279; vol. ix, pp. 277-78; 43 Niles Register, p. 39;
Griffith, Annals of Baltimore, p. 233; Baltimore American, March 5,
1832, and June 10, 1859; Frederick Examiner, March 24, 1858; 2?ih
Annual Report of American Anti-Slavery Society, p. 209.
4 Cf. infra, pp. 263-64, chapter on Attempts to Check the Growth of
the Free Negro Population.
248 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [638
honest toil was the chief resource of the free negroes for
winning their subsistence. 1 With this view the less biased
statements of contemporaries agreed. 2
A favorite term with the critics of the free negro was the
word " vagrant." 3 Clauses in several statutes, the first of
which were inserted in 1796,* were enacted to prevent
vagrancy on the part of adult free negroes, and to cause
free negro children to be bound out to learn useful trades.
The manner in which those laws were executed has been in-
dicated elsewhere. 5 Complaints about vagrancy of negroes
were perhaps more general before 1830 than after that time.
For although it survived later in all parts of the state, it
was, according to Governor Hicks, chiefly in the lower
counties on both sides of the bay that the public suffered
from it. 6 The reliable statistics that are available are con-
fined to the almshouse reports of Baltimore County for the
years 1851-1860. They show that in .those years, except-
ing for the year 1855, 9.7 per cent of those committed to
the almshouse as vagrants were negroes, whereas the pro-
portion of free negroes in the total population of the county
in 1850 was 13.6 per cent and in 1860 1 1.2 per cent. 7
The chief data bearing upon pauperism among the
1 Cf. on this Baltimore American, June 9, 1859, statement by Judge
Pearce in the .Slave-Holders' Convention.
1 Vide Baltimore American, Feb. 2, 1860, letteir from "Slave-
Holder," and Feb. 16, 1860, memorial of citizens of Baltimore against
the "Jacobs Bills".
*Cf. Md. Pub. Docs., 1841 H, pp. 3-5; Harper, op. cit., pp. 8-9; H.
Dels. Journal, 1852, pp. 619, 623; 1853, pp. 120, 991 and 1055, and!
1856, pp. 80, 137, 263, 323 ; also supra, pp. 95-97.
'Laws, 1796, chs. 30 and 67. Cf. 1797, ch. 56, 1804, ch. 96, and 1839,
ch. 38.
6 Supra, pp. 95 and) 131-33 et seq.
* Inaugural Address, 1858, p. 13.
T Cf. Brackett, Negro in Maryland, pp. 221-22.
639]
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
249
negroes are likewise confined to Baltimore County. As
shown in the table below, the number of negroes in the
county almshouse was relatively high in 1828, the date of
the earliest report. But at that time it was said that the
TABLE SHOWING INMATES OF THE ALMSHOUSE OF BALTIMORE COUNTY
White.
Colored.
Total.
Per cent
Colored.
Per cent of
Pop.
Colored.
Per cent of
Cfty Pop.
Free
Colored.
1828
4751
1204
5955
20.2
*
1830
53io
1278
6588
19.4
23.6
14.7
1835
575
1029
6104
16.8
. . .
1840
4654
1502
6156
24-5
21.4
15-9
1845
5146
1386
6532
21.2
1849
5230
1389
6619
20.9
...
1850
5566
1008
6574
15-3
17.8
13.2
1855
6356
1123
7479
IS.O
. . .
1860
8018
1069
9087
II. 7
13-2
II. 2
practice of setting free superannuated slaves aided to swell
the ranks of the destitute free. 1 While in 1828-30 the per-
centage of negro inmates was greater than the free negro
percentage of the total population of the county, after the
middle of the century it declined, until in 1860 it exceeded
the latter by only five-tenths of one per cent. In the three
decades 18301860 the county's free negro population in-
creased 12023. The average number of free negro inmatest
in 1828-33 was 1233.6, and in 1853-60 1177.4. The ap-
parent improvement in the condition of the free negroes
was no doubt offset in part by the peculiar forms assumed
by private charities in their case. Verbal reports from
several of the counties also concur in declaring that the
ratio of negroes in the total number of inmates of the alms-
houses was small.
1 37 Niles Register, p. 340 ; Genius of Universal Emancipation, Oct
7, 1826.
250
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
[640
The following table gives the numbers of families helped
by the Baltimore Association for the Improvement of the
Condition of the Poor during the years 1857-60. The pro-
portion of negro families in this instance exceeded that of
the free negroes to the total population of the city.
Families
helped.
Negro families
helped.
Negro per cent
of total.
1857
406"?
684
16.0
i8<;8 ,
.123
733
Id. 2
i8co .
?Oi2
<;8o
10.
1860
J
1158
CO I
*2
18.0
Total ....
15408
2598
16.7
It should be remarked that more than a third of all the white fami-
lies helped through this agency in these years were those of foreign
immigrants.
In addition to the charitable relief dispensed by the whites
the negroes did much to help themselves and their own
poor. Much of this was extended as individual relief, but
some was given through relief societies. As early as 1821
a benevolent society of young men of color was in existence
in Baltimore. 1 Others like it were either already at work
or were founded soon thereafter, for in 1835 a committee
of negro ministers reported that the colored people of the
city had more than thirty " benevolent institutions " with a
membership of from thirty-five to a hundred and fifty each,
and that several of them had savings accounts bearing in-
terest in the banks. 2 Among them were the African
Friendship Benevolent Society for Social Relief which had
1 Federal Gazette, Sept. 25, 28, 1821. Cf. Genius of Universal Eman-
cipation, Oct. 7, 1826.
2 49 Niles Register, p. 72.
641] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 251
four hundred dollars in funds at the time it was incor-
porated in 1 833.* Others named by a writer in the Balti-
more Literary and Religious Magazine in 1838 were the
" Star in the East Association," the " Daughters of Jeru-
salem Association," the benevolent associations of caulkers,
coachmen, mechanics, United Brethren and young men, and
temperance, Bible and Sunday school societies. 2 Appar-
ently most of these organizations endeavored in part to
imitate the clubs and societies of the whites. They culti-
vated social life, endeavored to mutualize relief by giving
financial and other assistance to their members in cases of
sickness and distress, in burying the dead, etc* The most
pretentious of them were those of the Masonic order, the
first permit for which was received from Philadelphia in
1825. The Friendship Lodge no. 6, then founded in Balti-
more, was followed by two others with which in 1845 it
was consolidated into the First 'Colored Grand Lodge of
Maryland. Two years later was formed a second grand
lodge which continued to maintain a separate existence, until
in 1876 it was consolidated also with its senior sister society.
Royal arch chapters also existed before the general emanci-
pation but failed to administer successfully the higher de-
grees until 1865.* The laudable purposes of these organiza-
1 Baltimore Chattel Records, Lib. TiK ito. 233, p. 325.
2 Md. Col. Journal, no. 16, p. 68, reprinting article from the Literary
and Religious Magazine vol. iii, p. 280. There were also a "Relief
Society in 'Cases of Seizure," and) a " Young Men's Mental Improve-
ment Society " for the discussion of moral and philosophical questions.
This writer named at least thirty societies and referred to still others
whose names he could not give.
8 Op. cit. Cf. also Lucas, Picture of Baltimore, 1833, p. 165.
4 Gumshaw, OiKcial History of Freemasonry among the Colored
People of North America, pp. 165-71. Apparently these societies con-
tinued despite the statutory prohibition of negro secret societies in the
act of 1842, ch. 281.
252 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [642
tions were no bar to suspicions that they might undertake
to promote incendiary movements. There is no doubt that
their activities were greatly obstructed by the legal restric-
tions upon negro meetings. And yet in the city of Balti-
more, if not also in some other places, a tolerant policy en-
abled societies that were not secret to continue to pursue the
objects for which they had been formed. 1
The next subject to be treated is that of mortality. The
statistics bearing upon it are not complete and are taken
in part from Niles Register and from the newspapers.
Several plague seasons will be first referred to and after
them certain other years not marked by special causes of
deaths. In the months of July and October 1819 a plague
appeared in the city of Baltimore. The free negroes who
then numbered about 14 per cent of the population of the
county furnished 17.5 per cent of the deaths due to all
causes. 3 In 1832 when another pleague occurred, the free
negroes constituted about 14.5 per cent of the population of
the county. In the month of August 46.3 per cent of the
plague cases and 43.3 per cent of the deaths were those of
negroes and in the following month 36.9 per cent of the
deaths from all causes were those of negroes. 3 And
whereas only about 63 per cent of the negroes were freemen,
88.8 per cent of those who died were freemen. And yet
the percentage of fatalities among the cases reported was!
greater on the part of the whites than on that of the negroes.
In May and June 1849 an epidemic of flagrant typhus visited
the city. " It was confined almost exclusively to this race
.... In rows of houses occupied by Germans, Irish and
free blacks, it would invariably single out the latter, in many
1 Cf. Baltimore Sun, Feb. 17, 1860, quoting Cumberland Telegraph.
Also Brackett, op. cit., pp. 203-05.
2 J7- Niles Register, p. 541, quoting -report of Board of Health.
1 The following table is compiled from reports published in 43 Niles
643] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 253
instances seizing an entire family." Eighty-three cases
were sent to the almshouse, and of the thirty-nine victims
only one was a white person. Finally in the midsummer
of the following year a cholera plague occurred at the alms-
house. At the time 27.3 per cent of the inmates were
negroes, while 27.7 per cent of the cases and 33.7 per cent of
the victims were of the same race. Of the whites who were
attacked 50.8 per cent succumbed and of the negroes 67.4
per cent. 2 In all of the cases the percentage of fatalities on
the part of the negroes was excessive.
The following tables compare the number of deaths of
the free negroes with those of the whites and the slaves in
Register, pp. 24, 44, 52, 71, 84, for the interval from (September i to
October 4, 1832 :
Numbe
r oi deaths.
Total
Week ending.
Total.
Whites.
Free negroes.
Slaves.
negroes.
gent 7 .
2C4
JCQ
06
g
1 04
" id .
5-12
2IO
100
I?
122
" 21
22S
14.6
68
I I
70
28
116
77
3C
in
Oct. 4. .
So
58
20
2
ai
1016
641
339
38
375
Cf. op. cit., vol. 42, pp. 432, 451; vol. 43, pp. 2, 39; also Baltimore
Republican, Aug. 26, 27, 1832; Baltimore American, September 3, 4, n,
1 8, 25, and Oct. 5, 1832. On the cholera in the Eastern Shore, vide
Centerville Times, September 15, 1832.
1 Buckler, History of the Epidemic Cholera at the Baltimore County
Almshouse, 1849, pp. 5, 12.
2 Op. cit., pp. 17-18. Buckler gives the following data:
Inmates Cases Deaths
Whites 407 112 57
Negroes 153 43 29
254
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
[644
years not marked by special causes of death : ( for Baltimore
County)
Percentages.
Deaths.
Year.
4.
"> d
|||
cfl
S-J
m
M
D
c
M
negroes.
H
v a a
rt
1x3
5
I
u
" g
*
&
H
h
I
1819 .
24 4 ( l82O)
en 2
2287
I7l6
C7I
24.0
1823
2108
I44Q
31.7
1824
416
48
?68
1829 ....
23.6(1830)
62.7
1849
1320
529
IOO
429
23.2
1843 ....
2I.6(l840)
73-8
2520
1913
60 7
135
472
24.0
1849 ...
16.7(1850)
81.2
4576
3SI9
1057
266
791
23.09
1860 ....
13-2
84.7
Data from Niles Register and from Baltimore American, Jan. 24, 1850.
TABLE OF DEATHS OF NEGROES IN BALTIMORE COUNTY
Free negro
Free
Per cent
per cent of
Total.
Slaves.
negroes.
free
total colored
negroes.
population.
1824
416
48
368
88.4
52.9 (1820)
1829
529
IOO
429
81.09
62.7(1830)
1848
1840
607
IOC7
III
472
701
77-7
74.8
73.8 (1840)
*y
1853
3
879
67
/ V*
812
/f""
92.3
81.2(1850)
l8C4
841
1 06
72C
87 3
10^^.
1858
O*^. I
808
135
7.15
673
/o
88.3
....
1860
853
104
749
87.8
87.4 (1860)
Assuming that these statistics are correct the decline of
the free negro portion of the total population of Baltimore
County was attended by an almost uniform percentage in
the negroes' share of the total mortality. And among the
645] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 255
negroes, although an excessive portion of the deaths were
those of free negroes in 1824, the excess was later so far
reduced that in spite of the plague of 1849 the balance at
times even inclined in their favor. In the decade 1850-60
the death-rate of the free negroes of the county was but one
and one-tenth per cent higher than the numbers of their class
would have warranted. 1 For thirty-six of the years be-
tween 1818 and 1863 the death-rate among the negroes of
the city of Baltimore was 3.1 per cent while that of the
whites was 2.49 per cent. 2 It will 'be recalled that the
major part of the free negroes resided in the city and the
major part of the slaves in the rural portion of the county.
The normal death-rate was probably higther in the city than
in the county. Thus the grounds for the opinion that free-
dom was destructive to the negroes, in so far as they had to
be found in the conditions in Baltimore, were nearly re-
moved before the general emancipation. 3
Comparing certain tables of mortality of the whites and
negroes the United States Census stated that the two races
had " different susceptibilities of the attacks of disease and
different liabilities to death." * It is not to be thought on
that account, however, that the negroes were more liable
to diseases than the whites under similar circumstances.*
And yet it was shown above that the death-rate both in
1 The free negroes were 81.2 per cent of the county's negro popula-
tion in 1850 and 87.4 per cent in 1860, or roughly an average of 84.3
per cent, while 83.2 per cent of the deaths were those of negroes.
1 Eighth Census of United States, Mortality and Miscellaneous Sta-
tistics, p. 280.
3 For some of the opinions referred to, vide C. W. Jacobs, Speech to
the Maryland House of Delegates in 1860. Cf. 28 Niles Register, p.
100, andi vol. 37, p. 340 ; also Griffith, op. cit., p. 233.
* Mortality Statistics, Eighth Census, p. 280.
6 Cf . 24 Niles Register, p. 39.
256 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [646
normal times and in plague seasons was greater among the
negroes. The excessive rate among the free negroes in
1824 and 1829 was partly due to the " unpleasant and op-
pressive fact " that " aged and infirm and worn-out negroes,
from all parts of the state " had been turned out and allowed
to go " to Baltimore, to live as they could, or die, if they
must." * The excess that was not due to this cause was
obviously the result of the operation of the combined
forces of physical environment of negro homes, of dis-
solute habits and of the hardships and denials of the life
they led. The approach to an equivalence in the rate as
between free negroes and slaves in Baltimore in the years
1850-60 was probably due to improvements in the condi-
tions. 2 -
The reasons why the negroes thus fell short of the stand-
ards set by the whites will perhaps admit of restatement at
this point. The negroes were of a race that was undevel-
oped in both the material and moral elements of civilization.
They brought from their mother-land scarcely anything of
culture that proved enduring here. Their material achieve-
ments in Africa were forgotten here, and of their striking
moral characteristics none excepting their ignorance, their
sensual natures and their lack of tense care for their own
interests were permitted to express themselves. They had
been suddenly thrust into the midst of an enlightened, ambi-
tious and well-organized race. The community into which
they came belonged to the white men : the fruits of its fields
and the benefits of its institutions were for the white men.
Other white men, if they came, were welcome bidders for a
share in such advantages, but the men who were not whites
had been fetched in for the benefit and convenience of the
1 37 Niles Register, p. 340, a conservative view, and Genius of Uni-
versal Emancipation, Oct. 7, 1826, a less conservative view.
9 Cf. Governor Hicks' s Inaugural Address, p. 13.
647] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 257
whites. 1 They were not prepared to adopt the manner of
life of the white people, yet in many things they were com-
pelled by moral and physical force to follow the lines laid
down for them. They therefore underwent a severe course
of training which began in them a process of remolding.
This experience made distinctive other characteristics.
Such were their depreciation of themselves and of other
persons of their color, their lack of confidence in their own
abilities, their deference and obsequiousness towards white
persons and their lack of the sense of responsibility for the
condition of affairs in general. Fidelity to the duties that
engaged them, although often nobly exemplified, was a
quality whose generality could not be safely asserted.
Freedom seemed to imply a measure of equality between
free denizens of the community. Negroes were manu-
mitted in order that they might be given a chance to realize
freedom. Yet from acquaintance with the weaknesses of
the slaves, the manumitters could hardly have been so blind
as to have expected that the enfranchised negroes would rise
to a plane of equality with themselves. Those who became
free were generally ignorant of the meaning of their condi-
tion and of its possibilities. They still regarded themselves
as " niggers," and hardly rose to a conception of sharing in
the better things of life and becoming equal citizens in the
state. 2 Ambitions to rival the white men's achievements
1 Although this situation held less true in the nineteenth century than
it had in the eighteenth century, the thought suggested by the statement
given underlay a great deal of the anti-negro agitation. Cf. 13 Niles
Register, pp. 177-78; Baltimore American, March 5, 1832; Md. Col.
Journal, vol. i, pp. 279-80; vol. iv, p. 184; an<d Hall, op. cit., pp. 2-3.
Even the (Methodist Church excluded negroes from the higher ranks of
its ministry, until nearly forced to admit them.
* The exceptions to this were probably chiefly among those who came
under abolitionist influence after 1830, Ibut their reaction even in that
case was hardly favorable to their elevation.
258 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [648
and to become " gentlemen " were at best vague on their
part they were fitted the rather mainly for the mean in-
dustrial role in which they everywhere appeared. 1 Their
visual horizon was unwidened, and they seemed in many
cases to have believed that their material condition would
have been just as good in slavery as in freedom. Yet they
cherished liberty as a relief from the toils of slavery, and
too often had as a chief purpose the avoidance of labor such
as they had undergone in slavery. In so far as they took
this view, they allowed their own interests to fall into a
condition of disorder and either abandoned themselves to
the gratification of personal whims and appetites, or allowed
the whole current of their lives to be determined by the
demands of the whites.
The general tenor of contemporary accounts greatly dis-
paraged the free negroes 2 and the possibilities of their
achieving anything worth while. A great deal was said too
about the impossibility of their getting recognition of such
merits as they really possessed. But these things were not
altogether true to fact. Both races of men were composed
of good, bad and indifferent classes, 3 the last two being very
numerous in each. Had the personal endowments been
equal in both, there is no reason why many of the negroes
might not have risen to good position. But many of the
latent talents of the masses of both races wasted away with-
out a chance for development. None of either race could
rise from a low position without making the effort necessary
1 Cf. Letter of General Harper to E. B. Caldwell, pp. 7-8.
*Niles Register, vol. 21, p. 119; vol. 28, p. 100; vol. 37, p. 340;
Harper, op. cit.; Md. Pub. Docs., 1843 M, pp. 44-47; Debates of the
Constitutional Convention of 1850, vol. ii, p. 222 ; Md. Col. Journal, vol.
i, p. 281 ; Easton Gazette, 'May 7, 1859, and) Frederick Examiner, June
i, 1859.
1 Cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. iii, p. 323.
649] SOCIAL CONDITIONS 259
for self-improvement. The negroes, although landless and
denied entrance to many careers, were not barred from all
the good things of life, and merit on their part did not go
entirely unrewarded. The social system did make invidious
discriminations against them in some matters, but neverthe-
less high character on a negro's part gained recognition as
an estimable achievement, even though its possessor wore
a black skin. It was not true that a negro could at best
gain " a mere subsistence " in the state of Maryland. 1 He
could provide well for his family, could have a home of his
own and could lead a fairly independent and respectable life.
The social system afforded a certain homage to him who
thus labored and prospered. Negroes in general were not
" down " just because the hands of the white people were
against them their obscurity as individuals was not wholly
due to causes lying outside of themselves. Their humble
avocations fell to their lot, as to that of the masses of the
whites, because they were qualified chiefly for the kinds of
services called for therein.
Finally a word may be said in comparison of the free
negroes and the slaves. The two classes shared the same
blood and the same standards of living. Their identity in
these points was perpetuated through their constant con-
sortship in the marriage relation. The freedmen in de-
parting from slavery were usually unable to free themselves
from the influences of the life led by the slaves. Hence
they tended to continue on the level of that life, such that it
seems certain that the average slave was better provided for
than was many a free negro. 2 Had the 83942 free negroes
exchanged places with the 87189 slave negroes in 1860, but
little difference in the material welfare of the majority of
1 Cf. assertion in Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 279.
2 Cf. 28 Niles Register, p. 100, and Harper, op. tit., pp. 8-10.
26o THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [650
either class would probably have resulted. 1 Reports came
from different localities to the effect that one class or the
other was superior. Some of them at least are quite
credible, because of the uneven distribution of the better
class of the negroes. Of such a condition Talbot County
afforded an instance. Among its several districts that of
Miles Neck had but few free negroes and Chapel a large
number, but few of them in either case were of the superior
class, while Easton, St. Michael's and Trappe each had a
goodly number of the better class. 2 Apparently a similar
condition obtained among the colored freemen of Dor-
chester, Frederick and Somerset counties also.
1 Cf. Baltimore American, Feb. 14, 1860, for remarks by a slave-
holder on the re-enslavement project of 1859-60.
The assessment books for the year 1852 seenl to corroborate the
verbal report that this was true.
CHAPTER X
ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH OF FREE
NEGRO POPULATION
IT has been stated in preceding chapters that at the time
of the revolution the presence of the slave population was
viewed with anxiety. In order to check its growth the for-
eign slave trade was excluded from the ports of Maryland.
At the same time the manumission movement 'began to swell
rapidly the numbers of the free negroes. For about a
generation both classes of negroes continued to increase.
The free negroes were at that time formally almost upon
a legal par with the whites. On the economic side, how-
ever, they had diverged but little from the condition of the
slaves with whom socially they continued to be identified.
They were generally treated with as much liberality as the
whites felt safe in exercising towards them. But as they
had failed to fulfil the obligations and to measure up well
to the standards of freemen, it was not difficult to find ob-
jections to their continued enjoyment of the customary
rights of freemen. They were eventually accused of caus-
ing the "evils" that afflicted the state, they tended to
supersede the slaves as the bone of contention in state politics.
Proposals to the legislature affecting them, whether liberal
or restrictive in tendency, were able to gain a hearing, al-
though those of the latter sort were the more often carried.
'After the war of 1812 the whites who favored restriction
endeavored to check the growth of the free negro class.
The history of that endeavor will form the subject of this
chapter.
651] 261
262 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [652
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the white
people of the state regarded themselves as the inhabitants of
the land. The low position of the negroes was but the con-
sequence of their residing in the white man's country. 1
Their environment, it was said, offered them no hopes for
better things, but only increasing unhappiness and discon-
tent. The colonial fathers had sought measures to check
the slave trade through the Associations of 1774.* The
wish that there might be a separation of the two races was
cherished early, and, plans for getting the negroes out were
industriously devised. 3 But all efforts to secure the adop-
tion of plans for the purpose were to fall unheeded, until in
1816 the negro population had grown in the states to about
a million and a half, of whom 13 per cent were free.
Then was founded the American Society for Colonizing
the Free People of Color of the United States. The forma-
tion of this society was followed by the planting of branches
in at least twenty-two of the states, 4 and by numerous
auxiliaries. The continent of Africa was regarded as the
fitting home for the negroes, and the United States govern-
ment secured for the society possession of territory there
which was made available for occupation by negro emi-
grants from the states. 5 Thus was opened the way through
1 Letter of General Harper to E. B. Caldwell, pp. 7, 8 ; McKenney,
Origin, Progress and Necessity of African Colonisation, p. 9. Cf. Md.
Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 242.
'MacDonald, Select Charters, pp. 363-64. McKenney, op. cit., pp.
3-4. The Burgesses in Virginia petitioned the king of Great Britain to
assent to an anti-slave trade law.
'McKenney, op. cit., pp. 2-8; Washington, Writings of Thomas Jef-
ferson, vol. v, pp. 563-64.
* Colonisation of the Free People of Color of Maryland, 1832, p. 5 ;
McKenney, op. cit., pp. 12, 14. Cf. also Republican Star and Eastern
Shore General Advertiser, Dec. 31, 1816.
* McKenney, op. cit., p. 19. Cf. also H. Dels. Journal, 1818, p. 73.
and Latrobe, Maryland in Liberia, p. 9.
653] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 263
which it was hoped that the negroes might be induced to pass
away from the United States. 1
The white people deemed themselves the arbiters of the
destiny of the negroes. They were perhaps agreed at the
time that slavery was not to be a permanent institution on
American soil; and they were generally opposed to federal
interference with slavery in the states. But they were far
from being agreed as to how the state of Maryland should
attempt ultimately to dispose of its negro citizens. In
order to explain the state's course with regard to coloniza-
tion it is necessary to take account of the different interests
and sentiments of the people. First there were the tobacco
producers and slave-holders who were domineering towards
the others who did not share their interests. They regarded
the social position of their class as a patrimonium which
was to be passed on undiminished from generation to genera-
tion. In order to maintain the social order they preferred
they were determined to protect and perpetuate slavery.
They were sensitive about movements and proposals that
might affect that cherished institution. They were opposed
to free negroes, and hence to a manumission of slaves, but
tended to favor colonization chiefly for the sake of getting
rid of the free negro menace to slavery. Biding the frui-
tion of the colonization scheme they favored measures to
compel the free negroes to be industrious, in order that they
might be peaceful and happy and be kept from exerting a
baneful influence upon the slaves. 3 They favored severities
or mild measures according as the objects in view might be
best attained, for, they alleged, such measures would in the
1 Washington, op. cit., vol. vii, pp. 332-33.
2 C/. H. Dels. Journal, 1790, pp. 83, 102; 1791, p. 106; also American
Farmer, series 3, vol. i, pp. 107, 187.
* Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 160 ; M d. Pub. Documents, 1841 H, p. 4.
264 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [654
end prove themselves to be humane. By no means were
the negroes to be allowed to attain a vantage ground which
could warrant them in aspiring to equality with the whites.
These views had been so often foisted upon the public that
dissent from them appeared to be disloyalty to the best in-
terests of the state. They therefore had great influence
among the people. But they were the views chiefly of those
who wished to maintain the old order of things prevailing in
the non-progressive counties. 1 They had become the senti-
ments of a minority, but those holding to other views were
not united in sentiment as were these. The grain growers
and stock-raisers, referred to in an earlier chapter as turning
to free labor, still held some slaves and often joined in the
complaints against the free negroes. The manufacturing
and trading classes and their employees tended to adopt the
free labor point of view, although they were not distinctly
hostile to slavery. These classes generally opposed harsh
restrictions upon manumissions and upon free negroes.
But they saw that the emancipation of slaves was in pro-
gress ; they thought that in course of time it would be com-
pleted, and that it was the wisest policy to protect and to
elevate the condition of the freedmen. 2 In some of their
views they were joined by the conservative slave-holders,
and they constantly acted as a check upon the advocates of
harsh measures. From their number came certain leading
champions of the colonization scheme. The small number
of out-and-out abolitionists were a negligible factor.
In the three decades following the first federal census
the free negroes of the United States increased from 7.8
per cent to 13.5 per cent of the whole negro population.
1 Cf. Md. Pub. Documents, 1843 M, p. 46; 1845 G, p. 17; and Balti-
more Gazette, March 17, 1832.
2 Cf. editorial in 13 Niles Register, p. 82 ; also Easton Gazette, Jan.
22, 1842; Cecil Whig, Jan. 22, 1842; Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, pp. 122-23.
655] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 2 6$
Those of Maryland increased from 7.2 per cent to 26.9 per
cent, and from 13.5 per cent to 17 per cent of all free
negroes in the union. The announcement of the colonization
plan, although widely welcomed, was also greeted with
jeers and hisses. Its promoters were accused of quixotism
and utopianism on the one hand and of iniquitous desire to
perpetuate slavery on the other. 1 Nevertheless the Maryland
people furnished many of the leaders in establishing the
American Colonization Society. They also organized aux-
iliary societies in Annapolis and Baltimore 2 and contributed
liberally towards supplying the equipment of the first emi-
grant expedition to the African coast. 3 Their legislature
had suggested that the federal government should acquire
the territory mentioned above. 4 It later urged the federal
government to aid and protect the interests of the American
Colonization Society, and in 1826 itself made an appropria-
tion of $1000 a year, which it continued until 1832 in order
to promote the cause. 5 This " first efficient support " given
to the society by any state government was held up to the
other states as worthy of emulation. 6
The primary aim of colonization was to remove the free
negroes. On that account the House of Delegates hailed
1 McKenney, op. cit., p. 13 ; Md. Republican, Jan. 16, 1821 ; Niles
Register, vol. xvii, pp. 201-02; vol. xviii, p. 298; and vol. xiii, p. 82.
3 Federal Gazette, July 9, 15, and Aug. 6, 1817; Griffith, Annals of
Baltimore, p. 223; McKenney, op. tit., p. 14; 18 Niles Register, p. 415;
Md. Republican, Feb. 10, 1818; Genius of Universal Emancipation,
series 2, vol. i, p. 149.
8 McKenney, op. cit., Federal Gazette, Jan. i, 1820; H. Dels. Journal,
1825, p. 338.
4 H. Dels. Journal, 1817, resolution no. 5, and 1819, p. 73.
* Op. cit., 1825, Joint Resolution no. 547 ; Laws, 1826, ch. 172. Cf.
Repealing Act of 1832, ch. 314; also H. Dels. Journal, 1829, p. 21.
*Md. Republican, March 10, 1827; nth Annual Report of American
Colonization Society, p. 48.
2 66 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [656
it as " the hope of the Slaveholding states," 1 and the state
gave its financial support. The return derived by the
country from the work of the organization, however, was
small. The census of 1830 showed that in ten years the
free negro population had increased by 33 per cent, becom-
ing thereby more than 33 per cent of the total negro popula-
tion. That increase alone exceeded by more than 200 per
cent the number of negroes removed by the colonization
society from the entire United States in the fourteen years
of its career. 2 Proceeding at that rate the success of the
enterprise was not assured, and the interest in it, writes
Latrobe, was on the wane. 3 The Maryland leaders con-
vinced of the practicability of the plan, when given a fair
chance, desired increased facilities for accomodating emi-
grants from their state. 4 They were influenced also by
events that took place outside the state. In the establish-
ment of the American Colonization Society, some of its
supporters, particularly in the northern states, had desired a
clear avowal that the extirpation of slavery was the goal.
But as that would have risked the loss of the necessary
support of the slave-holders, it was left out. 5 These friends
were pleased with the action taken by the society against
the foreign slave trade and continued for a time hoping to
give also an anti-slavery turn to its activities. But more
than a decade had passed, and the southern leaders seemed
less tractable to anti-slavery influences than they had been
at the beginning. Maryland had even repulsed the two
1 Journal, 1827, p. 342.
* McKenney, op. cit., p. 19. Less than 4000 negroes had been re-
moved through the work of the society up to 1830.
1 Maryland in Liberia, p. 12. Cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 2, and
Baltimore American, September 21, 1842.
4 Md. Col. Journal, no. i; Baltimore American, March 5, 1822.
6 Cf. Md. Col. Journal, no. i, and McKenney, op. cit., p. 23.
657] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 267
leading anti-slavery agitators of the day and had practically
sealed the lips of their sympathizers within her borders.
The mask was off! and the meaning of colonization was
made clear ! Many at the north withdrew from the society *
and joined the abolitionists who were just then rising into
prominence in the effort to encompass its defeat. The ef-
fect of these circumstances upon the Maryland people was
signal. It was said that the colonizationist leaders were
mainly members of the Whig party. Their argument now
ran that the colonization interest was being identified
with the slavery interest. That inasmuch as slavery was a
local institution, it was proper to leave it to the state to
work out its own problem. Extraneous interference, there-
fore, without the solicitation of the local people, was unwel-
come. 2 Maryland, the chief sufferer from the free negroes,
had done a good part by the American Colonization Society,
and its work had been futile for her relief. It was able to
care for its own interests, and this state, although not in
opposition or rivalry with it, would attempt to care for her
own. 3 Moreover, in August 1831 occurred the Southamp-
ton massacre in neighboring Virginia.* The affair was at
once attributed to abolitionist machinations, 5 and rumors had
it that similar scenes were to be staged in Maryland. The
1 McKenney, op. cit.
3 H. Dels. Journal, 1829, p. 21. Cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 2,
and Baltimore American, Sept. 21, 1842.
*Md. Col. Journal, no. i (1835).
4 Drewry, Slave Insurrections in Virginia, pp. 35-64 ; 41 Niles Reg-
ister, pp. 4, 19, 35 ; and Village Herald, Sept. 1831.
5 C/. Hart, Slavery and Abolition, pp. 217-20; Rhodes, History of the
United States, vol. i, pp. 56-57; Schouler, History of the United
States, vol. iv, p. 210; also Snow Hill Messenger, August 30, Oct. 18
and Nov. i, 1831 ; also Confession of Nat Turner, advertised for sale
in Hagerstown Torchlight, Dec. 8, 1831. Cf. also Cambridge Chron-
icle, Sept. 3 and' Aug. 27, 1831, andi Maryland Journal and True Amer-
ican, Jan. 18, 1839.
268 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [658
horrors of St. Domingo were recalled, and the kingdom of
slavery was thrown into a state of terror. The opportunity
of those who favored restriction of free negroes seemed to
have come. Colonization became quickly popularized.
In its session of 1830 the House of Delegates had de-
clared the growth of the free negro population a grave mat-
ter. 1 In that of 1831 memorials came up from various
quarters praying for action upon it. Several of them had
desired the abolition of slavery, but for the most part they
asked for more stringent police regulations to keep order
among the negroes, for the curtailment of manumissions and
for the removal of the free negroes from the state. 2 They
were referred to the Committee on Grievances and Courts
of Justice of which one Brawner, of Charles County, was
chairman. Committees of the two houses met in joint con-
ference before the House committee brought in its report.
That report deplored the exodus of whites from the state
and condemned the free negroes carte blanche. It declared
that their presence was injurious to the prosperity of the
people, that they were not only menacing to its " dearest in-
terests and happiness," but that time was augmenting the
evils. It was predicted that the time was drawing near
when the " evils " could no longer be borne. It referred re-
spectfully to the petitions for abolition but ignored them in
its recommendations of "remedies" that it deemed neces-
sary, if the state was to be saved from ruin. 3 A bill also
1 Journal, 1830, p. 136.
* Op. cit., 1831, pp. 106, 147, 148 (Somerset Co.), 154 (Frederick
and two others), 167 (Prince George's), 201 (Kent), 223 (Talbot and
Queen Anne's). Cf. Baltimore Gazette, March 17, 1832, and 61 Niles
Register, p. 216.
8 Baltimore Gazette, March 17, 1832. Cf. American Farmer, 1829, p.
167, andi Village Herald, Oct. 4, 1831. Regarding action proposed in
Virginia two months earlier, Niles Register, in) its vol. 41, p. 34 said:
" The public attention, we think, is unfortunately chiefly called to the
659] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 269
was brought in. It repeated the prohibitions against the
importations of slaves and the immigration of free negroes
and proposed that every free negro in the state should be
required to register annually in a public office and pay a fee
of a dollar and a half therefor, failing which he was not to
be allowed to work for any employer in the state ; that every
slave manumitted thereafter should be sold by the state as a
slave for life, unless he left the state within three months,
or unless his manumitters paid the sum of fifty dollars for
his expatriation; and that no religious meetings of negroes
were to be permitted without the presence of a white
minister. 1 Its publication made a profound impression.
The people had desired to have laws to check the growth
of the free negroes but were not prepared to sanction what
was here offered. The male members of the Light Street
Methodist Church in Baltimore, moved " with alarm and
deep solicitude " sent in a memorial reciting their objec-
tions to it. They asserted that the registry provision, if
enforced as law, would almost certainly deprive many
negroes of the right to earn an honest living ; that the manu-
mission tax would discriminate against manumission by
slave-holders who were not able to pay it ; that it would lead
to defeat for the plan to prevent the growth of the negro
population, inasmuch as the slaves increased faster than the
free negroes ; and that its stopping the mouths of the negro
preachers would endanger the church's influence with their
free blacks. The elements of mischief we apprehend, are not so much
in them as in the slaves. The first have some powerful motives to
behave well, which cannot have influence over the second, when tempted
to commit outrages on white persons." The Pennsylvania legislators
were just then, January 1832, reported to have (been resolving to resist
the sending of free negroes from other states to reside in their midst.
Op. cit.
l Cf. copies of the bill, Baltimore American, Feb. 24, 1832; Mary-
land Republican, Feb. 24, 1832; Cambridge Chronicle, Feb. 25, 1832;
and Maryland Journal and True American, Feb. 28, 1832.
270 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [660
race. Finally, it contended that the " obligations of
humanity and justice in reference to the colored population "
demanded that radical measures that would imperil their
interests ought not to 'be passed. 1 Protests against passing
the bill also came from Centerville and other parts of the
state. 2
As a consequence the House omitted the provisions for
the registry and for taxing manumissions, modified that on
religious meetings and passed a materially altered measure. 3
The outcome of the efforts were two acts, one containing
regulations for the free negro residents of Maryland, 4 and
the other provisions regarding residence and colonization of
manumitted slaves and of free negroes. The latter de-
clared that slaves manumitted in future were to be removed
from the state to some foreign colony, or to some place in
the United States to which they would consent to go. It
ordered the clerk of the county court and the register of
wills in each county to send to the colonization society the
names of all negroes whose manumissions were recorded in
their respective offices, and the sheriffs to deliver the negroes
to the colonization society to be sent away. But there were
two exceptions: first, any negro whose going away would
sever certain family ties might renounce freedom and re-
main in the state, and second, any negro who could pro-
cure a certificate of " extraordinarily " good character from
the orphans' court of his county might remain in the state
1 Baltimore American, March 5, 1832.
*The Cambridge Chronicle on March 10 expressed doubt whether
the bill would be passed in its then existing form. Cf. Village Herald,
March 13, 1832, and Maryland Journal and True American, Feb. 28,
1832. The latter takes an extreme position in favor of stringent meas-
ures. Also Cambridge Chronicle, March 17, 1832.
* Easton Gazette, March 10, 17, 1832.
* Laws, 1831, ch. 323. Its chief provisions are given in the chapter
on Legal Status, supra, pp. 94-129.
66l] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH
for twelve months. Free negroes and slaves whose manu-
missions had been already recorded were to be transported,
whenever they would consent to go. 1 These acts did not
satisfy the rampant opponents of the free negroes, nor did
the compulsory features of the colonizing clauses please the
colonizationists. They were the result of a compromise.
Nevertheless they marked an epoch in the policy of Mary-
land towards the negroes. 2
Preparations were also made to give effect to the colon-
ization statute. During the session of the legislature just
referred to the Maryland State Colonization Society was
formed and incorporated. 3 The colonization act included
a clause authorizing an appropriation of $10,000 a year to
the work and providing for a special tax levy to raise the
funds to meet the charge. 4 It further empowered the Gov-
ernor and Council to appoint a board of managers of three
members to superintend the expenditure of the fund and to
co-operate with the State Society in its colonizing labors.
This board was to scrutinize the acts of the society, to
procure and disseminate information about the Liberian
colony and about certain other colonizing places, 5 to select
1 Laws, 1831, ch. 281.
2 A writer to the Snow Hill Messenger of 'May 28, 1832, considered
the colonization plan to 'be of no probable avail at all. He would! have
sent the free negroes to the unoccupied) southwestern country. He was
opposed to chattel slavery, and at the time of writing was a candidate
for a seat in the legislature.
' Laws, 1831, ch. 314. Cf. Code of 1860, ch. 283; Md. Col. Jour.,
vol. i, p. 2; also Latrofoe, Maryland in Liberia, pp. 12-13.
4 Laws, 1831, ch. 281. iCf. Act of 1834, ch. 197, in which the school
funds of the Westernf .Shore counties were pledged to make good any
deficits in the colonization funds of counties which should fail to im-
pose the colonization tax. The appropriation was kept up -until 1858.
Cf. op. cit., 1852, ch. 202.
5 i6th Annual Report of American Colonisation Society, pp. 35-36;
Senate Journal, 1839, p. 3 ; Md. Col. Journal, vol. iii, p. 322. Cf. Laws,
1831, ch. 281.
272 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [662
subjects for colonization from among those offering to go,
to remove to Liberia, or elsewhere, those whom it selected,
and once at their destination to aid them in procuring a liv-
ing, until they should become self-supporting, and finally to
render an account to the state government for the funds and
the trust committed to its hands. 1 It made the State Society
its agent for removing the negroes, and in that manner con-
tinued for three decades to patronize and support the work of
removal. The legislature repealed the act making the ap-
propriation for the American Colonization Society 2 and
Maryland became free to pursue her own course for her
own relief.
The methods and objects of the colonization society
must be noted carefully, because they were sometimesi
misrepresented. It was not a scheme of coercion that
they had in mind, even though the act of 1831 had author-
ized coercive expatriation of slaves manumitted after its
enactment. Its realization was to be " the voluntary emi-
gration of the free people of color." s The activities of
the society were intended to prepare the territory in Africa
for the occupation of the emigrants, to establish there such
worthy negroes as would consent to go, allow them to man-
age their own affairs, both public and private, as soon as they
could be placed in control and, as far as possible, to invest
the place with such attractions for the negro as America
possessed for the indigent European. 4 For a time, it was
hoped the increase of the negroes could be taken away,
1 H. Dels. Journal, 1832, p. 199; Md. Pub. Documents, 1834, Report
on the Colored Population, pp. 2, 3.
' Laws, 1832, ch. 314.
3 Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 2. Cf. vol. iii, p. 322; vol. ii, p. 99;
Baltimore American, Nov. 22, 1832 ; H. Dels. Journal, 1860, p. 584 ; and
Laws, 1831, ch. 314.
'Md. Col. Journal, vol. iii, p. 2. Cf. op. cit., no. I (1835).
663] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 273
but hardly the entire number. 1 Beyond that point the
society was to employ methods like those of an immigration
agency. It was to advertise the country, to attempt to
educate the negroes to regard Africa as their proper home
and to facilitate their going and settlement there. It fore-
saw the need of supplies in the colony, the establishment of
frequent intercourse with America in order to acquire them
and an increasing disposition of negroes to inquire about
and go to Africa. Finally, when the superiority of African
residence for them had been fully discovered, they would
seek to go eagerly. Emigration would thus grow rapidly
and the local negro population would be decimated. By that
time many of the slaves would have been manumitted and
plans matured for the release and deportation of the rest.
Thus slavery would be extinguished and the state wholly
relieved of its African population.^
The success of colonization depended upon the assist-
ance and cooperation of the white population in the removal
and the willingness of the negroes to be deported. In order
to enlist both classes in the work a traveling agent was em-
ployed, branch societies were founded and a journal estab-
lished. Moreover, the church became an active ally in the
cause. From the outset a traveling agent was kept in the
field almost constantly. From 1833 to 1841 this agent was
also the agent of the managers of the state colonization
fund, but his salary and expenses were paid from the pro-
1 McKenney, op. cit., p. 13. Cf. Maryland Scheme of Expatriation
Examined, p. 6; 9th Annual Report of American Colonisation Society,
p. 7 ; and Niles Register, vol. xvii, p. 29, and 1 vol. xxi, p. 265.
1 Cf. Harper, op. cit., p. n; Report of Managers of Colonisation
Fund, 1834, p. 8; H. Dels. Journal, 1832, p. 26; 17 Niles Register, p.
371; Easton Star, Jan. 8, 1850. Andi for critical views, vide Md. Re-
publican, Jan. 16, 1821 ; Maryland Scheme of Expatriation Examined,
p. 13 ; and Wanderings on the Seas and Shores of Africa, part I, p. 29.
274 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [664
ceeds of voluntary contributions to the cause. 1 The agent's
office was amplified in 1841 and from 1856 to 1859 was
divided between two persons. 2 The duties of the agent
consisted of visiting, making addresses and giving informa-
tion about colonization to the people throughout the state,
organizing branch societies, soliciting collections for the
support of the work, canvassing for emigrants, receiving
candidates for colonization and assisting them in their em-
barkation for Liberia. 3 His work in some parts of the state
was greatly assisted by the auxiliary societies which suc-
ceeded to the place of the local auxiliaries of the American
Colonization Society. 4 Owing to the zeal for colonization
which had attended the legislation of 1832 several more
such societies were organized. 5 After the state convention
of 1841 still others were formed. 6 Among these were the
Society of Enquiry of Govanstown and the Cambridge
African Colonization Society, both of which were made up
of negroes only. 7 They were organized to facilitate the
dissemination of intelligence and to promote the activities
of the society in the respective communities. They assisted
somewhat in keeping alive interest and in raising funds to 1
l Md. Col. Jour., vol. iii, p. 322; Latrolbe, op. cit., p. 59; i6th Ann.
Report of Amer. Col Society, p. 35; Md. Pub. Docs., 1840 no. 4, p. 4;
Maryland Republican, Jan. 23, 1835 ; Md. Col. Jour., vol. i, p. 9.
9 Cf. 60 Niles Register, p. 227 ; Md. Col. Jour., vol. ix, pp. 337-38.
1 Md. Pub. Docs., 1844, no. 4, p. 4; Md. Col. Jour., vol. i, p. 5; vol,
ii, p. 238; vol. v, pp. 247-48. Cf. Laws, 1831, ch. 231, sec. 3.
4 Supra, p. 265. Cf. Federal Gazette, July 9, 1817 ; Maryland Repub-
lican, Feb. 10, 1818; Fredericktown Herald, April 9, 1825; Genius of
Universal Emancipation, series 2, vol. i, pp. 149, 177, and oth Annual
Report of American Colonisation Society, pp. 53, 55. There had been
at least eight auxiliaries before 1830.
6 Centreville Times, June 23 and July 14, 1832.
Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, pp. i, 15, and cf. p. 93.
7 Op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 242-43 ; vol. vi, pp. 6-7. Cf. 35** Annual Report
of American Colonization Society, p. 44.
665] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 275
pay expenses, 1 but evidently their careers were like that
of the 'Chestertown branch which was reorganized " three
of four times " within a term of five years. 2 The endeavor
to organize the whole people " in every town, village and
neighborhood" in the state a was far from being realized.
The chief effective organ of the movement was the central
state society itself, although some of the branches were in-
termittently quite active.
Aside from the traveling agents the press was the most
effective agency in spreading information. The newspapers
devoted approving articles to the subject and sometimes as-
serted that the free negroes would have to be removed from
the state, 4 in order to secure the permanent peace and pros-
perity of the people. The colonization society, however,
established in 1835 a sheet of its own, known as the Mary-
land Colonization Journal. It became a bi-monthly at the
end of 1836 and a monthly in 1838. Fifty-one issues ap-
peared in all by the month of May, 1841. A change of
editors then came with the new impetus to the colonization
movement, and the journal entered upon a new era. It
became a sixteen-page octavo magazine and continued so,
for twenty years. In spirit it was truly colonizationist,
avoiding alliance with the extremes of either pro-slavery or
anti-slavery. 5 It held colonization to be, not the means of
I 6o Niles Register, p. 227; Maryland Republican, April 4, 1829; and
East on Star, July 8, 15, 1856.
*Md. Col. Journal, no. n (1837). Cf. also vol. vi, p. 5.
' Baltimore Gazette, May 15, 1832, and Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 15.
4 Vide Baltimore Clipper, quoted in Md. Col Journal, 1840, p. 152,
anldi Frederick Examiner, March 24, 1858, and June i, 1859.
5 In 1847 the editor wrote : " We not infrequently receive letters from
our lower county subscribers wishing a discontinuance on the score of
our tendency to abolitionism. Them again we have an exchange refused
us in the north because our poor journal is but the 'tool of slavoc-
racy' in! Maryland." Vol. iii, pp. 321-22.
276 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [666
riveting the bonds of the slaves, but of removing free
negroes and manumitted slaves to a real home of freedom,
until the state should have become free from both slavery
and negroes. Its editor hugged throughout his delusions
as to the practicability of colonization and as to convincing
the negroes of its beneficence. " It was intended mainly as
a vehicle of information respecting the Colony (Liberia)
and the Colonists for the friends of the cause in the State
and for the free people of color." x Its articles, therefore,
dealt at length with the acts and proceedings of the coloniza-
tion societies of the United States, with the removals of
emigrant negroes, and with the condition of those who had
taken up residence in the African settlements. They dwelt
also upon the attitude of the whites towards the negroes and
contrasted the dark features of negro life in the United
States with its brighter prospects in 'Africa. As a journal
it was well conducted and thus became an invaluable source
of information about the colonization movement in Mary^
land.
These instrumentalities created by the movement were
aided and re-enforced by the churches. Many members of
the churches shared in the view that the " evils " caused by
the negroes could best be remedied by separation of the two
races. The missionary churches also found additional
reason for favoring the movement, because it was carrying
the means and elements necessary to the Christianization
of Africa and was encouraging missionary work from the
new colonies as a 'base. 2 It was repeatedly endorsed by
" various Conventions, Conferences and Synods " of the
several religious societies, 9 and ministers were urged to ad-
vocate its interests and to take collections for its support.
10 ::! ' G '^;-
1 Op. cit.
1 M d. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 197, and vol. ii, p. 177.
3 Op. cit., vol. vi, p. i.
667] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 277
The Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in 1852 alleged that its success would remove the
evil of slavery whose existence had become a menace to the
union between the states. 1 Church buildings throughout
the state were commonly made the assembly halls for colon-
ization meetings ; 2 Christian missions and colonization were
preached together from the pulpits ; and from the ranks of
the clergy were drawn nearly every one of the traveling
agents of the society. The congregations of the churches
too, although they often neglected the matter, took so many
colonization collections that they were almost upbraided,
when they failed to give regularly to the cause. 3 The negro
churches were generally either lukewarm or opposed to the
movement altogether. 4
An effort was made to prevent every objection that could
be raised against emigration to the colony. By authority of
law the managers of the state fund and the colonization
society combined resources to offer gratuitous transporta-
tion for negro emigrants, for the members of their
families and their household goods, implements and uten-
sils due regard being promised for the safety and com-
fort O'f passengers en route. Dr. Hall wrote that the
Society's agent, the governor of the colony, will furnish them
with a good dwelling-house for the first six months after their
arrival . . . and will supply them during the same period with
good provisions and necessaries of all kinds including medical
1 Op. tit., pp. 162-63.
8 Vide e. g., Federal Gazette, July i, 1818; Genius of Universal
Emancipation, series 2, vol. ii, pp. 94-95; Village Herald, May 29, 1832;
Baltimore American, M'arch 5, 1832; Md. Col. Journal, vol. vi, pp. 3-6;
60 Niles Register, p. 277; antd) Political Examiner, May 2, 1841.
* Md. Col. Journal, vol. vi, pp. 1-2. Cf. vol. i, p. 193; vol. ii, p. 177;
vol. iii, p. 2; vol. v, p. 171 ; and Md. Col. Journal, series i, p. 170.
4 Infra, p. 292.
278 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [668
attendance, medicine and nursing, if necessary, during the six
months and all without pay or compensation of any kind.
The agent, also, will give to each male (or female) adult or
head of a family on their arrival five good acres of land
adjoining that of the old settlers to be theirs forever, on condi-
tion that it is improved and this, also, free of charge or
expense. 1
Larger tracts of land more remote were promised to those
who showed ability to cultivate them, and money for build-
ing purposes was to be had at reasonable rates with the
privilege of payment on the fructification of the settler' si
labor. 2 Besides,
each adult male on arrival in the colony and signing the con-
stitution will be admitted to all the rights and privileges of
citizenship, will have the right to vote, to bears arms for the
national defence, the right of trial by jury, etc., etc. After two
years an eligibility is acquired to any office in the colony. 3
But these privileges were confined to those who had been
bona fide residents of Maryland. 4
One of the objects of Maryland's separate venture in
colonization was to secure increased facilities for deport-
ing emigrants. For more than ten years the state society
depended in part upon the vessels afforded by the American
Colonization society, 5 and made up expeditions of its own,
only when the number of emigrants from this state alone
was sufficient to demand separate transportation. It was
1 Md. Col. Journal, vol. ii, p. 48. Cf. also vol. iv, p. 72.
1 67 Niles Register, p. 210.
8 Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 256.
4 Op. tit., vol. i, p. 308.
'McKenney, op. tit., p. 22; Report of the Board of Managers, 1834,
p. ii ; i6th Annual Report of American Colonization Society, p. 14,
and Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 5.
669] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH
desired, however, to establish regular communication be-
tween the ports of Maryland and those of Liberia and to
build up a voluntary commerce, which, it was felt, would
provide adequate space for emigrants and their goods, place
the Liberian experiment upon its merits, and go far to dispel
the imputations that colonization had been conceived out of
hostility to the negroes' welfare. 1 To accomplish this pur-
pose it was suggested in 1838 that a packet service should be
established between Baltimore and Cape Palmas. 2 The pro-
ject was endorsed by the colonization convention in 1841,
and subscriptions were opened to get funds with which to
carry it into effect. 3 The plan was not given practical form,
however, until in 1844 a Baltimore negro suggested that a
trading company should be formed among the colored
people. At the next session of the legislature a charter act
was passed for the Chesapeake and Liberia Trading Com-
pany, about one fourth of the stock being subscribed by
Baltimore and Liberian negroes. 4 After a further delay
on account of the Oregon boundary dispute the subscrip-
tions were at last (filled in, a keel was laid, and on De-
cember 3, 1846 a barque, especially constructed for this
service, sailed out of Baltimore harbor carrying thirty-nine
Maryland emigrants. 5 It had been the design to allow the
negroes to take over the stock of the company that was held
by the whites as fast a$ they subscribed for it and to place
the whole enterprise in their hands. The colonization
society made good its guarantee of freights and passenger
1 Md. Col Journal, vol. i, p. 8, and vol. ii, p. 365.
* Md. Col. Journal, series I, no. 17. Cf. Maryland Republican, Jan.
26, 1839, and Md. Col. Journal, vol. ii, p. 337.
' Op. cit., vol. i, p. 15; vol. ii, p. 337; and 60 Niles Register, p. 227.
'Laws, 1844, ch. 195. Cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. ii, pp. 337-38; voL
iii, p. 130, and vol iv, pp. 72, 76.
* Op. cit., pp. 210, 241, 257, 274.
280 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [670
fares, and for several years the company paid substantial
dividends, 1 but the negroes failed to increase their stock-
holdings. Increased demands for service led to the charter-
ing of vessels that were larger and to the sale of the com-
pany's own boat. From that time forward the voyages were
made as they had been prior to 1846. 2
The object of colonization was to get the negroes out of
the country. It was designed first of all to promote the in-
terests of the whites. 3 It was held that the different
elements of the mixed population would have to either be-
come equals and therefore amalgamate, or remain unequal
and be separated. Amalgamation was not to be thought
of, 4 because of the extremely diverse characteristics of the
two races: their fusion would surely drag down the one
without elevating the other by way of compensation, and
racial decay would follow. Aversion to that sort of con-
tact and to such results rendered equality between the races
impossible. The alternative was inequality, domination of
one race by the other, which could not continue without
provoking discontent and eventually internecine strife.
Such a condition was inconsistent with the maintenance of
republican government and had long been a disturbing
factor in both state and federal politics, 5 Its perpetuation
1 Op. cit., vol. iv, pp. 76-77, and vol. vi, p. 275.
1 In 1856 one, Johns Stevens, of Talbot County, gave the sum of
$37,000 to build) a packet for the Liberiani service. 'He had' planned to
make the gift to the Maryland society, but after consulting with the
managers decided to give it to the American Colonization Society,
with provision for the carrying of Maryland emigrants under condi-
tions. Md. Col. Jour., vol. viii, pp. 130, 389. Cf. Latrobe, op. cit., p. 83.
* Cf. Harper, op. cit., pp. 6, 10, and Garrison, Thoughts on Coloniza-
tion, p. 22, resolve passed by a negro meeting.
*Cf. Report of Board of Managers, 1834, p. 8; Harper, op. cit., p. 6;
and Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 242.
5 Cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, pp. 241-42, and vol. vi, pp. 162-63. For
several years the front page of the Maryland Colonisation Journal
671] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 2 8l
would lead to further trouble. 'Again, the fear of blind
servile rebellions was ever present. The free negro, it was
thought, made the slave long for freedom and inclined him
to attempt to strike for it. Vicious free negroes were
feared as the instigators of rebellions. Prudence and self-
preservation, therefore, dictated that measures should be
taken to forestall any such outbreaks. The free negro,
moreover, was an injury to the white man's property. It
was impossible to separate him from the slave upon whom
his idleness, vice and precarious habits exerted a baneful
influence. As a result of the association the slave tended to
become restive, averse to labor and insubordinate; his use-
fulness for labor and, therefore, his value diminished. 1
The community of Maryland had been settled and brought
to its then existing condition by the whites. It was a white
man's country, and its constitutional liberty the heritage of
the white man. The negro had no proper part in it.*
contained the following quotation from tine pen' of Jefferson: " Nothing
is more /clearly written in) the Book of Destiny than the Emancipation
of the Blacks; and it is equally certain that the two races will never
live in a state of equal freedom under the same government, so insur-
mountable are the barriers which nature, habit arid! opinion have estab-
lished (between them." It was inserted first in September 1842, and
removed in iDecemiber 1849. Referring to it Dr. Hall wrote: ". . . .
The black anid) white race (sic) can never live on terms of equality
under the same government. This position is not only supported by
the opinions of eminent politicians and philosophers of the present day,
but all history declares its validity. On terms of equality, two distinct
races of men cannot exist together. They never did, and never will.
Tihey must wholly part or wholly minigle. Amalgamation must take
place universal amalgamation of the 'Caucasian and the African race
in these United States and both be swallowed up ini a mongrel pos-
terity : or they must be separated; and the weaker and less energetic
race seek a home in other lands, as has ever been the case in all ages
of the world undter like circumstances." Vol. i, pp. 241-42.
1 Harper, op. cit., pp. 8-10.
*Cf. memorial of certain negroes, Baltimore Gazette, D'ec. 14, 1826,
and duplicate in Genius of Universal Emancipation, ser. 2, vol. ii, pp.
94-95-
2 g2 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [672
Could he be withdrawn and his place taken by the free
white man, 1 he might have all the liberty possible in a state
of his own and no longer be, as he was here, a source of
danger 'both to the white man and himself.
In a secondary sense colonization was an altruistic enter-
prise it looked to the welfare of the negroes also. The
argument for emigration was most emphasized with this
point. The negro was an unbidden guest in America, and
for his own sake he ought to have been willing to go away.
But his life in this country was to be portrayed in dark
colors. He was nominally a free man, but his " freedom "
had brought him into a position worse than slavery. 2 Social
barriers which he could not surmount debarred him from
elevating himself. The hands of the whites were against
him to repress him and prevent the expansion of his intel-
lect. The legitimate pursuit of honorable ambitions was
denied him, a stigma rested upon his honest toil, and he
was being displaced by white men in manual labor which
had once been considered his own domain. 3 He was not
to expect concessions of civil or 'social equality with the
whites, 'because his color and his shortcomings had doomed
him to everlasting inferiority. Every influence of his en-
vironment tended to degrade him, and his debasement, al-
though at first compulsory, was becoming voluntary on his
own part. The progress of the years served only to in-
crease the evils from which he suffered. 4 A number of
1 Cf. Harper, op. cit., p. 15, and! Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 242.
* Report of the Board of Managers, 1834, p. 8; also The Colonisation
of the Free People of Color of Maryland, p. 4.
* Report of Board of Managers, op. cit., .pp. 8-9; Colonisation of the
Free People of Color of Maryland, p. 3; The Maryland Scheme of
Expatriation Examined, p. 9; 34th Annual Report of American Colo-
nization Society, p. 57 ; and H. Dels. Journal, 1860, p. 583.
4 Harper, op. cit., pp. 6-8 ; Hall, Address to the Free People of Color
of Maryland; Md. Col. Jour., vol. ix, pp. 290-91. Cf. Md. Col. Jour.,
vol. i, pp. 77, 274; vol. iii, p. 193; vol. vi, pp. 162-63; 63 Niles Register,
p. 229.
673] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 283
negroes in Baltimore were induced to sign a statement de-
claring that " beyond a mere subsistence and the impulse of
religion, there is nothing to arouse us to the attainment of
eminence." x Finally, looking to the future, Dr. Hall ad-
dressed all the free negroes in the state thus : " Shall your
children also spiritually endowed with intellect and blest
with enterprise grow up under the blighting influence that
has cursed your hopes ; will you, can you stay where this is
the inevitable result?" 2 The counsels of wisdom and of
friendship alike dictated that the negroes should be so
guided as to enable them to escape from their wretched lot
here.
The colonizationist claimed that his plan was "to effect
the most true good to the greatest number of human beings."
If his argument was sound, the first step in ameliorating the
condition of the negro lay in removing him from the
white man's society 3 to one of his own. In the latter he
would not find the good things pre-empted by white men,
and would suffer from no unequal competition with white
men ; he would be relieved of his sense of debasement and
would find unrestricted opportunities to reach the full stature
of manhood. For his industry would fructify to his own
advantage and places of honor and trust would be open to
him. It would become his duty to rear an independent state
a republic, if he chose and to disseminate the bless-
ings of liberty among the native Africans, 4 'He would thus
1 Genius of Universal Emancipation 2 ser., vol. ii, pp. 94-95.
8 M d. Col. Jour., vol. iv, p. 16. Cf. vol. i, pp. 307-08.
8 Cf. Md. Col. Jour., vol. i, pp. 19, 242 ; Harper, op. tit., p. 8 ; Balti-
more American, Dec. 6, 1842; H. Dels. Journal, 1860, p. 583. Garrison,
Thoughts on Colonization, p. 22, quotes certain Baltimore negroes Who
denied' the philanthropy of colonization.
* Harper, op. cit., pp. 18-19; Md. Col. Jour., vol. iv, pp. 16, 362; vol.
ix, p. 290. And cf. vol. v, p. 297; vol. viii, p. 105; also Carroll Co.
Democrat, May 18, 1854.
284 THE PREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [674
become a channel through which religion, science and the
arts would be transported, and Africa would become en-
lightened and civilized by the return of its exiled children.
Africa was the promised land of the American bondman,
a great field of opportunity. Glorious the effort to regen-
erate her! Let the stolid negro take inspiration from the
occasion! Let him rise up and transform his -benighted
people for their own sake ! No man of whatever color was
"a true friend to his country, a true friend to his race
who would not labor" to consummate these objects. 1
And a few years after the establishment of the settlement
at Cape Palmas, the experiment was pronounced a success.
It was reported that the colonists had prospered, and in 1 844
that every family among their number was well housed.*
They were free from the trammels of American society and
were happy. To corroborate these reports letters from
colonists were carried to their negro friends in Maryland
inviting them to come on, and colonists returned in person
to set at nought all doubts and misgivings about the reports.*
The state society also at times carried over negroes who de-
sired to see Liberia and gave them the option of remaining
there or returning to Maryland without cost and without
any other obligation to themselves. 4 We have seen above
that dissension about ultimate emancipation disrupted the
American Colonization Society, that enemies of its work
arose among its original members and that Maryland with-
1 Md. Col. Jour., vol. i, p. 242. Cf. vol. ii, pp. 95, 238.
8 67 Niles Register, p. 244 ; Md. Col. Jour., vol. iii, p. 4.
1 Cf. op. cit., vol. i, pp. 82-84, 201, 272, 274 ; vol. ii, pp. 64, 80 ; vol.
iii, p. 354.
* Op. cit., vol. iii, p. 354. In making the invitation to the negroes to
visit Liberia, the editor of the Journal wrote that in due time the
packet would " again return to this port, and then, if you choose, you
can return to your brush and razor strop, your curry comb, or your
dray cart." Cf. also Laws, 1839, ch. 5, and infra, pp. 290-91.
675] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 285
drew support from it. The opposition had been, as it were,
mainly academic. But Maryland's action, particularly the
coercive clause in the colonization act of 1831, seemed to
make colonization a buffer between anti-slavery and the
slave institution. And Maryland leaders did not deny that
that was their intention. As soon as this was understood
" the colonization policy of Maryland .... became the
point of virulent and opprobrious assault." It was an
easy mark, because Maryland was accessible from the free
states ; and defeat for it here meant defeat elsewhere. Two
chief methods of attack were employed, first the broadside,
and second personal appeals to the negroes to refuse to
emigrate. The chief publication in the crusade, entitled
The Maryland Scheme of Expatriation Examined, by a
Friend of Liberty, was issued from a Boston press in 1832.
It asserted that colonization was no longer dependent upon
moral suasion, but upon force, 2 and that there was left to
the negro no other alternative than " bondage or exile."
Colonization was designed to get rid of the free negro,
thereby to deliver the proscribed institution of slavery from
harassment by a class of people whose presence menaced it.
Colonization policy was a salve to a public mind agitated
about the sin of slavery, a purgatory for smiting con-
sciences. Its authors were cloaking the basest motives un-
der the guise of philanthropy in order to postpone the final
emancipation of the slaves. The whole matter was one of
"cold, calculating, selfish, bloody state policy;" it was
settled hatred to the negro, " a scheme of most atrocious
oppression." It merited only execration from the public. 3
This pamphlet was followed in 1833 'by the Thoughts on
1 Md. Col. Jour., vol. i, p. 5-
* P. ii. Cf. Md. Col. Jour., vol. i, p. 5.
Pp. 5, 6, 13. Cf. Md. Col Jour., vol. i, p. 5; vol. iii, p. 322; voL
iv, p. 362.
286 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [676
Colonization from the pen of the youthful Garrison who
had suffered imprisonment for attacking slavery in Mary-
land. He labored to discover the condemnation of coloniza-
tion in the writings of its advocates. In ten theses he as-
sailed their motives and conduct. 1 These publications could
not have directly reached many of the Maryland negroes,
and their influence upon the whites who read them was in
the main contrary to that desired by the writers. Never-
theless they became weapons in the hands of abolition
emissaries.
In order to frustrate the efforts to execute the coloniza-
tion plan it was necessary to deal directly with the negroes.
And since they could not be well reached through the mails,
the method of personal appeal was adopted. Traces of
countervailing work were discovered soon after the travel-
ing agents entered the field. The managing board reported
in the colonization convention of 1841 that they had every
reason to believe that their agents had been
tracked in their missions from place to place their statements
contradicted, their motives assailed, and the grossest falsehoods
regarding them uttered by either the paid or the voluntary
agents of abolition. Again and again, has the agent taken the
names of whole families for emigration, who evidently, at the
time of giving them, were wholly ignorant of abolition and its
doctrines ; and when he has afterwards visited them to collect
1 The theses were in substante as follows: (i) Colonization is not
pledged to oppose the system of slavery. (2) It apologizes for slavery
and slave-holders. (3) It recognizes slaves as property. (4) It in-
creases the value of slaves. (5) It is the enemy of immediate abolition.
(6) It is nourished! by fear and selfishness. (7) It aims at the utter
expulsion of the free negroes. (8) It disparages the free negroes.
(9) It <Jenies the possibility of elevating the negroes in America.
(10) It dieceives and misleads the nation. He compiled excerpts from
the utterances of colonizationists in such a manner as to give color to
his own conclusions. Those whom he attacked would have agreed 1 with
him in all except these (6) and (10) and perhaps (7).
677] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 287
them for embarkation, they have refused to accompany him,
urging in excuse the well known arguments of the abolitionists :
and having their minds filled with hopes which it were madness
to believe could be realized, and statements so absurdly false as
to savour of the ludicrous, but for their mischievous and evil
intentioned source .... It was the usual remark of the agents
that it was only necessary for a colored man to declare publicly
his intention of emigrating, to make it certain that he would
never leave the state ; for the declaration at once made him the
object of the countervailing efforts of the abolitionists.
The arguments of the last were of two kinds, suited to the
character of the individual addressed. To the ignorant, the
weak and timid, it was said that Africa was so unhealthy, that
to live there was impossible that it abounded in serpents of
vast size and wild beasts, that would destroy the life the climate
spared that the natives were warlike and ferocious, killing
and eating their enemies arid that they were constantly at war
with the colonists that the accounts given by the colonization-
ists were all false that they were in fact, slave traders that
often, when their vessels with emigrants had cleared the Capes
of the Chesapeake, they ran down the coast to Georgia, and
there the emigrants were sold or else they were carried still
further south, to unknown lands, to die by violence. To those
of the colored people who knew better than listen to these
absurdities, the argument assumed another shape, and the in-
telligent and the ambitious were told that all emigrants were
traitors to their race that every emigrant to Africa diminished
by one the numerical force upon which they had to rely for
extorting from the fears, what they could not obtain from the
justice, of the whites political and social equality called
among the colored people, in common parlance, " their rights "
that if Colonization could be destroyed by continued opposi-
tion from the coloured people themselves for without emi-
grants it could not exist then the whites would seriously con-
sider how far they could yield to the other race an equal partici-
pation in all political and social privileges . . . The two sets of
arguments found hearers among the colored people, according
2 88 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [678
to the intelligence of the individual addressed; and being con-
stantly urged for the last ten years, have formed the most
serious obstacle in the way of the Society. 1
From time to time thereafter additional deterrents were dis-
covered. In one case it was reported that the emigrants
would, have to pay all the costs of the African colony, in an-
other that the negroes' correspondence with their friends on
the other side was tampered with in the mails, and in a third
case that chattel slavery prevailed in Liberia as well as in
Maryland. 2 It seems certain that these reports had not been
either gratuitously conceived by the negroes or circulated
by those interested in the success of the colonization move-
ment. They probably came from beyond the borders of the
state. 3
At the beginning the negro was ignorant of the merits of
the colonization plan, and perhaps apathetic about a change
of country for himself. The things done both for and
against emigration were intended to influence his decision.
He was so easy to persuade that, in order to get his consent
to go, it was only necessary to explain what his part in it
was to be.* " It seemed to have grown into a general belief,
on the part of the colored people, that their interests would
be promoted by emigration." 5 Up to 1832 it was not dif-
1 Md. Col Journal, vol. i, pp. 5-6. Cf. Report of Board of Managers,
1834, p. 14, and 1 H. Dels. Journal, 1860, p. 583.
1 Md. Col. Journal, vol. ii, p. 290, vol. vi, p. 18, and vol. viii, p. 306.
8 In the Colonization Journal ini 1837 it was reported >that, while a
body of emigrants was preparing to sail, "every stratagem practised
by men kept in pay for the vile work of lying by wholesale, who
pressed themselves unreasonably and unasked into the boarding houses
of the emigrants, with the special design of weakening their confidence
in the promises of the society." Md. Col. Journal, no. 13.
4 Report of Board of Managers, 1834. Cf. Md. Col. Journal, voL i,
P. 5-
* Md. Col. Journal, loc. cit.; also Address to the Friends of Colonisa-
tion, p. 10.
679] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 289
ficult, therefore, for the American Colonization Society to
procure all the emigrants desired. 'And yet conflicting
views had been expressed before that in two memorials ad-
opted by negro residents of Baltimore City. The first one
was passed in succession by large gatherings in the Sharp
Street and Bethel churches in December 1826. It referred
to the negroes as strangers, as " natives, yet not citizens,"
and absolved the white people from responsibility for their
presence in the country. It deplored their condition in
Maryland and affected to welcome the colonization plan as a
source of relief from it. But its pretense of representing
fairly the views of the negroes of the city was vehemently
disputed, and its tenor was repudiated as having been given
by members of the colonization society. 1 The second mem-
orial voiced a lack of confidence in the society, a negro de-
sire to remain in America, a depreciation of the " illiberal
attacks " upon the moral character of the free negroes, and
profuse regrets that the efforts of this benevolent enterprise
had not been more in harmony with the Africans' wishes. 2
It desired an expression of sentiment from negroes in re-
gard to the pretensions of the American Colonization
Society. Although this memorial may have passed at the
instigation of white persons, it had a ring of genuineness
that was lacking in the other one.
So long as matters stood so, however, colonization seemed
practicable, and the Maryland leaders anticipated a generous
response to their appeals through the new state society. A
small degree of unbiased interest by negroes kept alive their
hopes throughout. But the policy of the state" was brought
into disfavor by its own eager supporters. The coercive
clause of the colonization act overshot the mark. It
1 Genius of Universal Emancipation, sen 2, vol. ii, pp. 94-95, 149-50.
Duplicate of the memorial in Baltimore Gazette, I>ec. 14, 1826.
* Garrison, Thoughts on Colonization, p. 22.
290 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [680
duced resentful feelings among negroes and caused some
to turn a deaf ear to the appeals that were made, and even
to offers of freedom to slaves on condition of emigration. 1
The people also, including the society's agents, lacked tact
in their solicitation for emigrants. They assumed that it
would be necessary for the negroes voluntarily to relinquish
residence in this country ;
that there was no other way to free the masters of slaves of
a nuisance which lessened the value of slave property; . . .
(and) instead of representing a return to the land of their
fore-fathers as the consummation of a providential interference
in favor of the colored man, it has been represented as neces-
sary to the interests of the white man, enabling him to hold his
property in greater safety, while it would augment the value
of the slaves by withdrawing the competition of free colored
laborers. 2
They had been dictatorial in bearing and had used unpalat-
able language. 3 These things had 'been done to gain the
l Md. Col. Journal, vol. ii, pp. 80, 99, 256. Cf. Jacobs, Address on the
Free Negroes, 1860, p. 29; Dorchester Wills, Lib. THH no. i, pp. 40,
69; Worcester Wills, Lib. TT no. 8,, pp. 21, 545. The Colonization
Journal, vol. ii, p. 80, relates that in the summer of 1843 a negro who
had been manumitted about eight years before astonished his former
friends by returning to them " from Cape Palmas, and when they had
felt him all over, heard him talk of his new country and his friends, they
became satisfied that it was their old friend! 'Ambrose', and that he
had not been sold to Georgia. All hands concluded at once to rise up
and get them out of this land. iSeveral free families also embarked."
"Quoted from Christian Advocate, in Md. Col. Journal, vol. ii, pp.
98-99.
'. g. "Go to Liberia and be saved stay and be doomed, if not
damned." Op. cit., vol. ix, p. 199. Cf. also op. cit., vol. ii, p. 98; vol.
iii, p. 291, and 34th Annual Report of American Colonization Society,
p. 57. In the last occurs the following : " It is the monition of history,
common sense tells us, that this people . . . must go from our midst."
Cf. also Garrison, op. cit., pp. 21-22.
68l] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 2 gi
favor of the negroes whose consent was necessary to the
success of colonization. They had not been done to give
offence, yet they produced effects the opposite of those that
had been desired. They " armod the ultra-abolitionists
with weapons which they .... successfully wielded
against the colonization cause and enabled them to wake up
a hostile feeling among the colored people " against the
work of the colonization society. Distrust, discontent and
sometimes hatred of the native whites were the results. 1 "
The Kent Bugle in 1835 reported that the majority of the
colored people were opposed to emigration. 2 In 1847 the
Colonization Journal itself printed the opinion that " the
almost unanimous voice of the colored people .... is
opposed to emigrating, or to the colonization society," s and
two years later that " the fact that the colored people have
founded an independent sovereignty on the coast of Africa
.... is utterly abhorrent to the free colored people of
these United States." 4
A great many, probably half, of the negroes were un-
touched by the appeals of the society. Many of the rest
were affected by it so little that they were indifferent to its
proposed changes for their welfare. 5 The rest were divided
in sentiment, and their hesitation and hostility became
serious obstacles to progress. In many places arose active
negro opponents wiseacres, black plantation and village
" lawyers," preachers, exhorters and correspondents of the
northern abolitionists. They were not to be halted by either
fact or argument, and as instruments of the opposition ta
the movement they acquired a certain sway over the minds
1 Md. Col. Journal, vol. ii, pp. 98-99.
2 Ibid., 1835, no. 2.
B Ibid., vol. iii, p. 290.
4 Ibid., vol. iv, p. 362.
6 Ibid., vol. i, p. 255, and vol. vi, p. 17.
292 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [682
of their fellows. 1 They were credited with causing changes
of heart on the part of many who had once promised to
emigrate. Their antipathy manifested itself most strongly
in the city of Baltimore, the chief center of colonization in-
fluence in the state. For a long time the negroes there
seemed to close their minds to any inquiry for facts about
the society. They furnished but a paltry share of the total
number of emigrants. They commiserated those who ex-
iled themselves, and sometimes attended at the wharves at
the time of embarkation of those who did go, 2 but they
generally studiously refrained from any appearance of en-
dorsement of such action. In 1847, however, they sent a
consignment of Bibles as a gift to the colonists, 3 but four
years later, when a group of worthy negroes were to take
passage from the port, not a negro church in the entire city
was available to hold a service in their honor. 4
But in the meantime there were some whose minds had
not been befogged by the abolitionists nor unduly influenced
by the colonizationists. They were deeply interested in
Liberia, although they did not in every case wish to become
Liberians. They accepted the invitation held out by the
society to investigate the facts for themselves. As early
as 1832 in Somerset County a negro society debated the
advisability of sending negro representatives to Africa to
ascertain and bring back information as to the conditions
there, 5 and at least one negro was at the time planning to
make the trip. The legislature lent encouragement by
waiving the statutory provision against the return to the
1 Op. dt., vol. H, p. 238.
1 Op. dt., vol. ii, p. 258 ; vol. iv, p. 33, and vol. vi, pp. 18-19.
8 Op. cit., vol. vi, p. 275.
* Op. cit., vol. vi, p. 18. Cf. also pp. 360-61, for account of a nearly
similar incident at Frederick.
6 Village Herald, July 10, 1832.
683] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 293
state of negroes who went to execute such errands. 1 The
society also on its part repeatedly advertised its offer of
gratuitous passage to those who went in this manner and
carried back former emigrants who labored to lead others
to follow their example. 2 In 1844 there suddenly appeared
at Govanstown a Society of Enquiry whose annunciation
was accepted as startling. It had eighteen charter members
who had come together without instigation by the whites, 3
in order to get " correct information as to the political and
religious advantages of the Liberian colonists." Its worthy
secretary, a tobacconist in "Old Town," became a corre-
spondent of the Colonization Journal and a judicial inquirer
after the truth.* In 1849 a Baltimore negro wrote that
hundreds of the colored people of the United States had
centered their hopes for civil enfranchisement in the
"Lone Star Republic" on the African coast. 5 In 1851!
twenty heads of families, most of them members of one
church in the city, covenanted among themselves to emi-
grate as soon as conditions favored. Seven of the families!
went in mid-summer that year. 6 About the same time arose
the African Colonization Society in Cambridge. Its mem-
bers passed resolutions declaring their conviction that it
l Laws, 1839, ch. 5.
* Md. Col. Journal, vol. iii, p. 354; vol. iv, p. 17; vol. v, p. 297, and
vol. vi, pp. 6-7.
* Op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 242-44.
4 This man, Garrison Draper by name, educated his son in the com-
mon schools of Pennsylvania, at Dartmouth College and in certain law
offices in Baltimore and Boston. Thus equipped the young man emi-
grated an'd became a practising attorney at Cape Palmas. He died,
however, after a brief career. Op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 287-88, 290, and vol.
ix, p. 88.
* Op. cit., vol. v, p. 20.
* Op. cit., vol. v, p. 361, and vol. vi, p. 33.
294 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [684
would be to their advantage to go to Liberia, but that they
desired first to know more definitely the facts about the
colony. They therefore deputed two representatives to
make a tour of inspection there and report their findings on
their return. 1 Accordingly Thomas Fuller and Benjamin
Jenifer went away and non-plussed their friends by re-
turning clothed and in their right minds. They made a
simple report of what they had seen and expressed their in-
tention to migrate with their families to settle in Africa. 5 *
These facts seemed to make a favorable impression,
wherever they became known, but their effects were partly
neutralized by the failure of Jenifer to emigrate.
Just' in the middle of the century the turn of events in-
tensified the interest in measures affecting the negroes.
Agitation incited by the federal legislation on slavery had
influenced the minds of the radicals of both the north and
the south and had aroused fears of further trouble. The
seventh federal census had shown a decided increase of 20.3
per cent in the free negro population of this state. The
state's constitutional convention had signified a new refusal
to admit the negroes to higher civil privileges.* About the
same time the efforts to induce the negroes voluntarily to
emigrate were redoubled, and negro interest in the matter
seemed to become more widespread. In the spring of 18521
a number of negroes held some meetings in the school room
of the St. James African Episcopal Church to consider the
matter. They appointed a committee which issued a cir-
cular inviting the colored people of the counties to send de-
legates to a state convention in which the wishes of the
1 Op. cit., vol. vi, pp. 6-7, in part quoting the Cambridge Chronicle.
1 35th Annual Report of American Colonization Society, p. 44, The
report was also separately printed.
8 Debates of the Constitutional Convention of 1851, vol. i, pp. 194-95.
Cf. Harry, The Maryland Constitution of 1851, pp. 61-62.
685] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 295
whole colored population could be expressed. 1 The call
was heralded and commended in the newspapers, although
its significance was deemed problematic. Friends of colon-
ization applauded the initiative in it and hailed it as the in-
dex of a change of mind on the part of the negro popula-
tion. 2 Enemies of colonization, feeling that they had noth-
ing to gain by the new turn, opposed the proposal for the
meeting. 3
On August 25, 1852 an assembly of colored delegates was
held in Washington Hall in Baltimore. Representatives
were present from six of the counties and from three separ-
ate quarters of Baltimore City. They were "respect-
able in numbers, and highly so as to intellectual ability." *
After the call to order a committee on permanent organiza-
tion was authorized and announced. The delegates from
the counties had expected a hearty greeting from the Balti-
more people. The rabble of negroes who had dogged their
tracks as they assembled, interposed objections and caused
confusion, whenever they found opportunity. A member
from Kent begged protection from the police, as he had
lieard that his life had been threatened. Some of those
1 Md. Col. Journal, vol. vi, pp. 193-95.
* Op. cit., vol. vi, pp. 195-98, 214-16, giving copies of newspaper re-
ports and articles.
' Op. cit., p. 225.
* Among these delegates were : from Baltimore, James A. Handy,
owner of a woodyardi, and later a bishop and historian of the inde-
pendent African church; John Walker and Jacob Fortie who were
schoolmasters; (Darius (Stokes, an influential local preacher. From
Kent, James Jones and William Perkins, who were merchants of emi-
nent respectability at Chestertown ; from Caroline, John Weblb, a mem-
ber of a well-to-do family of slave-owners. From Dorchester, Rev-
erend) Thomas Fuller and Benjamin Jenifer, who had visited Africa in
1851, and Cyrus Sinclair, the principal butcher of the town of Cam-
bridge; an'd from Talibot, Charles Dobson, a shoemaker. There were
in all forty-two delegates on the first day. Op. cit., pp. 225-26.
296 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [686
from Dorchester evoked applause by offering to go home,
and the Frederick delegation proposed to follow their ex-
ample. Other members labored to calm their fears and to
induce them to remain in their places. Reverend Darius
Stokes, of Baltimore, made a speech and was answered by
a non-delegate who said he had come " to oppose and put
down the Convention." There followed a lull in which the
permanent officers were announced and a platform com-
mittee selected. Adjournment was then .taken to await the
committee's report. "A colored braggadocio mounted a
bench, invoking the curses of Heaven on all concerned " in
the meeting, and in the streets the retiring delegates were
beset by a riotous mob. Several fights occurred, but the
presence of the police prevented a general outbreak. 1
On the second day several seats were vacant, and two
new delegates reported from Caroline County. The plat-
form committee recommended resolutions which embodied
much of the colonizationist argument. They did not
counsel emigration for every free negro resident, but would
have had each one to accustom himself to the thought of
ultimately leaving the state. They recommended the estab-
lishment of a bureau to acquire information for the benefit
of enquirers, 2 and pointed to Liberia as the most eligible
home for the American negro. The last mentioned item
provoked a great deal of discussion, but led to no decisive
result. On the following day a schoolmaster secretary of-
fered substitute resolutions. They included the main sub-
stance of the committee report. They deplored the social
degradation of the negroes as a crime against God; they
looked to social improvement through the medium of in-
tellectual culture and gave warning that, unless the negro
1 Op. dt., pp. 226-28.
' Op. dt., pp. 229-30.
687] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 297
reached out after better things, he would continue in his
wretched state. They pledged the members of the conven-
tion " each and every one " to make every effort for the
improvement of themselves and their families to attempt to
leave to their children a heritage of knowledge. They en-
joined upon negro churches and ministers the duty of in-
culcating in their people's minds the need of enlightenment
and O'f procuring the means of acquiring it. They further
expressed the feeling that it was impossible to establish
themselves on terms of equality with the white people, and
that separation from the whites was " an object devoutly to
be desired." Hence they differed from the committee's
report in that they emphasized strongly the need of amelior-
ating the condition of their race in Maryland, whether to
emigrate or not. The proposer made a strong address, and
although several protests were made against different items
in his draft, he got an unanimous vote of approval for it.
Another resolve authorized the appointment of a committee
to memorialize the legislature of Maryland with a view to
secure " more indulgence to the colored people of the state,
in order that they may have time to prepare themselves for
a change in their condition, and for removal to some other
land." x Adjournment was then taken to meet in Frederick
in the following year.
This convention was noteworthy rather on account of
what it was than for what it achieved. Its tenor and its
utterances bespoke a high purpose. The conduct of its
members was in strong contrast to that of the mob that op-
posed them. Their views on emigration to Africa, how-
ever, did not harmonize with those of the majority of their
class, and hence their meeting together accomplished little
except in giving momentary encouragement to the colon-
izationists. |
1 Op. cit., pp. 233-36.
298 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [688
The first separate effort of the local society secured a
hundred and forty-nine emigrants who were taken to the
old colony at Monrovia in I832. 1 At the end of the year
1833 another body of eighteen others formed the nucleus
of the first settlement in " Maryland in Liberia." 2 During
the first eight years the emigration proceeded at the rate of
one hundred one and one-fourth persons per annum, of
whom 78.1 per cent went to Liberia. 3 During the next six-
teen years the rate was thirty-eight and three-eighths persons
per annum. 4 In the twenty- four years the emigration had
been equal to 5.6 per cent of the increase of the free colored
population. The character of those who went away, ac-
cording to the reports, was excellent. The managers ap-
parently adhered to their early determination not to admit
to the Maryland colony any negro who would not forego
the use of ardent spirits, and in canvassing for candidates
they attempted as far as possible to attract those who pos-
sessed the fibre of nation builders. Notable among the
early emigrants were several members of the Tubman
family from the state of Georgia, but formerly of the
Eastern Shore of Maryland, who were deemed to have the
skill in husbandry that was needed, 6 and the family of
George McGill, of Baltimore, members of which became
leaders in the business and public life of the colony. 7 In
1837 the spring expedition carried smiths, cobblers, tailors,
weavers, turners and joiners, and that of 1853 smiths, brick-
1 i6th Annual Report of American Colonization Society, p. 14.
*Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 67, and Report of Board of Managers,
1834, P. ii.
1 Senate Journal, 1839, p. 3; Md. Pub. Documents, 1840, no. 4, p. 3.
*Md. Col. Journal, vol. viii, p. 135.
*Mrf. Col. Journal, no. i (1835), and Latrobe, op. cit., pp. 32-33.
*Md. Col. Journal, vol. iii, p. 322.
7 Op. cit., vol. i, p. 274.
689] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 299
makers, tanners, farmers and a cooper. 1 Among the others
were teachers, missionaries and an attorney. 2 Preeminent
in a group who sailed in 1843 was James Lander, a well-to-
do boatman from St. Mary's County. He led with him
eight and twenty children and grandchildren, besides the
child of a friend whom he had redeemed from slavery just
prior to taking passage. 3 The expatriation of these persons
tended to lower the average quality of the free negro pop-
ulation, because it took away of the best and left the in-
ferior behind. However, the number who went was small,
and after the merging of the Maryland settlement in Liberia
proper, it declined still further. The activity of the state
society dwindled, but its organization survived the war be-
tween the states, as administrator of the funds of a school
located at Cape Palmas. 4
Colonization had been regarded as a means of relief from
the burden of the negro population. Many persons who
had doubted that it would be effective apparently supported
it. But when its coercive feature failed of execution, other
means of checking the growth of the " evil " were desired.
Certain radical proposals were urged upon the legislature in
1 &3 5-36, 5 but it declined to adopt them. When the results
of the sixth federal census were published, the agitation
flamed up anew. The " incubus " of the free negroes was
growing so rapidly, said one, that measures to counteract
it were imperative, whilst the preponderance of physical
strength left to the whites the "ability to enforce any
1 Md. Col. Journal, no. 10, and- vol. vi, p. 359. Cf. op. cit., vol. ii,
p. 238, vol. v, p. 361.
1 Op. cit., series i, p. 138, and vol. ii, pp. 238, 288, arid vol. ix, p. 88.
Op. cit., vol. i, pp. 290, 307.
*Latrobe, op. cit., pp. 84-85.
//. Dels. Journal, 1835, PP- 39, 53, 62, 66, 78, 139. Cf. Md. Col.
Journal, 1836, no. 3.
300 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [690
legislative action on the subject." * A state colonization
convention was held in Baltimore in June 1841. It resolved
to attempt to inaugurate a forward movement in coloniza-
tion. 2 But it was too moderate. A small number of anti-
free negro men met at Annapolis in September following*
and resolved to call a state convention of slave-holders to be
held in that city in January 1842. The call was duly ad-
vertised, and on the appointed day delegates appeared from
all except four of the counties of the state. Robert W.
Bowie, of Prince George's County, one of the great slave-
holders, was selected as chairman (the free negro popula-
tion of Prince George's numbered only about one tenth as
many as its slaves). Determined and thorough-going ac-
tion was advocated, and a committee was selected to pre-
pare "matter for the consideration of the convention."
When it was ready to report, the house had got into a hub-
bub about a reporter for an abolitionist newspaper who was
present. 4 The long list of resolutions offered was length-
ened to twenty-five and passed. The following proposals
for new legislation were embodied in them : to prohibit all
manumissions that were not to take effect at once; to avoid
all manumissions of negroes who should not leave the state
at once when set free; absolutely to exclude from the state
1 Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, pp. 1 14, 120.
J 0/>. cit., pp. 1-2.
8 American Farmer, ser. 3, vol. iii, p. 149.
4 The convention had passed an order to admit to the floor reporters
whom its members would vouch for. A stranger was seen moving
from the floor to a committee room. A crowd gathered about him, but
the police took him in charge. On his person were found "incen-
diary" letters and papers, identifying 1 him as reporter for the Eman-
cipator and Spy of Massachusetts. His case was attended to in a local
court. Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, pp. 115-16; Baltimore American, Jan.
15, 1842; Easton Gazette, Jan. 22, 1842, and Lovejoy, Memoir of Rev-
erend Charles T. Torrey, pp. 91-99.
691] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 301
non-resident negroes and resident negroes who in going
outside were doing other than attending personally some
white person; to guard closely the movements of negroes
from one county to another ; to compel every free negro to
be registered annually and to give security for his own
good conduct; to repeal the clause in the act of 1831 allow-
ing manumitted negroes to get certificates of good conduct
from the orphans' courts ; to order all free negro children at
the age of eight years to be bound out to serve as apprentices
until the age of for males and females; to prohibit
the sale of slaves to free negroes; to limit the negroes' ten-
ures O'f real property to a maximum term of twelve months ;
to declare the presence of a run-away servant in premises
occupied by a free negro to be prima facie evidence that the
negro was aiding the fugitive to escape; and to sell into
servitude outside of Maryland all negroes whose offences
were punishable by imprisonment in the state's penitentiary. 1
A committee of five members was appointed to lay the re-
port before the legislature and to petition for action to give
effect to the wishes O'f the convention. 2
The legislature was in session. The House Com-
mittee on the Colored Population, four of whose mem-
bers came from Southern Maryland counties, had already
begun work on a bill. Now, the membership of the con-
vention had fallen more than seventy per cent below the
number authorized in the summons that had called it into
being and had represented mainly slave-holders. Neverthe-
1 Cf. Md. Pub. Documents, 1841, copies of Resolutions ; 61 Niles
Register, pp. 322-23 and 356-58, and Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, pp. 120-28.
* Full reports of the proceedings are given in! Md. Col. Journal, vol.
i, pp. 113-28. Cf. also Baltimore American, Jan. 14, 15, 17, 19, 1842.
*In December, 1841, the Colonisation Journal, p. in, had pointed
out that "in the slave-holding counties of the state and in the slave-
holding districts of all the counties, meetings are hold/en to appoint
3 02 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [692
less the report of the committee was of the same tenor as the
report of the convention. It deprecated the growth and
the idleness of the free negro population; it pointed to the
state's liberality towards manumitting slave-owners and to
its toleration of negro immigration as the causes of the in-
crease. It declared that the power to manumit slaves was
a licensed privilege which could be taken away without
violating any rights under the state constitution. Although
it anticipated objections to stringent measures, it submitted
a bill containing drastic provisions that were designed to
correct the " evils " and to meet the wishes of the slave-
holders' convention. 1 Eighteen days later the House passed
the bill by a vote of 40 to 3i. 2
The movement to enact the bill had thus gained a con-
siderable momentum. Meanwhile the proceedings had been
watched with intense interest throughout the state. The
Colonization Journal expressed the hope that the subject
would be " carefully weighed and maturely deliberated upon
ere any measures were adopted." a It viewed the pro-
ponents as favoring " only one interest of the many, and
that, at the expense of all the others;* that interest was a
minority one and was itself not even fairly represented.
The legislation proposed was unnecesary, because slave pro-
perty was already " sufficiently protected by the statutes of
delegates to the Slave Holders' Convention," etc. Four of the counties
failed to have delegates at the opening session, and Queen Anne's had
reluctantly sent any representatives at all. Cf. Baltimore American,
March 3, 1842, and American Farmer, ser. 3, vol. iii, p. 314.
1 Md. Pub. Documents, 1841 H, and Baltimore American, March I,
1842.
' Journal, p. 414.
Vol. i, p. in.
4 Op. cit., vol. i, p. 159. Cf. Baltimore American, 'March 3, 1842, and
Easton Gazette, Feb. 12, 1842.
693] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 303
the state." Agitation for further protection could only be
injurious to both the white and colored populations. 1 The
Cecil Whig declared that it would " censure the whole pro-
ceeding," if it was intended by means of it to perpetuate
slavery. 2 The Eastern Shore Star on February 18, profes-
sed a neutral position regarding the convention's action, but
hoped that the legislators would not inflict anew evil upon the
state. Public meetings were held at Baltimore, Centerville,
Chestertown, Easton and in the counties of Allegany, Anne
Arundel, Caroline, St. Mary's, Washington and Worcester
to oppose the passage of the bill. 3 The meeting in Queen
Anne's expressed regret that there had been a distinct con-
vention of slave-holders, because the " name was well calcu-
lated to excite jealousies .... of some who might not
have an opportunity to participate in their proceedings." *
According to Dr.Brackett twenty-six memorials and peti-
tions were received by the lower house alone. 5 Many of
them had arrived before the bill was passed. They to-
gether with others that arrived later were transmitted to the
Senate, 6 where the measure was rejected by more than two-
thirds majority. 7
Another anti-negro movement had been defeated. But
1 Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, p. 159.
"January 22, 1842.
*6i Niles Register, p. 368; Md. Col. Journal, vol. i, pp. 158-59;-
Eastern Shore Star, Feb. 8, 1842, and! Baltimore American, March 3, 4,
1842.
4 Baltimore American, March 3, 1842, quoting Centerville Times.
Cf. also American Farmer, ser. 3, vol. iii, pp. 314, 341-43, 350.
6 Brackett, Negro in Maryland, p. 245. Cf. H. Dels. Journal, 1841,
pp. 205, 222, 237, 244, 265, 272, 273, 279, 286, 304, 308, 313, 335, 344, 394,
434-
Op. cit., pp. 450, 512. For additional memorials and protests to
the upper house, vide Senate Journal, 1841, pp. 57, 63, 64, in, 143, 163.
7 Senate Journal, 1841, p. 200. Cf. Cecil Whig, iMarch 12, 1842.
304 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [694
its causes, as seen in the conditions of industry and popula-
tion in Southern Maryland and parts of the Eastern Shore,
continued to operate. Charles County had been most af-
fected of all. Between 1790 and 1840 its white popula-
tion had declined 38.6 per cent, and its slaves 8.9 per cent,
while its free negroes had a little more than doubled in
number. Its total population had declined 22.26 per cent,
its industries had grown stagnant ; its condition stood out in
strong contrast to that of the counties on the Pennsylvania
border, and its people were sorely disturbed about it.
Their representatives at Annapolis attempted to bring about
legislative action to remedy the "evils" from which they
were suffering. They made notable efforts in 1843 an< ^
1845. They complained that the state had adopted a mis-
taken policy of toleration of the free negroes and asserted
that that policy had completely failed. They erroneously
represented that but for the city of Baltimore whose popula-
tion had grown all Maryland should have been losing
ground in numbers, 1 and speciously calculated that, if the
changes then in progress were to continue, the free negro
population would outnumber the whites within a half cen-
tury. 2 They complained that the free negroes, who then
composed 8.19 per cent of their county's negro population,
had exhausted the fertility of their lands and lowered the
level of competition in the trades, until white men had been
nearly excluded from them, and that the negroes' advance
had threatened to undermine the character of the whites and
either to expel them from their own abode, or to rule them,
if they remained in it. These negroes had not the en-
terprise that would improve agriculture and were living
1 Md. Pub. Documents, 1843 M, p. 46. The increase of the whites
outside of Baltimore County, 1790-1840 had 'been 35,103, that in Balti-
more County 74,453-
J Op. cit., 1845 G, p. 17.
695] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 305
under conditions that were unspeakably bad, yet their posi-
tion was yearly growing more secure and menacing to all
good interests. 1 The salvation of the state depended upon
the correction of the " evils " that were due to their pres-
ence. The means of correction were to remove them from
the state. Humanitarian objections to the proceeding
would be silenced by the methods to be used in executing it
and the moral improvement it would entail. Constitutional
objections were not well-grounded, because free negroes
were creatures of statute law and could 'be dealt with by the
legislature without infringement of the constitutional
rights of any persons under the jurisdiction of Maryland
law. The report of 1843 in which this argument was made
was accompanied by a project for a bill to authorize the re-
moval of the free negroes from Charles County. It pro-
posed to prohibit the manumission of slaves, to declare the
free negroes the chattels of the state, to employ them and
to accumulate from their wages a fund to pay the expenses
of their deportation. 2 The delegates declined to pass this
bill. It became a precedent, however, for others offered
during the next two decades.
The negro question was brought up in the constitutional
convention of 1850-51. In drafting a provision against the
exercise of arbitrary authority against persons and pro-
perty, the word " freeman " was objected to, because it was
urged that its insertion might preclude action, in case the
state should desire to banish a certain portion of its popula-
tion. In order to remove doubts as to this point, an amend-
ment was added to the clause declaring that it was not to be
held to prevent the legislature from regulating and dispos-
ing of the colored population "as they may see fit." a
1 Op. cit., 1843 M, pp. 46-47.
1 Op. cit., pp. 46, 49, 51. Cf. also op. cit., 1845 G, pp. 3-13.
' Debates of Constitutional Convention of 1850, vol. i, pp. 194-95,
197-98.
306 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [696
Earlier in the sessions a committee had been appointed to
consider and report upon a plan for disposing of the free
colored people. It was given wide scope and ample time
to make its findings. 1 About four months later its chair-
man brought in a report. He reviewed the salient popula-
tion changes of the state since the first federal census, noted
the rise of the free negro class and the attempt to get rid of
it by colonization, and characterized its members as " the
veriest slaves on earth." The recommendation was that the
new constitution should authorize the enactment of regula-
tions that were substantially the same as those rejected in
1832 and i842. 2 Subsequently this committee chairman
made two attempts to induce the convention to act upon his
proposals. As a response the consideration of the report
was indefinitely postponed and the effort came to naught. 5 *
Adjournment was taken without action upon the subject,
but there had been discovered a redoubtable champion of
restriction of the free negroes. This champion was Curtis
W. Jacobs who was to come into the lime-light a few years
later.
Slavery in Maryland was dying a natural death. Ap-
parently the people would have allowed that process to go
on unhindered, had they been left to their own devices.
But their geographical position sandwiched them in between
the combatants for pro-slavery and anti-slavery, and partiz-
ans of either side were bidding for their support. As the
abolitionists did not dare to work openly, the initiative in al!
public measures affecting the negroes was taken by the pro-
slavery men. To certain of them the futility of former
efforts was no deterrent they were determined to preserve
1 Op. cit., vol. i, pp. 83, 207, 371, and vol. ii, p. 220.
2 Op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 220-23.
8 Op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 784, 865. Cf. Harry, op. cit., p. 62.
697] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 307
Maryland as a " slave-holding state true to the interests of
her Southern sisters and herself." 1 The means of attain-
ing the object was to make an end of free negroes. The
first steps were taken by men of the Eastern Shore, a section
which had " suffered more than any other from the in-
fluences of abolitionism from abroad, and from free negro-
ism" in its midst. 2 Several slave-owners in Dorchester
County in April 1857 organized a society, and sixteen
months later voted in favor of a convention of Eastern
Shore slave-owners. In November 1858 a meeting in Wor-
cester concurred in this desire and appointed Cambridge as
the place of meeting. 3 In answer to the call twenty-four
delegates representing the five southern counties of Mary-
land in the peninsula met on November 3, 1859. Their
chief spokesman, one Stewart of Dorchester, regretted that
they had been called together as a " Slaveholders' Conven-
tion," because the course of action they were to choose was
to be for the benefit of all classes of the people alike. At
the next breath he declared that the manumission of the
slaves had been a great error, because its effects had im-
paired the value of slave property. And thus the poor free
negro was again given his round of disparagement.' 4
The resolutions that were passed on the following day
were quite pronounced in tone. They stated that " free
negroism and slavery are incompatible with each other, and
1 Cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. ix, p. 278. In the Baltimore American
of Feb. 7, 1860, an editorial stated that it had been supposed that the
objects of the Slave-Holders' Convention of 1842 had been " forever
put to rest in Maryland."
*Md. Col. Journal, vol. ix, p. 278. Cf. also p. 273; Frederick Ex-
aminer, Nov. 10, 1858, and! Baltimore American, June i, 1859.
* East on Star, April 14, 1857, Aug. 17, 1858; Easton Gazette, Oct. ao>
Nov. 15, 1858, and Baltimore Sun, Sept. 21, 1858.
* Md. Col. Journal, vol. ix, pp. 275-76.
308 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [698
should not 'be permitted longer to exist in their present re-
lations, side by side, within the limits of the state. That
prompt and effective legislation upon this subject is abso-
lutely essential to the interests of the people." They sug-
gested that the negroes be presented with the alternative "of
going into slavery, or leaving the state." They called for
a general convention representing all the people to consider
the subject, " not as slave-holders or as non-slave-holders,
but as citizens of the commonwealth." They chose the
second Wednesday of June 1859 as the time and Balti-
more as the place of meeting. In the meantime the dele-
gations of the several counties were to be selected and in-
structed as to how they should vote upon the things to be
laid before them. 1 A large committee was selected to
frame and publish an address to the people before the meet-
ing should assemble. 2
The Cambridge convention had propounded " the most
complicated, important and embarrassing question that the
General Assembly has had to deal with ; " . . . . " the sub-
ject is an important one deserving grave consideration and
involving the deepest interest of our people," said influential
county newspapers. 4 The situation was one of extreme de-
licacy. Many of those who sought to lead in common-
1 The issue was to be squarely presented to the next General As-
sembly that it must either " provide for adequate relief for the injured
or confess its inability to protect the domestic institutions of the com-
munity," said Mr. Stewart. Op. cit., p. 276. For the resolutions, cf.
pp. 278-79.
* Op. cit., p. 279, and Baltimore Sun, Nov. 6, 1858. An editor in
an Eastern Shore town wrote of the Cambridge meeting : " The only
business transacted was the adoption- of a series of resolutions which
amounted to nothing." Boston Star, Nov. 9, 1858. Cf. Easton Gazette,
No. 13, 1858. The Baltimore Sun of June 8, 1859, refers to a conven-
tion of slave-hokters at Chestertown in the preceding year.
'Frederick Examiner, May n, 1859. Cf. Easton Gazette, May 14,
1859-
699] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 309
wealth affairs knew not which road to take. But a winter
intervened and allowed time for reflection and for exchange
of views before the date of meeting arrived. Certain ques-
tions were cautiously discussed in the press, 1 one of them
being the questionable utility of an advisory convention
that could probably do no more than re-resolve as had the
one held in 1842. To be sure it might serve to crystallize
public sentiment, if it could be brought to act without parti-
zanship. But were not the legislators competent to make
such additional arrangements as were necessary for the con-
trol of the free negroes? What they could not do, could
not be accomplished by means of legislation. 2 Another
question was as to the motives of the Cambridge meeting.
Demagoguery, it was said, had thrust its flaming brands into
the state from both the north and the south : this movement
seemed to be running to meet it. A Democratic paper in the
Eastern Shore asserted that all the members of the publica-
tion committee of the Cambridge convention were old-line
Whigs, and accused them of trying to retrieve their lost
political fortunes by new agitations. 3 The Frederick Ex-
aminer also scented partizanship and warned the movers
to 'beware. 4 On every hand were sounded counsels for dis-
passionate action and avoidance of extremes and cautions
that competent remedies for the " evils " were not to be
1 Cf. Md. Col. Journal, vol. ix, p. 274 ; Frederick Examiner, Nov. 10,
1858, and May n, 18, 1859.
2 Cecil Whig, June 4, 1859.
3 Centerville Advocate, quoted in the Cecil Whig, Nov. 1858. The
editor of the Advocate wrote that the composition of the committee
was such that the frien'ds of slavery were made to witness its protec-
tion 'by those not its friends. The horns of the devil were manifest in
this convention business. And) if the issue were drawn in that manner,
" may we not bid good-bye to the future welfare of this hitherto cher-
ished institution among us " ? Cf. also Boston Gazette, No. 9, 1858.
4 May n, 18, 1859.
3 io THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [700
easily devised. 'A careful execution of the Cambridge pro-
gram might ameliorate the condition of the free colored
people; but there was danger that, in the effort to deal with
the offending class, unmerited injuries might be inflicted
upon the unoffending. No one could foretell the con-
sequences of a re-enslavement of the free:, but it was at least
certain that there was no demand for a larger amount of
slave labor than the people had already in hand. The other
alternative, expulsion, could in any event be carried out only
at great cost to the users of free labor. And should it be
carried out, it would remove the best of the negroes, and
would leave a void that would soon be filled' by eighty
thousand white people, probably free white Europeans.
These freemen in their turn would use their vote,s to
emancipate the slaves and would thus restore the very con-
dition from which deliverance had been just achieved. 1
The first delegates were chosen, not in the Eastern Shore,
but in Southern Maryland. Four weeks before the ap-
pointed time of meeting only a few counties had chosen
their delegations. 2 In the local convention in Talbot
County there was opposition, to the " initiation of any
measures whatever," and three persons from as many sep-
arate districts declined to act as delegates to the Baltimore
meeting. In Cecil the small group that assembled chose as
delegates several men who were not present at all. 5 Balti-
more City and Allegany County were alike dilatory, but
when the date of meeting arrived, delegations from nearly
all the counties were on hand.
1 Frederick Examiner, April 20, May n, 18, 25, June I, 1859; Balti-
more American, June i, 1859; Md. Col. Journal, vol. ix, p. 274, and
American Sentinel, May 27, 1859.
* Somerset Union, April 26, 1859, and Frederick Examiner, April 20,
and May n, 1859.
* Easton Gazette, June 4, 1859 : Cecil Whig, May 28, 1859, and Balti-
more American, May 30, 1859.
701 ] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 31 x
The roster of the convention contained the names of re-
presentatives of varied interests. At the outset the moder-
ate elements gained control. As chairman E. F. Chambers,
and as chairman of the resolutions committee J. A. Pearce,
both of Kent County, were chosen. Orders were carried
that the house should vote en masse, that the rules of the
General Assembly should govern the proceedings, and that
no resolution or proposal should be entertained by the chair
without having first been duly reported through the com-
mittee on resolutions. 1 The committee listened to counsels
of moderation and advices that subjects covered by exist-
ing laws were to be avoided and retired to make up its re-
port. Upon its return the following day the chairman
stated that many projects of resolutions had been laid be-
fore the members, but that they had confined their attention
chiefly to the consideration of two of them, viz., the pro-
posed expulsion of the free negroes, and the better enforce-
ment of the act of 1831 touching the manumission of
slaves they had ignored the re-enslavement proposal. As
to the former, its execution would rid the state o>f about fifty
per cent of its household and agricultural laborers and
would inflict upon the people worse evils than any they had
thus far suffered. Moreover, it would be harsh and op-
pressive and would violate public sentiment which was
generally kind and just to the negroes. Therefore, they
recommended that expulsion was inexpedient and uncalled
for. They thought, however, that there ought to be laws
to enforce order and to foster industry and productiveness
on the part of the idlers, and that the act of 1831 ought to
be reaffirmed and so amended as to give to its provisions
l Md. Col. Journal, vol. x, pp. 17-19. Cf. also Baltimore American,
June 9, 1859; Cecil Whig, June n, 1859; Boston Gazette, June n, 18,
1859; Baltimore Sun, June 9, 1859; and 27th Annual Report of Amer-
ican Anti-Slavery Society, pp. 206-07.
3 i2 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [702
" active force and certain operation " and make it " either
prohibit emancipation altogether, or compel prompt removal
from the state of those: emancipated." Finally they recom-
mended that a committee o'f one member from each county
should be appointed to submit the views of the convention to
the legislature. Only one member of the committee had
declined to concur in the report. 1
At this point the leaders of the minority gained a hearing.
Some of its number had come up to the place brimful of
eloquence with which to electrify the delegates, and the gal-
leries. Hard upon their arrival they had discovered that
Baltimore City had chosen no delegation to greet them.
When members for the city did appear, this group of the
visitors tried to have them excluded and made futile en-
deavors to remove the assemblage to Frederick City. 2
They had lost innings also in the organization of the house
and in the gag-rule on resolutions. They had expected to
harangue the convention and to guide the committee in
making up its report. Instead they had been treated to
cautions against inflammatory utterances. They hinted
that the majority had been intimidated by influences outside
the state. They wanted unfettered expression they would
not be halted by what anybody was going to think of their
action. They tried to open a debate. Instead they threw
the body into a state of confusion and brought on an ad-
journment till the following day. 8
Their opportunity came, however, after the presentation
of the committee report. Their champion, C. W. Jacobs
*Md. Col. Journal, vol. x, pp. 18-19, 22-25; Baltimore American,
June 9, 10, 1859; Easton Gazette, June 18, 1859. Cf. also 27th Annual
Report of American Anti-Slavery Society, p. 210, ami Baltimore Sun,
June 10, 1859.
* Baltimore American, June 9, 1859,
' Op. cit.
703] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH 313
of Worcester, was the dissenting member of that committee.
He produced a minority report and made a long speech.
He proposed in effect that the right of manumission should
be taken away, and that a limited period should be allowed,
after which no free negro might remain in the state. Dur-
ing that period those who desired were to choose masters
whom they would serve, or remove themselves. Otherwise
after its expiration the officers of the law would take them up
and sell them at low prices to non-slave-holders, or to slave-
holders whose slaves did not exceed a certain fixed number.
In the meantime the counties should be thoroughly policed
to prevent insurrections. 1 The speaker claimed to be a
Methodist and a great friend of the negro race. He had
made a profound study of the negroes' condition and cul-
tural capacity and had found that in the West Indies and
in both the free and slave states of the American union,
their freedom had meant their extermination. For wel-
fare's sake slavery was " just as essential to the negro race
as freedom .... to the white race." They were, more-
over, dangerous competitiors in the labor market and a
menace to social order. They were 90000 mill-stones about
the necks of the Maryland people. They were not wanted
as freemen anywhere, and a crusade was on to get rid of
them. They would soon have to be 1 restored to slavery
or expelled ! The chairman interrupted on a point of order,
but the speaker gained a little more time and soon con-
cluded. The house at once voted to limit all other speeches
to twenty minutes each. It was also reminded that its com-
mittee's action had been nearly unanimous. The com-
mittee was then attacked by the minority for not proposing
more stringent measures. Two Southern Maryland mem-
1 Baltimore American, June 10, 1859, and Md. Col, Journal, vol. x.
pp. 25-26.
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [704
bers attempted to introduce resolutions from the floor with-
out committee. Higgling over points of order followed,
and several excited members simultaneously demanded re-
cognition by the chair. Quiet was restored for a moment.
One member from Calvert flatly contradicted an opinion
stated by his colleague. Mr. Jacobs spoke again but was
little heeded. Dinner hour passed and the delegates grew
eager to vote. Points of order, an attempt to bring on
adjournment and rejection of the minority report followed
each other in quick succession. Finally a resolution was
passed to recommend the prohibition of manumissions, the
majority report with this addition was passed and the body
adjourned sine die. 1
The radicals had been outwitted, but were not content to
rest with it. In the last previous session of the General
Assembly they had got permission to introduce a bill to
provide for regulating the free negroes. 2 In the session be-
ginning in January 1860 they got control of the Committee
on the Colored Population with Mr. Jacobs as chairman.
They were encouraged by the messages of the Governor
and by several petitions a which called for decisive action.
They made a long and biased report and introduced eight
bills which embodied certain of the extreme ideas favored
by the Cambridge convention. 4 The committee chairman
1 Baltimore American, June 10, 1859 ; Md. Col. Journal, vol. x, pp.
26-40; 27th Annual Report of American Anti-Slavery Society, pp. 206,
209-10, and Baltimore Sun, June 10, 1859.
1 H. Dels. Journal, 1858, p. 46.
*H. Dels. Docum-ents, 1860 B, p. u ; Journal, 1860, pp. 97, 101, 143,
291, 292, 293. The editor of the Easton Gazette, March 3, 1860, wrote
that Mr. Jacobs had] sought his seat in the legislature in order to be
able to engraft his " peculiar and extreme views on the statute books
of Maryland." Cf. Baltimore Sun, Jani 14, 1860, and 2?th Annual Re-
port of American Anti-Slavery Society, p. 211.
4 H. Dels. Journal, 1860, pp. 294-95, 309-10, and Md. Pub. Documents,
1860 O.
705] ATTEMPT TO CHECK. THE GROWTH 315
made an extensive speech advocating their enactment. 1 Re-
ports of these proceedings created a sensation and caused
some negroes, especially at Cumberland, to prepare to aban-
don their residence in Maryland. 2 Public protests opposed
the passage of the bills, however, and the committee itself
was not united in supporting them. The House rejected
the re-enslavement proposal and thus finally defeated its
champion. 3 But it repealed the sections of the statutes
authorizing the Board of Managers of the Colonization
Fund and authorized 'the appropriation of seventy dollars
for each negro over ten years of age, and half of that
amount for each one under ten years, to be sent to Africa
in future by the colonization society. 4 It prohibited manu-
missions, whether by will or by deed, and provided that
free negroes above the age of eighteen years might renounce
their freedom and choose their own masters. Children
under five years of age, belonging to females who might
1 He reiterated much of his former argument in the Baltimore Con-
vention. He disparaged the free negroes again; attacked the labor
theory of the abolitionists; reviewed the history of manumissions in
Maryland); declared that the free negroes were the property of the
state, and were without any civil rights; asserted) that manumitters
were afflicted with a diseased moral and religious sentiment; and
closed with a metaphor about the upas tree spreading its Ibranches into
every county of Maryland and exhaling its deadly vapors at every
hearthstone in the state. This speech was published in pamphlet form
in 1860. For synopses of the " Jacobs bills," which ibecame notorious,
vide Baltimore Sun, Feb. 20; Boston Gazette, Feb. n, 25; and Somer-
set Union, Feb. 21, 1860.
1 Baltimore Sun, Feb. 17, 1860, quoting Cumberland Telegraph.
8 The Baltimore American, Feb. 27, 1860, records that Mr. Jacobs
abandoned his legislative seat after this reverse. Cf. also op. cit., Feb.
7, 8, 10, 14, 16, 20, 21, 1860, and Somerset Union, Feb. 7, 14, 1860, and
Easton Gazette, March 3, 1860.
4 Laws, 1860, ch. 283. The aggregate appropriation in this manner
was not to exceed $5000 in any one year. Cf. Report of President of
Maryland State Colonization Society, Senate Documents, 1860 U.
316 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [706
thus renounce freedom, were to become slaves also, while
those over five years were to be bound out by the courts. 1
Finally another act made provisions for hiring out certain
unemployed free negroes in eleven of the counties. 2 But
its final enactment was dependent upon a popular vote in
each of the counties concerned. The referendum was
taken in the fall of 1860 and resulted in an overwhelming
defeat, the smallest majority against it being 42 per cent in
Charles County. 3
The people of Maryland had labored for three-quarters
of a century to construct a negro code. They had rejected
a multitude of proposals and yet had surfeited their statute
books with enactments that failed to reflect their wishes.*
In those efforts they had often attempted to alter conditions
that were perhaps not to be remedied by legislation. At
any rate the restrictions they had set up were ineffective and
the complaints about it were only too well-grounded. The
true policy of the people, therefore, favored a mild treat-
ment of the negro. It was dictated by a fair regard for
justice as well as by regard for the business interests of the
whites. 5 It was well adhered to notwithstanding the diffi-
culties occasioned by the extreme advocates of pro-slavery
and anti-slavery. To be sure the negro was looked upon
as an inferior and was subjected to impositions. But his
1 Laws, 1860, ch. 322.
* Op. cit., ch. 232. For analysis of its details, cf. Brackett, op. cit.,
pp. 260-61. Cf. also 27th Annual Report of American Anti-Slavery
Society, pp. 211-12.
8 Cecil Whig, Nov. 10, 17, 1860; Md. Col. Jour., vol. x, pp. 137-45,
2 53- Cf. Brackett, op. cit., p. 262.
*Cf. Frederick Examiner, May n, 1859; Md. Col. Jour., vol. x, pp.
273-74, 278 ; House Documents, 1860 O, pp. 3-4.
9 Cf. Cross, A Few Thoughts to Mr. Jacobs, p. i; Baltimore Sun,
Feb. 20, 1860; Easton Gazette, Feb. 25, 1860; Baltimore American, Feb.
7, 1860.
707] ATTEMPT TO CHECK THE GROWTH
foibles were borne with patience, and he was given a wide
latitude to make the best of his circumstances. He was
respected, wherever he made himself respectable, and was
protected in his rights to an extent that was remarkable.
The war between the states occurred too soon to allow the
policy of prohibiting manumissions to 'be thoroughly tested.
CONCLUSION
IN the foregoing chapters the endeavor has been to
set forth the account of the introduction and growth of
the negro portion of the population of Maryland, of its
numerical and functional relations to the white people,
of its eventual division into two formally distinct classes
slaves and free negroes and its progress through changes
in numerical relations until in 1860 those classes became
substantially equal. The account has also brought out the
methods of transferring individual negroes from the status
of slavery to that of freedom, has shown the kaleidoscopic
niches created for the free negroes by law and has em-
phasized the protective and exploitative points of view of
both the f ormulators of the policies of the state government
and the informal treatment meted out by the people to the
free negro class. Further it has dealt with the industrial
training of the young negroes, with the occupations and
the quality of the labor of adults and with their wages and
acquisitions of property ; it has also dealt with the halting,
restricted labors of a few persons for the education of
negro children, with the emergence of numerous negro
churches whose organizers timorously sought to impart a
culture whose possession by negroes would not give offence
to opponents of negro enlightenment; and with the stand-
ards of comfort and general well-being of the negroes. It
has found that at least outside the city of Baltimore the free-
men and the slaves were not widely different from each
other. Finally, it has shown the jealousy of the whites to-
wards and their lack of confidence in the integrity of negro
318 [708
;
709] CONCLUSION 3 ! 9
f reerngrL a.<; rit.izpns and hag narrated the fntilft gndf^^QT^Jg^
prevent thejiicrea^
already free to relinquish their residence in Maryland for
a home in Liberia,
In all phases of their life and activity the negroes formed
a nether crust of the social body. As a complementary
part in the industrial system their functioning was indispen-
sable, but in determining the character of that system and
in fixing the relations of its parts to each other their voices
were unheard ; while in the distribution of its benefits!
their participation was confined to picking up crumbs from
the tables of "their betters." Their presence was not to
be allowed to impair any vital interest nor to restrict any acti-
vity of the whites, no matter what their own desires were,
no matter in what roles they appeared or in what form their
interests were involved. The raison d'etre of the state was
y\sir*
the promotion of the welfare of the whites. To discuss the
rightfulness of these conditions -would be interesting. The &*-/?*
problem here, however, is to attempt the explanation, not ~/#-
the justification.
The key to the early eslafalishnient of^ the negro element of_
the population is found in the labor situation. The abundance
of cheap land on which marketable produce could be raised
gave rise to a demand for labor. The proprietor's policy
of peopling the province by offering colonists liberal treat-
ment had led to the coming of many bond-servants and
others but had failed to attract enough settlers to satisfy
this demand. Moreover, the development of industries " at
home " in the later Stuart period afforded counter demands
there for the labor of the classes from which the colonists
had chiefly come. Of immigrants from the continent of
Europe Maryland had received only a minor portion and
before the treaty of Utrecht only a few thousand negroes.
As for the latter, although there was no clear apprehension
320
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
of the consequences of the increase of negro slavery, it
can be said that the land-holders preferred not to receive
any more, provided they could get whites instead. For the
quality of the labor was inferior and besides they had
scruples against holding in 'bondage for life any human
beings and especially individuals who had received Chris-
tian baptism. But in their situation the alternatives to buy-
ing negroes were either leaving their fields unworked or
operating with scant supplies of white labor, in either case
allowing less scrupulous planters elsewhere to supply the
tobacco and grain markets of Europe. The urgency of
buying negroes accordingly appeared clear. Hence the bars
were let down, negro labor flowed in faster than in the seven-
teenth century, and negroes became a large element in the
population. Thus there were two distinct classes of servile
laborers, the bond-servants who were mainly whites and the
slaves who were negroes probably without exception.
The labor supply depended upon the importation of per-
sons of these two classes. The policy of the laws of the
province was to facilitate this supply and with this in view
to make secure the rights of land-holders to the services of
those in their employ. The province adopted for incom-
ing laborers, therefore, the principle of perpetuating the
status fixed upon them as individuals 'before they en-
tered and applied it without apparent regard to the race or
origin of those concerned. But it is notable that arrange-
ments for emancipation were incidental to each of these
systems. For bond-servants the arrangements occurred in
the form of legally recognized contracts, or court decrees,
whose provisions called for limited service and whose ful-
filment brought freedom as a normal result. As most of
the bond-servants were white persons, it followed that ihe
execution of these contracts benefited mainly the whites.
But as the slaves -were negroes, and nearly all the negroes
7 n] CONCLUSION 321
slaves, it followed that generally they gained no benefits
under such rules. For slaves jiiaiiumission- depended upon-
the uncertain graces of masters who were invested with
ownership rights unlimited as to time. Thus although it
appeared that formally a consistent policy was adhered to,
the effect was to discriminate between the races in making
freedom grants. The discrimination thus established was
maintained partly because its original causes did not disap-
pear, partly because of the growing avidity of the planters
and partly because slave-holders who observe-d industrial
impotency on the part of negroes who had become free did
not desire to increase the number of f reedmen on that ac-
count. In the face of such circumstances the alternative
of limited servitude with eventual freedom for negroes
seemed to have less in its favor after the end of the seven-
teenth century than it had had before. The, prevailing
tendency was to make slavery co-extensive with the number
of negro persons and negro freedom exceptional rather than
normal throughout the provincial period.
Whether this discrimination was reasonable or not, the
practice of manumission which set it at naught began long
before the middle of the eighteenth century. Free negroes
were the consequence. The rate of additions to their
numl^ers was slow until the era of the revolution. Its
acceleration then was provoked mainly by the falling de-
mand for slave labor after the exhaustion of certain to-
bacco-producing soils, but was also due in part to the
, political and ethical awakening of the people. Moreover,
as larger numbers of negroes, especially women, became
free, their growth through natural causes was also facili-
Jated. The increment arising from migration from the
other states was not large. But the total result was that
in the two and a quarter centuries between the first introduc-
tion of slavery and the general emancipation the free negro
^=^
322 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [712
class grew from a very small number to 83942, thus becom-
ing more than 49 per cent of the entire negro population
of the state.
U
The mean condition of the free negro, although an ac-
cepted fact, was commonly deplored and often regarded as
unjust to him. Its continuance disturbed the minds of
many persons and led to the condemnation of those whites,
especially the slave-holders, who were supposed to be re-
sponsible for it. It is not desired here to condone the faults
of which the whites were guilty, but it is meant to attempt to
explain further the conditions and causes that determined
the course of negro history in this state. The chief matters
of concern are to be the factors affecting the character and
destiny of the negro, the progress made by the free negro
before the general emancipation, the appraisement of the
negro as a candidate for citizenship and the effect of his
presence upon the state and society.
As a foreword to the discussion of the formative factors
in the case of the negro we notice for a moment the pre-
vailing providence of slaveowning parents for their child-
ren. They commonly endeavored, so far as their wisdom
and resources permitted, to educate their offspring and to
train them in the industrial arts and the manners and cus-
toms of the society of which they were to be a part. Thus
the common-school branches of learning, the running of
the farm, the care of the crops and farm animals, the man-
agement of the negroes, the observance of moral rules, the
usages of intercourse in their particular social circle and the
inculcation of Jeffersonian political doctrines each received
its due measure of attention. Besides there was the en-
deavor to accumulate property to transmit as a comple-
ment to the mental equipment. And throughout all was"
713] CONCLUSION 323
warmly cherished the belief that the 'better the parents per-
formed their several parts, the better prepared would be the
offspring to play the role of citizens of the community.
The quickwitted, aggressive, powerful white citizenship
was the product of this endeavor.
Into the midst of such a citizen body was dropped the
negro freeman. He was removed from the savagery of
Africa by only a brief interval, and his experiences here
had been those of oppressed servant and menial. And yet
he was destined to be both free and a permanent part of the
population. His situation was critical Before him was
the career in the community. He was either to be or not to
be a man among men. At any rate he was to meet the
competition of the strong white man, and, if he was to suc-
ceed, had to have a chance. The conditions under which
a fair chance was to be had were that his advantages in
industry and trade should not be less than those of his
competitor; that he should have trained faculties and the
use of supplies of land and capital adequate for his uses.
For this purpose it was meet that he should have due care
in nurturing 'and rearing and such a measure of the training'
and discipline dispensed in 'the community as his case called
for. Indeed were he less responsive to stimuli than the
white, he ought to have been given the preference in order
to equalize the chances. Accordingly there should have
been provided adequate schools, supplied with books and
materials and manned by teachers who were prepared to
instruct and guide the negro youth to a high plane, to de-
velop a brain-power and a skill in the industrial arts that
would match those of the whites. Moreover, in order to
assure access to land and capital, there should have been a
systematic sharing of the contents of estates to negroes as
well as to whites. With some such dispositions the ine-
qualities between parties might have been reduced so that
THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
324
at least the best qualities of each race could freely manifest
themselves. So long as either race labored under a handi-
cap to which the other was not subject, the complaint that it
played its role poorly was open to objection. But as the
negroes' own forbears had neither the minds nor the means
to supply these advantages, it would have fallen to white
friends or to the community to grant the necessary favors.
But the whites did not take this point of view. The
bases of their thought about the matter are interesting.
They were of European stock, mainly British, feeling them-
selves lords of the earth and the negro their servant. They
had learned of the relationship of employer and employee
from a past in which the latter was an under dog. And
further they derived scant inspiration to desire to improve
their labor system from what they observed of contemp-
orary labor conditions either in Europe or the sister " free
states." As for the negro he was in Maryland for no pur-
poses of his own. His introduction as a labor quantity had
'been at a cost that had caused him to 'be figured into the
capital account of the industrial system. He was a work
animal and it was incumbent to treat him as such, to make
outlays for his upkeep on a minimum basis rather than on
one dictated by humamtarianism. Only so could unecon-
omic maintenance be avoided and the station of the human
chattel preserved.
Furthermore, were the negro's position improved, were
his intellect enlightened, it could only make him less con-
tented. If slave, he would desire freedom, if already free,
more freedom, hoping thereby to rise to equality with the
whites. But freedom could not genuinely help him towards
this, because nature had made him insuperably inferior to
the white man by fixing hard and fast racial differences
which could not be obliterated by amalgamation or other-
wise. It was hopeless for him to try to gain power, either
715] CONCLUSION 325
as lord or as peer of the whites, and the state ought not then
to hazard such enlightenment as would give him the scent
of power. Should it do so, the certain consequence would
be discontent that would ripen into insurrection and race
war in which he could but be felled and crushed. It were
better not to mix matters so : it were better to preserve the
status quo ante, that of the benighted, exploited, contented
negro and of the domination and the enjoyment of the
major portion of the fruits of the industries by the whites.
Imbued with these ideas, the governing classes determined
to control the destiny of the negro but undertook no formal
program of amelioration of his condition. In the last half
of the eighteenth century, however, the decline of the
demand for servile labor led to the conversion of many
slaves into freemen. This process of change continued into
the later decades and undermined the old system of control.
Aft the same time it served to deepen the grave concern al-
ready felt about the growing negro population and to thrust
into the foreground the problem of its disposal.
Long-sustained endeavors were made to recover the lost
reins of power. The favorite expedient of their supporters
was to attempt to restrict the right of owners to manumit
their negroes. The statutes for "this purpose form an in-
teresting series. The' first important one was designed to
invalidate any grant of freedom that had not been made a
matter of formal record. A later one, enforced for a
generation ( 1752-90) denied the power to manumit by last
will and testament. Still another laid penalties upon the
master who allowed his negro to go about to work as a
free person. Finally the act of 1832 affected to f of bid any
manumission excepting on condition of expatriation, while
by that of 1860 manumission on any conditions at all was
prohibited. In the meantime the colonization scheme had
arisen, and although it attracted less ardent support than the
326 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
restriction of freedom grants, was liberally helped by the
state acting through both the American Colonization Society
and the Maryland State Colonization Society. These two
expedients had been designed to articulate hand in glove.
They proved of little avail, however, the first because the
people generally did not acquiesce in the spasmodic outbursts
that led to the enactment of the extreme measures. As for
colonization there was no rigid enforcement of the statute
that was to supply the emigrants, while of the negroes who
volunteered to go to Liberia, some came 'back to live " at
home " again. The enterprise dwindled and died a natural
death. The result of all the efforts was thus small. They
did perhaps hamper the emancipation movement, which
after all triumphed soon enough, but the failure to achieve
their obvious intentions reflected discredit upon their f ram-
ers. They also frittered away resources and energy that
could better have been expended in ameliorating the negro's
condition in the place where he was destined to stay. The
growth of the free negro population proceeded apace in
spite of them.
The governing classes failed to divine how the elevation
of the negro could take place consistently with the mainten-
ance of their own position. The defeat of the policies
which they favored did not reconcile them to the growth
of numbers and the advance of the other interests of the
free negro class. Although they failed to plan for improve-
ment, certain protective measures which they sponsored
(became constructive in effect. They were '(i) that pur-
porting to require the shiftless, vagabond free negro to be
put to work, (2) the several statutes and clauses passed to
penalize the negro who failed to keep his labor contract, and
(3) that requiring the teaching of a useful trade to the
negro child who had " no visible means of support." The
first-mentioned was enforced occasionally in many com-
717] CONCLUSION 327
munities and more or less consistently enforced inside and
in the environs of the chief centers of population. Those
of the second were of some avail in protecting injured em-
ployers but savored of peonage and like the first bore but
lightly upon the training of laborers. The third was in-
voked commonly in all parts of the state, so that under
its provisions were trained many of the most useful of the
colored tradesmen and many other laborers. The persons
to whom it was applied were regarded and treated as were
slaves- f or- terms-of -years saving that until about 1815-20
their masters were usually required to teach them the rudi-
ments of learning.
Meager as was the provision for vocational training, it
exceeded that for general education. Many of the negroes
lived in communities whose schools were private, or if
public, insufficient to preclude a common resort to the home
governess among the well-to-do. Scholastic training above
the " three R's," however, was a thing reserved for the
favored ones among whom the negroes were not numbered.
More advanced education for those who received it was
commonly sought outside of the home community, or be-
yond the state borders. In some places, notably Baltimore
City, the negroes were more highly favored. But in any case
it was scant picking for them. Even in the metropolis the
petty and generally evanescent schools they were privileged
to attend did not accommodate many pupils nor advance any
one very far. Some additional information was gained by
those who attended church services, especially where white
ministers of a teaching turn officiated. For the rest, the
great majority of negroes, it lay mainly with the orders
given by masters or overseers, with the experiences and
conversation that befell and the things caught up by ear
and eye while in service to impart enlightenment. None
of these was calculated to raise the negro intellect to an in-
328 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND
dependent thinking basis. It was for them rather to make
mean beginnings that would not offend grievously the op-
ponents of amelioration.
In each race were character-forming elements good, bad
and indifferent by which careers were vitally affected.
Those in the negroes were largely passive, and those in the
whites more often active. The progress made by negro
learners depended not only upon their receptive capacities
but also upon the types of whites with whom they came into
contact. For instance, the master who, was alert, tactful
and scrupulous about the consequences of his own acts some^
times diligently counseled and trained the negroes who were
nearest to him in daily service. The effects of such care
were frequently shown both in the general intelligence and
in the moral integrity and earning power of the favored in-
dividuals. But such excellent masters could hardly have
produced like results in the case of sluggard or vicious or
otherwise non-tractable negroes. In them the timber for
good citizens was not to be had, and their number was many.
Furthermore, many masters themselves reached no high
standard as trainers. Their chief defect was indifference to
the elevation of the negro's condition. Generally they de-
sired only that their own slaves should be merely pliant,
effective chattels, not difficult of control. Owners of large
gangs of slaves too had but little to do with most of their
men. Besides there were the unbusinesslike, the vicious
and dissolute all of whom were obviously unfitted to be
trainers of citizens.
Ill
The needs of the negro and the chief obstacles in the way
of their being met have been stated. How much progress
could have 'been achieved, had the state undertaken seriously
719] CONCLUSION 329
to elevate his condition is matter for speculation. 1 It should
be noted, however, that the opposition to formal programs
of amelioration did not prevent the private and informal
agencies already mentioned from making for uplift. And
as there were marked evidences of their effects, it is perhaps
incumbent to attempt to estimate the progress made, al-
though the hundred years with which this study has mainly
to do was too short an interval for racial elevation to pro-
ceed very far. Quantitative measures of advance can not
be given throughout.
The strength of the whites in numbers, in institutional
development, in the essentials of civilization precluded the
possibility of an internal Kulturkampf. The negro laid
aside the things of Africa and henceforth achieved by imita-
tion of the whites' models whose superiority he could not
dispute. In all things he was directly or indirectly depend-
ent upon guidance and counsel and often also on financial
assistance of white friends. He often failed to make good
copies of his models, failed to rise to the level of Caucasian
excellence. But he ought not to 'be unduly disparaged for
either the fact of imitation or that of the imperfections of
his endeavors. It should be remembered that the achieve-
ments of the whites, whether in private or public enterprises,
were also highly imitative and dependent upon teaching and
counsel and the buoying support of the social nexus. They
only appeared to be less so than those of the negro because
(i) theirs was a case of like following like and (2) they
generally showed the more thorough assimilation of teach-
ing and practice of the two.
A vital part of this progress, a prerequisite to advance
1 In making this remark it is not forgotten that supplies of trained
teachers and probably also of capital to equip and support them could
perhaps not have been had and that pedagogical and vocational methods
were not available for the prosecution of such an enterprise.
330 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [720
in other ways, was the adaptation to the white man's social
order. The speech, the objects and methods of production
and consumption of goods, the manners and customs, the
acceptance of the position of deference to and dependence
upon superiors, all had to be learned. These things were
received in the school of slavery, carried along by indivi-
duals who emerged therefrom into freedom and taught to
the generations of children, both slave and free. The in-
timate relations between slaves and free negroes kept both
on substantially the same level in all these matters. The
lessons of slavery thus still held the f reedmen in thralldom,
but on account of differences in formal status the latter had
distinct advantages over the slaves in respect to industrial
activities and acquiring property and education.
Although it was in part an unconscious development, the
free negroes followed the whites in growth of numbers.
They consciously attempted to imitate in acquiring property.
In the year 1755 the 1817 free negroes constituted 1.2 per
cent of the entire population and 4 per cent of the negro
population of the province. From available evidence it is
concluded that they then had scarcely any mentionable
property, had as incomes none save those of hired and bond
servants, kad in scattered cases acquired some rudimentary
" learning " and had as organizations of their own nothing-
unless some primitive, clandestine societies. 1 In these several
matters came changes that amounted to at least incipient
progress, and we therefore note what had come into negro
hands after the lapse of a century. By the year 1860 the
free negro portion of the total population had risen to 12.2
per cent and that of the negro population to 49.05 per cent.
The aggregate values of the properties held by negroes ap-
1 Slaves had no legal property, had their keep as incomes, but prob-
ably at that time enjoyed as fully as f reedmen the privileges of " learn-
ing" and club membership.
72 1 ] CONCLUSION 33!
parently increased about 1500 per cent between 1813 and
1860. In the latter year they stood at about .44 of I per
cent of the total for the state. Although these were in
themselves sources of financial returns, there is also evidence
that the forms of annuities, life estates, interest and rents
yielded additional incomes to some, while personal earnings,
generally of small amounts, fell to those who worked for
them.
As to advance in living conditions the evidence is scanty,
but it seems worth while to state some inferential conclu-
sions. It was reputed that the whites generally lived better
in the nineteenth century than they had lived before the re-
volution and that they also provided better for the slaves
than of old. It was common report also that the free
negroes "lived about as well as the slaves," and it seems
probable that they at least kept up with the improvements
in the lot of the latter. The individual, if inclined to lapse
to a lower level, could easily hire himself to a land-holder
for his " victuals and clothes." By this means he could
live at least as well as the slave, but generally he could get
something more than this minimum. Of resources once in
hand he so often made improvident uses that it was in
effect a pittance of poor stuff that he got when left to him-
self. And yet the growing incomes and increased power of
appreciation were factors making for improvement. Some
free families, it was known, lived quite well, although they
were a minority and their number increased but slowly.
On the side of education and institutions for culture there
had been notable advances. The jealous surveillance of the
repressiotiists had permitted a few schools and Sunday
schools to teach negro children to read and some to write
and do sums. Outside of Baltimore, however, such
agencies were practically nil, and yet there were a few
cases of negro school attendance even in country districts.
v
332 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [722
There was also much more of teaching the rudiments to those
in service in the homes of the people. Advancing beyond
this some teachers and preachers attained a fair minimum
of education. One student of law in Baltimore passed suc-
cessfully the examinations for admission to the bar. The
level of intelligence as well as that of literacy was also
raised. In this development the negro churches had a lead-
ing part. The first separate negro congregation arose in
Baltimore about 1785-86. In 1860 there were at least
twelve churches representing five or six different denomina-
tions in the city, while scattered about in the counties were
some fifteen or twenty other churches and numerous con-
gregations aspiring to be so-called. There was one inde-
pendent African hierarchy which, however, did not belong
wholly to the Maryland churches. The founding and main-
tenance of these churches and the financing and construction
of certain of their buildings were activities of no mean sort.
Besides involving business transactions that required resolu-
tion and dispensing comfort and culture to attendants they
afforded for negro energies an outlet unvexed by white com-
petition.
Although much could be said about moral conditions, it
is with temerity that one ventures to write about moral
advances. And yet the signs of progress in other lines
already noted probably had their complement on the moral
side. With this limitation, therefore, we may point to an
increase in the integrity, trustworthiness, deference for law
and order and in regard for parental and marital obliga-
tions. The evidences on which conclusions are based were
dovetailed with deplorable contrary conditions. But the
motive in making this statement is truth and not mere
optimism.
723 ] CONCLUSION 333
IV
The gains thus noted had greatly changed the position of
the negro in the course of a hundred years. They had
not come about without mental reactions to the environment
such as the eighteenth century had failed to bring about.
The free negro class of 1860 was not a mere duplicate of
an equal number of negroes of the provincial era. But yet
the elevation of the negro had only fairly begun, and he
still had much to do to rise in the scale of civilization to the
level of his white neighbor. On this account there will now
be given an appraisement of the negro and a comparison with
the white man who for valid reasons deserved to be called
the normal type of citizen of the commonwealth. The state-
ment about each type will follow the same lines. The
analysis will concern itself with the make-up and activities,
accepting what were thought and done as the indices of the
character. It assumes that society approved certain char-
acteristics and disfavored their absence. It finds evidences
of personal qualities in conformity or non-conformity to
rules which society itself had ordained. These rules con-
cerned themselves chiefly with the conventional, moral,
economic, social and political phases of life. As affecting the
individual no one of them stood apart from but rather com-
plementary to the rest. Attention will first be given briefly
to the white and then more at length to the negro. The
main point of concern is the consideration of the qualities of
the type, but at some points causes will also be discussed.
Regarding the whit& man it will suffice to give a general
statement of the qualities that were ingrained in the average
citizen. As a conventional being he applied to himself the
common rules of decency, kept at least fairly to the usages
and amenities of his station, had regard for those of
others and had regard for women. As a moral person he
appreciated the binding character of promises, of oaths and
334 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [724
other obligations and knew that the maintenance of public
order depended upon his acquiescence in it and his support
of the public authorities in the discharge of their duties.
He joined with others in reprobating sexual irregularities
and in frowning upon unfairness and sharp practice in busi-
ness transactions. In his opinion moral rules also affected
economic practice in another way: they made it necessary
for the normal man to get by honest means a respectable
competence for himself and his household. He followed a
calling for that purpose. He further attempted to utilize his
income with some degree of economy to attain a reasonable
standard of comfort and, had he a surplus over living ex-
penses, to lay by something for the future. Socially he
evinced a high regard for the sacredness of the home thres-
hold and of the normal relations of husband and wife and
parents and children. He objected to any intrusion into these
precincts excepting for the sake of the protection of the
home itself. Finally, he had an interest in the public affairs
of the locality, the state and the union of states. He was a
member of the Democratic party, or some other party; he
supported it with his vote and, although sometimes blinded
to the real issue in a contest, generally knew why he was
called upon to vote and what were the promised conse-
quences in case his party prevailed at the polls. In jury
service also, in paying taxes and discharging other public
duties he acted with a degree of realization of the respon-
sibility that rested upon him. In some things he missed the
mark of excellence, but of such as he were made the warp
and woof of the social body.
The negro was different from this. He was the product
of the raw material he had been in the low civilization of
Africa made over in the melting-pot of servitude to men who
were far more advanced than he was. What remained in
him of the aboriginal dross had in this crucible been either
725] CONCLUSION 335
burned away entirely or rendered plastic enough to fit with-
out resistance into the molds that had been provided for it.
He had become such as he was not because he was strong
but because he was weak, because what was outstanding in
him either served well the white man's purposes or failed
to give offence that led to its suppression. The result wa3
the cowering, self -depreciating, groveling, compliant and
often pitiable creature the main lines of whose character are
now to be sketched.
In his way the negro was a conventional person. Although
hindered by lack of resources and the jealous vigilance of
the whites, the barbaric love of ceremony and display con-
stantly cropped out in his conduct. Keeping within limits
it manifested itself in obsequiousness and in childish and
imitative forms. This was especially true of him who had
been a house-servant or lackey in a genteel family. The
Stride, mannerisms and speech of gentlemen and ladies were
copied, and in some individuals the veneer thus taken on was
converted into a fair measure of refinement. But field
hands and common laborers, being in a different environ-
ment, learned less of these things. In saluting white persons
generally negroes knew how to be meticulously careful and
proper but in greeting their own kind were not so consistent.
In many matters the degree of excellence varied a good deal.
In the following the standards were commonly low :
character and keep of abode, care of person, sufficiency and
propriety of raiment, language and tone used in conversa-
tion, chivalry towards womanhood and regard for the feel-
ings of others.
Some of the basic principles of the aboriginal moral code
were similar to those of the European. As regarded truth-
telling, fairness' and honesty the 'European and the African
were to an extent at one. But in the peculiar relations of
the races here the African was subject to subtle influences.
336 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [726
He was expected to conform to the familiar principles. His
labor, however, was being exploited for the benefit of the
whites. That seemed unfair. The demand laid upon him
was not reciprocated by the white man, and he had no power
to make it so. He also found many other rules with which
he had not been familiar in Africa. There were juristic
laws, moral laws and customs, a whole system whose parts
he did not understand, but evidently created to serve the
white man's purposes. He was expected to keep certain of
them also, although he did not know well how to do so.
As a slave he had often been disinclined to a voluntary ob-
servance of rules, because he bore no responsibility for keep-
ing things in order. He had been guided by inertia, by de-
sire to curry his owner's favor or by fear of the roaring gut-
turals of the slave-driver. When legally free he did not
become free from these impulses. He was a child : if
trained he could be trusted, but not too far. He would
readily incur obligations, and only less readily forget them.
His unreliability in fulfilment was proverbial. It held in
connection with laJbor contracts, engagements to pay in
future, delivery of promised goods and fiduciary trusts. In
other matters also his word was not dependable. He poorly
understood the nature of an oath and thus in part destroyed
the weight of his testimony in the courts. He was deficient
in the moral parts necessary to labor efficiency. He de-
preciated the need of personal exertion to earn a living,
slacked inordinately, imposed hard work upon women with-
out scruple and often begged or stole to supplement meager
earnings. For the white man's rule against adultery he had
a loyalty that was higher than he would have had in Africa
but many degrees below that of the Anglo-Saxon.
Reference was made above to ethical deficiencies as af-
fecting the function of producer of goods. In no other
point was the character of the negro more clearly revealed
727] CONCLUSION 337
than in his role in industry. His wants and means of sup-
ply were not like they had been in A'f rica. The trend of in-
dustry here was different and he had to adapt himself to the
change. For this he was plastic enough, as shown by his
survival and his continued service of the white man. But
the conditions of his importation, the intentions and manner
of his employment and the omission to give him adequate
training sufficed only to make of him an indifferent, unenter-
prising, undependable laborer. He had acquired at best
an ordinary technical skill, a low modicum of managerial
ability, scant bargaining power, knowledge mainly of the
poor economy of the slave system, little or no capital or
credit and little or no prudence that might set a reini
upon the impulses noted in the preceding paragraph. He
had had the experience of slavery but when free knew*
not how to flee slavery. He feared to venture far from
the home community, from "old master " and his family. /
The lure of cheap land on the frontier possessed no charm
for him. The tales of welcome and " freedom " in the free
states, or of full political rights in Liberia, linked with free
wage labor in either, did not move him. 1 He knew what
to expect, if he remained at home. He would be a " nig-
ger." He would hire himself to a land-holder to work
from " Christmas to 'Christmas " for " victuals and clothes ; "
or had he a patch of ground life estate, lease or free-*
hold he would devote a part of his time to it and a
part to hunting possums and to other things. If in the
city, he would operate a dray-cart, shuck oysters, work on
the city streets, be a coachman, house-servant, waiter in an
eating-place, a barber or mechanic, or perhaps run a market-
1 Between 1833 and 1859 only about 1450 negroes were carried! from
Maryland to " Maryland in Liberia." iln 1860 only a few negroes ofi
Maryland birth were residents of free states. Of these last a part
were runaway slaves.
338 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [728
garden in the suburbs. He might do well for one of his
color but could hardly get employment excepting at manual
labor, and even in that not on the job that was technically
difficult and exacting and well-paid. As an active factor he
was nearly excluded from financiering, brokerage and trans-
portation, in manufacturing and merchandizing he had a
meager part and in agriculture a somewhat larger one. His
role was mainly passive. As a servant or laborer acting
under direction he had part in many varied operations.
But in practically all of them his efficiency was low and to
his rating corresponded his wage. Of his utilization of
his income to promote his own welfare account has already
been taken.
The moral and economic qualities determined the posi-|
tion in social life and as regarded politics. In the first off j
these the interest centers in the home and family. In Africa ,
the aborigine had not known the home, as edifice or as in-
stitution, as the Anglo-Saxon possessed it. While in
slavery he learned many things about it and imbibed a cer-
tain desire^to copy, it This desire grew with the advance of
freedom, but its realization was accomplished with difficulty
on account of lack of funds. What was gained depended
in great part upon gratuities from white friends or upon
what the negro acquired under white direction and assist-
ance. What was had was the cabin, or in the city the tene-
ment, with poor provision of floors, ceilings and furnishings
and commonly unkempt and squalid. Its threshold did not
screen from the world the elements of privacy and domestic
felicity that belonged to the home. It was probably better
than the average stable for the cattle but was not the place
of security, of rest and enjoyment, the castle of the white
man. The family also was defective. The imported slaves
represented different nations of Africans whose marriage
customs, while varying somewhat among themselves, dif-
729] CONCLUSION 339
fered strikingly from those in vogue among the whites.
All alike had to confine their practices here to what slavery
would admit of and 'besides sometimes to submit to the
intrusions of incontinent white men. The result was, ex-
cepting in the case of those who adopted life-term mono-
gamy, much confusion and irregularity of sexual relations.
In effect adultery, concubinage, short-term unions generally
without formal celebration, and infidelity were common.
Birth without wedlock was the presumption at law, until the
contrary was established by evidence. Desertion, breaking 1
up of incipient homes and practical abandonment of children
produced their demoralizing effects. Failure of home func-
tioning allowed offspring to grow up without realization of
sacred family relations, without being steeped in the home
idea and with the knowledge that being " niggered " was the
normal thing in this relationship also. The negro did not
meet with, give and take with, go in and out with, exchange
views and puns with nor go into the homes, societies and
churches with those who were considered the " good
people " of the community. The station he occupied was a
nether one.
In each of the points of view above presented it has been
possible to point to positive conditions. In the sphere of
politics it is less easy to do so. The rude type of African
political organization which did not protect its own people
from abduction into slavery in foreign places need only be
mentioned here. What it lacked of unfitting one for the
exercise of political rights in an American commonwealth
was supplied in full measure by the system of slavery on
this side of the ocean. In that system the individual figured
as a unit of capital, known to the law as was the ox. The
property rights of the owner stood between him and all else.
To be sure he had an exposure to the political system
through the restraining and controlling laws, but it would
340 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [730
be difficult to tell just the impress he received from such ex-
posure. He learned at least to fear the constable and the
policeman, to stand in awe o<f the justice of the peace and
to know hazily of the governor and some other officials, not-
ing betimes that all of them were whites. He became aware
that in other ways also the white man enjoyed privileges
that the negro did not possess, and that beyond his ken
were other governmental functions that often affected him.
But he was excluded from participation in them and bore
none of the responsibility of the so-called " sovereign man/'
He did not even learn the habit of voluntary acquiescence
in majority decisions. What was left to him was the posi-
tion of passive denizen. He accepted it languidly and
scarcely rose above it when manumitted; no more did the
child of free parents rise above it. Each one accounted for
his own low estate in terms of inferior physical power and in-
ferior wits. The historian can hardly avoid agreeing that
he was right.
On the basis of the statements in the preceding sections
we come to the ultimate causes of the status of the negro.
They were two in number, (i) the personal qualities ac-
counted for in the above analysis, and (2) the course of
action chosen by the whites. Those of the first were the
more deep-seated and those of the second based upon them.
No such things arose as permanent bars against the merging
of the family stocks of those who had been white servants
into the general population. But as conditions over which
none had control such things did arise to plague the negro.
They petrified racial distinctions, underlay racial antipathy
and discriminations, begot fears of internecine strife and
decreed the disqualification of one race to function on a par
with the other. They limited the capacity of the negro to
shuffle off the coil of servitude. To understand the second
cause fully it is necessary to consider the original contact
73 1 ] CONCLUSION 34I
with the negro who had not been well known before. The
whites inevitably marked the color and the other external
differences but in their action were at the time probably
motived by two things. One was the desire to make secure
the rights to their new chattels and the other a disregard
for the feelings of such chattels akin to that of the captor
for his quarry. But in course of time these obstacles to a
liberal policy could have 'been overcome, had not the charac-
teristics of the chattels been as they were. The differences
between the races were more than skin-deep, and the masters
discovered this fact. Without them the normal tendency to
deal with all servants merely as servants must have prevailed.
Indeed in some cases a substantial equality of treatment was
apparent. But in most cases it was impracticable to continue
on that basis, and hence arose deliberate discriminations in
the endeavor to establish a modus vivendi. To the whites it
was a cause of self-preservation, and because it was so they
took determined measures. If they were set against the
negro, it was in the same manner in which a stronger race
has often dealt with a weaker one in the history of different
countries. 1 And yet in this case although the weaker did
not supply the conditions of a normal citizenship, such a
citizenship without political rights and with other modifica-
tions was accorded it.
V
For several generations the development o-f the mixed
population had been under way. The alien stocks of white
men who had come into the state had generally taken up
work and easily assumed shares in community burdens.
Their separateness seemed a terminable one. That O'f the
negro, however, endured and brought difficulties. The rise
of the free negro as a complement to the slave system added
iCy. Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 203-05.
342 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [732
to the embarrassments. His impotency precluded his real-
izing fairly upon the asset of freedom, thus defeating the
hopes of optimistic manumitters and perpetuating the un-
settling and dangerous inequality and separateness. It re-
mains to inquire what were the effects of the presence of the
free negro upon the community. Such effects will be noted
as the economic, moral and legal, political and social.
In some lines of activity and conduct the negro's achieve-
ments reached a fair degree of excellence, but there re-
mained many points in which he was unable to rival the
white man. Inequality of attainments made inequality of
expectations inevitable and in due course also led to in-
equality of aims. Sporadic attempts made during the
several generations to bring the two races to a common basis
yielded but little fruit, and the close association with each
other made the inequality as patent to the one race as to the
other. In accordance with this realization there were
evolved in informal ways separate standards for the negro,
sanctioning his failure to measure up to those of the whites.
Differences in this point did not obtain in every matter, but
where they occurred, operated to impose restrictions or to
give liberties for the sake of the maintenance of peaceful
relations between the races. These separate standards were
one of the effects of the presence of the negroes.
It has been seen that originally negro labor had been
accepted as a last resort because it was deemed inferior.
The later industrial changes that put slavery at a discount
also discounted all negro labor. They affected chiefly the
city of Baltimore and the counties bordering on the Mason
and Dixon Line. In these places were located in 1860 73
per cent of the whites, a little more than half of the free
negroes and less than a third of all the negroes in the state.
Of thg total increase of the population after 1790 about 83
per cent and of that in these counties 93 per cent had been
733] CONCLUSION 343
whites. Thus the free negro afforded but a minor part of
the new labor supply of the whole state and still less of it
in these progressive counties. His importance was at a
mean in Southern Maryland, where slavery was most stead-
fast, and greatest of all in Anne 'Arundel County and seven
of the counties of the Eastern Shore. In many places the
dependence upon him was quite material. Whether the
quality of his labor was improved by emancipation is dis-
puted. Some negroes got themselves free by dint of wits
and labor efficiency, and such qualities were constantly
brought into play by the hope of freedom. But neither did
their possession assure freedom to a slave nor freedom alone
suffice to make one an efficient laborer. In fact the formal
status of freedom, not industrial or moral or social quali-
ties, was the chief mark to distinguish the average rural
free negro from his brother slave. Thus far the industrial
effect of gradual emancipation, as proceeding in this state,
was practically nil. But the increased activity of a minority
of superior free workers probably placed the level of the
free labor above that of the slaves. The negro figured as a
routine laborer and only to a slight extent as manager or as
introducer of new ideas. The course of industrial develop-
ment was not, therefore, much affected by his participation
in it. Keeping to such a level he helped more than he hind-
ered. But with such a labor force progress was hardly to
be made, because it would not adequately perform the new*
operations of the new ventures that progress of necessity
consists in. It was frequently remarked that the counties in
which the dependence upon the negro was least were the
most progressive communities in the state.
The disqualification of the average negro for politics has
been remarked above. It resulted in his exclusion from the
suffrage in 1809 and subsequently also from party member-
ship. Thenceforth he dreamed much of a better lot, his
344 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [734
foremost wish 'being probably to gain political and social \
equality. The significance of such a hypothetical change)
was appreciated but little, and he was measurably silent
about it until stirred up by the missionary activities of the
anti-slavery movement. He then chafed at his subordina-
tion and at the failure of his freedom to gain him antici-
pated recognition. His endeavors at political organization
proved futile because of white interference. As a result hisi
active influence was either nil, or if it had effect, tended to
confine his movements within narrower limits. He was quite
a creature of circumstances. But his very impotence caused
the creation and injection into poliitics of a negro problem.
It was first brought forward prominently by friends of negro
amelioration within the sate. After failing to score in several
innings, however, these friends were silenced because they
feared to stir up trouble. The imported agitators, Lundy
and Garrison, were forced to leave, but from without found
means to continue their work. They were opposed from
within and besides the negro problem, viewed from a dif-
ferent angle, was dealt with by the opponents of emancipa-
tion and amelioration. For a generation the public mind
was deeply and recurrently agitated by machinations from
both sides. The chief objectives of the actors in Maryland
were to preserve the peace and protect property interests
against impairment. The measures they employed were
designed to stem the tide of manumissions, to prevent non-
laboring negroes from eating up the land like grasshoppers,
to colonize freed negroes in Africa and to counteract con-
certed movements of negroes at home. None of them was
perhaps designed for the purpose of injuring the " black
man." The chapter above on legal status reveals the in-
genuity displayed by legislators in these matters. In public
discussion and as a subject for legislative action no problem
of the last generation of the slavery regime commanded
more urgent attention than that of the free negro.
735] CONCLUSION 345
The effects upon morals and law, so far as they are dis-
tinguishable, were the legitimate fruitage of the subtle
forces arising from the mixed composition of the popula-
tion. Although the African and the European were of the
same genus and dwelt here in the same geographical sur-
roundings, they were molded by different forces. Not only
did their hereditaments differ, but their environments dif-
fered also. As to the manner in which either heredity or
environment affected different individuals there was the
greatest diversity. But the latter at least tended to give
every advantage to the whites, while for the negro the por-
tion assigned was to be exploited, repressed and precluded
from realization of good rather than nurtured and helped in
the way that would have made for his greatest improve-
ment. Its dole of a pittance of subsistence was character-
istic of its general provision for him. The system that en-
sued became the established, the right order in the state.
The fact that two races were concerned gave it a peculiar
ethical cast only in so far as one of them suffered from
systematic impositions to which the other was not subjected.
But identity of policy and equality of enjoyments in disre-
gard of race were hardly to be expected, no matter what
abstract justice would have decreed. Environmental fac-
tors thus continued to make of the white a white and of the
black a " nigger/' writing down low the plane on which the
latter had his being, maintaining the deplored inequality and
obstructing progress towards the coveted, hypothetical goal
of homogeneity of conditions. The pathologic difference
in racial standards has been mentioned. It made possible
the most flagrant breaches of usual moral rules without the
usual penalties. This held true especially of offences commit-
ted against negroes by members of either race, but consider-
ably less of those suffered by whites at the hands of negroes
and still less of those suffered by whites from whites. It did
346 THE FREE NEGRO IN MARYLAND [736
not fundamentally unsettle the reign of moral law, but it
did inevitably entail a lower average of moral practice than
an unmixed population of whites would have had. Al
tendency to a difference between standards also obtained
in the administration of justice. In practice the courts fre-
quently varied the rules applying to evidence, or to the de-
fendant at the bar or to penalties on account of race.
Sometimes the result was greater severity, sometimes
greater leniency. It was unsatisfactory to do so, but so
were the conditions that caused it. Finally a note of con-
scious moral flavor lay in that those who controlled the pub-
lic policies of the state were determined to have no change
in this regimen as long as they could prevent it.
To win esteem and to live in friendly relations with those
who were themselves highly esteemed was deemed a worthy
object of ambition: it was a goal to which the white man
commonly attained on his social rung. In theory, at least,
this goal was reached as a result of possession of personal
qualities. The individual who was possessed of coarse
voice, uncouth manners, of no personal force and no appre-
ciation of niceties could hardly reach it. Neither could he
who lacked a sufficient foundation on which to build to-
wards it. The average negro was substantially such an in-
dividual and because he was so was unwelcome in any
intimate connection with an average white person save as
a menial. The line thus drawn against him was drawn dur-
ing the prevalence of slavery and was a racial barrier, but it
was not due to either slavery or physical ethnological dif-
ferences. The free negro class had barely to appear to
prove itself a disappointment and the line was continued
against it also. Indeed it seems that if any change at all
resulted from the rise of the new class, it caused a more
strict definition of class boundaries, a more firm repulsion
of the negro and an outcasting of any white man or woman
737] CONCLUSION 347
who went across to the negroes. The inclination to dis-
parage the Ethiopian, at home and abroad, was encouraged.
It became habitual. With some persons it was made a
matter of studied policy, in order to check manumissions
and to prevent the growth of " free-negroism." The negro
also was led to acquiesce in it and to despise himself. Such
disparagement implied that in place of an equality basis of
apportioning benefits between persons the negro was to wait
until the white man was fairly supplied to see whether he
would himself get anything at all. The perpetuation of
such a handicap for the most needy part of the population
was probably not sound social policy. Upon the whites the
effects were, first, to cause at least a formal realization of
race solidarity, and secondly, to intensify class lines within
the ranks, although not to define the " poor whites " as
rigidly as in certain of the sister slave states.
The free negro was an asset to the state, but an asset
laden with many of the characteristics of liability. The
managers of the corporate body to which he belonged would
have been relieved, could they have written him as an item
off their accounts. Nevertheless the sympathetic, personal
attachment of many whites to individual negro servants,
whether slave or free, was permanent.
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PAMPHLETS, ADDRESSES, LETTERS, etc.
Anonymous :
Address to the Friends of . . . Colonization, pp. 13. Baltimore, 1827.
Address of the Managers of the American Colonisation Society to
the People of the United States. Washington, 1832.
Address to the Non-Slaveholders of the South on the Social and
Political Evils of Slavery, p. 58. >N<ew York, 1842-43.
A Few Thoughts to Mr. Jacobs, Chairman of the Committee on
the Colored Population in the House of Delegates of Maryland.
1860.
Colonisation of the Free People of Color of Maryland. Baltimore,
1832.
Colonisation on the West Coast of Africa by . . . Mail Steamships,
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Essay on the Policy of Appropriations by the United States Gov-
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the West India Islands. New York, 1826.
Letter of a Baltimore Gentleman on Slavery, p. 12. Baltimore, 1841.
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Proceedings against William Lloyd Garrison for a Libel, p. 32.
Baltimore, 1847.
Slavery Indispensable to Civilization in Africa. Baltimore, 1855.
The Maryland Scheme of Expatriation Examined. Boston> 1834.
Wanderings on the Seas and Shores of Africa. New York, 1843.
Buckler, Thomas H., History of Epidemic Cholera as it Appeared at
the Baltimore City and County Almshouse . . . 1849. Baltimore, 1851.
Carey, Mathew, Letters on the Colonisation Society and Its Probable
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delphia, 1832.
, Slavery in Maryland Briefly Considered, p. 53. Baltimore, 1845.
Chambers, William, American Slavery and Color. London, 1857
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739] BIBLIOGRAPHY
Clay, Henry, Address before the American Colonisation Society at
Washington, D. C. Washington, 1827.
Cross, Andrew B., Thoughts on the Expulsion of the Free Blacks from
Maryland, p. 4. Baltimore, 1860.
DeVinne, Daniel, The Methodist Episcopal Church and Slavery, p. 95.
New York, 1857.
Dexter, Franklin B., Estimates of Population in the American Colonies,
p. 10. Worcester, 1887. (Connecticut Almanac, 1891.)
Douglass, Frederick, A Friendly Word to Maryland, p. 16. Baltimore,
1864.
Easton, Reverend H., A Treatise on the Intellectual Character and
Civil and Political Condition of the Colored People of the United
States and the Prejudice Exercised Against Them, p. 54. Boston,
1837-
England, Reverend Bishop, Letters to Honorable John Forsythe on
Slavery. Baltimore, 1844 (?).
Farquhar, W. H., Annals of Sandy Spring, or Twenty Years History of
a Rural Community in Maryland, 1863-83. Baltimore, 1884.
Fuller, Richard, Our Duty to the African Race. (Address before the
American Colonization Society at Washington, D. C., 1851. Cf. also
34th Annual Report of American Colonization Society.)
Garrison, William Lloyd, Thoughts on Colonisation, p. 76. Boston, 18312.
Hall, James, Address to the Free People of Color of Maryland, p. 25.
Baltimore, 1859.
Harper, Robert G., Letter to E. B. Caldwell, Secretary of the American
Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United
States, p. 24. Baltimore, 1818.
Hennighausen, Louis P., The Redemptioners and the German Society
of Maryland. (2nd Annual Report of the Society for the History
of the Germans of Maryland), p. 22. Baltimore, 1888.
Hicks, Thomas H., Inaugural Address, as Governor of Maryland. 1858.
Jacobs, Curtis W., Speech on the Free Colored Population of Mary-
land, p. 32. Annapolis, 1860.
Jones, C. C., The Religious Instruction of the Negroes of the United
States. Savannah, 1842.
Johnson, Reverdy, Speech in the United States Senate. April 5, 1864.
Latrobe, J. H. B., Letter to Thomas Sufferin on Colonisation, p. 48.
Baltimore, 1851.
, Maryland in Liberia A History of the Colony Planted by the
Maryland State Colonization Society (Maryland Historical (Society,
Fund Publication, no. 21), p. 138. Baltimore, 1885.
, Memoir of Benjamin Banneker, p. 10. (Cf. Maryland Coloniza-
tion Journal, new series, vol. 2.)
McKenney, W., A Brief Statement of the. Facts of African Coloni-
zation. Baltimore, 1836.
350 BIBLIOGRAPHY [740
Mayer, Brantz, The Emancipation Problem in Maryland, p. 4. Balti-
more, 1862.
Martin, D., Trial of Reverend Jacob Gruber, p. in. Fredericktown,
1819.
Muse, J. E., Address on the Dominant Errors of Maryland Agriculture.
Baltimore, 1828.
Myers, R H., The Disruption of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 1875.
Pinkney, William, Speech in the House of Delegates of Maryland, 1788
(reprinted in The Southern Platform, Boston, 1858).
Potter, Richard J., Narrative of Experience, Adventures and Escape,
p. 25, Philadelphia, 1866.
[Raymond, James, Comparative Economy of Free and Slave Labor.
Frederick, 1827.
Reeder, R. S., Letter to Dr. S. W. Dent on the Colored Population of
Maryland, p. 26. Port Tobacco, 1859.
Ruffner, Henry, Address to the People of West Virginia Shewing that
Slavery is injurious to the Public Welfare, p. 40. Lexington, 1847.
Stroud, George M., Sketch of Laws Relating to Slavery in Several
States of the United States (extracts), p. 125. Philadelphia, 1856.
Tyson, Mrs. iM. R, A Sketch of the Life of Benjamin Banneker.
(Paper read before the Maryland Historical Society, October 5,
1854, by J. Saurin Norris), p. 19. Baltimore, 1854.
Van Evrie, , Negroes and Negro Slavery. Baltimore, 1853.
Wilson, Calvin Dill, "Negroes Who Owned Slaves," p. 12, Popular
Science Monthly, November, 1912.
SECONDARY AUTHORITIES
Alexander, Alfred, History of African Colonization, p. 600.
An American, Inquiry into the Condition and Prospects of the African
Race in the United States, p. 214. Philadelphia, 1839.
Ballagh, James C, A History of Slavery in Virginia (Johns Hopkins
University Studies, extra volume no. xxiv), p, 160. Baltimore, 1902.
Bangs, 'Nathan, Life of Reverend Freeborn Garrettson, p. 335, New
York, 1839.
Bozman, John L., The History of Maryland from 1633 to 1660. 2
volumes. Baltimore, 1837.
Brackett, Jeffrey R., The Negro in Maryland. A Study of the In-
stitution of Slavery (Johns Hopkins University Studies, extra
volume, no, vi), p. 268. Baltimore, 1889.
Browne, William Hand, Maryland: the History of a Palatinate (Ameri-
can Commonwealth Series), p. 292. Boston, 1895.
DuBois, W. E. Bughardt, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade
to the United States of America (Harvard Historical 'Studies,
vol. i), p. 335. New York and London, 1896.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
35 !
E'arle, Thomas, Life, Travels and Opinions of Benjamin Lundy, p. 316.
Philadelphia, 1847.
Gaines, Wesley G., African Methodism in the South; or Twenty-live
Years of Freedom, p. 305. Atlanta, 1890.
Gambrall, Theodore C., Studies in the Civil, Social and Ecclesiastical
History of Maryland, p. 240. New York, 1893.
Garrison, W. P. and Garrison, F. J., William Lloyd Garrison, the Story
of His Life, 1805-1879, 4 volumes. New York, 1885-89.
Griffith, Thomas W., Annals of Baltimore. Baltimore, 1824.
- , Sketches of the Early History of Maryland. Baltimore, 1821.
Gumshaw, W. H., Official History of Freemasonry Among the Colored
People of North America, p. 392. New York, 1903.
Hall, Clayton C, Baltimore, its History and its People, 2 volumes,
New York and 'Chicago, 1912.
Hamilton, F. M., A Plain Account of the Colored Methodist Episcopal
Church in America, p. 136. Nashville, 1887.
Handy, Reverend James A., Scraps of African Methodist Episcopal
History, p. 421. Philadelphia.
Hanson, G. A., Old Kent: the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Baltimore,
1876.
Harrison, Samuel H., Social Annals of Talbot County. Manuscript.
Harry, James W., The Maryland Constitution of 1851 (Johns Hopkins
University 'Studies, 2Oth series, nos. vii-viii), p. 84. Baltimore, 1902.
Hart, Albert B., Slavery and Abolition, 1831-41 (American Nation
Series), pp. 360. New York, 1906.
Hood, J. W., One Hundred Years of the African Methodist Episcopal
Zion Church, p. 625. New York, 1895.
Hurd, John Codman, The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United
States, 2 volumes, pp. 617, 800. Boston, 1858-62.
Jacobstein, Meyer, The Tobacco Industry in the United States (Colum-
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xxvi, no. 3), p. 208. 'New York, 1907.
Johnston, George, History of Cecil County, p. 548. Elkton, 1881.
Jones, Elias, History of Dorchester County. Baltimore, 1902.
McCormac, Eugene Irving, White Servitude in Maryland (Johns Hop-
kins University Studies, 22nd series, nos. iii, iv). Baltimore. 1904.
McMahon, John V. L., An Historical View of the Government of
Maryland, 2 volumes. Baltimore, 1831.
McSherry, James, History of Maryland, pp. 437. Baltimore, 1904.
Mereness, Newton D., Maryland as a Proprietary Province, p. 530. New
York, 1901.
Nell, William C, Colored Patriots in the American Revolution, p. 296.
Boston, 1855.
Nicholson, Lambert, Journal (copied from the Records of the Sharp
Street Station Methodist Episcopal 'Church, Manuscript).
352 BIBLIOGRAPHY [742
Payne, Reverend Daniel A., History of the African Methodist Episco-
pal Church, pp. 498, Nashville, 1891. This writer, a bishop of the
connexion about which he wrote, was long an active participant
in the later events he has narrated.
Poole, W. F., Anti-Slavery Opinions Before the Year 1800, p. 82.
Cincinnati, 1873.
Preston, Walter W., History of Harford County, p. 360. Baltimore,
1901.
Riley, Elihu iS. f " The Ancient City," a History of Annapolis, in Mary-
land, 1649-1887. Annapolis, 1887.
Ridgley, Davids Annals of Annapolis. Baltimore, 1841.
Russell, John H., The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865 (Johns Hopkins
University Studies, 3ist series, no. iii). Baltimore, 1913.
Scharf, James Thomas, The Chronicles of Baltimore: Being a Complete
History of Baltimore Town and Baltimore City, p. 756. Baltimore,
1874.
, History of Maryland from the Earliest Times to the Present
Day (1879}, 3 volumes. Baltimore, 1879.
, History of Western Maryland, 2 volumes. Philadelphia, 1882.
Smedley, R. C, History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and
the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania, p. 406. Lancaster, 1883.
Smith, J. H., History of Sharp Street Station Methodist Episcopal
Church, p. 12 (?). Manuscript.
Spears, John R., The American Slave Trade. New York, 1907.
Steiner, Bernard C., History of Education in Maryland (United iStates
Bureau of Education. Circular of Information, no. 2.) Wash-
ington, 1894.
Stevens, A., A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United
States, 3 volumes. New York, 1868.
Still, William, The Underground Railroad, p. 780. Philadelphia, 1872.
Todd, Reverend 'R. W., Methodism in the Peninsula, p. 343. ,
1886.
Williams, 'George W., History of the Negro Race in America, 1619-
1880, 2 volumes. New York, 1883.
Williams, Thomas J. C., History of Frederick County, Maryland, 2
volumes. iHagerstown, 1910.
, History of Washington County, Maryland, 2 volumes. Hagers-
town, 1906.
.DIRECTORIES, GUIDES, ETC.
Boulden, J. E. P., The Presbyterians of Baltimore: Their Churches
and Historic Graveyards. Baltimore, 1875.
Brief Sketch of Maryland, its Geography, Boundaries, History, Govern-
ment, Legislation, Internal Improvements, etc., p. 256. ' , 1845.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
353
Fisher, 'R. IS., Gazetteer of Maryland. 1852.
Fry, W., Directory for Baltimore. 1810.
Gobright, John C, The Monumental City, or Baltimore Guide Book,
I>. 236. iBaltimore, 1858.
Jackson, S., Directory for Baltimore. 1819.
Lucas, Fielding, Picture of Baltimore. Baltimore, 1833.
Matchett, R. J., Directories for Baltimore, 1824, 1827, 1831, 1840-41,
1849-50.
Mullin, J., Directory for Baltimore. 1799.
Thomson and Walker, Directory for Baltimore Town and Fells Point.
1796.
Varle, 'Charles, View of Baltimore, p. 166. Baltimore, 1833.
Woods, J. W., Directory for Baltimore City. 1860.
'REPORTS OF CONVENTIONS, 'CONFERENCES, COMMITTEES, AND OTHER
COMPILATIONS
African iMethodist Episcopal Church.
Minutes of Annual Conference for Baltimore District, 1851, 1855.
Minutes of General and Annual Conferences, 1839-40.
Minutes of Tenth General Conference at New York, 1852.
The Budget. Annual Reports of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church of the United States of America, 1816-1883, p. 152, Dayton,
1883. ('Not what it purports to be upon the whole.)
American Anti-Slavery Society, Annual Reports of, 1834, 1837, 1855,
1860, 1861.
American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, Annual Report, 1850.
American Colonization Society, Annual Reports. 1818, 1826, 1828-29,
1833-35, 1838, 1841-43, 1845-49, 1851, 1852, 1861.
Board of Managers of Maryland State Colonization Society, Reports.
1834 1835, 1850, 1852, 1853, 1856, 1858.
- , General Report of the same to January, 1850.
- , History of Proceedings of same to January, 1850. (Cf. Maryland
Colonization Journal, new series, vol. v.)
Church Record, Light Street Methodist Episcopal Church of Baltimore,
1799-1837, i volume. Manuscript.
Class Record No. 6, do., 1803-09, 1819-23, i volume. Manuscript.
Colonization of the Free People of Color. United (States, I9th Cong.,
2nd' Sess., H. R.
Jenifer, Benjamin and Fuller, Thomas, Character and Condition of
Liberia, 1851. (Authors were members of the Cambridge Colored
Colonization Society.)
Journals of Conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Mary-
land, 1823-30.
Maryland Baptist Union Association. Report of I4th Annual Meeting,
iBaltimore, 1849.
354 BIBLIOGRAPHY [744
Maryland State Colonization Society, Letter Book, 1841. 'Manuscript.
Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Annual Reports, 1836, 1842, 1843.
Minutes of American Convention for the Abolition of Slavery at
Baltimore, 1826.
Minutes of the Friends Meetings. (Manuscript) :
Deer Creek Monthly Meeting, 1801-19, i volume.
Minutes for Sufferings, 1778-1841, I volume.
Nottingham Monthly Meeting, 1730-56, I volume.
Yearly Meeting at Baltimore, 1760-1815.
Minutes of Third Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies
of the United States, 1796.
Proceedings of a Meeting of the Friends of African Colonisation in
Baltimore, Oct. 17, 1827, p. 17.
, Ditto, for like Convention at Washington, D. C, 1842, p. 64.
Quarterly Conference Records, 1845-58, Class Lists, 1848-69 and Finan-
cial Accounts, 1850-66, of African 'Methodist Episcopal Bethel
Church of Baltimore, i volume. Manuscript
Quarterly Conference Records of Same, 1858-68, I volume. 'Manuscript.
Record of Membership of Same, 1825-54, i volume. (Manuscript
The Southern Platform: A Manual of Southern Sentiment on the
Subject of Slavery. (Compilation of utterances of speakers, con-
ventions, papers, etc.), pp. 95, Boston, 1858.
MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS
Asbury, Reverend Francis, Journal, 1771-1815, 3 volumes, New York,
1821.
Alexander, J. H., Index to Calendar of Maryland State Papers, 1861.
Bacon, Reverend Thomas, Four Sermons Preached at the Parish Church
of St. Peter's in Talbot County, 1753.
Balch, T., Maryland Papers, Relating ChieHy to the Maryland Line
during the Revolution, 1775-87. (iSeventy-six 'Society Publications,
vol. iv), Philadelphia, 1857.
Banneker, Benjamin, Almanac and Ephemeris of Maryland, Pennsyl-
vania, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina. Balti-
more, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1796.
Boucher, Reverend Jonathan, A View o.f the Causes and Consequences
of the American Revolution in Thirteen Discourses. London, 1797.
Comly, ( ), Reading and Spelling Book, p. 169. Byberry, 1842.
Constitution and Bye-Laws of the Union Society of Journeymen Cord-
wainers of the City and Precincts of Baltimore, 1826.
Constitution of the Maryland Society for the Abolition of Slavery and
the Relief of Free Negroes and Others Unlawfully Held in Bondage,
pp. 8, Baltimore, 1789. (Cf. Maryland Journal, Dec. 15, 1789.)
Douglass, Frederick, My Bondage and My Freedom, pp. 464, New
York, 1855.
745] BIBLIOGRAPHY 355
Garrettson, Reverend Freeborn, Journal.
Hall, iQayton C, Narratives of Early Maryland, 1633-84. (Original
Narratives of American History), New York, 1910.
Lovejoy, J. C, Memoir of Reverend Charles T. Torrey who Died in the
Penitentiary of Maryland, p. 364. Boston, 1847.
Major, iS., Catalogue of Anti-Slavery Publications in America, 1750-
1863. (Appendix to Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery
Society, 1864) , p. 19. 1864.
Maryland, its Resources, Industries and Institutions. (Prepared for
the Board of World's Fair Managers of Maryland by Members of
the Johns Hopkins University and Others), p. 504. Baltimore, 1893.
Mathews, Edward Bennett, Bibliography and Cartography of Maryland.
('Maryland Geological Survey, Special Publication I, part 4.) Balti-
more, 1897.
Memorial of the Free Colored People to the Citizens of Baltimore,
December, 1826. (Cf. Genius of Universal Emancipation, 2nd series,
vol. ii, pp. 94-95. Also Speech of Honorable Henry Clay to the
American Colonization Society at Washington, D. C., in January,
1827.)
Olmstead, Frederick Law, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States.
(New York, 1856.
Payne, Reverend Daniel A., Recollections of Seventy Years, p. 335.
Nashville, 1888.
Perry, William iS., Historical Collections Relating to the Colonial
Church, vol. iv, Maryland. 'Hartford, 1878.
Pitkin, Timothy, A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United
States of America, p. 407. Hartford, 1816.
Seybert, Adam (M. D.), Statistical Annals of the United States of
America, pp. 803. Philadelphia, 1818.
Sheffield, John Lord, Observations on the Commerce of the American
States, p. 287. London, 1784.
The Sunday Service of the Methodists of North America. 1784.
NEWSPAPERS
(Arranged according to locality of publication}
Annapolis,
Gazette, 1860.
Maryland Gazette, 1745-46, 1746-48, 1752-56, 1761, 1767-69, 1773
1776-77, 1785-86, 1790-92, 1794-97-
Maryland Republican, 1809-12, 1813-33, 1835-36, 1838-39.
Baltimore,
American, 1799-1814, 1829-32, 1841-42, 1850-51, 1858-60.
Clipper, 1837, 1849-50.
Federal Gazette, 1796-1805, 1816-21, 1829, 1832.
Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser, 1773-78, 1783, 1788-94.
Sun, 1837-1860.
356 BIBLIOGRAPHY [746
Cambridge Chronicle, January, i83i-iMay, 1832.
Centerville Times, June, iS^a-October, 1834.
Easton,
Eastern Shore Star, 1841-44.
Gazette, 1804, 1820, 1831-48, 1858-60.
Republican Star, 1801-26.
Star, 1844-61.
Eastern Shore General Advertiser, 1806, 1814, i8i&-ip.
Elkton, Cecil Whig, 1841-46, 1848-61.
Frederick,
Bartgis's Gasette, 1792-93, 1796-99.
Bartgis's Republican Gazette, 1801-24.
Examiner, 1841-44, 1857-60.
Frederitktown Herald, 1813-22.
Maryland Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, 1787.
Political Examiner, 1839-41.
Republican Citizen, 1837-38, 1848-56.
Times and Democratic Advocate, 1837-38.
Hagerstown, Mail, 1828-31, 1849-50.
Princess Anne,
Somerset Union, 1850-61.
Village Herald, 1828-38 (lacking June-October, 1833).
Rockville Journal and True American, January, i83O-February, 1834.
Snow Hill Messenger, October, i83O-<March, 1834.
Westminster,
American Sentinel, 1855-60.
Carroll County Democrat, 1854.
PERIODICALS OTHER THAN NEWSPAPERS
American Farmer, 1st series, 1819-33, 14 volumes; 2nd series (Farmer
and Gardener) , 1834-39, 5 volumes ; 3rd series, 1839-43, 4 volumes ;
4th series, 1845-59, 14 volumes.
Baltimore Literary and Religious Magazine (edited by R. J. Brecken-
ridge and Andrew B. Cross), 1835-41, 7 volumes.
Genius of Universal Emancipation, ist series, 1821-24, 3 volumes; 2nd
iseries, 1825-29, 4 volumes ; 3rd series, 1830-32, 2 volumes.
Gentleman's Magazine, 1764.
Maryland Colonization Journal, 1835-41, i volume. iNew series, 1841-
61, 10 volumes. (Cf. chapter on "Attempts to 'Check the Growth
of the Free Negro Population," supra, pp. 275-76.)
Maryland Historical Society, Fund Publications, 1867-86, 26 volumes.
, Publications, 1844-45, 2 volumes.
'Maryland Historical Magazine, 1006-14, 9 volumes.
Niles National Register, 1837-49, 26 volumes.
Niles Weekly Register, 1811-37, 52 volumes.
747] BIBLIOGRAPHY 357
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED
FEDERAL
ist Census of the United States, 1790. Maryland, Heads of Families*.
Washington, 1907.
4th Census of the United States, 1820. Washington, 1821.
Statistical View of the Population of the United States, 1790-1830.
Washington, 1835.
6th Census of the United States, 1840. Compendium of Enumeration
of the Inhabitants of the United States ...by Counties and Prin-
cipal Towns. Washington, 1841.
7th Census of the United States, 1850. Report of Superintendent.
Washington, 1852.
, History and Statistics of the State of Maryland According to ...
the Seventh Census, by J. C G. Kennedy. Washington, 1853.
, Statistical View of Each of the States and Territories. Wash-
ington, 1853.
, Mortality and Miscellaneous Statistics (33rdi Cong., 2nd Sess.,
H. R. Exec. Doc., no. 98). Washington, 1855.
8th Census of the United States. Population of the United States in
1860. Washington, 1864.
, Agriculture of the United States in 1860. Washington, 1864.
, Statistics of the United States, Including Mortality, Property,
etc. in 1860. Washington, 1866.
Population of the United States at Each Census, 1700-1870. Washing-
ton, 1871.
loth Census of the United States. Agriculture, vol. iii, Report on
Tobacco. Washington, 1883.
Report on African Colonisation, by J. P. Kennedy, (27th Cong., 3rd
Sess., H. R., 'Report, no. 283) , pp. 1088. Washington, 1843.
The Negroes of Sandy Spring: A Social Study, by W. T. Thorn.
(United States Bureau of Labor, Bulletin No. 32, pp. 43-102.)
Washington, 1901.
STATE OF MARYLAND
Archives of Maryland, 1637-1783, 33 volumes, Baltimore, 1883-1913.
Bacon, T., Laws of Maryland at Large.
Baskett, Laws of Maryland, 1692-1715. London, 1723.
Browne, William Hand, Governors' Messages and Documents, 1828-84,
29 volumes.
Court of Appeals of the State of Maryland, Reports, 1658-1860, 47
volumes.
Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1850-51,
2 volumes. Annapolis, 1851.
358 BIBLIOGRAPHY [748
Dorsey, C, The General Public Statutory Law and Public Local Law
of the State of Maryland, from the Year 1792 to 1839 Inclusive,
3 volumes. Baltimore, 1840.
Herty, T., Digest of the Laws of Maryland. Baltimore, 1799.
House of Delegates, Committee on the Colored Population, Reports.
(Md. Pub. Docs., 1834, 1839 Z, 1841 H, 1843 M, 1852 L, 1864 E.)
, Votes and Proceedings, 1739-1824.
, Proceedings and Journal, 1825-1861.
Index to the Journals of the Senate and Housg of Delegates of Mary-
land, 1777-1828, 3 volumes.
Kilty, W., Laws of Maryland, 2 volumes, Annapolis, 1799.
Maryland Chancery Reports, 1811-32, 1851-53, 7 volumes.
Maryland Public Documents, 1828, 1834, 1839, 1841, 1841-42, 1843, 1844-
45, 1847, 1849, 1852, 1864.
Maxcy, V., The Laws of Maryland with the Charter, etc., 1692-1800,
3 volumes, Baltimore, 1811.
Proceedings and Debates of the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly
of Maryland, 17*22, 1723, 1724, 1725. Philadelphia, 1725.
Scott, O. and McCollough, Maryland Code . . . 1860, 2 volumes. Balti-
more, 1860.
Senate, Journal of Votes und Proceedings, 1777-1861.
Session Laws, 1727-1861.
Sharpe, Governor Horatio, Correspondence, 17531-71. (Archives of
Maryland), 3 volumes. Baltimore, 1888-95.
CITY OF BALTIMORE
Ordinances and Resolutions of the Mayor and City Council. (Con-
taining after 1828 the Mayors' messages and reports of the various
city executive departments), 1794-1861, 28 volumes.
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, MANUSCRIPT
STATE OF MARYLAND
Judgments of the General Courts for the Eastern Shore and Western
Shore, 1779-99, 21 volumes.
Judgment Records of the High Court of Appeals, 1788-1818, 18 volumes.
Maryland Land Records, 1658-1854, 33 volumes.
Maryland Wills, 1635-1760.
Miscellaneous Executive Documents and Papers.
Provincial Court Judgments, 1679-1775, 68 volumes.
THE COUNTIES
Administration Accounts,
Carroll, i volume.
749] BIBLIOGRAPHY 359
Assessment Books and Tax Ledgers,
Allegany, 1833 and 1852, 21 volumes.
Baltimore <Gty, 1802-59, 112 volumes.
, Assessment of (Salaries and Incomes as per Act of 1841, ch.
325, 6 volumes, 1843.
Baltimore County, 1793-1852, 34 volumes.
Caroline, 1822-60, 10 volumes.
Carroll, 1837-60, 23 volumes.
Cecil, 1795-1863, n volumes.
Dorchester, 1852-60, 8 volumes (incomplete).
, Negro Assessment Books, 1817-40, 2 volumes.
Frederick, 1798-1865, 28 volumes.
Harford, 1858-1864, 5 volumes.
Howard, 1841-64, 2 volumes.
Kent, 1804-65, 16 volumes.
Montgomery, 1793-97, 1831-63, 4 volumes.
Queen Anne's, 1824-60, 12 volumes.
Somerset, 1793-1866, 62 volumes.
Talbot, I793ri863, 44 volumes.
Assessment Rolls of 1783 for certain districts in the counties of Anne
Arundel, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Somerset, Talbot
and Worcester.
Charter Records,
Bialtimore City, to 1861, 5 volumes.
Frederick, Incorporations of Churches, 1805-80, I volume.
Chattel Records,
Anne Arundel (Bills of Sale), 1820-62, 4 volumes.
Baltimore City, 1763-1861, in volumes.
Baltimore County, 1851-61, 4 volumes.
Carroll, 1837-64, 6 volumes.
Harford, 1849-60, 3 volumes.
Howard, 1840-60, 3 volumes.
Kent, 1797-1861, 13 volumes.
Dockets of Criminal Courts,
Carroll, 1837-62, 2 volumes.
Dorchester, 1857-59, * volume.
Harford, 9 volumes.
Freedom Certificates, Free Negro Books, or Records of Free Negroes,
Anne Arundel, 1810-62, 3 volumes.
Caroline, 1806-64, 4 volumes.
Frederick, 1815-63, 2 volumes. i
Howard, 1840-61, i volume.
Kent, 1849-63, i volume.
Queen Anne's, 1806-26, 1848-63, 3 volumes.
360 BIBLIOGRAPHY [ 75 O
Talbot, 1806-19, 1817-40, 10 volumes.
Washington, 1836-63, 3 volumes.
Indentures of Apprenticeship,
Anne Arundel, 1822-26, i volume.
Baltimore City, 1794-1861, 22 volumes.
Baltimore County, 1851-60, i volume.
Caroline, 1813-63, 8 volumes.
Carroll, 1837-73, i volume.
Cecil, 1794-1864, 3 volumes.
Frederick, 1794-1874, 7 volumes.
Howard, 1840-1907, i volume.
Kent, 1778-1860, 12 volumes. (In Kent the series is marked
" Bonds and' Indentures ". In certain other counties, as e. g.
Anne Arundel, Harford and Queen Anne's, many of the indenture
contracts were long recorded in the Orphans' Court Minutes,
and some in the Land and Chattel Records.)
Talbot, 1794-1864, 5 volumes.
Washington, 1806-1905, 5 volumes.
Judicial (or Judgment) Records of County Courts,
Charles (Deeds and County Records), 1662-1786, 73 volumes.
Frederick, 1748-50, 1763-66, 2 volumes.
Kent, 1714-15, 1732-34, 1739-41, 1756-62, 7 volumes.
Queen Anne's, 1730-1831 (incomplete), 9 volumes.
Somerset, 1671-1848 (incomplete), 70 volumes.
Talbot, 1810-68, 5 volumes.
Worcester, 1778-79, 1796-1860, 10 volumes.
Land 'Records, or Deeds,
A-nne Arundel, 1665-1860, 86 volumes.
Baltimore City, 1659-1860, 693 volumes.
Baltimore County, 1851-61, 31 volumes.
'Caroline, 1774-1861, 29 volumes.
Carroll, 1837-1861, 26 volumes.
Cecil, 1674-1864, 104 volumes.
<lharles (extracts of Deeds), 1786-1828, 4 volumes.
Dorchester, 1660-1864, 77 volumes.
Frederick, 1748-1861, 173 volumes.
Harford, 1773-1862, 74 volumes.
Kent, 1648-1860, 6 1 volumes.
Montgomery, 1777-1862, 51 volumes.
Queen Anne's, 1707-1861, 46 volumes.
Somerset, 1660-1860, 74 volumes.
Talbot, 1662-1862, 69 volumes.
Worcester, 1742-1861, 69 volumes.
75 1 ] BIBLIOGRAPHY 3 6l
(Generally the best kept of any county records in Maryland and more
or less thoroughly indexed, usually " both ways ". In several counties
they contain all land and) chattel transfers recorded, and also manu-
mission records, although in some, as e. g. in Kent in 1797, and Harford
in 1849, separate series of Chattel Records were begun for the recording
of all save instruments transferring real property.)
Levy Lists, Assessment Lists and Lists of Taxable,
Anne Arundel, 1858-60. Districts nas. i, 2, 3, 4, 8. (Rolls).
Baltimore 'County, 1699-1705, 1828-53, 5 volumes.
Caroline, 1860, I volume.
Carroll, 1837-62, 4 volumes.
Dorchester, 1853-57, 10 volumes.
Queen Anne's, 1754-67, I volume.
Talbot, 1813-65, 13 volumes.
Manumissions,
Anne Arundel, 1816-44, i volume. (Marked "Deeds", Lib. C,
no. 3.)
Howard, 1840-61, i volume.
Marriage License /Records,
Caroline, 1797-1861, 2 volumes.
Carroll, 1844-65, i volume.
Frederick, 1778-1865, i volume.
Talbot, 1774-1868, 4 volumes.
Worcester, 1795-1819, i volume.
Minutes of Proceedings of Orphans' Courts.
Baltimore City, 1777-1861, 32 volumes.
Caroline, 1807-66, 10 volumes (Lacking, 1814-21, 1828-33).
Carroll, 1837-61, 19 volumes.
Dorchester, 1845-61, 2 volumes.
Frederick, 1777-1861, 36 volumes.
iHarford, 1778-1864, 10 volumes.
Howard, 1840-1862, 3 volumes.
Kent, 1803-64, 7 volumes.
Montgomery, 1779-1865, 10 volumes (Lacking 1835-40).
Queen Anne's, 1778-1864, 17 volumes (Lacking 1791-99).
(Somerset, 1777-1864, 7 volumes (Lacking 1792-1810).
Talbot, 1787-1861, 15 volumes.
Washington, 1806-1859, 6 volumes.
Worcester, 1833-61, 4 volumes (Lacking 1839-52).
(Usually well preserved and cared for, but of varying values for the
purposes of this study.)
Wills,
Anne Arundel, 1777-1861, 10 volumes.
362 BIBLIOGRAPHY [753
'Baltimore City, 1675-1861, 29 volumes.
Baltimore County, 1851-61, 2 volumes.
Caroline, 1777-1861, 5 volumes.
Carroll, 1837-69, 5 volumes.
Cecil, 1675-1862, 10 volumes.
Dorchester, 1852-61, 2 volumes.
Frederick, 1748-1860, 4 volumes.
Harford, 1774-1866, 7 volumes.
Howard, 1840-62, i volume.
Kent, 1669-1861, 15 volumes.
Montgomery, 1777-1861, 35 volumes. (In certain volumes are in-
cluded records other than the wills.)
Queen Anne's, 1706-1861, 12 volumes.
iSomerset, 1665-1859, 9 volumes.
Talbot, 1665-1862, 10 volumes (Lacking 1746-65).
Washington, 1777-1863, 5 volumes.
Worcester, 1742-1861, 12 volumes.
PRIVATE ACCOUNT BOOKS, JOURNALS AND LEDGERS
Seth Barton and Co., Journal, 1791-1801; Ledger, 1791-92.
E. T. Bourke, Account Book, 1828-34.
Briscoe and Lenham, Ledger, 1806-09.
Cornwall Furnace, Journals, 1752-513, 1754, 1756, 1758-59, 4 volumes;
Ledgers, 1752-53, 1754, 1755-56, 1756, i759-6o, 1762-63, 6 volumes.
Douglass and Smoot (Vienna), Ledger, 1758-87.
Elk Forge, Journals and Ledgers, 1798-1832, 10 volumes.
Elk iRidge Furnace, Journals, 1758-72, 3 volumes.
Hopewell Forge, Journals and Ledgers, 1757-64, 5 volumes.
Kirby and Ready, Ledger, 1832-42, i volume.
Zachariah 'MacCubin, Ledger, 1789-1803, i volume.
Robert May and Co., Journals, 1798-1816, 3 volumes.
Merchant's Ledger (unmarked), 1832-37, i volume.
Patuxent Iron Works, Journal, 1767-94, 2 volumes.
Jesse Richardson, Ledger, 1792-93, i volume.
Richardson and Clayton, Ledger, 1791-92, i volume.
Savings Banks Accounts,
Central Savings Bank ( Baltimore) , Ledgers, 1855-60.
Eutaw Savings Bank ( Baltimore) , Depositors' and Transfer Ledgers
and Signature Books, 1847-60.
Fredericktown (Savings Institution, Ledgers B, C, D, E, 1835-59,
4 volumes.
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