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3l?ni-l3arti iToUrgr iLilirava
I
v^ ^(.-o-^CLo
7
THE JOURNAL
OF
NEGRO HISTORY
EDITED BT
CARTER G. WOODSON
VOL. m., No. 3 JULY, 1918
PUBLISHED QUARTEBLT
^.
CONTENTS
Ivan E. MpDouGLE : Slavery m Kentucky 211
I. Introduction ,. 211
n. The Development of Slavery 214
m. The Legal Status of Slavery 240
IV. The Sodai Status of the Slave 281
y. PubUo Opinion Begarding Emancipation and Colonieaticn 303
Book Eeviews : * ' 329
Brawley^s The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States;
Johnston's The Black Man's Part in the Wax; Bhodes's History of
the Civil War; Bubmn's Negro Folk Songs, Part I.
Notes: 383
THE ASSOCUTION FOR THE STUDY OP NEGRO LIFE
AND HISTORY, INCORPORATED
41 NoBVB QuBBN SrsaaT, Lakgabtbb, Pa.
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"^ % Z 0.1 \. . {^ O ( StP 28 19t8~ \ f.,^ Cdu .-» V> f : o . ,.:>.o
— ' -^ . i ■ (T /• t
A VALUABLE BOOK
ft
The Education of the
Negro Prior to 1861
The History of the Education of the Colored People of the
United States from the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War
CARTER GODWIN WOODSON, Ph. D.
(HARVARD)
460 pp» $2.00; by mail $2.1$
''This book is neither a controversial treatise on Negro education nor a study
of recent problems. Dr. Woodson has given us something new. He has by scientific
treatment amassed numerous facts to show the persistent strivings of ante-bellum
Negroes anxious to be enlightened. What they accomplished is all but marvelous."
The author aims to put the student of history in touch with the great movements
which effected the uplift of the Negroes, and to determine the causes which finally
reduced many of them to heathenism. J^ „\
The titles of the chapters are: " Introduction/' "Religion with Letters/' ** Educa-
tion as a Right of Man/' "Actual Education/' "Better Beginnmes/' "Educating the
Urban Negro/' "The Reaction," " Religion without Letters," "Learning in Spke of
Opposition/' ^'Educating Negroes Transplanted to Free Soil," "Higher Education/'
"Vocational Training," " Education at Public Expense." In the appendix are found a
number of valuable documents. The volume contains also a critical bibliography and
a helpful index.
OPINIONS
"I like it venr much. You leem to have looeencd up on your ityle a bit and you have done an
cacellent piece of research. ... I hope that your book will have a good lale.'* — Edward CkamUng,
McLmm Prcftuv cfAneUnt amd Modtm Hitlory, uanard Uni9trtUy,
"It teema dear to me that you have made a eubstantial contribution to the aubject and I know
I ihall profit by IW^Fridtriek J. Tumtr, Prcftstor cfBislory, Banord UwhtrtUy.s
**I thought at fint it would be out of my Hne. but on turning ita pagea, I dlacovered that it may
well hold the attention of eveiybody with an intelligent intereat fai the colored people. You write eaaUy
and flexibly and have certainly compiled important material in the true apirit of adiolarahip. I con-
gnttukte you afaicerdy."— Ftrtf/iiofitf SchniU, Prcftssor oj Hisktry in ih$ UnhertUy cf Chicago,
"Itaeema to me that you have taken a field of which little haa been known and developed in
it a moat intereating and valuable book. I am glad to have it in my libiary and rejoice that I have had
the privilege of aome peraonal acquaintance with the author.*'— Ftoimm W. Sk$pardson, Prcfusor cf Hislary
in tha UtUmrtUy cf Chicago.
**l am delighted with the thoroughly acholariy way in which it haa been put together and I know
enough about the aubject to appreciate what it haa coat you in time and efiEort to perform thia work.*'—
Dr. Robert B. Parh.
"It ia the atory of the eflfort on the part of certain agendea to educate the Negro. It ia above
an the atory of the atrivinga of the Negro himadf under tremendoua difficultiea and oppoaition, to learn
thlnn* to know more, to be more. . . . Apart from the fund of information on the aubject which
DrTWoodaon haa here offered, the aupfeme point of thia atudy ia the unconquerable will of the Negro.
. . . The book, aa a whole, ia an Uluminatkm of the recent development of education among the
colored people.'*— Tiia WathingUm SUar.
THIS BOOK MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE AUTHOR
1216 You Street, Northwest Washington, D. C.
Agents Wanted
Buy Volumes I and II of the
Journal of Negro History
in Bound Form
Volume I contains more than 250 pages of dissertations
entitled :
The Negroes of Cincinnati prior to i86i-
The Story of Maria Louise Moore and Fannie M. Richards.
The Passing Tradition and the African Civilization.
African Proverbs.
The Historic Background of the Negro Physician.
The Negro Soldier in the American Revolution.
Freedom and Slavery in Appalachian America.
Antar, the Arabian Negro Warrior, Poet and Hero.
Colored Freemen as Slave Owners in Virginia.
The Fugitives of the Pearl.
Lorenzo Dow.
The Attitude of the Free Negro toward African Colonization.
People of Color in Louisiana.
The Work of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among
the Negroes of the Colonies.
The Defeat of the Secessionists in Kentucky in i86i.
The Negroes of Guatemala during the Seventeenth Century.
It contains also more than 200 pages of the following series
of documents :
What the Negro was thinking during the Eighteenth Century.
Letters showing the Rise and Progress of the early Negro
Churches of Georgia and the West Indies.
Eighteenth Century Slaves as advertised by their Masters.
Transplanting Free Negroes to Ohio.
The Proceedings of a typical Colonization Convention.
Travelers' Impressions of American Slavery from 1750 to i8oo.
Some Letters of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones.
(Continued on next page)
N
VOLUME II NOW AVAILABLE
This volume contains 292 pages of dissertations entitled :
The African Slave Trade.
The Negro in the Field of Invention.
Anthony Benezet.
People of Color in Louisiana.
The Development of the Slave Status in American Democracy.
John Woolman's Efforts in behalf of Freedom.
The Tarik E Soudan.
From a Jamaica Portfolio — Francis Williams.
The Formation of the American Colonization Society.
The History of the High School for Negroes in Washington.
Our New Possessions — ^The Danish West Indies.
Some Historical Errors of James Ford Rhodes.
The Struggle of Haiti and Liberia for Recognition.
Three Negro Poets: Horton, Mrs. Harper and Whitman.
Catholics and the Negro.
Notes on the Nomoli of Sherbroland.
The African Origin of the Grecian Civilization.
It contains also about 100 pages of documents of the fol-
lowing series :
Letters of Ajithony Benezet.
Observations on the Negroes of Louisiana.
The Conditions against which Anthony Benezet inveighed.
Letters, Laws, Narratives and Comments bearing on the Danish
West Indies.
Petition for Compensation for the Loss of Slaves by Emancipation
in the Danish West Indies.
Letters of George Washington bearing on the Negro.
The Will of Robert Pleasants.
Proceedings of the Reconstruction Meeting at Mobile, Alabama.
Price $2.00 a volume
f
i
THE JOURNAL
OF
NEGRO HISTORY
PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY
The Association for the Study of
Negro Life and History, inc.
ROBERT £. PARK, Pkbsidbnt
JESSE E. MOORLAND, Seckbtart-Trbasukbr
CARTER G. WOODSON, Dibbctor of Research and Editor
iai6 You Street, N. W., Waahingtoii, D. C.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
Robert E. Park, The University of Chicago L. Hollingsworth Wood, New York City
Je88E E. Moorland, Washington, D. C. Thomas J. Jones, Washington, D. C.
Carter G. WooDSON^ashington, D. C. a. L. Jackson, Chicago. III.
Juuus Rosenwald, Chicago, 111. \k^ o ^ \ xk
George FoirrER PiLibody, Saratoga Springs Moorfield Storey, Boston Mass^
James H. Dillard, Charbttesville, Va. J- G. Phelps Stokes, New York City
John R. Hawkins, Washington, D. C. Irving Metcalf, Oberlin, Ohio
R. E. Jones, New Orleans, La. Sir Edmund Walker, Toronto, Canada
Active Membership, $2.00 Life Membership, $30.00
Five Ways to Help This Cause:
Subscribe to the Journal
Become a member of the Association
Contribute to our Research Fund
Collect and send us the historical materials bearing
on the Negroes of your community
Urge every Negro to write us all he knows about his
family history
^
$10,000 NEEDED
Help us raise annually the sum of $10,000 to finance the
work of collecting and publishing the materials bearing on
Negro life and history. Our eflForts have hitherto been restric-
ted to what we have been able to induce interested individuals
to undertake in their respective localities. Moving at this
slow rate and in such an unsystematic way, the work will pro-
ceed so slowly that many valuable documents and the testi-
monies of slaves and masters will be lost to the world and the
story of the Negro will perish wi.h him.
To raise this fund we are appealing to all persons profess-
ing an interest in the propagation of the truth. We need
2 persons to contribute annually $1,000 each
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during this quarter :
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Julius Rosen wald 100
Moorfield Storey 50
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H. E, Pellew S
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All contributions should be sent to J. E. Moorland, Sec-
retary-Treasurer of The Association for the Study of Negro
Life and History, 1816 12th Street, Northwest, Washington,
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The Association is incorporated and the Secretary-Treas-
urer is bonded.
THE JOURNAL
OP
NEGRO HISTORY
Vol. Ill— July, 1918— No. 3
SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY
CHAPTER I
Intboduotion
This study is an attempt to give a connected and concise
account of the institution of slavety as it existed in the State
of Kentucky from 1792 to 1865. Much has been written of
slavery in other States, but there has not been published a
single account which deals adequately with the institution
in Kentucky. A scholarly treatise on The Anti-Slavery
Movement in Kentucky, by Professor Asa E» Martin, of
Pennsylvania State College, has appeared but, as this work
is limited to a discussion of the history of the movement to
overthrow slavery, our study parallels and supplements it.
In this study the chief emphasis has been placed upon
the legal, economic and social history of slavery in Ken-
tucky, mention being made of a few of the interesting anti-
slavery incidents when thes© are known to have influenced
the local status of the slave. iWe have first considered the
inception of the system as based fundamentally upon the
type of land .settlement and tenure, followed by a study of
the growth of the slave population, which brings in the
question of the local economic value of the slave. An at-
1/ tempt has been made to explain the internal slave trade ; and
211
i
212 JOUBNAL OF NeGBO HiSTOBY
to consider to what extent Kentucky served as a breeding
State for slaves destined to the market in the lower South.
In the chapter on the legal status of slavery special
emphasis has been placed not only upon the legal position
of the institution but upon the general evolution of the
rights of the Negro in servitud'e. This section is vitally
connected with the anti-slavery movement after about the
year 1835. The problem of the fugitive slave and the gen-
eral rights of emancipation and of the freed Negro have
been approached purely from the legal stand'point.
The chapter on the social status of the slave considers
the conditions of slave life that were more or less peculiar
to Kentucky. There has often been made the statement,
that in Kentucky Negro servitude was generally on a
higher plane than in the States to the south and the treat-
ment of slaves waS much more humane. Some light has
been thrown on these questions.
As a supplement to the discussion of the legal and social
status a general summary of public opinion regarding
emancipation and colonization has been added. Although
for the wjtgt part consisting of previously published ma-
terial^ otion has been treated from the viewpoint of
the fc led b; nstitution and not from the anti-slavery side
which uwi ned most of the original publication.
This study has been made from a consideration of the
contemporary evidence as found in newspapers, statements
of slaves, and general evidence of travelers and citizens
of Kentucky during the period before the Civil War. The
material for the study of this field is not only scattered
throughout the country but for the most part it is very
meager compared with the records of States like Virginia
and Missouri. All the documents, papers, manuscripts and
works known to be of value, however, have been con-
sulted. The most valuable records for this treatise are to
be found in the Durrett Collection at the University of
Chicago, the extensive files of early Kentucky papers in
the Library of the American Antiquarian Society, and the
documents in the Kentucky State Library at Frankfort.
■ ■
Slaveby in Kentucky 213
To Mr. Clarence S. Brigham, of tlie American Anti-
quarian Society, Mr. Edward A. Henry, of the University
of Chicago Library, and Mr. Frank Kavanangh, of the Ken-
tucky State Library, I am indebted for invaluable assistance
rendered in securing material for this work. The treat-
ment of the legal status of slavery would have been very
meager, were it not for the valuable aid given by Dr. George
E. Wire, of the Worcester County (Massachusetts) Law
Library. To Miss Florence Dillard, of the Lexington (Ken-
tucky) Public Library, I am indebted for assistance given
throughout the period of my studies. To Prof. George H.
Blakeslee, of Clark University, I owe more than to any one
else — for his inspiration during my three years of study,
for his most valuable aid in the correction of the manu-
script, his candid judgment and judicial reasoning and the
many suggestions which have helped to make this study
what it is.
Ivan B. MoDougi/B
Clark University,
Worcester, Massachusetts.
.r Jl
\
CHAPTEE n
The Development of Slaveby
It is impossible to iinderstaiid! slavery in Kentucky with-
out some knowledge of the method by which the land was
settled in the latter part of the eighteenth century. OBc-
tween 1782 and 1802 the seven States which had interest in
western lands ceded their rights to the United States and
all that territory with the exception of Kentucky and the
Connecticut Reserve in Ohio was made a part of the public
domain. Hence, one of the distinguishing features of the
settlement of Kentucky as compared with Ohio was that in
the latter State the land was sold by the Federal Govern-
ment to settlers coming from all parts of the country but
particularly from the northeastern section. The result of
this was that few citizens of Ohio held more than 640 acres.
fKentucky had been reserved' by Virginia and con-
sequently the method of settlement was purely a matter
goven»d fiy that State; and was separate and apart from
the sysTeija which was employed by the United States
Government. Furthermore, Kentucky lands were all given
out by 1790, just one year after the beginning of our national
period. The federal land policy was at that time just
beginning. Virginia gave out the lands in Kentucky by
what is known as the patent system, and all the settlers in
Kentucky held their lands by one of three different kinds
of rights.
\ In the first place there were those who were given tracts
in the new territory as a reward for military services which
had been rendered in the Revolution. This had been pro-
vided for by the legislature of Virginia as early as December,
1778.^ No land north of the Ohio Eiver was to be granted
out as a military bounty until all the ' ' good lands ' ' in the
1 Hening's Statutes, Vol, X, p. 50.
214
■i
Slaveby in Kentucky 215
Kentucky region had been exhausted. The size of these
tracts was to be governed by the official status of the re-
cipient in the late war, and the bounties finally granted by
Virginia ranged all the way from one hundred to fifteen
thousand acres.^
The Virginia legislature of 1779 found it necessary to
establish a second method of settlement in Kentucky in
response to the demands of the large number of people who
were migrating to the west of the AUeghenies. Provision
was made for the granting of preemption rights to new
settlers and also for the introduction of a very generous
system of settlement rights. These settlement and preemi>-
tion rights were almost inseparable, as the latter was de-
pendent upon the former. It was provided that four hun-
dred acres of land would be given to every person or family
who had settled in the region before the first of January,
1778.^ The word ** settlement was stated to mean either
a residence of one year in the territory or the raising of a
crop of com. In addition to the above grant every man
who had built only a cabin or made any improvement on the
land was entitled to a preemption of one thousand acres,
providing such improvements had been made prior to Jan-
uary 1, 1778. Preference in the grants was to be given to
the early settlers and even the most famous heroes of the
Revolution were not allowed to interfere with the rights of
those who held a certificate of settlement.
Thus far provision had been made only for those who
had settled before 1778. To them was given the best of the
land. Thereafter all settlement and preemption rights
ceased and the further distribution of land in Kentucky was
by means of treasury warrants. A person desiring land
in Kentucky would appear at one of the Virginia land offices
and make an entry and pay a fee amounting to about two
cents per acre. , The paper he would receive would give the
approximate location of the tract and the recipient would
2Hening's Statutes, Vol. XI, p. 309; Treat, P. J., NattoncH Land System,
p. 235.
sjfetd., Vol. X, pp. 35-45.
216 Journal of Negro History
proceed to have the land surveyed at his pleasure. Within
three months after the survey had been made he was to
appear at the land office and have the same recorded. A
copy of this record was to be taken to the assistant register
of the land office in Kentucky and there it was to remain six
months in order to give prior settlers, if any, the right to
prove their claims to the property. No such evidence being
produced a final record of the patent was to be made and a
copy given to the original grantee.^
An interesting example of this method of settlement is
shown by the experience of Abraham Lincoln, the grand-
father of President Lincoln. On March 4, 1780, soon after
the establishment of the new system, he appeared at the land
office in Richmond, Virginia, and was given three treasury
warrants, each for four hundred acres of land in Kentucky.
The first and third of these warrants were not returned' for
the final recording until May 16, 1787, at which time Beverly
Randolph, Governor of Virginia, issued a final deed of 800
acres of land in Lincoln County, Kentucky, to Abraham
Lincoln.^ The second treasury warrant was not returned
until July 2, 1798, more than a decade after the death of
Abraham Lincoln and six years after Kentucky had be-
come a State. At that time the warrant was pres-ented with
a record of the survey by Mordecai Lincoln, the eldest son
of Abraham. After some period of investigation the deed
for the four hundred acres in JelBferson County was turned
over to Mordecai Lincoln on April 26, 1799.®
The result of this method of granting land was that Ken-
tucky was settled' by a comparatively few men who rented
their property to tenants. A large number of the military
bounties were never settled by the original owners but were
farmed by the later incoming tenant class. George Wash-
ington had been given five thousand acres and this land
was actually settled by the poorer white element. In the
* Winterbotham, An HisioriM Geographical Commercial and Topograph-
ical View of the United States, Vol. 3, pp. 156-157.
6 Kentucky Land Grants, Book 13^^ p. 59.
6 Ihid,, Book 8, p. 228.
/
\
Slaveby in Ejbntuoky 217
case of the land! warrant property it was true that it was
usually granted to the poorer class of early settlers but as
in the instance of the Lincoln family the land soon passed
into the hands of the wealthier settlers either by purchase
or through law suits. It is conunonly stated that Daniel
Boone thus became landless and was forced to migrate to
Missouri.''
Thus we see that Kentucky was distinctly ddjBferent from
all the other settlements to the west of the AUeghenies in
the original system of land tenure and she further inherited
from her mother State of Virginia the ancient theory of a
landed aristocracy which was based upon tenantry. The
early inhabitants of Kentucky can be easily divided into
three classes, the landed proprietors, their slaves, and the
tenant class of whites. The second and third classes tended
to keep alive the status of the former and led to the per-
petuation of the landed aristocracy. In Kentucky, however,
the laws of descent were always against primogeniture and
this resulted in the division of the lands of the wealthier
class with each new generation.
• The institution of slavery in Kentucky, as in every other
State, depended for the most part upon the existence of large
plantations. The only reason Kentucky had such large
estates was because of the method by which the land was
given out by the mother State. Economically Kentucky
was not adapted to plantation lif ej The greater part of the
State required then, as it still does, the personal care and
supervision of the owner or tenant. The original distribu-
tion of land madte this impossible and there grew up a large
class of landholders who seldom labored with their hands,
because of the traditional system. A large number of in-
habitants as early as 1805, Michaux found, were cultivating
their lands themselves, but those who could do so had all
the work done by Negro slaves.®
With passing years, while Kentucky maintained slavery,
f Shaler 's Autobiography, p. 33.
^MicliaTiz (Thwaite's Beprint), Trtwels to the West of the Allegheny
Mountains, Vol. 3, p. 237.
218
JOUBNAL OP NbGBO HiSTOBY
it came to have a social system not like that in the South
but one more like the typical structure of the middle nine-
teenth century West. There were several reasons for this.
In the first place, the absence of the policy of primogeniture
in time came to distribute the lands over a much larger
population. In' the second place, while all the land in Ken-
tucky had been granted by the year 1790, the patrician land-
holding element was completely submerged by the flood of
so-called plebeians who came in soon after Kentucky be-
came a State. In 1790 there were only 61,133 white i)eople
in Kentucky, and although all the land had been granted,
the white population in the next decade nearly tripled,
reaching 179,871 in 1800, and this increase, at a slightly
smaller rate, continued down to about 1820. Still further
the nature of the soil made it more profitable for the
wealthier landed class to let out their holdings to the incom-
ing whites who did their own work and in time came to own
the property. **Each year increased this element of the
state at the expense of the larger properties. ' '®
A studyi of the growth of the slave and white population
of Kentucky from 1790 to 1860 is necessary to an adequate
understanding of the slave problem. It will be found ad-
FOPnLi.TION FBOM 1790 TO 1800 WITH B1A.TES 07 INCSJBASE
Percent
Free
Percent
Percent
Percent
Wblie
InoreaBe
Colored
Increaae
Slave
Inerease
Total
Increaae
1790. .
61433
.
114
11,830
73,077
1800..
179,871
194.22
741
550.00
40,343
241.02
220,955
202.36
1810. .
324,237
80.26
1,713
131.17
80.561
99.69
406.511
83.98
1820. .
434.644
34.05
2.759
61.06
126,732
57.31
564,317"
38.82
1830..
617,787
19.12
4,917
78.21
165,213
30.36r
687.917
21.09
1840..
590,253
13.99
7,317
48.81
182,258
10.31
779.828
13.36
1850..
761.413
28.99
10,011
36.81
210,981
15.75
982,405
25.98
1860. .
919.484
20.76
10,684
6.72
225,483
6.87
l,155,684i»
17.64
L>
'^
c
7
"■i
//
>
vantageous to deal with two sets of figures— one relating
to the slave population within the State and the other with
the slave increase in Kentucky as compared with the general
• staler, N. S., Kentucky, p. 196.
10 Includes 182 Indians.
11 Includes 33 Indians.
Slaveby in Ejesntuoky
219
increase throughout the United States. It would not be of
any value to compare the figures for Kentucky with those
of any other State, for that would involve the discussion of
local factors which are beyond the scope of this in-
vestigation.
First of all we shall take the census statistics for the
State for all eight of the enumerations which were taken
during the slavery era. The figures for the year 1790 were
originally taken when Kentucky was a part of the State of
Virginia, but they are included, since Kentucky became a
State before the census was published. Furthermore they
furnish an interesting light upon the growth of the slave
population during the first decade of the new common-
wealth. The important part of this table is in the increases,
on a percentage basis, in the slave and white populations.
Another viewpoint of the growth of the slave population
may be seen in this little table :
Batio of Slaves to the Total Population
Percent
Percent
1790
16.1
1830
24.0
1800
18.2
1840
23.3
1810
19.18
I860
21.4
1820
22.4
1860
19.5
Here it will be seen that the proportion of slaves increased
down to 1830 and tiien began to decline. Most authorities
are agreed that this was in a large measure due to the enact-
ment of the law of 1833 forbidding the importation of slaves
Trjse Negbo and Slave Population of the UNiTia) States, 1790 to 1860,
VTiTH Bates of Increase
Free Negro
Per Cent Increaae
Slaves
Per Cent Increaee
1790
69,657
108,435
186,446
233,634
319,509
386,293
434,495
. 488,070
82.1
71.9
26.3
36.8
20.9
12.6
12.3
697.624
893.602
1.191.362
1.638.022
2.009.043
2.487,356
3.204.313
3.963.760
1800
28.1
1810
33.3
1820
29.1
1830
1840
30^
23 8
I860
28.8
23.4
1860
220 Journal of Nbgbo Histoby
into Kentucky. But before dealing with that question it
would be well to have before us the figures for the whole
country at the same period.
The facts seem more significant, if we compare the slave
increase in Kentucky with that of the Negroes in the country
as a whole. Bearing in mind that Kentucky was a com-
paratively new region when it became a State and that at
that time slavery was firmly established along the seaboard,
we are not surprised to find that the slave increase in Ken-
tucky was much more rapid for the first three or four dec-
ades than it was in the nation as a whole. After the year
1830 the increase in the United States, on a percentage
basis, was much greater than in Kentucky. It seems that
the institution started in with a boom and then eventually
died down in Kentucky.
There were several reasons for this fact. Al glance at
the increase of whites in Kentucky for the last three decades
will show that they were forging ahead while the slaves
were relatively declining. This was due to a large amount
of immigration of that class of white people who were not
slaveholding. A second factor was the non-importation act
of 1833. About the siame time there came to be a convic-
tion among a large portion of the population that slavery
in Kentucky was economically unprofitable. There is
abundant ground for the position that the law of 1833 was
passed because of a firm conviction that there were enough
slaves in the State. The only ones who could profit by any
amount of importation were the slave dealers and beyond a
certain point even their trade would prove unprofitable. If
there was ever a single slaveholder who defended importa-
tion on the ground that more slaves were needed in Ken-
tucky he never spoke out in public and gave his reasons for
such a position.
Unfortunately there are few statistics concerning the
number of slaveholdters in Kentucky. Cassius M. Clay in
his appeal to the people in 1845 stated that there were 31,495
owners of slaves in the State.^^ The same year the
12 Greeley, Horace, Writings, Speeches a'nd Addresses of Cassius M. Clay,
p. 177.
%
Slaveby in Ejbntuoky 221
auditor ^s tax books showed that there were 176,107 slaves in
Kentucky.^^ This would mean an average of 5.5 slaves for
each owner. The accuracy of these figures is substantiated
by those for the census of 1850 which gave 210,981 slaves
held by 38,456 slaveholders or an average of 5.4 to each
owner. These holders were classified according to the num-
ber of slaves held as follows :
Holders of 1 slave 9,244
Eloldeirs of over :1 and} less than 5 slaves 13,284
Holders of 5 and under 10 slaves 9,579
Holders of 10 and under 20 slaves 5,022
Holders of 20 and under 50 slaves 1,198
Holders of 50 and under 100 slaves 53
V Holders of 100 and under 200 slaves 5
38,3851*
This distribution shows that, although the average number
of slaves held may have been 5.4 for each slaveholder, 21,528
or 50 per cent of them held less than five slaves each, and
that 34,129 or 88 per cent held less than 20 each. Of the
132,920 free families in the State only 28 per cent held any
slaves at aU.- This was somewhat below the average for
the whole South. The total number of families holding
slaves in the United States, by the census of 1850, was 347,-
525. With an average of 5.7 persons to each family there
were about 2,000,000 persons in the relation of slave owners,
or about one third of the whole white population of the slave
States. In South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Loui-
siana about one half of the white population was thus classi-
fied. As stated above, this percentage in Kentucky was
only twenty-eight.
This comparison can be more clearly shown by a table
of the slave States from the census of 1850 showing the
number of white people, the slaveholders, slaves, and the
average number of slaves for each slaveholder.
i» Collected Documents, 1847, p. 581,
i^De Bow's Sicntistiedl Beview, p. ^5.
222
JOUBNAL OP NeGBO HiSTOBY
w^
Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi . . . .
Missouri
North Carolina
South Carolina .
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Slavft-
Percent
WUtea
boldera
of WUtM
Slaves
426,514
29,296
6.8
342,844
162,189
6,999
3.7
47.100
47,203
3,620
7.4
39,310
621,672
38,466
7.3
381,622
761,413
38,38d
6.0
210.981
266,491
20,670
8.0
244,809
417,943
16,040
3.8
90,368
296,718
23,116
7.8
309,878
692,004
19,186
3.2
87,422
663,028
28,303
6.1
288,648
274,663
26,696
9.3
384,984
766,836
33,864
4.4
239,469
164.034
7,747
6.2
68,161
894.800
66.063
6.1
472,628
Averace per
Holder
11.6
7.8
11.1
9.9
6.4
11.4
^.6
13.4
4.6
10.2
16.0
7.0
7.6
8.6
fAmong the fourteen real slaveholding States of the Union
Kentucky stood ninth in the number of slaves in 1850, but
was third in the number of slave owners and with the excep-
tion of Missouri had less slaves for each owner than any
other Stat^ From the third colunan of this table, however,
we are rather surprised to find that not only in Missouri
but in Arkansas, Maryland and Tennessee the number of
slaveholders was smaller in proportion to the total white
population than in Kentucky.
Helper in his Impending Crisis made the following in-
teresting table from the census figures for 1850. He set a
perfectly arbitrary valuation of $400 on each slave, but, if
Value of Slaves at Value of Real and Personal Property
S400 per Head Leas the Value of Slaves
Alabama $137,137,600 $ 81,066,732
Arkansas 18,840,000 21,001,025
Florida 15,724,000 7,474,734
Georgia 152,672,800 182,752,914
Kentucky 84,392,400 217,236,056
Louisiana 97,923>600 136,075,164
Maryland. ...: 36,147,200 183,070,164
Mississippi 123,951,200 105,000,000
Missouri 34,968,800 102,278,907
North <?aroHna 115,419,200 111,381,272
South Carolina 153,993,600 134,264,094
Ttennessee 95,783,600 111,671,104
Texas 23,264,400 32,097,940
Virginia 189,011,200 202,634,638
IB Adapted from De Bow's Statisticdl Beview, pp. 67, 85, 99,
•\
J
Slavery in Kentucky 223
one takes into account the infants and the aged unable to
work, his general appraisement of the slave group is fair
enough for the time and for a basis of comparison. It will
be seen at a glance that after taking out the value of the
slaves in all the States Kentucky was the richest southern
commonwealth.
From the three preceding tables it is apparent that while
the Kentucky slaveholders represented about 28 per cent of
the white population of the State, on the average they held
less slaves than in the other Southern States. Slave prop-
erty in Kentucky was a much smaller part of the wealth
of the commonwealth than in the States to the south. The
relatively large number of holders is to be explained by the
type of slavery which existed in the State. 'Many i)ersons
held a few servants in bondage and those who held many
slaves were very few in number.
The question of the sale of slaves from Kentucky into
the southern market presents a much more formidable prob-
lem. The chief charge that the anti-slavery people made
against Kentucky was that the State regularly bred and
reared slaves for the market in the lower South. What was
the attitude of the Kentucky slaveholder and the people in
general on the question of the domestic slave trade! There
is no doubt that in the later years of slavery there were
sold in the State many slaves who ultimately found their
way into the southern market notwithstanding the contempt
of the average Kentucky slaveholder for the slave trade.
This trend of opinion will be seen as we proceed. If the
sentiment was decidedly against such human commerce how
did so many slaves become victims of the slave trader!
There were five general causes which led to the sale of
slaves in Kentucky: (1) When they became so unruly that
the master was forced' to sell; (2) when their sale was neces-
sary to settle an estate ; (3) when the master was reduced to
the need of the money value in preference to the labor;
(4) when captured runaways were unclaimed after one year ;
and (5) when the profit alone was desired by unscrupulous
masters. Many other reasons have been given, but a care-
224 JouBNAii OF Negbo Histoby
ful investigation of all available material confines prac-
tically every known case of sale to one of the above clas-
sifications. Mrs. Stowe in her Key to Uncle Tom's Cdbiv}^
maintained that the prevalence of the slave trade in Ken-
tucky was due to the impoverishment of the soil beyond
recovery and the decrease in the economic value of the slave
to its owner. This argument is fallacious, for the very
blue-grass region which held most of the slaves is today the
most fertile section of the State.
As long as a slave conducted himself in accordance with
the spirit of the slave code there was little chance of his
owner selling him against his will. The president of the
Constitutional Convention of 1849 stated that in the interior
of the State, where slaves were the most numerous, very
few Negroes were sold out of the State and that they were
mostly those whose bad and ungovernable disposition was
such that their owners could no longer control them.*'' A
true picture of the average master ^s attitude has been given
us by Prof. N. S. Shaler. ''What negroes there were,*'
said he, ''belonged to a good class. The greater number of
them were from families which had been owned by the an-
cestors of their masters in Virginia. In my grandfather's
household and those of his children there were some two
dozen of these blacks. They were well cared for; none of
them were ever sold, though there was the common threat
that ' if you don't behave, you will be sold South.' One
of the commonest bits of instruction my grandfather gave
me was to remember that my people had in a century never
bought or sold a slave except to keep families together.
By that he meant that a gentleman of his station should
not run any risk of appearing as a 'negro trader,' the last
word of opprobium to be slung at a man. So far as I can
remember, this rule was well kept and social ostracism- was
likely to be visited on any one who was fairly suspected of
buying or selling slaves for profit. This state of opinion
was, I believe, very general among the better class of slave
le stowe, Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, p. 143.
17 Louisville WeeTcly Journal, October 17, 1849.
II
Slaveby in Ejbntuoky 225
owners in Kentucky. When negroes were sold it was be-
cause they were vicious and intractable. Yet there were
exceptions to this high^-niinded humor.''*®
When a master had a bad Negro about the only thing
that could be done for the sake of discipline was to sell him.
If the owner kept the slave, the latter would corrupt his fel-
lows and if he were set free, the master would reward where
he ought to punish. The human interest which the owner
took in his servant when the demands of the institution
necessitated his sale is shown in the case of the Negro
Frank, ownedl by A. Bamett, of Greensburg. Witness these
words of the master in a runaway advertisement: **His
transgressions impelled me, some years since to take him
to New Orleans and sell him, where he became the property
of a Spaniard, who branded him on each cheek thus, QQ ,
which is plain to be seen when said negro is newly shaved.
I went to New Orleans again last May, where, having my
feelings excited by the tale Frank told me, I purchased him
again.''*® After the master had gone to all this trouble in
the interest of the slave the latter ran away shortly after
his return to Kentucky.
It was often necessary to sell slaves in order to settle an
estate. It was seldom possible for a man to will his prop-
erty in Negroes without some divisions becoming necessary
at the hands of the executor in the just interest of the heirs.
These public auctions usually took place on court day, at
the courthouse door and were conducted by the master com-
sioner of the circuit court. The following advertisement
reveals the necessity and the procedure :
SALE OF NEGEOES
By virtue of a decree of the Fayette Circuit, the undersigned
will, as Commissioner to carry into effect said decree, sell to the
highest bidder, on the public square in the city of Lexington, on
Monday the 10th of March next, bemg county court day, the fol-
lowing slaves, to wit :
18 Shaler 's Autobiography , p. 36.
18 Louisville Public Advertiser, December 24, 1829.
226 JouBNAL OP Nbgbo Histoby
Reiser, Carr, Sally, Bob, Susan, Sam, Sarah and Ben; belong-
ing to the estate of Alexander Culbertson, deceased. The sale to
be on a credit of three months, the purchaser to give bond with
approved security. The sale to take place between the hours of 11
o'clock in the morning and 3 o'clock in the evening.
February 26, 1834 John Clabk, Commissioner^^
On the same day thie sheriff of the county might appear
at the courthouse door in accordance with a previous an-
nouncement and) auction off any unclaimed runaway that
had been lodged in the county jail or hired out under his
authority for a period of a year or more. The slaves thus
sold were usually fugitives from the lower South who had
been apprehended on their way to Ohio or Indiana.
Although the utmost publicity would have been given to
their capture, in accordance with the law, few of the planters
of the far South seem ever to have claimed their property.
The usual legal code in this matter is shown by the notice
below :
NOTICE : Agreeably to an act of the Qeneral Assembly, passed
January 11, 1845, 1 will, on the first Monday of May, 1846, before
the Court House door, in the city of Louisville, sell to the highest
bidder, on a credit of six months, the purchaser giving bond with
good security, having the force and effect of a replevin bond,
JOHN, a runaway slave, 18 or 19 years of age, 5 feet 3 or 4 inches
high, a rather heavy built, supposed to be the property of Daniel
McCaleb or Calip, residing on the coast some twenty miles below
New Orleans.
F. S. J. BoNALD Deputy Sheriff
Feb. 25, 1846. for James Harrison Sheriff Jefferson Co.^^
Under the three causes of sale thus far cited the blame
would not be placed upon the master. In the case of the
unruly Negro the owner was according to the ethics of that
day not at fault. In the settlement of an estate the slave-
holder was no longer a factor, for his demise alone had
20 Lexington Observer and Kentucky Beporter, February 27, 1834.
21 Louisville WeeJcly Journal, March 4, 1846.
Slavery in Kentucky 227
brought the sale, in the case of the runaway the owner
was unknown. Mrs. Stowe probably showed the attitude of
the average Kentucky master when she pictured Uncle Tom
as being sold for the southern market only because of the
economic necessities of the owner. ,When in such a posi-
tion the master felt called upon to explain the necessities of
the case. He was very careful not to be cast under the
suspicion of public opinion as a * ' slave trader, * * which, as
Shaler has said, was the **last word of opprobrium.'' Wit-
ness a few instauces in evidence :
NEGEOES FOE SALE
A yellow negro woman of fine constitution, and two children,
from the country, and sold for no fault but to raise money. Will
not be sold to go down the river. Her husband, a fine man, can
be had also. Apply at the store of
Jarvis and Trabxje — 3rd & Main"
The editor of the Lexington Reporter was very careful not
to get under the ban of his constituents when he was forced
to sell a farm hand and his wife.
FOE SALE
A negro man, a first rate farm hand, about 27 years of age ; and
a very likely woman, the wife of the man, about 22 years of age,
a good house servant. They will not be sold separately, or to any
person wishing to take them out of the State. Enquire at this
ofl5ce.28
In 1834 Thomas J. Allen, a citizen of Louisville, desired to
exchange his property in the city for 40 or 50 slaves, but he
specifically stated that they were to be for his own use and
that he wanted them to be *' in families.''^* The same atti-
tude appears in the case of a house servant for sale with the
reasons for such specifically stated':
22 LouisviUe Weekly Journal, September 3, 1845.
28 Lexin{iton Observer and Kentucky Beporter, Jan. 28, 1835.
24 !&«!., July 9, 1834.
228 JouBNAL OP Nbgbo Histoby
FOR SALE
I wish to sell a negro woman, who has been accustomed to house
work. She is an excellent cook, washes and scours, and is in every
respect, an active and intelligent servant. I do not require her
services, which is my only reason for wishing to dispose of her.
Maslin Smith***
The prevalence of statements giving the reasons for and
the restrictions upon these sales shouldl show beyond any
reasonable doubt that public opinion would not tolerate any
suspicion of a heartless traffic in slaves. These sentiments
were especially prevalent in the central i)ortion of the State.
The only case known to the writer where a large number of
slaves were sold without any qualification was near
Harrodsburg in August, 1845; but in this instance all the
man^s property, including 450 acres of land, was sold at
■
the same time.*®
There were, naturally, some unscrupulous masters who
cared little for the fate of their slaves when sold. They
placed no restrictions upon the sale, either in destination or
in the break-up of family ties. We will cite only two, one
for the earlier and one for the later period, noticeable chiefly
for the lack of regard for Negro family life.
NEGROES FOR SALE
The subscriber has for sale a negro man and woman, each about
24 years of age, both are excellent plantation hands, together with
two children. They will be sold separately or altogether.
Lunx)RES LucAs*^
FOR SALE
I wish to sell a negro woman and four children. The woman is
22 years old, of good character, a good cook and washer. The
children are very likely, from 6 years down to 1%. I will sell
them together or separately to suit purchasers.
J. T. Underwood.*^
26 Lexington Observer and Kentucky Beporter, Jan. 7, 1835.
26 Lomsville Weekly JowmoA, August 6, 1845.
27 Bairdatovm Candid Bevietv, June 20, 180d.
28 Louisville Weekly Joumdi, May 2, 1849.
Slaveby in Kjbntucky 229
The aggregate of all these causes was sufl&cient to bring
about a supply for the southern market. The question now
arises as to how the demand! was met commercially. To
what extent were there slave traders in Kentucky! George
Prentice, the famous editor of the Louisville Journal, him-
self a loyal exponent of slavery, early pointed out that Ken-
tucky had an ample supply of Negreos and that they were
being sent south in large numbers. He further stated that
any one who wanted slaves could always purchase them by
leaving an order in Louisville.^® This opinion was ex-
pressed at a time when the non-importation act of 1833 had
been in force for sixteen years, which meant that Kentucky
was producing slaves faster than she needed them. It was
only two months after this that Richard Henry Collins in an
editorial in the Maysville Eagle gave a flagrant example of
a slave trader in Kentucky who violated thte spirit as well as
the letter of the law. But the sentiment of the people on the
slave dealer had been expressed much earlier. In 1833 a
Lexington editor felt exasperated because of the appearance
of a large group of slaves in the streets of the city on their
way to be sold south. When another trader appeared with
his Negro slaves held together with a chain he voiced his
wrath in this fashion :
"A few weeks ago we gave an account of a company of men,
women and children, part of them manacled, passing through the
streets. Last week, a number of slaves were driven through the
main street of our city, among them were a number manacled
together, two abreast, all connected by, and supporting, a heavy
iron chain, which extended the whole length of the line."^®
About the same time a citizen of Danville sold a Negro
woman to a regular slave trader. The news spread around
the town rapidly and to save himself from the threats of
the gathering mob the owner was compelled for his own
safety to follow the slave dealer and repurchase the woman
at a decided increase in price.^^
29 Louisville Weekly Journal, September 26, 1849.
^^ Lexington Western Luminary, June 5, 183S.
31 Blanchard and Bice, Debates on Sla/very, p. 133.
230 JouBNAL OP Nbgbo Histoby
It is very diflScult to find out bow many slave dealers
there were in the State, for few of them ever came out in
the open and advertised their tradie. As would be expected
from its size and situation Louisville was the place where
the dealer could ply bis trade to the best advantage. It was
the central business point and the port from which most
slaves from Kentucky were shipped down the Ohio and
Mississippi. There is no mention in the newspapers of any
dealers there before the year 1845. Thereafter there were
several who advertised for any number of slaves and made
no secret of the purpose of purchase. In the Journal for
October 29, 1845, William Kelly called for all persons who
had slaves to sell to see him and offered them the highest
prices. He further stated that he had slaves for sale. His
name does not often appear in succeeding years. During
the next decade there were four regular dealers who appar-
ently did considerable business : T. Arterbum, J. Arterburn,
William F. Talbott, and Thomas Powell. Later John
Mattingly came upon the scene presumably from St. Louis.
In July, 1845, the Arterbum brothers began a series of
advertisements which ran for several years. **We wish to
purchase 100 negroes for the Southern market, for which we.
will pay the highest prices in cash.''^'* Talbott began his
publicity in 1848 with these words : ' ^ The subscriber wishes
to purchase 100 negroes, for which he will pay the highest
cash prices. Can always be found at the Louisville
Hotel. ' '^^ Two years later he was still advertising, but had
ceased placing any limit on the number to be bought and
had moved his quarters to the Hotel O'Bain.^* Thomas
Powell also began in 1848 with this stock phraseology—
** Persons having negroes for sale can find a purchaser at
the highest cash prices by calling on the subscriber, on Sixth
Street, between Main and Market, adgoining H. Duncan's
stable.''*^ This advertisement ran continually for a period
82 Louisville Weekly Journal, July 30, 1845.
88 76wl., July 19, 1848.
34 7&i(l., August 14, 1850.
ssj&id., August 2, 1848.
1
^
Slavery in Kentucky 231
of two years. John Mattingly evidently came from Mis-
souri in the same year, and remained until 1852, when he
returned to St. Louis to ply his trade.^® While he was in
Louisville he ran an advertisement in the Journal after this
fashion : ' ' The undersigned wishes to purchase 100 negroes
both men aad women, for which he will pay the highest cash
prices. Those who have negroes for sale would do well to
call on him at the Q-alt House. ''^"^
It is noticeable that none of the Louisville directories for
this period mention any slave dealers. This failure may
have been due merely to the fact that there were so few
traders in the city and that they were more or less transient
residents. On the other hand, public opinion apparently
never acknowledged that there were any real citizens of the
city engaged in the slave trade. Beginning in 1840 the
Louisville Journal published a weekly pai)er called Louis-
ville Prices Current. Li 1855 this was succeeded by tilie
Commercial Review and Louisville Prices Current, which
was published by the Louisville Chamber of Commerce.
These two papers devoted themselves exclusively to the
commercial transactions of the city and gave price quota-
tions weekly for every conceivable kind of goods in the
market together with the volume of sales. Strange to say,
there has not been found a single issue of either of these
papers, which mentions the selling price of slaves or any
transaction in Negroes. If there was a trade in slaves
which was regarded purely as a commercial enterprise, as
some would have us think, then it is very hard to under-
stand why these splendid trade papers did not contain any
account of the business.
There were some Louisville business men who bought
and sold slaves as only one of the branches of their com-
mercial activities. This would account to some extent for
the failure to list traders in the local directories for it is
noticeable that such men never called themselves slave
dealers. As early as the year 1825 John Stickney estab-
86 St Louis Daily Times, October 14, 1852.
»7 LovisvUle Daily Journal, November 23, 1848.
232 JouBKAL OF Neqbo Histoby
lished the Louisvitte Intelligence Office on Main Street,
which was a sort of labor and real estate exchange. He
advertised that he sold books; had money to loan; houses
for rent and sale; horses and Negroes for sale and hire;
carriages for sale ; conducted a labor exchange, and recom-
mended the best boarding houses/® A year later J. C.
Gentry opened the ''Western Horse Market'' at the comer
of Market and Fourth. Streets. He advertised that he con-
ducted a livery stable, and also sold on commission, at
public or private sale, horses, carriages, cattle, wagons and
slaves; and that he would conduct an auction on Wednes-
days and Saturdays.'® A similar case was that of A. C.
Scott, who in 1854 opened a real estate and land office but
who stated in the press that he not only bought and sold
land and rented houses but that he would sell and hire
slaves.*^ Consequently Scott was listed as a real estate and
land agent in the local directories. It is impossible to de-
termine how many of these occasional slave dealers there
were, but in so far as available material shows these three
were the only ones to announce their trade publicly.
It would appear from all the evidence at hand that while
Kentucky furnished many slaves for the southern market
there was no general internal slave trade, as a commercial
enterprise. There were in Louisville, however, a few heart-
less business men who took advantage of the decreasing
value of slave labor in Kentucky and the rising prices of
slaves in the far South. In this respect, Kentucky became
a field of supply for the slave markets of the lower South.
Unfortunately there are no statistics available by which
the number of slaves sent south can be computed. The
most comprehensive anti-slavery publication on the internal
slave trade was unable to decide with certainty what pro-
portion of slaves for the southern market was furnished by
each of the so-called breeding States. The author of
Sla/oery and Internal Slave Trade in the United States
88 Louisville Pviblio Advertiser, November 2, 1825.
99ihid., September 13, 1826.
«o Louisville Daily Times, M&rch 1, 1864.
Slaveby nsr Kentucky 233
estimated that 80,000 slaves were animally exported from
seven States to the South. He gave no figures that were
not his own estimates. He ranked the seven States, how-
ever, in the ordter of the number of slaves which he thought
they furnished as follows : Virginia, Maryland, North Caro-
lina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Delaware.*^
Martin estimates that Kentucky sent on the average
about 5,000 slaves to the southern market.*^ Again this
must be considered purely conjectural. It is reasonable to
suppose that during the last two decades of the slavery era
there were few slaves imported into Kentucky that were
intended for the purely Kentucky market. What Negroes
came into Kentucky were for the most part on their way
to the more profitable southern trade. The- average death
rate among the slaves during this period was 1.9 per one
hundred and the birth rate was 3.2, or an excess of births
over deaths of 1.1 per hundred. This would make the
annual natural increase among the slave population about
2,000 per year. Comparing this with the growth of the
slave group from 1840 to 1850 we find that the increase of
slaves was much more. But it was during the next decade
that the slave trade reached its height and here we find that
the slave population increased 14,502, whereas the natural
increase during that period should have been 23,190. Hence
the slaves failed to reach even their natural increase by a
deficiency of 8,688. Taken literally that would mean that
dtiring the ten-year period that number of slaves were ex-
ported from Kentucky. But it is reasonable to suppose
that many more than that were sent to the South. With
the exception of the last decade, however, the slave popu-
lation of Kentucky increased faster than the mere natural
increase of the Negroes. The law would not permit of any
importation of slaves intended for Kentucky, so the export
of purely Kentucky slaves appears never to have been
prominent except dtiring the decade from 1850 to 1860.
The selling price of slaves naturally presents itself at
*i Slavery and Internal Slave Trade in the U, 8., p. 12.
42 Martin^ Asa E.^ Anti-Slavery Movement m KentucJcy, p. 89.
234 Journal op Nbgbo Histoby
this point. In Kentucky these records are very few be-
cause the tax books in practically all the counties of the
State have been destroyed. We have no accurate state-
ments extant before about the year 1855. The prices which
we have obtained are quotations from the auction of slaves
of estates to settle the interests of the heirs. On January
court day, in 1855, there were sold in the settlement of
estates in Bourbon, Fayette, Clark and Franklin Counties
Negro men who brought $1,260, $1,175, $1,070, $1,378,
$1,295, $1,015 and $1,505.*^ The county commissioner of
Harrison auctioned the slaves of the deceased George Kirk-
patrick with the following prices received :
America 40 years of age
all for $1,600.
Pegg7 6 years of age I
Eliza 4 years of age
Brown 6 months of age J
Peter 23 years of age $1,290
Emanuel 24 years of age 750
Tom 16 years of age 1,015
Ann 14 years of age 775
Emma 12 years of age 865
Sarah 26 years of age 350^*
The county commissioner at Henderson received the
following prices for slaves in the settlement of several
estates on January 28, 1858:*^
Buth 33 years of age $ 800
Willis 59 years of age 475
George 35 years of age 1,200
Belphy 80 years of age 75
Leila 65 years of age 282
Clarissa 24 years of age 1,131
Andrew 19 years of age 1,500
iSusan 17 years of age 470
Jennie 17 years of age 1,100
Cupid 85 years of age 74
Eliza 32 years of age 500
BeH 41 years of age 1,000
48 Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. 1, p. 74.
** CyntMana News, January 10, 1868.
*5 Henderson WeeUy Commercial, January 29, 1858.
Slavery in Kentucky 235
This sale is most significant for the cases of ''Delphy," 80
years old, and ' * Cupid, ' ' 85 years of age. It is difficult to
account for such a sale in any discussion of the slave trade,
but it does show the humanitarian side of Kentucky slavery.
Negroes at such an age had no economic value even if they
were given away, because the expense of their maintenance
was more than the value of any possible labor they could
perform.
At Georgetown in December of the same year we have
this record:*®
GrifBin 45 years of age $ 640
Mary 14 years of age 1,060
Ellen 12 years of age 800
Blizabeth 11 years of age 406 (one-eyed)
Sanf ord 9 years of age 700
Arabel 10 years of age 690
Adam 41 years of age 700
Bettie 3 years of age 260
Aaron 28 years of age 1,191
Sam 25 years of age 1,350
The auction of the slaves of the estate of Sj)encer C.
Graves at Lexington in April, 1859, brought these prices :*^
John 18 years of age $1,500
Dick 21 years of age 1,400
Jerry 38 years of age 700
Major 50 years of age 480
Charles 31 years of age 1,155
John Jr 18 years of age 1,140
Billy 31 years of age 1,100
Isabella 40 years, with 3 children, ages
11, 5 and 2 1,610
Bebecca 30 years, with 3 children, ages
11, 6 and 4 2,410
Lucy 18 years of age, with infant. . 1,280
Bavidella 31 years of age 1,220
Mary Ann 31 years of age 835
Patience 18 years of age 1,350
Catharine 15 years of age 1,130
Such a series of prices would show beyond a reasonable
4* Georgetown Gaeeite, December 23, 1858.
*T WeeJcly Free 8o%ah (Newport), April 29, 1869.
236 JouBNAL OP Nbgbo Histoby
doubt that the value of slaves was detenninedl entirely by
the increasing demand for slaves in the lower South and was
in no way an indication of the value of slave labor within
Kentucky. As was pointed out earlier in this chapter, the
labor value of an agricultural slave in the State steadily
decreased after about the year 1830.
Was slavery profitable to the Kentucky planters! In
the many debates on the slavery question which took place
after 1830 no one ever stood out in the aflSmiative. The
only ones to discuss the economic sid^ of the issue were
those in opposition to slavery. As has often been said of
the Kentucky situation, ''the program was to use negroes
to raise com to feed hogs to feed negroes, who raised more
corn to feed more hogs.'' Tobacco was the largest crop
raised in the State and com came next. Neither proved to
be peculiarly adapted to slave labor. There were few large
plantations in the State where it could be made advan-
tageous. What Negro work there was to be done was never
confined to any particular kind of cultivation but was used
in the manner of farm labor today in the State. Squire
Turner, of Madison County, in the Constitutional Conven-
tion of 1849 made a careful summary of the existing eco-
nomic problems of slavery. ''There are,*' said he, "about
$61,000,000 worth of slave property in the state which pro-
duces less than three per cent profit on the capital invested,
or about half as much as the moneyed capital would yield.
There are about 200,000 slaves in Kentucky. Of these about
seventy-five per cent are superannuated, sick, women in
unfit condition for labor, and infants unable to work, who
yield no profit. Show me a man that has forty or fifty
slaves on his estate, and if there are ten out of that number
who are available and valuable, it is as much as you can
expect. But my calculation allows you to have seventy-five
per cent who are barely able to maintain themselves, to pay
for their own clothing, fuel, house room and doctor's bills.
Is there any gentleman who has a large number of slaves,
who will say that they are any more profitable than that!"*®
*8 Debates of the Convention of 184&, p. 73.
4
Slaveby in Kentucky 237
No one in the convention answered! the last question pnt
by Squire Turner. But regardless of such an economic
condition, not a single piece of remedial legislation was
passed and the members of the Constitutional Convention
added a provision to the Bill of Eights which rooted the
slavery system firmer than ever. That most adSbairable of
all southern characters, and at the same time the most diflS-
cult to understand, the Kentucky master, took little heed of
a question of dollars aad cents when it interfered with his*
moral and humanitariaa sentiments. He had inherited, in
most cases, the slaves that were his. He knew well enough
that the system did not pay but supposing that he should
turn his slaves loose, what would become of theml What
could they do for a living! The experience of later years
proved that his apparently obstinate temperament was
mixed with a good deal of wisdom, for once the slaves were
set free their status was not to any great extent ameliorated
if they went abroad from the plantation where they had
lived from childhood.
There was a certain amount of profit in the labor of
able-bodied slaves but they only represented a fraction of
the Negroes whom the master was called upon to support.
The law comi)elled the owner to maintain his old and help-
less slaves and this represented the spirit of the large ma-
jority of the slaveholders. Those were rare cases indeed
when an owner was hailed into court for failing to provide
for an infirm member of his slave household. The true
Kentuckian never begrudged the expense that such support
incurred. One of the ablest lawyers of the State, Benjamin
Hardin, made the statement that '4f it were not for sup-
porting my slaves, I would never go near a courthouse. ' **®
Rev. Stuart Robinson, speaking before the Kentucky
Colonization Society in 1849, gave another viewpoint of the
economic value of the slave. *'The increase of slaves in
Kentucky,'' said he, *'has hardly reached three thousand
annually for eighteen years past. The increase since 1840
has been 27,653— the increase for the year just closed 2,921.
^oiiittle, L. P.^ Ben Mardin, hU Times and Contemporaries, p. 544.
238 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
In twenty-six counties, embracing one fourth of the slave
population— some of them the largest slave-holding coun-
ties—there has been an actual decrease in the last year of
881 slaves. In twelve other counties the increase has been
only twenty-three. There are ten counties in the State,
which contain one third of all the slave population of Ken-
tucky ; in these ten counties, the increase of slaves for five
years past has been 2,728— an increase of less than one per
cent per annum. Nor is this slow increase of slavery to
be attributed to any stagnation or decline of public pros-
perity, for in the meantime the state has been growing in
population and wealth as heretofore. During these five
years the taxable property of the Commonwealth has in-
creased in value more than seventy-six millions. Now this
decrease of slaves while the other property of the common-
wealth is increasing must arise from one of three causes—
and in either case the inference is the same as to the fate
of slavery in Kentucky. (1) Is it because the climate is
unhealthy to the African! If so then African labor cannot
continue. (2) Is it owing to emigration! Then something
is wrong in the system of labor, that causes the emigration
of our people— for no finer soil— no more desirable resi-
dence can be found in the world. (3) Or is it owing to the
domestic slave trade! Then for some reason slave labor
is less profitable here than elsewhere, and must soon be
given up.*'^^
These figures quoted by the si)eaker on the slave popu-
lation for year by year are available in the auditor's tax
books for the years 1840 to 1859:"
1840 164,817 1847 189,549 1854 200,181
1841 168,853 1848 192,470 1855 202,790
1842 171,035 1849 195,110 1856 201,160
3843 176,107 1850 196,847 1857 201,590
1844 178,837 1851 196,336 1858 207,559
1845 182,742 1852 200,867 1859 208,625
1846 185,582 1853 200,015
^0 Presbyterian Herald, April 12, 1849.
^1 Collected Docwments, 1847, pp. 581-583; 1853, pp. 401-403; 1860, pp.
241-246.
Slavery in Kentucky 239
The very small growth shown here would barely account
for the natural increase among the slaves by virtue of the
high birth rate. The mortality rates were about the same
for slaves as for whites. The relative decline was un-
doubtedly due to the rising prices for slaves which were
sent to the South and the consequent decreasing value of a
slave's labor to the Kentuckian, He knew beyond a doubt
that the time would eventually come when he would have
to part with his slave and that jyortion of the holders who
were not averse to selling their chattels did so during this
period.
CHAPTER in
The Legal Status op Slaveby
Slavery in its more economic form naturally spread to
the Kentucky district as the western frontier of Virginia
became settled. Of the 293,427 slaves which were held in
the State of Virginia in the year 1790, however, only 11,830
were in the district of Kentucky, which at that time had a
total population of 73,077. Few thought, however, of dis-
puting the rights of the institution in the newly created
State. The final convention which met to form a constitu-
tion was held at Danville, beginning on April 2, 1792, and
in the course of its proceedings it was apparent that there
was no fundamental division among the delegates regard-
ing any of the proposed provisions with the exception of the
one dealing with slavery. Virginia had stipulated in giving
permission for the formation of the new State that slavery
as an established institution should not be disturbed, and
this policy had the support of a majority of the members
of the constitutional convention. George Nichols, a native
of the Old Dominion, was the leader of the assembly and
had charge of most of the work which was done and natu-
rally was most interested in carrying out the wishes of his
native State in the formation of the new document. The
only serious opponent was David Rice, a noted Presbyterian
minister, but, having resigned on April 11, he was not
present at the time when the slavery issue came up for final
settlement.
A separate vote was taken on Article IX, the slavery
section, which passed 26 to 19. It was finally provided that
The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emanci-
pation of slaves without the consent trf their owners, or without
paying their owners, previous to such emancipation, a full equiva-
lent in money, for the slaves emancipated ; they shall have no power
240
i
Slaveby in Kentucky 241
to prevent immigrants to this state, from bringing with them such
persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United
States, so long as any person of the same age or description shall
be continued in slavery by the laws of this state: that they shall
pass laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving
the rights of creditors, and preventing them from becoming a
charge to the county in which they reside; they shall have full
power to prevent slaves from being brought into this state as mer-
chandise; they shall have full power to prevent any slave being
brought into this state from a foreign country, and to prevent
those from being brought into this state, who have been since the
first of January, 1789, or may hereafter be imported into any of
the United States from a foreign country. And they shall have
full power to pass such laws as may be necessary to oblige the own-
ers of slaves to treat them with humanity, to provide for them
necessary clothes and provisions, to abstain from all injuries to
them extending to life or limb, and in case of their neglect or re-
fusal to comply with the directions of such laws, to have such slave
or slaves sold for the benefit of their owner or owners.^
In any discussion of the slavery question in Kentucky
in its historical aspects this article of the first constitution
is fundamental. It is evident that even at that early day
the difficulty of the slavery problem was already in the
minds of the jyeople in spite of many other apparently more
pressing issues.. The article itself remained practically
intact throughout the existence of slavery in the State.
Were there ever in later years gathered vnthin the con-
fines of the State any body of men who had a better grasp of
the future? The single instance of the recommendation
that the legislature should pass laws permitting the eman-
cipation of slaves only under the provision that they should
be guaranteed from becoming a public charge to the county
shows the comprehension of a difficulty that could not at
such an early date have developed to any great degree, but
which in later decades was a formidable problem. iWe may
well say vnth John Mason Brown, however, that ^Hhe sys-
tem of slavery thus contemplated was designed to be as
iLittelVs Laws, 1: 32.
242 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
mild, as human, and as much protected from traffic evils as
possible, but it was to be emphatically perpetual, for no
emancipation could be had without the assent of each par-
ticular owner of each individual slave. ' '^
The session of the State assembly which met in No-
vember, 1792, only attempted to carry out the constitutional
provision prohibiting commercial transactions with slaves.
No person was permitted to buy of, or sell to, any slave, any
manner of thing whatsoever without a written permit de-
scriptive of the article under the i)enalty of four times the
value of the thing bought or sold. The jurisdiction of such
cases was given to the county court, if they concerned values
of more than five pound's. The slave was to receive ten
lashes, which by the standards of those days was a meager
punishment for any offense.^ Whenever jyossible the slave
was not brought into consideration as an offender. The
theory seems to have been that the slave was better off when
left alone. It was only when some unscrupulous outsider
came in to use the slave either as a victim or as an object of
profit that it was necessary to draw the strings tighter on
the Negro, not because of any inherent tendency to crime so
much as to keep the slave from becoming unruly when in
the power of a superior influence.
It was not until the session of 1798 that the legislature
drew up the fundamental slave code which was to carry out
all the recommendations of the constitutional convention
and which remained the basis of all legal action throughout
the entire period of slavery. Among the early acts of the
State had been the temporary adoption of the statutes of
Virginia on the treatment of slaves and slavery problems,
which were then in force.* These remained as a slave code
for Kentucky until the enactment in 1798 of these new laws,
which contained forty-three articles and involved almost
every question that could come up for legal consideration
in connection with the institution. The experience of six
2 Brown, Jolm Mason, The Political Beginnings of Kentucky, p. 229.
^LittelVs Laws, 1: 44.
^Ihid,, 1: 161.
I ^
Slaveby in Ejsntuoky 243
years as a separate State had served to show that many
existing provisions of the Virginia codte were not readily
adapted to the rapidly growing State, and then too there
was a decided tendency to ameliorate the condition of the
slave as much as possible. In Kentucky they were not then,
at least, confronted with such a large mass of slaves that
they conld not meet problems in a much easier manner than
in the Old Dominion.
In the beginning, it was naturally found necessary to
place some restrictions on the slave and his movements.
He was not allowed to leave his master's plantation without
written permission and if he did go away, any person could
apprehend the offender and take him before a justice of the
peace, who was empowered to order the infliction of stripes
at his discretion. Furthermore, he was not to wander off
to any other plantation without the written permission of
his owner, with the provision in this instance that he was
not to be taken before a justice of the peace, but before his
owner, who was entitled to inflict ten lashes upon the of-
fender. Should the slave be found carrying any powder,
shot, a gun, club, or any weapon he could be apprehended by
any free person and taken before a justice and a much
severer penalty exacted in the form of thirty-nine lashes,
**well laid on, on the bare bacf ^ It is clear that this law
was drawn up to keep the slave from becoming a public
menace and not as a sign of absolute restriction on the
servant, for it was further provided in Section 6 that in
case the slave lived in a frontier community he could go to
the local justice of the peace and secure a i)ermit to keep
and use guns, powder, shot and other weajxms for either
offensive or defensive purposes. This permission was to
be indorsed by any free Negro, mtilatto or Indian and did
not necessarily involve the approval of the owner of the
slave.
It was declared unlawful for slaves to engage in riots,
unlawful assemblies, in trespasses or in seditious speech and,
if so accused, they were to be taken before the local justice
sLitteU'8 Laws, 2: 113.
244 JouBNAL OP Negbo History
who was to punish them at his discretion. But the Negroes
themselves were not to be considered as the only guilty
ones. In order to prevent any such disorderly meetings no
owner of slaves was to be allowed to permit any ^lave not
belonging to him to remain on his plantation for more than
four hours at any one time under a nominal penalty to such
owner of $2 ; but, if he allowed more than five such slaves
to assemble on his property, he was to be fined more
severely. If such a group were brought together by the
written permission of the owner and for business reasons,
however, there was involved no offense whatever.® It was
realized that oftentimes the chief leaders in the unlawful
meetings of slaves were free Negroes and sympathetic
whites. Were any such to be found present they were to be
arrested and if found guilty when tried before a justice of
the peace, should be fined 15 shillings, to be paid, not to the
court, but to the informer and if the money was not forth-
coming the court was to have twenty lashes inflicted— no
matter whether the convicted be white or black. Inasmuch
as the degree of punishment of the slaves for being present
at such a meeting was not sjyecified it would seem that the
legislature meant that the free persons involved should be
treated more severely than slaves by the court.
The law of 1792 regarding trading with slaves had not
proved to be effective, for in many cases the owner for a
stipulated wage paid by the slave had permitted him to go at
large and engage in trade as if he were a free man. The
legislature found that this encouraged the slaves to commit
thefts aad engage in various evil practices and naturally
censured the owner. A fine of $50 was to be paid by the
master for each offending slave and no punishment whatever
was to be given the latter. But should the servant go so
far as to hire himself out, he would be imprisoned by order
of the court and, at the next session of the county court,
he would be sold. One fourth of the money thus re-
ceived was to be applied to the county funds and 5 per
cent was to be given to the sheriff and the owner was to
fiLittelVs Laws J 2: 114.
Slaveby in Kentucky 245
receive the remaining 70 per cent. Here too the slave was
not punished and his condition of servitude was not chaaged.
It was merely a change of owners. Again the offending
owner was the victim and for his carelessness he was de-
prived of 30 per cent of the money value of his slave.'^
The leading Kentucky case bearing on slaves engaged in
trade is that of Bryant vs. Sheely (5 Dana, 530). Five of
the main points are worth mentioning here :
1. To buy or receive any article from a slave, without the con-
sent of his master, in writing, specifying the article, is a highly
penal offense.
2. A sale made by a slave, without such written consent, is void,
and does not divest the master of his property ; he may sue for, and
recover it; or he may waive his right to the specific thing, affirm
the sale, and recover the price or value, if it was not paid to the
slave.
3. A general permission to a slave to go at large and trade for
himself as a free man, is contrary to public policy, and a violation
of a penal statute. The owner or master of a slave could maintain
no action for any claim acquired by a slave while acting under
such illegal license.
4. But a slave may be permitted by his master to buy or sell
particular articles, and any form of consent or permission given by
the master, or his assent after the fact, will give validity to the
sale — ^though the purchaser may be liable to the penalty, if the con-
sent be not in writmg.
5. A slave, being authorized by his master to sell any particu-
lar thing, becomes the agent of his master for that purpose; and
from the authority to sell, an authority to transfer the property,
and to fix and receive the price must be inferred; but the slave
cannot exercise or receive an authority to maintain any action in
relation to it ; the right of action for the price belongs to the master,
and if he sues, that fact itself is sufficient evidence that he author-
ized or approved and confirmed the sale.
I Unlike the more southerly States, Kentucky did not leave
the slave helpless in the courts] If a slave were charged
with a capital crime he was brought before the court of
quarter sessions, which was composed of the various county
tLiitelVa Laws, 2: 11^117.
246 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
justices of the peaxje. They were to constitute a court of
oyer and terminer. But they alone were not to decide the
fate of the Negro, for the sheriff was required to empanel a
jury of twelve men from among the bystanders, who were to
constitute the trial jury. It was explicitly stated that legal
evidence in such a case would be the confession of the
offender, the oath of one or more credible witnesses, or such
testimony of Negroes, mulattoes, or Indians as should seem
convincing to the court. When a slave was called upon to
testify in such a case, the court, the witness **not being a
Christian, ' ^ found it necessary to administer the following
charge that he might be under the greater obligation to
declare the truth: **You are brought hither as a witness, and
by the direction of the law I am to tell you, before you give
your evidence, that you must tell the truth and nothing but
the truth, and that if it be found hereafter that you tell a
lie, and give false testimony in this matter, you must, for so
doing, receive thirty-nine lashes on your bare back, well
laid on, at the common whipping post. * *®
Section 22 of the law of 1798 provided that the master
or owner of any slave might appear in court at a trial of his
servant and **make what just defense he can for such
slave. ' ' The only restriction was that such defense should
not interfere with the form of the trial. Naturally the
liberally disposed slaveholders interpreted this to mean that
they could employ counsel to defend their Negroes and it
remained a disputed question down to 1806, when the legis-
lature made the provisions ijaore specific. By this new law
it was provided that it was not only the privilege but the
duty of the owner of a slave who was being prosecuted to
employ an attorney to defend him. The owner neglecting
to do so the court must assign counsel to defend the slave
and the costs thereby incurred were to be charged to the
owner. The fee for defense was not to exceed $200 and if
not forthcoming the court was empowered to recover the
amount in the manner of any other debt of similar amount,
^lAttell'a Laws, 2: 117-118.
Slaveby in Kjsntucky 247
It was plainly the intention of the legislature to provide a
just trial for any slave, for they even went so far as to
enact that the lawyer appointed by the court for the prisoner
should * * defend such slave as in cases of free persons prose-
cuted for felony by the laws of this state. ' '*
When the slave was convicted of an offense which was
punishable by death but which was within the benefit of
clergy the capital penalty was not pronounced, but the
offender was burnt in the hand or inflicted with any other
corporal penalty at the discretion of the court. Should the
criminal be sentenced to suffer death, thirty days were to
elapse before the execution, except where it was a case of
conspiracy, insurrection or rebellion. When the court had
decided to sentence the slave to the death penalty a valua-
tion of the Negro was made. This statement was to be
turned over to the State auditor of public accounts who was
required to issue a warrant on the treasury for the amount
in favor of the owner of the convicted party. The owner on
his part was to turn over to the treasurer the certificate of
the clerk of the court showing that the slave had been con-
demned and the statement of the sheriff that the offender
had been executed or had died before execution.^^
This matter of the payment to the owner of the value of
the executed slave appears never to have been questioned to
any extent even by the abolitionists in the legislature until
the session of 1830 when a bill was introduced for the repeal
of the law. The bill was lost but in the course of the debate
it was stated that while Kentucky contained over 160,000
slaves only about one fifth of the tax-paying whites were
slaveholders and that $68,000 had already been paid out of
the State treasury as indemnity for slaves executed. After
the defeat of this bill there was offered a substitute which
proposed that a tax of one fourth of one per cent should
be levied upon the value of all slaves in the State for the
creation of a fund out of which to make such disbursements,
but this was likewise lost.^^
^Littell's Laws, 3: 403.
10 nid., 2 : 117-118.
iiNiles' Begisier, February 2, 1830.
248 JouBNAL OF Nbgbo Histoby
Until 1811 there were no special enactments on slave
crimes and their punishments. The court had, therefore,
more or less range in the exactment of penalties but the
legislature of 1811 passed during the first fortnight of its
session a specific law governing slave crimes. Only four
offenses were to be regarded as punishable by death: (1)
conspiracy and rebellion, (2) administering poison with
intent to Mil, (3) voluntary manslaughter and (4) rape of a
white woman. If any slaves were to be found guilty of con-
sulting or advising the murder of any one, every such con-
sultation was to constitute an offense and be punishable by
any number of stripes not exceeding one hundted.^^
As time went on the list of capital crimes was increased
as a natural result of the growth of the slave population and
their growing state of unrest after the incoming of the anti-
slavery propaganda. By the close of the slavery era in
Kentucky there were eleven offenses for which slaves
should suffer death: (1) murder, (2) arson, (3) rape of a
white woman, (4) robbery, (5) burglary, (6) conspiracy,
(7) administering poison with intent to kill, (8) man-
slaughter, (9) attempting to commit rape on a white woman,
(10) shooting at a white person with intent to kill, and (11)
wounding a white person with intent to kill. It will readily
be seen that from a practical standpoint these eleven of-
fenses can be narrowed down to eight. The severity of the
slave code can be shown by comparison of the capital crimes
for white persons at the same time. These were four in
number, (1) murder, (2) carnal abuse of a female under
ten years of age, (3) wilful burning of the penitentiary and
(4) being an accessory to the fact.^^
Virginia had early enacted that slaves should be con-
sidered as real estate in the settlement of inheritances. But
the growing tendency to look upon the slaves in all things
else as personal chattels led to such legal and popular con-
fusion that the Virginia assembly often observed that they
were **real estate in some respects, jxersonal in others, and
i2Littell'a Laws, 4: 223-224.
18 Stroud, Laws relating to 8laA)ery, p. 86.
Littell & Swigert, 2: 1066-9; 1060-4.
Slaveey in Kentucky 249
both in others.'* Eegardless of such legal complexity it
was not until 1793 that it was enacted that **all negro and
mulatto slaves in all courts of judicature shall be held and
adjudged to be personal estate/'
In drawing up the slave code of 1798 Kentucky disre-
garded the legal experience of Virginia and her more re-
cent remedial legislation and enacted that **all negro,
mulatto or Indian slaves, in all courts of judicature and
other places within this commonwealth, shall be held, taken
and adjudged to be real estate, and shall descend to the heirs
and widows of persons departing this life, as lands are
directed to descend." It was further provided, however,
that * * all such slaves shall be liable to the payment of debts,
and may be taken by execution for that end, as other
chattels, or personal estate may be."^*
Such a law coupled with the legal precedents of Virginia
served to intensify the mixed property conception of the
slave. The confusion, however, was purely legal, for slaves
were held in all other respects as jxersonalty; but in cases
of inheritance and the probation of wills the Kentucky
Court of Appeals was often called upon to define clearly the
legal status of the Negro in bondage. The first important
decision was handed down in 1824 in the case of Ohinn and
wife vs. Respass, in which it was pointed out that while
slaves were by law made real estate for the purpose of de-
scent and dower, yet they had in law many of the attributes
of i)ersonal estate. They would pass by a nuncupative will,
and lands would not; they could be limited in a grant or
devise no otherwise than personal chattels; and personal
actions might be brought to recover the possession of them.
1^ It would perhaps be well to point out here the general common-law differ-
ence between the treatment of real and personal estate in a wilL The title of
the personal property of the deceased is veeted in the executor and he holds it
for the payment of debts and distribution according to the will of the testator.
On the other hand the real estate vests in the dcTisees or heirs and does not go
to the administrator, unless by statute enactment, which was in part true in
Kentucky, in the case above, where the slaves, although real estate, were held
liable for the debts of their master. lAtieWa Laws, 2: 120.
250 Journal op Negbo Histoby
Furthermore **they were in their nature personal estate,
being moveable property, and as such might attend the
person of the proprietor wherever he went ; and in practice
they were so considered' by the people in general/ '^^
Conversely, the court was often called upon to interpret
the phrase ** personal estate** in wills and contracts, where
it appeared without any other restrictive expression or
provision, and it consistently held that the term should be
construed as embracing slaves.^* Oradually the personal
property conception began to secure even legal precedence
over that of real estate when the two interpretations came
into close conflict. 'This was accomplished by placing more
stress on the proviso in the original slave code, which placed
slaves in the hands of the administrator as assets for the
payment of debts. This led to increasing power for the
executor who could even defeat the title of the heirs, though
the property may have been specifically devised. Hence it
was not surprising that in the Eevised Statutes of 1852 it
was provided that slaves should thereafter be deemed and
held as personal estate. Coming after all doubt of the
personalty of slaves had been removed by the decisions of
the highest tribunal in the State, this law meant little more
than the repeal of the old statute making slaves real estate.
The wonder is that Kentucky should have chosen to hold
to an antiquated legal conception for fifty years after Vir-
ginia had proved its fallacy by her experience in the eigh-
teenth century. While it did little harm, it had few ad-
vantages. The existence of the theoryi was chiefly notice-
able in the frequent legal battles over technicalities in the
settlement of estates. In the popular mind slaves were
always considered personal property, and the spirit of the
slave code itself embodied that conception as regarded all
things save the question of inheritance.
With respect to the liberty of the slaves the code of
15 T. B. Monroe's Beport L, 23.
i« Beatty vs. Judy, 1 Bana, 101.
Plumptoii! V8. Ck)ok, 2 A. K. Marshall, 450.
Slavery in Kjsntuoky 251
1798 clearly shows that the existing type of slavery was
purely rural, for the restricftions on slaves concerned only
the plantation Negroes^ Strictly understood, the slave was
not to leave the farm of his owner without a pass from his
master, the main purpose being to keep the Negroes from
congregating on any one farm. Later when emissaries from
the North became unusually active the rights and privileges
of the slaves were further restricted. This change was due
to the current belief that these foreign individuals were bent
upon stirring up strife among the slaves and inciting them
to insurrection. Once started such a scheme would have
resulted in anarchy especially in the towns. The real curb-
ing provisions were not started until along in the thirties
when these outside forces had begun to make their appear-
ance in the urban communities.^''
In some parts of the State were instituted mounted
patrols, who went about at night and watched the movement
of slaves. They were to apprehend any servant who was
caught away from his home plantation without a pass from
his master.^® Such an institution was based on good Negro
psychology, for his fear of the spirits of night was well
known. Citizens of that time have told us many tales of
the dread which the slave had of meeting these night raiders
whom they termed "patter-rollers'* and how they came to
sing of them in true Negro fashion :
Over the fence and through the paster,
Eun, nigger, run, oh, run a little faster,
Eun, nigger, run.
The. patter-roller ketch you.
Such a system of county patrols did not prove to be suffi-
cient as the slave population grew and the towns became
larger and more attractive to the country slave. The legis-
lature of 1834 in drawing up a law concerning tavern keepers
had this problem clearly in mind when they provided that
no person should sell, give or loan any spirituous liquors to
iTEothert, History of MuMenburg County, p. 343.
18 Young, B. H., History of Jessamine County, p. 89.
252 JouBNAL OF Nbgbo Histoby
slaves, other than his own, under a penalty of $10 for each
offense. Furthermore, if the offender was a licensed liquor
dealer, he should have his license taken away, from him- for
the term of two years.^® That even this measure did not
prove effective enough to curb the evil of Negroes congre-
gating in the towns is shown by the further provision passed
March 6, 1850, to increase the fine to $50 for each offense.^
A still further extension was that of February 27, 1856,
which provided that free Negroes were to be included in the
restriction unless they presented a certificate from **some
white person of respectable character.'' No slaves or free
Negroes were to be employed in the selling or distribution
of liquor nor were they to be allowed to visit or even loaf
around any place where intoxicants were kept for sale.^^
The session of 1858 made the force of the law more explicit
by defining very clearly the jurisdiction in such cases.^^
Not only the State authorities but the towns as well
were active in the measures adopted to meet the growing
problem. The best available sample of the many provisions
which the town councils drew up is this one which was
passed by the trustees of Henderson in 1840:
It shall be and is hereby made, the duty of the Town Sergeant
or either of his assistants, to punish with any number of lashes not
exceeding ten, all or any negro slave or slaves who may be found
in any grog shop, grocery or other place where spirituous liquors
are retailed in said town, or who may be found on the streets of
said town after ten o'clock at night, unless it shall appear to the
said Town Sergeant, or assistant, that said negro slave or slaves,
are acting under the orders of his, her or their master or mistress,
and it shall further be the duty of the Town Sergeant, or either of
his assistants, to enter into any grog shop, grocery or other place
where spirituous liquors are retailed, in said town, whenever he
shall be informed that any negro slave or slaves are collected
therein. Provided, said Town Sergeant, or assistant, can enter
the same peaceably and without force.^'^
18 Session Laws, 18<34, p. 726.
20 Ihid., 1850, p. 51.
21 Ihid., 1856, Vol. 1, pp. 42-44.
22 Ihid., 1858, Vol. 1, pp. 47-48.
28 Starling, p. 290.
Slaveby in Kentucky 253
f This town regulation offers jxerhaps another proof of
the oft-repeated statement regarding the slave laws of Ken-
tucky that while they appeared severe on the statute book s
fhfty -^^ftrft always nriild in, \\{(^. Anfaffigrngint The regulation
of the movement of slaves in the towns was always subject
to the local conditions. Beginning about 1850 there was a
growing feeling in some of the more thickly populated sec-
tions of the State that the type of Negro slave who sought
to frequent the village saloons would sooner or later start
an insurrection. But no such uprising ever occurred and
the fear of such seems to have been due to the current ani-
mosity towards the activities of the abolitionists, which was
prevalent throughout the State.
In the course of time it was considered necessary to treat
more seriously also the importation of slaves. The advisa-
bility of preventing the importation of bondmen had been
foreseen in Kentucky from the experience of the mother
State of Virginia which had enacted a stringent law in 1778
imposing a penalty of one thousand pounds and the for-
feiture of the slave upon the importer of any into that com-
monwealth. The ninth article of the Kentucky Constitu-
tion of 1792 had provided that the legislature ** shall have
full power to prevent slaves being brought into this common-
wealth as merchandise; they shall have full power to pre-
vent auy slave being brought into this state from a foreign
country, and to prevent those from being brought into this
state, who have been since the first of January, 1789, or may
hereafter be imported into any of the United States from a
foreign country. ' '^^
The session of the State assembly in 1794 drew up a law
concerning the importation and emancipation of slaves but
it was largely a mere modification of the law of the State
of Virginia. It was not until the adoption of the slave code
of 1798 that the question was firmly settled by a more def-
inite statement. By article 25 of that act it was provided
*Hhat no slave or slaves shall be imported into this state
^^LittelVa Laws, 1: 32.
254 Journal of Negbo Histoby
from atiy foreign country, nor shall any slave who has been
imported into the United States from any foreign country
since the first day of January, 1789, or may hereafter be
imported into the United States from any foreign country
under the penalty of $300.'^
This was merely carrying out the provisions of the
constitution. Section 26 provided that **no slave or slaves
shall be imported into this state as merchandise, and
any person offending herein, shall fxofeit and pay the
sum of $300 for each slave so imported, to be recov-
ered by action of debt or information, in any court hav-
ing cognizance of the same, one half to the prosecutor,
the other half to the use of the commonwealth.'* More
significant was the proviso that **this act shall not extend to
prevent any citizen of this state bringing for his own use,
provided, they have not been brought into the United States
from any foreign country since January 1, 1789; nor shall
it be construed to prevent persons emigrating to this state
bringing their slaves with them, but either a citizen of this
state or persons emigrating to this state may bring slaves
not prohibited by this act. ' '^^
An act of 1814 amended the above by prohibiting the
importation of slaves by any of the emigrants if they
did not intend to settle in Kentucky.^® An attempt was
made by a law of February 8, 1815, to remedy some of
the defects which had been found. The legal penalty
for importation was increased to $600 for each slave
imported and a fine of $200 was added for every per-
son buying or selling such slave. No indictment was to
be subject to a shorter limitation than five years and once
so accused no person was to be discharged or acquitted
unless he could produce evidence to show that within sixty
days of his arrival in Kentucky he had deposited the follow-
ing oath, duly signed, in the county clerk's office where he
resides : **I, , do swear that my removal
to the state of Kentucky was with the intention of becoming
^^LiiteU's Laws, 2: 119.
i^Ibid., 5: 293.
/an
Slavery in Kentucky 255
a citizen thereof, and! that I have brought no slave or slaves
to this state, with the intention of selling them. ' '^'^
It is evident from all contemporary discussions of the
question of importation that it was the firm conviction that
in order to do justice to the slave and the institution as a
whole within the State it was necessaryi to prevent the in-
fusion of any foreign slave element. Once such a policy
had been carriedl out to a successful conclusion, they would
have been confronted only with a purely domestic type of
slavery and its increase. With such an ideal condition, for
those times, the institution eventually would have been
easily handled. But these early lawmakers, while no doubt
honest in their intentioils, did not have the wisdom that was
tempered with experience, and the unscrupulous slave
traders found further defects in the law and took advantage
of them. A careful examination of the law of 1794, the
codification of 1798, and the amendments of 1814 and 1815
will show that the whole theory of non-importation is
summed up in the word intent. It was the intent with which
the slaves were introduced, and to this alone the penalty
attached. They were not to be imported as merchandise but
every citizen could import slaves for his own use. Once
these slaves were within the State there was no penalty pro-
vided if they were sold. There was nothing to prevent a
man from selling what slaves he had imported and later
going without the confines of the State and bringing in
more. If he were brought before the court, he would claim
that he had not intended to sell them when they were brought
in, and no one could place a penalty on his intentions. It
seems that there were other violators of the spirit of the
law, who never sold any of the slaves but brought them into
the State in large numbers and then hired them out for such
long terms as 99 years.^® The fundamental idea of the law
had been to place a curb on the increase of the slave popula-
tion by importation and these acts were in direct opposi-
tion to the intention of the enactments.
i'Tlhid., 5: 435-437.
28 Barre, W. L., Speeches <md Writmga of Thomas F. Ma/rshdll, p. 115.
256 JouBNAL OF Nbgbo Histoby
An index of the inefficiency of the existing provisions re-
garding importation can be found in the j&gures on the
growth of the slave population during this period when it
is borne in mind that legally slaves could not be imported,
except for personal use, after the year 1794. The slave
population in 1790 had been 11,830 and by 1800 had in-
creased to 40,343 or at the rate of 241.02 per cent ; in 1810
there were 80,561 slaves or an increase of 99.69 per cent ; in
1820 there were 126,732, a gain of 57.31 per cent ; and by
1830 they had increased 30.36 per cent to a total of 165,213.
During the same period there was a great increase in the
white population but it was always from 20 per cent to 40
per cent below that of the slaves. It appears that the law
prohibiting importation was not as effective as it should
have been. While none of the statesmen appear to have
figured from the statistical viewpoint there was no end of
discussion regarding the necessity of extending the law to
include more than the question of intent at the time of
importation.
" Th e avowed resoluti nr? ^^ K^TitTjoVy fn rl eal with ^ e
slavery que stion in the ^o st humane manner_and Jq sto p
^J^Z^B^^E^^^ ^*^^^^^^^ in slaves for the mere sske pf
pr^t is nowheremore clearly shown than in the firm action
which was taken not only in the court room but in the legis-
lative halls when it was found that advantage had been
taken of the letter of the law at the expense of its spirit.
On February 2, 1833, the legislature passed a law prohibit-
ing all importation of slaves even for personal use. The
only exception provided in this case was that emigrants
were allowed to bring in slaves, if they took the oath that
had been provided in the law of 1815. The evil mentioned
above brought about by hiring slaves for excessively long
terms was prohibited by declaring illegal any contract which
extended beyond one year and exacting a penalty of $600
for each offense. This law of 1833 was destined to be the
crux of many a heated argument for the remainder of the
slavery period. Many a candidate for office during the
Slaveby in Kentucky 257
next thirty years rose to victory or fell in defeat because
of his position with regard to this one statute of the State.
It was the briefest of all the enactments on the slavery ques-
tion but it was by far the most important and far-reaching
provision that the legislature ever enacted in connection
with the institution.^®
It is noticeable that this measure was not brought about
in any sense by the activities of the abolitionists, for they
had not at that time made their appearance in the State.
It was an honest endeavor on the part of the native popula-
tion, slaveholding as well as non-slaveholding, to carry out
the spirit of their State constitution which had been adopted
back in 1792. Thomas F. Marshall, who later was the
leader of the Lexington group which removed Cassius M.
Clay's True American to Cincinnati, has borne testimony to
the fact that the slaveholding element voted for the law of
1833. **At the time of the passage of this law,'* said he,
*Hhe sect known by the title of * abolitionists' had not made
their appearance. And, as I was sworn then upon the con-
stitution of my country, by all the obligations of that oath,
I affirm now that I do not believe that the principles and
designs ascribed to that party were in the contemplation
of any human being who voted for the law. I was myself
not only never an abolitionist, but never an emancipationist
upon any plan which I ever heard proposed."^
But the question was not settled for all time, for with
the coming of the abolitionist element there was a general
tendency throughout the State to enact stricter laws govern-
ing slaves. 'Many who had voted for the enactment began
to cry for a repeal of the law, but it was not until the session
of 1841 that it was seriously debated in the general assembly.
2» Sectian 1 of the law ISSS- read: "Each and every person or persons who
shall hereafter import into this state any slave or slaves, or who shall sell or
buy, or contract for the sale or purchase, for a longer term than one year, of
the service of any such slave or slaves, knowing the same to have been imported,
shall forfeit and pay $600 for each slave sa imported, sold, or bought, or whose
service has been so contracted for; recoverable by indictment of a grand jury
or any action of debt, in the name of the Commonwealth in any circuit court,
where the offenders may be found." Session Ijaws, 18i33, pp. 258-261.
80 Barre, W. L., p. 116.
258 Journal op Negbo Histoby
Then after a long and ardent discussion in the House of
Eepresentatives a vote was taken on the ninth of January—
with 34 in favor of the repeal and 53 against it. Never
within the previous decade had a bill before the House pro-
duced such popular interest.^ ^ It came up in the Senate
at the session of 1843 but after another warm debate it
failed by a vote of 14 to 21. Sentiment for the repeal con-
tinued to grow and! in 1849 the law was amended so as **no
longer to prohibit persons from purchasing and bringing
into the State slaves for their own use.*'^^ This changed
the situation back to what it was before 1833, for it will be
recalled that the main feature of the law of 1833 compared
with that of 1815 was the prohibition of importation even
for personal use. It could easily have been predicted' that
such an amendment would pass, for the legislature of 1847
had passed 27 distinct resolutions granting to as many indi-
viduals the right to import slaves for personal use. The
session of 1848 made 24 similar provisions.
jThis apparently radical swing towards the side of the
slave owner in 1849 was more than likely brought about by
the very intense campaign which was carried on by the
emancipationists. Such a movement served to unite the
slave forces against any attack upon the institution) This
tendency was shown not only in the halls of the State legis-
lature but in the constitutional convention which met later
in the same year. Although the abolitionists had looked
forward to some advanced constitutional provisions on
emancipation and the inclusion of the law of 1833 in the
organic law of the State they were astounded to be met
with the virtual repeal of that statute by the legislature.
On the other hand the constitutional convention not only
rejected bodily all the reform measures but added to the
Bill of Eights this extraordinary amendment : * * The right of
property is before and higher than any constitutional sanc-
tion, and the right of the owner of a slave to such slave and
its increase is the same and as inviolable as the right of
the owner of any property whatsoever/^
^^Niles' Begister, January 25, l&4rl.
82 CoUins, VoL 1, p. 83.
Slaveby in Kentucky 259
The slave trader once more had the courage to appear
in the State. Richard Henry Collins in an editorial in the
McbysviUe Eagle, November 6, 1849, gives us some vivid
evidence of the effect which the repeal of the law of 1833
had had in a few weeks' time. **A remarkably forcible and
practical argument in favor of incorporating the negro law
of 1833 into the new constitution reached this city in bodily
shape on Sunday, per the steamer Herman from Charleston,
Virginia. Forty-four negroes — ^men, women and children
—of whom seventeen men had handcuffs on one hand and
were chained together, two and two, passed through this
city for the interior of the State, under charge of two
regular traders. We opine that few who saw the spectacle
would hereafter say aught against the readoption of the
anti-importation act of 1833. '^ Such scenes as this were
the result of the passage of an innocent-looking measure
which allowed citizens to import slaves for their own use,
but which could really be made to include almost any influx
of slaves.
No further change in the importation laws was made
until the crisis immediately preceding the Civil War, when
practically all opposition was removed and the law of 1833
was abolished in its entirety.^^ Explanations of the sudden
turn of mind are not hard to find for the enactment was
passed amid the turmoil and chaos brought on by an im-
pending war and the radical slaveholders found it easy to
get votes for their side in a last vain endeavor to save the
institution, not so much from an economic standpoint as
from a matter of principle. The last chapter in the legal
history of the importation problem in Kentucky, however,
had not yet been written. After three years of the armed
conflict between the North and the South, Kentucky, which
had remained loyal to the Union and fought against the
slave power of the South, reenacted on February 2, 1864,
the old law of 1798 on the prohibition of the importation of
slaves.^* The wording was somewhat different, but the
M Sesmon Laws, 1860, Vol. 1, p. 104.
M76id., 1864, pp. 70-72.
260 Journal of Negbo BEistoby
essential provisions were the same. Coming at such a
time, it never had any significance in the slavery problem
in the State, but it is interesting as one of the last vain
efforts of the institution before it was mustered out of the
State by an amendment to the federal constitution, which
was passed without the assent of the State legislature of
Kentucky.
No less serious than the question of importation was the
problem of the fugitive slave. This has been treated many
times and every discussion of it has involved much of what
transpired in Kentucky or on its borders. It is not the
purpose here to repeat any of that story because it belongs
rather to the anti-slavery field, and, furthermore, has been
recently very well treated by A. E. Martin in his Anti-
slcuvery Movement in Kentucky. We are here concerned
with the legal phase of the fugitive problem as it existed in
Kentucky throughout this period, as an internal question;
in the relation between the State and other States; and
between the State and the federal authorities. In so far
as it relates to the law within the State such a discussion
naturally divides itself into two phases— those measures
which affected the fugitive slave himself, and those which
were directed towards conspirators who might have brought
about the escape of slaves. The former group of laws were
enacted, for the most part, in the early days of statehood,
for a runaway slave was a natural evil in any condition of
servitude. The latter group of measures were passed in
the later days of the institution when the anti-slavery propa-
gandists came in from the North, for until then there were
no cases of enticement. 'A large majority of those who
were placed on trial for conspiracy in the history of slavery
in Kentucky proved to be outsiders who had come into the
State after 1835. The citizens of the commonwealth who
were opposed to the institution were satisfied- to confine
themselves to mere words advocating the emancipation of
slaves.
The State early adopted the slave code of Virginia in
regard to the treatment of runaway slaves just as it did in
Slaveby in Kentucky 261
regard to the general legal rights of the bonded Negro but
provided more drastic regulations in 1798. Any person
who suspected a Negro of being a runaway slave could
take him before a justice of the peace, and swear to his
belief in the guilt of the accused. Being provided with a
certificate from the justice where he found the slave, the
apprehender could then take the fugitive back to the owner
and might collect ten shillings as a reward and an additional
shilling for each mile of travel necessary in bringing the
slave to the master. If the money should not be paid, the
person entitled to it could recover the sum in any court of
record in the State upon the production of his certificate of
apprehension as legal evidence.®'^
In many cases the runaway could not be identified as the
property of any particular owner, so provision was made
for the commitment of the offender to the county jail. The
keeper was forthwith to post a bulletin on the courthouse
with a complete description of the Negro. If at the end of
two months no claimant appeared the sheriff was to publish
an advertisement in the Lexington Gazette for three con-
secutive months so that the news of capture would reach a
larger public. In the meantime the sheriff was authorized
to hire out the fugitive and the wages thus received were to
pay for the reward of the captor and the expenses incurred
by the county officials. If the owner appeared during the
period and proved his property, he could have the slave
at once in spite of any labor contract, providing he would
pay any excess of expenses over wages received. But often
the master never appeared and if a year had expired since
the last advertisement had been published in the Gazette,
the sheriff could sell the slave and place the proceeds of the
sale plus the wages received over the expenses, in the county
treasury. This sum was credited to the unknown owner,
for if he should appear at any future time the county would
reimburse him for his loss, otherwise the fund reverted to
the county.®^
^^Littell'8 Laws, 2: 5-6.
86 Ihid., 2 : 5-6.
262 JouBNAi. OF Negbo Histoby
This legal code for the apprehension of runaway slaves
remained practically unchanged throughout the period of
slavery. The only amendments which were ever made were
those for the increase of the reward to the captor and it is
significant that the first of these changes did not come until
more than a generation later in 1835. Then the compensa-
tion was divided into three classes: for those captured in
their own county, $10; in another county, $20; out of the
State, $30.^*^ Just three years later it was found necessary
to increase this by the following interesting law : * * The com-
pensation for apprehending fugitive slaves taken without
this commonwealth, and in a State where slavery is not
tolerated by law, shall be one hundred dollars, on the de-
livery to the owner at his residence within this common-
wealth, and seventy-five dollars if lodged in the jail of any
county in this commonwealth, and the owner be notified sp
as to be able to reclaim the slave. "^® There were no more
advances until a law of March 3, 1860, increased the reward
to one hundred and fifty dollars if the slave were caught
outside the State and brought back to the home county;
one hundred and twenty-five dollars if caught outside the
State and brought back to any county in Kentucky; and
twenty dollars if caught anywhere in the home county.
The trend of these laws, from the viewpoint of tiie re-
wards alone, shows the increasing importance of the fugi-
tive problem to the slaveholding group. It is noticeable
that from the year 1798 until 1836 there was not sufficient
pressure upon the State legislature to increase the reward
to the captor of a runaway. It is further evident from the
scarcity of contemporary advertisements that there were
comparatively few Negroes who ventured forth from the
neighborhood of their masters. But with the rise of the
anti-slavery movement in the North and the growth of aboli-
tion sentiment as expressed by the apostles of Negro free-
dom who had come from across the Ohio, the slaves tended
to run away in ever-increasing numbers. This was soon
w Session Laws, 1855, pp. 82-83.
»8ldul., 1838, p. 158.
Slaveby in Kentucky 263
followed by a more rigid policy of apprehension upon the
part of the Kentucky legal authorities, apparent in the in-
creasing reward.
Not all cases of fugitives were to be reached by a mere
system of capture and reward. 'Barely did a slave make
his escape into a free State without the aid of some one in
sympathy with him. Hence the need for legal machinery to
punish those who assisted runaways. Prom a chronological
point of view the laws- governing such cases divide them-
selves into two parts ; in the early days they refer to those
who would help a slave who had already escaped; in the
later period they were directed towards those who induced
slaves to leave their home plantations.
Whichever of the free States he tried to reach it was
necessary for the Negro to cross the Ohio River to get to
his haven of refuge. If the Kentucky authorities could
prevent him from crossing the stream on the northern and
western boundary, they could prevent any slave from
making a successful escape. Consequently the legislature
as early as 1823 attempted to solve the problem by passing
a law forbidding masters of vessels and others from em-
ploying and removing Negroes out of the State.^® This
act prevented runaways from securing work on a steamboat
with the specific purpose of leaving once they were on free
soil. But as usual this enactment was not effective, be-
cause there was a loop-hole in it. The State assembly in
1831, therefore, provided that no ferryman on the Ohio
River should transport slaves across from Kentucky. No
other person, not owning or keeping a ferry, was to be
permitted to set slaves over, or to loan them boats or water-
craft. Slaves could only cross the river when they had the
written consent of their masters. Each and every owner
of a ferry was required to give bond in the sum of $3,000 to
carry out the spirit of the law; and for every violation he
was subject to a fine of $200.^
80 Session Laws^ 182a, p. 178.
*^Ihid,, 1831-2, pp. 54r-55.
264 JouBNAii OF Negbo Histoby
Not content with their previous efforts the general as-
sembly of 1838 went still further and prohibited slaves from
going as passengers on mail stages or coaches anywhere
within the State, except upon the written request of their
owners, or in the master's company. The liability for the
enforcement of the law rested upon the stage proprietors,
who were to be fined $100 for each slave illegally trans-
ported.*^
No stringent laws were made against the enticement of
slaves to run away until 1830 when the abolitionists first
began to appear. Until that time there seems to have been
no need for any legal enactment regarding the question.
The only trouble previously had been with the whites and
free Negroes who aided a slave already on his way to the
North. It was in response to the popular demand that on
January 28, 1830, the State legislature provided severe
penalties for any person found guilty of (1) enticing a slave
to leave his owner, (2) furnishing a forged paper of free-
dom, (3) assisting a slave to escape out of the State, (4)
enticing a slave to run away, or (5) concealing a runaway
slave. Should a person be suspected of any one of these
offenses and not be found guilty, he was to give security for
his good behavior to avoid all accusation in the future.*^
The most interesting legal case based on this law was
that of Delia Webster, a young lady from Vermont, who was
tried in the Fayette Circuit Court in December, 1844, for
the enticement of a Negro slave boy from Lexington. The
details of the trial show that the court was just and fair in
spite of the fact that both Miss Webster and her copartner,
Calvin Fairbank, were not citizens of the State and had
furthermore used all kinds of deceit to accomplish their
purpose. For the sake of aiding one Negro slave boy to
reach freedom they went to the expense and trouble to
feign an elopement to Ohio via Maysville, but the Lexing-
ton authorities caught them as they were coming back on
the Lexington Pike near Paris. lAt the trial it was shown
41 Session Laws, 1838, p. 15d.
« Ihid., 1830, pp. 173-175.
Slavbby in Kentucky 266
that Fairbank was in Kentucky for no other reason than
to induce slaves to escape to the North and that Miss
Webster had come to Lexington as a school teacher merely
as a cloak for her abolitionist work. The evidence offered
by the prosecution was damaging in the extreme. The de-
fense put forth no data for her side at all, evidently pre-
ferring to be hailed as a martyr to the cause for which she
stood. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty and she
was sentenced to serve two years in the State penitentiary.*^
The young accomplice, Calvin Fairbank, proved to be
the most persistent abolitionist the Kentucky authorities
ever encountered. He pleaded guilty to the indictment as
charged and was sentenced to serve 15 years in the peni-
tentiary, to which he was taken February 18, 1845. Evi-
dently convinced that he had been^ punished sufficiently
Governor John J. Crittenden pardoned him August 23,
1849, on condition that he leave the State at once.** But
such an ardent young enthusiast for the cause of Negro
freedom soon found that there were other slaves who were
in need of his aid and on November 3, 1851, he came across
from Jeffersonville to Louisville under the cover of night
and ** kidnapped" a young mulatto woman who had been
doomed to be sold at auction.**^ Presumably in the hope of
rescuing other slaves he remained in the vicinity for several
days until on the morning of November 9 he was arrested
by the Kentucky authorities. Fairbank was placed in jail
pending his trial, which took place in the following March,
when he was again sentenced to serve 15 years at hard labor
in the State penitentiary. He began his term March 9,
1852.*® This time he was not so fortunate in an early re-
lease. The chief executives of the State from time to time
refused to pardon him. In April, 1864, Governor Bram-
lette was called to Washington by President Lincoln for a
«8 Western Law Jov/mcU, 2: 232r-2d5 (best report of the trial).
NUes' Begiater, December 21, 1844.
Webster, Delia A., Kentucky JvHsprudence, pp. 1-84.
** Fairbank, How the Way was Prepa/red, pp. 53, 57.
« IJ>id., p. 85.
*«7did., p. 103.
266 JouBNAii OP Negbo Histoby
conference and Richard T. Jacobs, the Lientenant-Grovemor,
became the acting Governor. This son-in-law of Thomas
H. Benton had taken more or less pity on Fairbank, for he
had stated to the prisoner that if he ever became the chief
executive he would release him. The opportunity thus
being presented for the first time, Jacob pardoned Fairbank
on April 15, 1864, after a continuous imprisonment of
twelve years. Such was the experience in Kentucky of an
ardent northern abolitionist who boasted that he had
** liberated forty-seven slaves from hell.^^*'^
The systematic stealing of slaves from Kentucky had
begun about 1841 and at the time of the Webster and Fair-
bank trial was at its height. This movement was one of
the results growing out of the animosity created by another
legal case which occurred in 1838 — ^that of the Rev. John B.
Mahan of Brown County, Ohio. This Methodist minister,
although living in the State of Ohio, was indicted by the
grand jury of Mason County, Kentucky, for having aided
in the escape of certain slaves. Oovemor Clark, of Ken-
tucky, then issued a requisition on the Governor of Ohio for
Mahan as a ^^fugitive from justice. '* Upon receipt of the
demand, the chief executive of Ohio immediately issued a
warrant for the arrest of the minister. A; short time later
he became convinced that this step had been too hasty, be-
cause Miahan had never been in Kentucky. His offense had
merely consisted in helping runaways along the *^ under-
ground railroad, ' ' once they were on free soil.
Hence, Governor Vance sent a special messenger to the
chief executive of Kentucky redemanding the alleged fugi-
tive from justice. Governor Clark made this very cordial
and diplomatic reply:
The position assumed by you in relation to the fact of Mahan
having never been within the limits of Kentucky is clearly correct,
and if upon the legal investigation of the case it be found true, he
will doubtless be acquitted. I feel great solicitude that this citizen
of your state, who has been arrested and brought to Kentucky,
*7 Fairbank, pp. 144, 149.
Slavbey in Kentucky 267
upon my requisition, shall receive ample and full justice, and that,
if upon legal investigation he be found innocent of the crime al-
leged against him, he shall be released and set at liberty. I will,
therefore, address a letter to the judge and commonwealth attorney
of the Mason Circuit, communicating to them the substance of your
letter, and the evidence which you have transmitted to me.**
The efforts of the Governor of Ohio were eventually suc-
cessful, for in spite of his slaveholding sympathies Governor
Clark wrote to the judge of the Mason Circuit and the latter
charged the jury in no uncertain terms regarding the juris-
diction in the case. lAfter a trial of six days Mahan was
acquitted.
The importance of this case does not rest in the trial
and its events but rather in the reactions which it had upon
the Kentucky populace. No one doubted that Mahan was
guilty of aiding slaves; but it was seen that he had been
shrewd enough to confine his activities to the State of Ohio,
where the Kentucky authorities had no jurisdiction. In
his opening message to the State legislature, which met the
next month after the acquittal of Mahan, Governor Clark
voiced the sentiment of a large majority of Kentuckians.
Bear in mind that these words came from* the same man
who a month before had advised the Circuit judge of the
illegality of the Mahan indictment.
Some of the abolitionists of an adjoining state, not contented
with the mere promulgation of opinions and views calculated to
excite a feeling of disaffection among our slave population, and to
render this description of property insecure in the hands of its
proprietors, have extended their operations so far as to mingle per-
sonally with our slaves, to enter into arrangements with them, and
to afford them the means and facilities to escape from their owners.
This flagitious conduct is not to be tolerated — ^it must be checked
in its origin by the adoption of efficient and energetic measures, or
it will, in all human probability, lead to results greatly to be depre-
cated by every friend to law and order. This demon-like spirit
that rages uncontrolled by law, or sense of moral right, must be
*^ American Antusla/oery Society Bepori, 1839, p. 90.
268 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
overcome — it must be subdued; its action in the state should be
prohibited under such penalties as will effectually curb its lawless-
ness and disarm its power.*®
In pursuance of this and similar recommendations the
State legislature early in 1839 despatched a delegation of
members to the general assembly of Ohio then meeting at
Columbus. These men were charged to secure a law in
Ohio for the better security of Kentucky fugitive slave
property. The Kentucky officials had always been con-
fronted with, the problem of recovering runaways captured
in Ohio, even when they personally knew the captive. The
old law of 1807 in Ohio was never lax in the enforcement,
but the plea of habeas corpus was habitually used for the
defendant and, furthermore, it often happened that the
necessary proofs of ownership were not in evidence. These
facts coupled with the publicity of the Mahan trial brought
about the peculiar legislative commission from Kentucky.
Here was a delegation from a slave commonwealth sent
to a free State to demand a rigorous fugitive slave law for
their own benefit. The Kentucky committee went even
further and suggested the provisions of the proposed enact-
ment—and the remarkable thing was that they actually suc-
ceeded. Although Ohio was known to be the home of anti-
slavery interests the law passed without any difficulty. By
its provisions a slave owner or his agent could appear
before any judge, justice or mayor, who was authorized to
issue a warrant to any sheriff in Ohio calling upon him to
arrest the fugitive and bring him before any judge in the
county where caught. Upon proof of his ownership to the
court the owner was entitled to a certificate for removal. A
heavy fine and imprisonment were the penalty for any
interference with the execution of either the warrant or the
removal of the slave. The vote on this measure in the
House of Representatives was 53 to 15. There has been
made an analysis of this roll call, which shows that the
opposition all came from northern Ohio— whereas those in
*9 American Anti-slavery Society Beport, 18S9, pp. 93-94.
Slaveby in Kentucky 269
the southern part of the State voted for it because they were
not inclined to allow any disturbance of the friendly com-
mercial relationship which they had with their neighbor
State to the south. Moreover, they objected to their locality
being used as a place of refuge for unfortunate Negroes.'^^
Henceforth Ohio became a veritable hunting ground for
fugitive slaves, but the wiser of the Negroes and the aboli-
tionists diverted their efforts to other fields of escape, espe-
cially through Indiana and Illinois. The legal authorities
at this time began to realize that their hope lay in the enact-
ment of a federal law but no definite steps were taken until
after the affair of Francis Troutman at Marshall, Michigan,
in January, 1847. Troutman came from Kentucky to
Michigan to bring back six runaways that had been located
at Marshall. iWhen he had found them and was about to
take them before a magistrate for identification, a crowd of
citizens of the town put in their appearance and threatened
injury to Troutman and his three Kentucky companions.
Although the latter were acting in accordance with the law
the mob would not let them proceed in any manner— not
even to appear before the magistrate— but demanded that
they leave town within two hours. In the meantime they
were all four arrested, tried and found guilty of trespass.*^^
When these events were reported back to Kentucky mass
meetings were held throughout the State in protest against
the Michigan action. The State legislature dtew up a
resolution calling upon Congress to enact a new fugitive
slave law.*^^ The Senate referred the petition to the Com-
mittee on Judiciary and they later reported a new fugitive
slave bill which was read twice and then pigeonholed. The
same action was repeated at the next session in 1849.
The general feeling in Kentucky was intensified just at
this time by a decision of the United States Supreme Court
in the case of Jones vs. Van Zandt, which had been pending
in various courts for five years. In April, 1842, John Van
BO Chaddock, P. E., Ohio before 1850, p. 86.
5iMeMaster, History of the United States, Vol. 7: 262-263.
62 Senate Document No. 19, 30th Congress, let Session.
270 Journal of Negbo Histoby
Zandt, a former Keiituckian, then living in Springdale just
north of Cincinnati, was caught in the act of aiding nine
fugitive slaves to escape, and one of them got away even
from the slave catchers. Consequently "Wharton Jones, the
Kentucky owner, brought suit against Van Zandt in the
U. S. Circuit Court under the federal fugitive slave act of
1793 for $500 for concealing and harboring a fugitive slave.
The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of
$1,200 as damages on two other counts in addition to the
penalty of $500 for concealing and harboring. Salmon P.
Chase was the lawyer for Van Zandt and in a violent at-
tack on the law 1793 he appealed to the U. S. Supreme
Court on the grounds that this statute was repugnant to the
Constitution of the United States and to the sixth article
of the Ordinance of 1787. Van Zandt in the appeal had the
advantage of the services of William H. Seward in addition
to Chase while Jones was represented by Senator More-
head, of Kentucky. Justice Levi Woodbury in rendering
the decision of the court sustained all the judgments against
Van Zandt and denied that the law of 1793 was opposed to
either the Constitution or the Ordinance of 1787.*^^
At last the people of Kentucky had secured a firm ruling
from the highest judicial authority on the force of the exist-
ing laws. Cold reason in the light of that day, apart from
all anti-slavery propaganda, justified them in making these
demands. Henceforth, there was no doubt about the
legality of their position — it was a question merely of the
illegal opposition to the return of fugitives from the States
to the North. The Troutman case and many others, how-
ever, had served as an index of northern sentiment in the
matter, for the troubles of the Kentucky slaveholder were just
beginning. A year later, in 1848, a requisition was issued
on the Governor of Ohio for the return of fifteen persons
charged with aiding in the escape of slaves. Imagine the
feeling in Kentucky when Governor Bell of Ohio positively
refused to give these persons up, stating that the laws of
«8 5 Howard's Eeports, 215-23^.
Slaveey in Kbntitcky
271
t
Ohio did not recognize man as property. It was apparently
a political move on his part, for there was no question of
the property conception of slavery involved whatsoever.
He acted in direct opposition to the laws of his State en-
acted in 1839 and to the federal fugitive slave law of 1793.
After two decades of struggle the abolitionists had come
into their own and it was almost impossible to recover
slaves who had run away in spite of the legal machinery
that had been set up. Furthermore, the more extreme
abolitionists had disregarded all law, orders and rights of
private property and had even gone so far as to proclaim
that there was a ** higher law than the Constitution. ' '
Against such a powerful foe the forces of all parties in
Kentucky united in a firm stand, demanding more stringent
measures. The Supreme Court had decided that the exist-
ing law was sufficient to recover fugitives and to demand
and secure damages for the interference with that right.
With the coming of new conditions, however, it was realized
on all sides that new and most extreme measures were
necessary.
The existing circumstances are well shown by the atti-
tude of Henry Clay, senator from Kentucky as well as
author of the Compromise of 1850. Noted for his leanings
towards the North, throughout his public career of more
than half a century, and as far back as 1798 the advocate of
gradual emancipation in Kentucky, he felt called upon in
this crisis to express the irritation of his own people :
I have very little doubt, indeed, that the extent of loss to the
state of Kentucky, in consequence of the escape of her slaves is
greater, at least in proportion to the total number of slaves that
are held within that commonwealth, even than in Virginia. I know
full well, and so does the honorable senator from Ohio know, that
it is at the utmost hazard and insecurity to life itself, that a Ken-
tuckian can cross the river and go into the interior to take back
his fugitive slave from whence he fled. Recently an example oc-
curred even in the city of Cincinnati in respect to one of our most
respectable citizens. Not having visited Ohio at all, but Coving-
ton, on the opposite side of the river, a little slave of his escaped
272 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
over to Cincinnati. He pursued it; he found it in the house in
which it was concealed ; he took it out, and it was rescued by the
violence and force of a negro mob from his possession — ^the police
of the city standing by, and either unwilling or unable to afEord
the assistance which was requisite to enable him to recover his
property.
Upon this subject I do think that we have just and serious cause
of complaint against the free states. I think they fail in fulfilling
a great obligation, and the failure is precisely upon one of those
subjects which in its nature is the most irritating and inflaming to
those who live in the slave states.*^*
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 was superseded by that
of 1850 by a sort of political bargaining on the other
measures of the Compromise. The letter of the new law
was not much different from the one of 1793— the chief
changes being in the exaction of severer penalties and
the transfer of jurisdiction to the federal courts. But
even if members from the North did vote for the new
provision there was no public sentiment in the North back
of its enforcement. Everyone in Kentucky was heartily
in favor of it, but that mattered little. The effectiveness
of any fugitive slave law depended upon the spirit in which
it was met in the North, for it was there that the law was to
be applied. It remained for a more or less forgotten deci-
sion of the Supreme Court in 1861 to show the greatest
weakness of all laws for the recovery of runaway slaves in
the North.
In October, 1859, the Woodford County (Kentucky)
grand jury returned an indictment against Willis Lago, a
free Negro, charging him with the seduction and entice-
ment of Charlotte, a Negro slave, from her owner, C. W.
Nickols. A copy of this indictment certified and authenti-
cated according to the federal law was presented to the
Governor of Ohio by the authorized agent of the Governor
of Kentucky and the arrest and delivery of the fugitive
from justice demanded. The Governor of Ohio referred the
matter to the Attorney-General of the State and upon his
B* Colton, Reed and McKinley, Works of Henry Clay, Vol. 3: 329.
Slaveby in Kentucky 273
advice the chief executive refused to deliver up the Negro.
The Supreme Court having original jurisdiction in suits
between two States, the demand for a mandajnus to compel
the Governor of Ohio to deliver Lago to the Kentucky
authorities was heard by that body in a suit under the title
of Kentucky vs. Dennison (the Governor of Ohio). The
decision of the court was rendered by Chief Justice Taney
and it contained five important statements: (1) **It was the
duty of the executive authority of Ohio upon the demand
made by the Governor of Kentucky, and the production of
the indictment, duly certified to cause Lago to be delivered
up to the agent of the Governor of Kentucky, who was ap-
pointed to demand and receive him.'* (2) **The duty of
the Governor of Ohio was merely ministerial, and he had no
right to exercise any discretionary power as to the nature
or character of the crime charged in the indictment.'*
(3) **The word *duty* in the act of 1793 means the moral
obligation of the state to perform the compact, in the Con-
stitution, when Congress had, by that act, regulated the
mode in which the duty should be performed.'* (4) **But
Congress cannot coerce a state officer, as such, to perform
any duty by act of Congress. The state officer may per-
form if he thinks proper, and it may be a moral duty to
perform it. But if he refuses, no law of Congress can
compel him." (5) **The Governor of Ohio cannot, through
the judiciary or any other department of the general govern-
ment, be compelled to deliver up Lago; and upon that
ground only this motion for a mandamus is overruled. ' '^^
This decision came as a fitting climax to the legal history
of the fugitive slave problem as it concerned Kentucky.
Such an interpretation placed by the highest judicial author-
ity upon an act of Congress which had stood throughout the
slavery era in Kentucky showed beyond any doubt whatever
that the legal battle over slavery questions was at an end.
If any solution was to be found in the future it would not
be in the legislative halls nor in the court room.
B«24 Howard's Beports, 10^110.
274 JouBNAL OF Negbo Histoby
Emancipation was an important question closely con-
nected with tliat of the fugitive. This was one of the prob-
lems to be discussed in the Constitutional Convention of
1792. There were some few members who were in favor
of immediate liberation and others inclined towards a
scheme of gradual release of the Negro from bondage.
But, as has been shown in the early part of this chapter, the
group in favor of the existing institution easily dominated
the convention and drew up the famous article IX, which
remained without change throughput the slavery era as a
part of the fundamental constitutional law. It is significant
that it was provided that the legislature should have no
power to pass la^^s for the emancipation of slaves without
the consent of their owners, or without paying their owners,
previous to such emancipation, a full equivalent in money,
for the slaves so emancipated: that the legislature should
not pass laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate
them, saving the rights of creditors, and preventing them
from becoming a charge to the counties in which they
resided.
From a purely objective viewpoint it is doubtful if a
fairer legal guide for the institution of slavery in relation
to the rights of emancipation could have been drawn up.
On one side, it prevented the State authorities from depriv-
ing a slaveholder of his property without due compensation.
On the other hand, no unscrupulous master was to free his
old and invalid slaves and thereby inflict the burden of
their support upon the community as a whole. But this
constitutional provision had no legal force in itself. It was
to serve as a guide for the enactment of statute laws later.
The State assembly on December 17, 1794, proceeded to
the enactment of the first emancipation law of the State.
The contents of Article IX of the Constitution were care-
fully followed and the detailed legal code of emancipation
laid down in these words :
It shall be lawful for any person by his or her last will and
testament, or by any other instrument in writing, under his or her
SiiAVEBY IN Kentucky 275
hand and seal, attested and proved in the county court by two wit-
nesses, or acknowledged by the party in the court of the county
where he or she resides, to emancipate or set free his or her slave or
slaves : who shall thereupon be entirely and fully discharged from
the performance of any contract entered into during servitude,
and enjoy as full freedom as if they had been bom free. And the
said court shall have full power to demand bond and sufficient
security of the emancipator, his or her executors or administrators,
as the case may be, for the maintenance of any slave or slaves that
may be aged or infirm, either of body or mind, to prevent their
becoming chargeable to the county. And every slave so emanci-
pated shall have a certificate of freedom from the clerk of such
court on parchment with the county seal affixed thereto, for which
the clerk shall charge the emancipator five shillings; saving, how-
ever, the rights of creditors and every person or persons, bodies,
politic and corporate, except the heirs or legal representatives of
the person so emancipating their slaves.*^*
This law remained throughout the slavery period in
Kentucky and the only changes which were ever made in it
were in the minor details to untangle some legal ambigui-
ties. The law of 1823, however, is important in showing
the discrepancies of the original provisions. By this
amendment it was enacted that when the county courts re-
ceived proof or acknowledgment of a deed of emancipation,
or of a will emancipating slaves, they were to note on their
record a description of any such slaves. The certificate of
freedom which was given to the Negro was also to contain
this description and no other certificate was to be issued
except on the presentation of proof that the first one had
been lost or when such was required for use as evidence in
some suit. If any slave thus liberated was found to have
presented his certificate to another still held in bondage
with a design of freeing him, the emancipated slave was to
suffer severe penalties.*^*^ These added provisions appar-
ently came to fill all the gaps in the previous law and no
further amendments of importance were needed to make the
laws of emancipation run smoothly.
fi^IAttelVs Laws, 2: 246-247.
B7 Session Laws, 1823, p. 56a.
276 Journal of Nbgbo Histoby
Of all the many slavery eases which were brought before
the Court of Appeals in the next thirty years it is interest-
ing to note that nearly all of them concerned themselves
more or less with the question of freedom. The very fact
that they reached the highest court is also conclusive evi-
dence that the law was not quite as clear as one would at first
suppose. Close study of the findings of the court will show
that the judiciary was always consistent in its interpreta-
tion of the law and that most of the cases were carried up
from the lower courts because of disputes between the heirs
of an estate and the administrator as to their precedence in
the matter of slaves. This part of the controversy con-
cerned itself with the property conception of the slave,
whether he was real or personal estate, which was discussed
earlier in this chapter. The purely emancipation cases
before the Court of Appeals divide themselves into three
parts: (1) those which concerned the interpretation of the
statute law, (2) those suits for freedom which were based on
the question of residence and (3) those which involved
persons detained as slaves.
Most of the first class of cases concerned themselves with
the emancipation of slaves by will. The number of slave-
holders who freed their Negroes during their own lifetime
seems to have been very small. On the other hand, from
a study of the slave cases in court it appears to have been
a very common thing for an owner to provide for the free-
dom of his slaves in his will. The right of a master to dis-
pose of his own property was beyond dispute, but, as is
often the case, the heirs were seldom satisfied and they
brought the will into court on one or more technical grounds
in an attempt to break the document which freed so much
valuable property. The court in every case held that the
right of the owner was absolute and that if by the letter
of his will his slaves were freed, that right was subject to
no dispute. Furthermore, when the Negroes were thus
emancipated they did not pass to the personal representa-
tives of the deceased, as assets. They passed by will just
as land, and the devise took effect at the death of the
Slaveby in E[bntucky 277
testator, whether it be a devise to the slave, of his freedom,
or of the slave, to another. The servant, thus affected, had
only to appear before the county court and establish his
emancipation. This accomplished, it was the duty of the
court to give him a certificate of freedom without the con-
sent of the representatives of the emancipator.**® The right
of disposal rested with the owner, who could emancipate by
a-ct, or by will, and he who denied the right or placed any
claim against it was compelled to show the prohibition.**®
While the owner had absolute powers of disposal of his
own slaves he could not draw up a will of prospective free-
dom which would hold in spite of the rights of his heirs.
If a master desired to be very lenient with his servants, he
had to make their freedom absolute and in writing. This
was well brought out in the case of an apparently kind-
hearted Kentucky slaveholder who provided in his will that
his slaves were to select their own master without regard
to price. They chose as their future owner a man who did
not need them, but who offered to take them at about half
their real value. The court held that in such a case the
executor was not bound to accept the offer, since the in-
terests of those entitled to the proceeds of the sale, as well
as the desire and comfort of the slaves, were to be re-
garded.®^ Another owner had the right idea, but defeated
his own intentions by willing all his forty slaves to the Ken-
tucky Colonization Society. The court held that such an
act by no means freed the slaves and that by the laws of
the State until they were free they could be hired out and
the proceeds considered as a part of the estate.®^
As in all border States there were many legal battles for
freedom, which involved the question of residence on free
soil. These cases were largely concerned with the question
of the right of a citizen of Kentucky to pass through a free
State on business or pleasure attended by his slaves or
88 Black V8. Meauz, 4 Dana, 189.
^9 Sufian V8, Ladd, 6 Dana, 30.
<)oHopkinfl vs. Morgan's executor, 3 Dana, 17.
<}i Isaac et al. vs. Graves' executor, 16 Ben Monroe, 365.
278 Journal of Negbo Histoby
servants without losing his right of ownership over such
slaves. The principle involved was early considered in the
Kentucky Court of Appeals and faithfully carried out in
succeeding generations, viz.: that a ** fixed residence'' or
being domiciled in a non-slaveholding State would operate
to release the slave from the power of the master ; but that
the transient passing or sojourning therein had no such
effect. In an early case in 1820 involving a suit for free-
dom the court held that a person of color from Kentucky
who was permitted to reside in a free State could prosecute
his right to freedom in any other State. It was held to be
a vested right to freedom, which existed wherever he went.®^
In another instance an owner permitted his slave to go at
large for twenty years, but the court held that that alone did
not give him freedom. Still under this liberty of move-
ment the slave went off into a free State to reside and the
court held that the Negro was then free because his right
grew out of the law of the free State and not out of that
in which the owner resided.®® An owner permitted his slave
to go to Pennsylvania and remain there for a longer period
than six months, with a knowledge of the law passed in
that State in 1780, and the Kentuckv Court of Appeals held
that the slave was entitled to his freedom and that even if
the slave had returned to Kentucky his right could be as-
serted there just as well as in Pennsylvania.®^ But should
a slave go with his master to a free State and later return
to Kentucky with him, whatever status he had then was to
be determined by the law of Kentucky and not by the rule
of any State where the slave might have been.®*^ The fact
that a slave stayed in New York for three months before his
return to Kentucky, his owner knowing he was there, and
making no effort to bring him away, did not give to such
slave a right to freedom.®® A slaveholder sent one of his
03 Bankin vs. Lydia, 2 A. K. MarshaU, 467.
68 15 Ben Monroe, 328.
64 14 Ibid., 355.
66 12 Ibid., 542.
66 4 Metcalfe, 231.
^
Slaveby in Kentucky 279
servants over into Illinois to cut some wood for a few weeks
and later the latter brought suit for freedom on the grounds
of residence in a free State but the court denied any such
right, since the slave returned to his master in Kentucky
voluntarily.®'''
If an emancipated Negro for any reason was held in
slavery and later established his right to freedom in court,
he could not recover compensation for his services or
damages for his detention, unless he could prove that he was
held under full knowledge of his right or with good reason
to believe him free. If pending his suit for freedom he
should be hired out by order of the court, the net hire was
to be awarded to him if he succeeded.^®
The actual number of manumissions which took place in
Kentucky will no doubt never be known. Among the few
statistics are those of the federal census for 1850 and 1860
and they include only the figures for the one census year.
According to this source in 1850 only 152 slaves were volun-
tarily set free in the State or one slave out of every 1,388,
a percentage of only .072; and in 1860 there were 176
Negroes recorded as freed or one out of every 1,281 slaves,
a percentage of only .078. We can easily assume from the
accounts which we have from papers of that time that these
numbers were far short of those that were really set free by
their masters. It was the custom of many owners who were
about to free their slaves to take them to Cincinnati and
there have them set free in the Probate Court.
Early in 1859, forty-nine slaves from Fayette County,
mostly women and children, were brought to Cincinnati and
set free and later sent to a colony of emancipated Negroes
in Green County, Ohio.®® In March of the same year
Robert Bamet of Lincoln County, Kentucky appeared with
eighteen slaves— a father, mother, nine children and three
grandchildren and another woman and four boys, who were
all emancipated in the Cincinnati Probate Court. Before
67 11 Ben Monroe, 210,
68 4 Dana, 589, 7 Dana, 360.
«9 American AntirSlavery Society Beport, 1859, p. 79.
280 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
crossing the Ohio, while in Covington, he was offered $20,-
000 for all of them but he stated that he would refuse even
$50,000J^ In January, 1860, William McGinnis, of Bour-
bon Coimty, appeared with fourteen slaves before the same
probate court and set them all freeJ^
The law of Kentucky plainly provided that no slave was
to be emancipated unless bond were given that he would
immediately leave the State. Hence it was but natural that
a master who intended setting his slaves free should take
them as slaves to a free State and there give them their
freedom, thus satisfying his own conscience and at the same
time removing any future legal trouble that might ensue on
account of his former slaves being found in the State of
Kentucky. For this reason it would seem that a large num-
ber of the kind-hearted slaveholders who freed their slaves
did so outside the bounds of Kentucky and thus that State
was deprived of the credit for many emancipations which
took place voluntarily at the hands of her own slaveholders.
70 Weekly Free South (Newport), March 4, 1»59.
''1 American Anti-Slavery Society Beporty 1860, p. 44.
CHAPTER IV
The Social Status op the Slave
As many of the slave regulations were enacted to deal
with extreme eases and some of them were not generally
enforced, it is necessary to consider also the social status of
the blacks to determine exactly what the institution was in
Kentucky. In this commonwealth slavery was decidedly
patriarchal. The slave was not such an unf ortimate crea-
ture as some have pictured him. He usually had set apart
for himself and his family a house which was located near
the master's mansion. While this home may have been a
rude cabin made of small logs, with a roof covered with
splits and an earthem floor, likely as not the master's son
was attending school a few weeks in the year in a neighbor-
ing log cabin which boasted of no more luxuries than the
humble slave dwelling. The servant and his family were
well fed and had plenty of domestic cloth for all necessary
wearing apparel.
The kind of clothing which the Kentucky slave had can
be seen best by a study of the runaway slave advertisements
where a description of apparel was often essential to the
apprehension of the Negro. * * Billy ' ' in 1803 ran away from
his owner in Lexington and took such a variety of clothing
with him that the master was unable to give a description of
them.^ **Jack," running away from his owner in Mercer
County, had on when he left and took with him **one pale
blue jeans coat, one gray jeans coat, and an old linsey coat;
one pair of cloth pantaloons, one pair of jeans, and one of
linen. "2 **Thenton," when leaving his master in Warren
County, took with him **a new black smooth fur hat, a
yellow woollen jeans frock coat, more than half worn ; three
1 Lexington Gazette, August 2S, 1803.
2 Louisville PiibUo Advertiser, July 10, 1&24.
281
282 Journal of Negbo Histoby
shirts, two of coarse cotton and one entirely new, the third a
bleached domestic and new; one blanket; one pair of
pantaloons, of cotton and flax."^ **Jarret,*' from Leitch-
field, wore when he left **a smooth black Russia hat" and
took with him ^*a pair of buckskin saddle bags . . . and a
great deal of clothing, to wit: one brown jeans frock coat,
and pantaloons of the same; also, a brown jeans overcoat,
with large pockets in the side ; a new dark colored overcoat,
two pair blue cloth pantaloons, and an old silver watch."*
The clothing of *^Esau," from Meade County, was described
as "brown jeans pants, black cassinet pants, blue cloth
pants, three fine shirts, one black silk vest and one green
vest, one brown jeans frock coat, one pale blue coat, velvet
collar; coarse shoes and black hat."*^ "Stewart" left his
master in Bullitt County dressed in typical Negro attire^
"a black luster coat, made sack fashion, and a pair of snuff
colored cassinet pantaloons ; also, a black fur hat with low
crown and broad brim, and vest with purple dots on it."®
"George," living in Marion County, had an outfit of
"Brown jeans frock coat (skirt lined with home-made
flannel dyed with madder), a pair of new black and yellow
twilled negro jeans pantaloons, white socks, factory shirt
with linen bosom, aod black wool hat. ' ^ An owner adver-
tising in 1852 stated that his slave "Andy" had three suits
of clothes with him' when he ran away.® It is perfectly
evident from the reading of these slave advertisements that
the male Negroes were as substantially clothed' as any mem-
bers of their race could expect to be at that time even in a
state of freedom. The surplus clothing as described above
was all a part of the slave's own property and not taken
from the master's wardrobe. There were many cases of
theft but they need not be considered in this discussion.
A large majority of all runaway slaves were men and
9 Louisville Weekly Jowmal, October 15, 1845.
^lUd,, October 22, 1845.
5 Ibid., September 27, 1848.
a Ibid., May 16, 1849.
7 Ibid,, I>eceinber 10, 1851.
8 Ibid., December 22, 1852.
Slavebt IK EIentucky 283
even when advertisements dealt with female fugitives it
was only on rare occasions that the owner attempted to give
a description of the clothing which was worn. Will Morton
in 1806 gave a list of ^^Letty^s** clothing as ^^two or three
white muslin dresses, one of fancy chintz, salmon colored
linsey petticoat, white yam stockings, and good shoes, with
sundry other clothing of good quality.*^ At such an early
date in the history of Kentucky slavery the apparel of this
yoimg slave woman compares very favorably with that
which was worn by the white people.
In sickness the slaves were cared for by the same physi-
cian who looked after the master and his family and should
occasion demand assistance any member of the owner *s
household might be foimd nursing a sick Negro. There
was no limit to the supply of fuel for the winter, for the
slaves had the right to cut timber for their own use any-
where in the woods of the estate.^®
As in Virginia, the slave was permitted to have a little
* * truck-patch ' * of half an acre or more, where he could raise
any crop that he desired. In Kentucky these small plots of
ground were nearly always filled with sweet potatoes,
tobacco and watermelons. The soil was not only conducive
to their cultivation but they were the three favorite agri-
cultural products for personal consumption. These par-
ticular crops needed little cultivation once they were planted
and such as was necessary could easily be done on Satur-
day afternoons, when the slave was at leisure.
Historians have reminded us that in most of the
Southern States there was a tendency for the more energetic
of the slaves to work for pay during their idle hours and
thus eventually secure a sufficient surplus to buy their own
freedom. In Kentucky such cases were very rare. Most
Negroes seem to have been content with their condition in
such bondage as existed in the State. There were many
cases in which a Negro refused to purchase his freedom
• Lexington Gaeette, April 12, 1806.
10 The best eontemporary treatment of this subject in general is bj Dr. B.
J. Spnrr — ^the sole printed text being in Perrin's History of Bourbon County,
pp. 5^-60.
284 Journal op Negbo Histoby
although he had the necessary amount of money. George
Brown, the famous Negro author of Recollections of an
Ex-slave, published in the Winchester Democrat, has given
us some experiences which testify to the feeling existing
between master and slave. In 1857 his mistress was offered
$2,100 for George, but when talking the matter over with
him she found that he had serious objections to the pro-
spective purchaser. She showed an interest in Brown \s
welfare by refusing to sell him. In later years when free-
dom was within his grasp for the asking. Brown ^^ bought
himself for $1,000 because, as he says in his own words,
it was not honorable for him to * ^ swindle his young mistress
out of her slave.'' Such was the example of a Kentucky
slave who purchased his own freedom, not for his own
benefit, but for that of his mistress.
Another factor entered into this question. In the later
years, once a slave secured his liberty, he was immediately
required to leave the State and if such a one had lived all
his life in Kentucky, he would naturally hesitate to depart
into an unknown region. (Many of the slaves did earn con-
siderable money by cobbling shoes, cutting wood, and
making brooms, but most of them showed little tendency
to save their earnings for any future deliverance from bond-
age. They were more concerned then — as they often are
even yet— with the pleasures of the day. More often they
were to be found wasting their spare change on whisky, a
problem which grew greater for the master with passing
years.
In addition to the regular Saturday afternoon and
Sunday off every week the slaves were given several other
holidays throughout the year, the most extensive being at
Christmas time. At Easter they were allowed two or three
days rest and when an election was being held there was no
work done outside of the regular chores. The general elec-
tion day in those times was the first Monday in August and
it was the custom for most of the slaves throughout the
** penny-royal' ' aiid ^^bluegrass" to journey to the couiity
seat, where they would all congregate and have a general
Slavbby in E[bntucky 285
frolic in accordance with Negro standards of a good time.
In the later years of slavery the towns had established suffi-
cient control of the Negroes gathering in their jurisdiction
so that the drink evil was more or less mitigated. The fear
of the law was a great incentive to their proper conduct on
those rare occasions when they had a whole day in town to
themselves without any tasks to perform for their master.
As Rothert has well observed, however, the slave sometimes
did have to care for his drunken owner and take him home.
To the student acquainted with Kentucky history and social
conditions such a brief statement suggests a wealth of ma-
terial on the local type of slavery.
That ardent abolitionist from across the sea, James Silk •
Buckingham, has recorded a characteristic picture of the
Kentucky slave at rest and in gala attire :
'* We remained at Henderson the greater part of the day, it being
a holiday with the negro slaves on the estate, so that it was difficult
to get the requisite number of hands to complete the landing in a
short time. Some of the female slaves were very gaily dressed, and
many of them in good taste, with white muslin gowns, blue and
pink waists, ribbons, silk handkerchiefs or scarfs, straw bonnets,
and a reticule for the pocket handkerchief held on the arm. In
talking with them, and inquiring the reason of the holiday, one
said she believed it was Easter, another said it was Whitsuntide,
and a third thought it was midsummer. They were chiefly the
household slaves, who are always better treated, better dressed,
and more indulgent than the field laborers. The men who were
employed in landing the cargo appeared to be more cheerful in
their general aspect and behavior than the field slaves I have seen
at the South : and there is no doubt that in Kentucky their condi-
tion is very much better than in most other states, their work
lighter, their food and clothing better, and their treatment more
kind and humane.""
Legally, there were no marriages among the slaves.
They were not citizens, but property. The men were urged
to take their ** wives** from among the women of the home
estate, if a suitable companion could be found. But if not
11 Buckingham, Eastern and Western States, Vol. 3 : 41.
286 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
they eventually secured one in the neighborhood and the
master usually allowed the slave a pass to see his wife every
night in the week. While such a cohabitation was not
exactly a legal affair most of them were held as sacred as
those more legalized unions among the master class. Many
masters paid an unconscious tribute to these unions. When
there ran away a slave who had a wife living in the neigh-
borhood or even at a great distance the owner would make
mention of the exact locality of the wife in order that people
in that region would be on the lookout for the fugitive.
J. C. Bucklin in 1824 did not give much of a description of
David, who had left his master, but he very carefully stated
that he had a *^ wife and children at William Shirley *s, about
16 miles from this place, on the Westport Road.''^^ An
owner in Fayette county after giving a detailed picture of
*^ Arthur" added that **Capt. Peter Poindexter, eight miles
from Lexington owns his wife, and I expect that he will be
in that neighborhood.'^^ A more extreme example was
that of ^*Dick,'' a Lexington slave who ran away to New
Orleans, the owner thought, because ^*he has a wife living
in that city, and he has been heard to say frequently that
he was determined to go to New Orleans. ''^* Such cases
as this were the logical consequence of the slavery system.
They existed in Kentucky just as in any other slave State,
but they were few compared with those slaves unions that
were never broken.
It was to the economic as well as humanitarian interest
of the master to have sympathy with the peace and content-
ment of his servant. Thus most of them took care that the
family relationships of the slaves should not be disturbed.
Oftentimes when the owner of either a husband or a wife
was on the point of moving out of the county the masters
would get together and make a trade which would obviate
any disruption of the slave family. Under such conditions
a man would part with a servant who otherwise could not
^^LowiaviUe Ptiblio Advertiser, August 11, 1824.
li Lexington Gaeette, Jwob 14, 1803.
1* Lexington Intelligencer, July 7, 1838.
Slaveby in Kentucky 287
have been bouglit at any price. Such a situation was pos-
sible only in a State where the personal interest in a slave
and his welfare took precedence over merely his economic
value to the owner.^*^
Charles Stewart in My Life as a Slave has given us his
own experiences of home life and marriage among slaves in
Kentucky. He lived in Paris and was engaged in handling
race horses. Soon after coming from Virginia to Ken-
tucky he fell in love with a young mulatto girl, who was the
property of a Mr. Robertson, who gave his consent to their
marriage, promising never to part them by his own free
will. In his own dialect Stewart dictated his story. **So
I married her, an' tuk her to a little house I had fixed up
near de stables, an' she clear-starched an' sewed an' 'broid-
ered an' wukked wid de hand-loom, an' made more pretty
things dan I could count. She paid her marster, en course,
reg'lar, so much a month fur her hire, but, lor', she neber
touched her aimin 's fur dat. I had plenty of money to hire
as many wives as I wanted, but dis one was de onliest one
I eber did want, an' so it was easy enough." After two
years his wife became very sick and died and the grief of
the Negro man was touching in the extreme. ^*She was
jes' as fond o' me as I was of her, an' it did 'pear hard luck
to lose her jes' as I was makin' up my mind to buy her out
and out, only en course, it was a fortunate thing I hadn't
bought her, as long as she had to die, kase den I would ha'
lost her an' de money too. Arter she was in de ground it
jes' 'peared to me like eberything was different; I tuk a
dislikement to Paris, an' I didn't feel like goin' home to
Virginny." His master agreed to let him go wherever he
liked if he could find an owner to suit him and finally
Stewart went to Louisiana after an interview with Senator
Porter of that State. He was to stay six months to see
how he liked it and then if agreeable he was to stay there.
He must have been a rather unusual Negro, for his selling
price was finally fixed at $3,500.^®
iBPerrin (Bourbon Counly), p. 60.
1^ Harper's Magazine, October, 1884, pp. 730-738.
288 JouBNAL OF Negbo Histoby
But life among the slaves of Kentucky was not by any
means a path of roses. Many anti-slavery leaders attested
to this f acft. The most trustworthy statement that was ever
made on this general subject was that embodied in the
pamphlet of the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky in. 1835
advocating gradual emancipation. The following brief
extracts are most significant:
"The system produces general licentiousness among the slaves.
Marriage, as a civil ordinance, they cannot enjoy. Until slavery
waxeth old, and tendeth to decay, there cannot be any legal recog-
nition of the marriage rite, or the enforcement of its consequent
duties. For, all the regulations on this subject would limit the
master's absolute right of property in the slaves. In his disposal
of them he could no longer be at liberty to consult merely his own
interest . . . their present quasi-marriages are continually voided
(at the master's pleasure). . . . They are in this way brought to
consider their matrimonial alliances as things not binding, and act
accordingly. We are then assured by the most unquestionable tes-
timony that licentiousness is the necessary result of our system.
One would infer from this observation of apparently fair-
minded men that slave unions were not very sacred affairs
and that any disruption of them would amount to little, but
in the same document these Presbyterian preachers give a
back-handed compliment to the stability, at least in tempera-
ment, of the average slave marriage.
*' Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives,
are torn asunder and permitted to see each other no more. 1?hese
acts are daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and
agony often witnessed on such occasions proclaim with a trumpet
tongue, the iniquity of our system. There is not a neighborhood
where these heartrending scenes are not displayed; there is not a
village or road that does not behold the sad procession of manacled
outcasts, whose mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by
force, from all that their hearts hold dear. ' '
It is strange that these two opposing views should appear
in the same pamphlet, but nevertheless they are both un-
doubtedly true pictures of slavery in Kentucky. It is
SiiAVBBY IN E[bntuoky 289
merely a question as to which of the two represented the
majority of cases. Licentiousness there was, but it was cer-
tainly very much less among the slaves of Kentucky than
in the far South. Slave unions were treated with more
respect by the masters of Kentucky than in most slave
States. As has been pointed out in a previous chapter, the
very fact that the few instances of inhuman separation of
slave families produced such a storm of public disapproval
shows that it was not a very general practice in the State.
From the legal standpoint the slave had no rights or
privileges in the attainment of even a meager education.
On the other hand Kentucky was the only slave State, with
the. exception of Maryland and Tennessee, which never
passed any laws forbidding the instruction of slaves. Thus
no penalty was attached to Negro education, neither was
any encouragement given. Those slaves who learned to
read were the servants of masters who because of consci-
entious scruples taught them how to read the Bible. Few
slaves ever learned to write, for they might then be tempted
to serve as unofficial dispensers of passes in the owner's
name. The general objection to any reasonable amount of
education was the tendency towards dissatisfaction with
the servile status thereby aroused. If the slave could learn
to read well, it was feared that he would become a victim of
the *^ filthy '* abolitionist literature, which through the re-
sultant effect upon the Negroes would have produced no
end of trouble to the slavery system. Hence, for the most
part, the Kentucky slave remained in blissful ignorance,
and well for him as such and the institution he represented
that his learning was no greater."
Out of a collection of some three hundred and fifty run-
away slave advertisements concerning Kentucky slaves the
author has found 71 cases in which mention was made that
the Negro could read and 37 instances in which he could
write. The latter cases are all included in the former
17 Clarke, Sufferings of Lewis and Milton Clarke, p. 104.
Bothert, "History of MvMenhurg County, p. 104.
Perrin (Bourbon CJounty), p. 60,
290 JouBNAii OP Negbo Histoby
classification also. On that basis a little over ten per cent
of the slaves could read and write and about twenty per
cent could read but were unable to write. There are, how-
ever, two strong reasons against any such general con-
clusion. In the first place, the more a slave learned the
more liable he was to become dissatisfied and run away ; and
secondly, the careful mention which was made in advertise-
ments of the Negro 's ability to read or write would tend to
show that it was more or less an unusual accomplishment.
Taking up the question of the education of slaves in the
State, the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky said in 1834
that '^Slavery dooms thousands of human beings to hope-
less ignorance ... if slaves are educated it must involve
some outlay upon the part of the master. ... It is incon-
sistent with our knowledge of human nature to suppose that
he will do this for them. The present state of instruction
among this race remains exactly what we might . . . natu-
rally anticipate. Throughout the whole land (State), so
far as we can learn, there is but one school in which, during
the week, slaves can be taught. The light of three or four
Sabbath schools is seen glimmering through the darkness
that covers the black population of the whole State. Here
and there a family is found where humanity and religion
impel the master, mistress or children to the laborious task
of private instruction.''^®
It should be added in this connection that the same state-
ment would hold true of the free Negro population of Ken-
tucky at the same period. Until long after the Civil War
there was no provision made for their education other than
that of individual enterprise. The public education of the
whites was not on a plane comparable to that of any of the
Northern States until after the reconstruction period, and
even then Kentucky lagged behind for years.
The church and its influence for the betterment of society
under the slavery system was more effective than the school.
The chief religious paper of the State was the Presbyterian
Herald and one of its most persistent pleas was that the
18 Address to t7^ People of Kenittchy, p. 8.
Slaveby in Kentucky 291
proper religious instruction of the Negro servant class
would answer most of the objections to the institution,
**The most formidal^le weapon in the hands of the aboli-
tionist,** said the editor, *4s the indifference which he
charges to the Christian slaveholder toward tiie spiritual
welfare of the slave under his control. Disarm him of this
weapon, and you have done much to render him power-
less. "^^
Eeligious instruction in families of Christian habits of
life, however, was not so sadly neglected. The household
servants were usually brought to the house during the
family worship and the scriptures were not merely read to
them but explained. No restrictions were ever placed on
church attendance either by law or by custom. Many slaves
united with the white churches and throughout the State
today one may find any number of old churches whose records
still show several of these Negroes on the church rolls.
Most of them are very kindly remembered for their good
moral character and abiding faith. Such a condition was
not so prevalent among the agricultural slaves, except
where they were few in numbers. Even here, however, the
religious instinct was not suppressed in any manner. Their ^
religion at the most was a very crude imitation of the-*-*
worship of their masters. They were not confined to the
rear seats of the white churches for their attendance at
Sunday services. They could hold their own meetings in
schoolhouses and vacant church edifices.
It was these distinctively slave gatherings that gave rise
to one of the most interesting of all Negro characters— the
preacher. Tradition and story have related many a charm-
ing picture of this quaint representative of Negro faith,
but unfortunately few life stories of any of them have ever
been preserved. In nearly all the county histories we find
mention of several of these Negro exhorters who seemingly
were men of some degree of intelligence. The majority of
them were apparently themselves slaves, subject to the will
^9 Presbyterian Herald, April 16, 1846. Bee espeeiallj the editorial and
articles in the issue of October 4, 1849.
/
292 Journal op Negbo Histoby
of their masters, and while the restrictions on their move-
ments were very lax, they seldom if ever spoke beyond the
borders of their home connty.^
One of the famous Negro preachers of the early nine-
teenth-century South was Josiah Henson. From 1825 to
1828 he was a slave in Daviess County, Kentucky, and in his
autobiography he has given us a picture of the circum-
stances under which he became a slave preacher. **In Ken-
tucky,*' said he, **the opportunities of attending on the
preaching of whites, as well as of blacks, were more numer-
ous; and partly attended by them, and the campmeetings
which occurred from time to time, and partly from study-
ing carefully my own heart, and observing the developments
of character around me, in all the stations of life which I
could watch, I became better acquainted with those religious
feelings which are deeply implanted in the breast of every
human being, and learnt by practice how best to arouse
them, and keep them excited, and in general to produce
some good religious impressions on the ignorant and
thoughtless community by which I was surrounded. . . .
I cannot but derive some satisfaction, too, from the proofs
I have had that my services have been acceptable to those
to whom they have been rendered. In the course of the
three years from 1825 to 1828 I availed myself of all the
opportunities of improvement which occurred and was ad-
mitted as a preacher by a conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church.* '21
In Ballard County there was another interesting ex-
horter. Advertising for his Negro Jack who had run away
in 1850, C. B. Young pointed out that although l\e was a
slave and the property of the ** subscriber'* he was a well-
educated Baptist preacher and in the pursuit of his voca-
tion he was well known by **many of the citizens of Pa-
ducah, McCracken County, and also by citizens of Hickman
and Fulton Counties, and is thought by many to be a free
man. * '^2
20Botlxert| History of MuMeriburg Cotmty, p. 340.
21 Henson, Life of Josiah Henaon, pp. 26-27.
22 Louisville Weekly Journal, March 27, 1850.
Slaveby in Kentucky 293
The only credentials which the Negro preacher carried^
according to his own testimony, came directly from the
Lord. His education was only of a sufficient character to
enable him to read the Bible and line out the words of the
hymns. His creed was never the creation of any school
of theology. It was usually an original interpretation of
supernatural phenomena varying widely even in one indi-
vidual from time to time. Convinced of his supernatural
calling, he felt inferior to no one in the power of exegesis.
As long as he held his balance and remained on terra firma
his followers believed in him as he believed in himself. But
as Lucius Little has well said: **Once in a while a colored
preacher lost his influence with his congregation by drink-
ing too deeply of the Pierian spring. Too much learning
raised him out of their orbit. They fell on stony ground. ' *
Strange, yet how true, that the more ignorant a slave
minister was, the more power of influence for good he had
among his fellow human beings.^^
James Lane Allen has given us a splendid little sketch
of three of these native characters whom he evidently knew
in his younger days :
**One of these negro preachers was allowed by his master to fill
a distant appointment. Belated once, and returning home after
the hour forbidden for slaves to be abroad, he was caught by the
patrol and cruelly whipped. As the blqws fell, his words were,
''Jesus Christ suffered for righteousness' sake; so kin I."
Another was recommended for deacon's orders and actually
ordained. When liberty came, he refused to be free, and continued
to work in his master's family until his death. With considerable
knowledge of the Bible and a fluent tongue, he would nevertheless
sometimes grow confused while preaching and lose his train of
thought. At these embarrassing junctures it was his wont sud-
denly to call out at the top of his voice, *'Saul, Saul. Why per-
seeutest thou me?" The effect upon his hearers was electrifying:
— ^as none but a very highly favored being could be thought worthy
of enjoying this persecution. He thus converted his loss of mind
into spiritual reputation.
28 Little, L. P., Ben Hardin, his Times and Contemporaries, pp. 544r^45.
294 JouBNAL OF Negro Histoby
A third named Peter Cotton, united the vocations of exhorter
and wood-chopper. He united them literally, for one moment
Peter might be seen standing on his log chopping away, and the
next kneeling down beside it praying. He got his mistress to make
him a long jeans coat and on the ample tails of it to embroider, by
his direction, sundry texts of scripture, such as '* Come un^ Me ^
all yethgrt are heavy laden.'' Thus literally clothed with right-
eousness, Peter went from cabin to cabin, piteaching the Word.
Well for him if that other Peter could have seen him."^*
One of the dominant features of such a tyjpe of religion
among the Negroes was the resulting prevalence of super-
stition. It almost seems that m their ignorance they
adopted every form of supernatural fear that was ever
known among our ancestors. But if it had ended there
the matter would not have been se important socially. In
their constant association with white children they brought
their fears of **ghost-hauntings" and other fantastic ideas
into the minds of the very young. The peculiarity of the
Negro slave as compared with the other superstitious races
was his own sinister imaginative productions. They re-
lated none of the valuable tales of ancient mythology, but
rather did they fill the earth with goblins, witches and
ghosts — the result of their own dreams and fancies.^*
The many stories of this sort which a ** mammy'' related
to a child a half century ago can be reproduced by the old
man of the twentieth century and the effect of the old ideas
of magic is still with him. The prevalence of superstitious
ideas in Kentucky today might easily be traced back to the
associations of slavery times. But such a weakness may
not always have done harm; not every child was so influ-
enced. The natural play of the Negro instinct was worth
much to his peace and contentment. Here again Shaler
has given us a rather unique observation from his own
experience :
24 Allen, James Lane, Blue Grass Begion of Kentucky, pp. 77-78.
36 Bobertson 's Autobiography, pp. 124^125.
Slaveby in Kentucky 29b-
**The only movements of the spirit in the religions field that I
can remember came from two sources: my mother's singing. . . .
The other spiritual influence came from the negroes. A number of
them used to meet at night to talk religion beneath a shed which
lay open to the northern sky. One of them, well named "Old
Daniel," had a fervid imagination and excellent descriptive powers.
He would picture the coming of the great angel as if it were before
his eyes; the path of light shooting down from about the North
star, — ^the majesty of his train. Then the rolling of the heavens
*'like a scroll" — ^I did not know what this process was like, but it
seemed vaguely fine — and then the burning up of the world. I
was always greatly moved when hearing these exhortations which
must indeed have been rather wonderful things, but they made no
permanent impression upon me. In fact I regarded them as * nig- y
gertalk.'"2«
The patriarchal character of slavery as it existed in
Kentucky is best shown in the relationship which generally
existed between the master and his slave. The pioneers
who brought their slaves with them from Virginia en-
countered many dangers not only in crossing the moun-
tains but after they had settled in the new State. Many
were the times when the slave proved himself a hero and
even encountered death in order to protect the master and
his family. Tradition and history have handed down many
of these stories to us, but the most famous of all, as well as
the best authenticated, was the experience of Monk Estill,
who was the slave of Colonel James Estill, of Madison
County. In a struggle with the Indians in 1782 in the
region where Mount Sterling is now located Monk cried out
to his master in the thick of the fray: ** Don't give way,
Marse Jim; there's only twenty-five of the Injuns and yon
can whip them.'' Colonel Estill was killed and Monk was
taken prisoner but he soon managed to escape, and after
joining his comrades carried one of the wounded men
twenty-five miles. The young master was so grateful to
Monk that he gave him his freedom and kept him in the
best of comfort the rest of his life. This was the experi-
26 Shaler 's Autobiography, pp. 57-^8.
JOUBNAL OP NeGBO HiSTOEY
rt is supposed to have been the first slave in the
^entucky.^
■
)r was the slave on a par with his master when
•^ facing dangers but even in the field of sports he
had as pleasant an outing as his overlord. While the one
may have spent the day in fox hunting or deer driving, when
nightfall came the Negro was apt to emerge from his
quarters followed by his faithful dog in search of possum
or coon. While the master may have enjoyed a feast of
venison at his table the Negro was just as well satisfied with
the less valuable but savory game that graced his own meal.
With the exception of the house servants most of the
slaves of the State were employed in agricultural pursuits,
but, as we have seen elsewhere, even here they were not to be
found in large droves as in the States of the South. There
were only a few big landed estates which were cultivated by
the owners under their own supervision and in the large
majority of cases the field slaves worked side by side with
the whites. Often an owner's circumstances compelled him
to labor in the fields with his slaves and when doing so he
rarely demanded more of them than he did himself. Such
a condition was not only true in the early days when there
were few slaves but it extended throughout the slavery era.^^
The stories of the mildness of the institution in Kentucky
which reached the North were little accredited by the radical
element, which could never see any virtue in servile labor.
Perhaps the most zealous abolitionist who visited the State
was J. W. Buckingham, who wrote in 1840 that the * * condi-
tion of the Negroes, as to food, clothing, and light labor
struck me as being better in Kentucky than in any other
State. * '2® While traveling in the heart of the slave section
of the State between Frankfort and Louisville he saw many
instances of black and white laborers, slave and free, work-
ing side by side in the same field.^^
27 Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. 2, pp. 634-636.
28 Cotterill, History of Pioneer Kentucky, p. 245.
Little, L. P., Ben Hardin, his Times and Contemporaries, p. 543.
29 Buckingham, Eastern and Western States, Vol. 3: 7-8.
80 Op. eit., Vol. 3 : 8.
Slaveby in Kentucky 297
The relation between tlie owner and the household type
of slave was of a more intimate nature and the maister was
careful to pick only the best of the Negroes. In such an
environment we see the picture of the Kentucky gentleman
of song and story, and the Negro in all the best that tradi-
tion has related of him. The latter became identified with
the, family of the master in sentiment and feeling. Under
ordinary circumstances he had nothing to worry about, and
with no cares pressing upon him, he became as happy as any
Negro ever was. If the crops failed, or the owner became
bankrupt he had none of the anxiety of his master, although
he may have displayed the greatest sympathy with the exist-
ing condition. It was his duty to give only his labor to his
master and in return he was sheltered, clothed and sup-
ported when sick or too old to labor; and at last when his
earthly toils were over, he was given a Christian burial.
The humble affection which the slave had for his master in
conjunction with the extreme confidence which he held for
the outcome of all pecimiary troubles is shown by instances
in the life history of every slaveholding family. No matter
what might be the circumstances and conditions of the estate
the slave could go on in his daily work without any fears or
cares, except for the one great cloud that in the event of a
disruption of the estate through a legal process he might
be sold to satisfy his master's creditors.
From our present viewpoint the treatment may have
been at times rather harsh but we must be careful to judge
it from the general standard of those times. It has been
pointed out that it would bear **favorable comparison with
the treatment of the white sailors in the British and Ameri-
can navies of the same period. *'^^ The slave code allowed
a much severer policy than was generally carried out, for
it must be considered that the law was made to fit the worst
cases, where such action was justifiable. Often the attitude
of the master appeared harsher than it was really meant to
be. It may have been merely a display of authority on his
SI Little, L. P., Ben Hardin, his Times and Contemporaries, pp. 541-2.
298 JouBNAL OF Negbo Histoby
part when he reprimanded a servant who had really com-
mitted only a minor indiscretion.^^
There were naturally other scenes in which the treat-
ment of slaves would not appear in such a favorable light.
The chronically bad master, however, was at all times and
under all circumstances under the ban of a just public senti-
ment. Should, by chance, a slave under such a one secure
vengeance on his heartless overlord, the general feeling of
the community was on the side of the slave. Strange to
say, it was very often true that persons who had known little
concerning slavery until they came to Kentucky, as soon as
they had accumulated a sufficient surplus, became the
owners of slaves and proved to be the hardest task-
masters.^^ Much light is thrown on this situation by Shaler.
«2A typical example of this has been related hj one of Kentucky's dis-
tinguished sons:
' ' In the households where I was intimate the slaves were about on the same
footing as the other members of the family; they were subjected to sudden ex-
plosions of the master's temper much as were his children. I well remember a
frequent scene in my grandfather's house, where it was the custom that I
should go every Sunday afternoon for counsel and instruction. They were at
first somewhat fearsome occasions for a little lad thus to be alone with an aged
and stately grandfather. I soon won his interest, in some measure by my fears,
and came greatly to enjoy the intercourse, for he knew how to talk to a boy,
and we became, in a way, boys together, in our sense of the funny side of
things. It was the custom, too, for him to divide the session of three or four
hours with a brief nap taken in his chair. . . .
"As his rooms were near the negro quarter he would make ready for his
siesta by sending forth the servantman who waited on him, bidding him tell the
people that they were to keep quiet during the performance. I can see him
now with his pig-tail hanging down behind the back of the easy chair and a
handkerchief over his face as he courted slumber. For a minute or two it
would be still, then the hidden varlets would be as noisy as before. Then the
pig-tail would begin to twitch, and he would mutter: 'Jim, tell those people
they must be stiU. ' Again a minute of quiet, and once more the jabbering and
shouting. Now with a leap he would clutch his long walking-stick and charge
the crowd in the quarter, laying about him with amazing nimbleness, until all
the offenders were run to their holes. Back he would come from his excursion
and settle himself to sleep. I could see that his rage was merely on the surface
and that he had used it for a corrective, for he evidently took care not to hurt
anyone." Shaler 's Autobiography, p. 37.
S3 Little, L. P., Ben Hardin, his Times and Contemporaries, p. 543.
Slaveey in Kentucky 299
"There is a common opinion,'' said he, "that the slaves of
the Southern households were subjected in various ways to
brutal treatment. Such, in my experience, was not the
case. Though the custom of using the whip on white chil-
dren was common enough, I never saw a negro deliberately
punished in that way until 1862, when, in military service, I
stayed at night at tiie house of a friend. This old man,
long a widower, had recently married a woman from the
state of Maine, who had been the governess of his children.
In the early morning I heard a tumult in the back yard, and
on looking out saw a negro man, his arms tied up to a limb
of a tree, while the vigorous matron was administering on
his back with a cowhide whip. At breakfast I learned that
the man had well deserved the flogging, but it struck me
as curious that in the only instance of the kind that I had
known the punishment was from the hands of a Northern
woman.' '3^ Shaler lived in Campbell County in the ex-
treme northern section of the State, where there were only
a few slaves and the treatment was milder perhaps than in
any other part of Kentucky.
The general attitude is best shown by the two laws
passed in 1816 and 1830. It had always been considered
that the slave, being the property of his owner, it remained
for him and for him alone to serve as the disciplinarian of
the Negro. The increasing abuse of this right by outsiders
led to a law in 1815 giving the owners a power of action
against persons abusing their slaves, and in February, 1816,
the provisions were made more specific. If any person
should "whip, strike or otherwise abuse the slave of
another" without the owner's consent, the latter could re-
cover damages in any circuit court in the commonwealth—
regardless of whether or not the punishment so inflicted
injured the ability of the slave to render service to his
master.^*^
Some of the contemporary comment would seem to imply
that the theory of the law was based on the property con-
3* Shaler 's Autobiography, pp. 3^37.
wLittelVa Laws, Vol. 5: 578-579.
300 JouBNAL OP Nbgbo Histoby
ception of the slave and not upon humanitarian motives.
In other words, it was perfectly proper to punish any slave
as one saw fit as long as one did not interfere with the
property value of the servant. Fearon, while visiting the
State in 1818, came across an example of this kind and after
telling the story of the punishment makes this comment:
*^It appears that this boy (the one who had been whipped)
was the property of a regular slave-dealer, who was then
absent at Natchez with a cargo. Mr. Lawe's humanity fell
lamentably in my estimation when he stated, that * whipping
niggers, if they were his own, was perfectly right, and they
perhaps deserved it ; but what made him mad was, that the
boy was left under his care by a friend, and he did not like
to have a friend's property injured.* ''^® The conduct ob-
served by Fearon was clearly in violation of the law of
1816, unless the absent master had given over his rights in
full to the man Lawe, who administered the punishment.
It may have been the spirit of the laws of Kentucky that
Lawe had in mind when he spoke to Fearon. On the other
hand, it could easily be given the interpretation which
Fearon made. The trend of public opinion was more and
more in the interest of justice for the slave as the law of
1830 shows :
If any owner of a slave shall treat such slave cruelly, so as in
the opmion of the jury, to endanger the life or limb of such slave,
or shall not supply his slave with sufficient food or raiment, it shall
and may be lawful for any person acquainted with the fact or facts,
to state and set forth in a petition to the Circuit Court, the facts,
or any of them aforesaid, of which the defendant hath been guilty,
and pray that such slave or slaves may be taken from the posses-
sion of the owner, and sold for the benefit of such owner, agreeably
to the 7th article of the Constitution.'^
In accordance with this law, if a jury of twelve men
were convinced that a master treated his slave cruelly, or
failed to provide him the proper food and clothing, the
«« Fearon, Sketches in America, p. 241.
«7 Session' Laws, 1830, p. 174.
Slavery in Kentucky 301
slave would be sold into better hands and the master would
have to pay the costs of the suit. Most assuredly there was
no place in the eyes of the law for an inhuTTian slaveholder.
Not only was such a one a criminal in the eyes of the courts
but he was socially ostracized in the ordinary circles of the
community.^®
Two instances of this kind in Lexington will show the
public feeling. In 1837 Mrs. Turner, the wife of a wealthy
Lexington judge, was accused of inhuman cruelty. Her own
husband was the chief complainant, stating that **that
woman has been the cause of the death of six of my servants
by her severities.*' The trial caused intense excitement
among the people of Lexington, more so perhaps for the
reason that the defendant was a member of a prominent
Boston family and her husband was a former judge of the
criminal court in New Orleans. The court proceedings
were brought to an end when the woman was pronounced
insane and placed in the asylum.^®
Early in 1839 a Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell were tried in Lex-
ington for the inhuman treatment of a female slave servant.
The indignation of the citizens of Lexington is apparent
from the publicity that was given to the proceedings in the
local papers. A Dr. Constant testified that he saw Mrs.
Maxwell whipping the Negro severely, without being par-
ticular whether she struck her in the face or not. The lac-
erations had brought blood in considerable quantities for he
had found some on the steps. He had noticed previously
that the slave had been thinly clad and was barefooted even
in cold weather. During the previous months he had noticed
several scars on her and at one time she had had one eye
tied up for a week. A Mr. Winters was once passing along
the street and saw one of the boys whipping the slave girl
with a cowhide. "Whenever she turned her face to him he
would hit her across the face either with the butt end or
smiall end of the whip to make her turn around square to the
lash, in order that he might get a fair blow at her. A Mr.
ssBlanchard and Bice, Delate on Slavery, p. 135.
«» American Slavery As It la, p. 87.
302 JoTJBNAL OF Negbo Histoby
Say had noticed several wounds on her person, chiefly
bruises. Capt. Porter, the keeper of the workhouse, thought
the injuries on Milly's person were very bad, some of them
appeared to be burns, and some were bruises or stripes
from a cowhide whip. The trial was held amidst a turmoil
of resentment against the defendants and there was ap-
parently no one in sympathy with them whatever.^^
Any discussion of the relationships in slavery times
would be incomplete without adding the characterization of
the Kentucky master as drawn by a celebrated author who
was bom in the heart of the bluegrass and was thoroughly
familiar with the type :
''The good in nature is irrepressible. Slavery, evil as it was^
when looked at from the remoteness of human history as it is to
be, will be judged an institution that gave development to a cer-
tain noble type of character.
''Along with other social forces peculiar to the age, it produced
in Kentucky a kind of farmer the like of which will never appear
again. He had the aristocratic virtues: highest notions of per-
sonal liberty and personal honor, a fine especial scorn of anything
that was little, mean, cowardly. As an agriculturist he was not
driving or merciless or grasping ; the rapid amassing of wealth was
not among his passions, the contention of splendid living not among
his thorns. To a certain carelessness of riches he added a certain
profuseness of expenditure ; and indulgent towards his own pleas-
ures, towards others, his equals or dependents, he bore himself with
a spirit of kindness and magnanimity. Intolerant of tyranny, he
was no tyrant. To say of such a man, as JeflPerson said of every
slave-holder, that he lived in the perpetual exercise of the most
boisterous passions and imremitting despotism, and in the exaction
of the most degrading submission, was to pronoimce judgment
hasty and unfair.
"Rather did Mrs. Stowe, while not blind to his faults, discern his
virtues wjien she made him, embarrassed by death, exclaim: "If
anybody had said to me that I should sell Tom down south to one
of those rascally traders, I should have said, 'Is thy servant a dog
that he should do this thmg?' ''*^
^oj^ington Beporter, January 15, 1839.
«i Allen, James Lane, Bltte Grass Begion of Kentucky, pp. 67-^S.
CHAPTER V
Public Opinion Eegabding Emancipation and
Colonization
Although the facts herein set forth indicate that slavery
in Kentucky was a comparatively mild form of servitude it
is not the aim here to leave the impression that the anti-
slavery element found no grounds for attacking the institu-
tion. On the contrary, there were various elements that '
devised schemes for exterminating the institution. This •
was especially true of the churches, which represented more j
than any other one force the sentiment of the State on the |
subject of emancipation. The three prominent Protestant
denominations of the State were the Presbyterians, the Bap-
tists, and the Methodists. The only one of the three which j
maintained a general continuous policy throughout the early !
nineteenth century on the question of slavery was the Pres-
byterian.
It was on the eve of the first Constitutional Convention
of 1792 that David Eice, at that time the leader of the Pres-
byterians in Kentucky, published a pamphlet under the
nom-de-plume of philantheopos entitled Slavery Inconsist-
ent with Justice and Good Policy. While the author went
into the general evils of slavery, such as the lack of protec-
tion to female chastity, lack of religious and moral instruc-
tion, and the comparative unproductiveness of slave labor,
he was not one of those violent opponents of the institution,
who would abolish the whole system without any construc-
tive measures. A large part of his treatise wa^ devoted to
the supposed sanction of the scriptures and his own evidence
that the same source was against rather than in favor of the
system then in vogue. It was but natural that Eice should
recommend that the convention should put an end to slavery
in Kentucky in view of his firm opinions in the matter, but
he had a clear vision of the future and he expressed his con-
303
304 JouBNAL OF Negro Histoby
viction that '*a gradual emancipation only can be advis-
able/* He summed up his ideas in this sentence: *^The
legislature, if they judged it expedient, would prevent the
importation of any more slaves ; they would enact that all
bom after such a date should be free ; be qualified by proper
education to make useful citizens, and be actually freed at a
proper age."^ He put these ideas forth as a citizen of Ken-
tucky who was interested in its welfare and as a prospective
member of the constitutional convention. When that body
assembled at Danville he did not hesitate to voice his views
again but the forces of slavery were dominant and the
majority enacted the famous article IX, which determined
the slave code of the State until the institution was abolished
by the 13th amendment to the federal constitution. The
significance of the attitude of David Eice lies in the fact that
as early as the year 1792 he put forth the idea of gradual
emancipation, a policy far in advance of his age but which
in the course of time was held by a large number of the fair-
minded statesmen of Kentucky.
In 1794 the Transylvania Presbytery, which was the gov-
erning body of that sect at that time for the whole State,
passed a resolution asking that slaves should be instructed
to read the Bible, having in view the sole idea that when
freedom did come to them they would be prepared for it.^
The same body in 1796 expressed the following fair-minded
attitude in the form of a resolution :
Although the Presbytery are fully convinced of the great evil
of slavery, yet they view the final remedy as alone belonging to the
civil powers ; and also do not think that they have sufficient author-
ity from the word of God to make it a term of Christian com-
munion. They, therefore, leave it to the consciences of the brethren
to act as they may think proper; earnestly recommending to the
people under their care to emancipate such of their slaves as they
may think fit subjects of liberty; and that they also take every
possible measure, by teaching their young slaves to read and give
them such other instruction as may be in their power, to prepare
1 Davidson, History of the Preshyiericm Church in Kentucky, p. 336.
2 Minutes of Transylvania Preshytery, Vol. 1, p. 147.
Slaveby in Kentucky 305
them for the enjoyment of liberty, an event which they contemplate
with the greatest pleasure, and which, they hope, will be accom-
plished as soon as the nature of things will admit.'
In the year 1797 the same organization decided that slavery
was a moral evil but on the question of whether those per-
sons holding slaves were guilty of a moral evil they decided
in the negative. As to what persons were guilty they were
unable to decide and the matter was postponed for future
action.*
As early as 1800 the West Lexington Presbytery pointed
to the trouble and division which slavery was likely to cause
among the churches, but they were unable to come to any
decision upon the exclusion of slaveholding members from
church privileges and in a letter to the Synod of Virginia
they asked for the judgment of higher ecclesiastical author-
ities.^ In 1802 the same body decided on a policy of non-
interference with the rights of the slaveholding members of
the church.®
Beginning in 1823 the Synod of Kentucky advocated the
cause of the American Colonization Society. Their general
attitude on the slavery question was an open one as late as
the year 1833 when they adopted a resolution to the effect
that ** inasmuch as in the judgment of the Synod it is inex-
pedient to come to any decision on the very difficult and
delicate question of slavery as it is within our bounds;
therefore, resolved, that the whole matter be indefinitely
postponed. **'' The vote on this resolution stood 41 to 36.
The enactment of the law of 1833 forbidding the impor-
tation of slaves into Kentucky seems to have induced the
Synod to take a step in advance, for when they next met in
1834 at Danville they adopted by the decisive vote of 56 to 7
a resolution calling for the appointment of a committee of
ten to draw up a plan for the instruction and future emanci-
9 Minutes of Tramylvcmia Presbytery, Vol. 2, pp. 102-3.
* Ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 163, 224.
^Minutes W, Lexington Presbytery, Vol. 1, p. 38.
« Ibid., p. 81.
t Minutes of Kentucky Synod, Vol. 5, pp. 28, 31.
306 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
pation of slaves in the State.® The following year this com-
mittee published a 64-page pamphlet entitled **An Address
to the Presbyterians of Kentucky proposing a plan for the
instruction and emancipation of their slaves." Many edi-
tions of this work were published throughout the country
even as late as 1862 when it was issued by the United Pres-
byterian Board of Publication in Pittsburgh. It was her-
alded throughout the northern section of the United States
as a very able document and was regarded all the more
valuable because it was published in a slaveholding State.
The major portion of the pamphlet was taken up with the
general arguments setting forth the evils of the slavery
system but in the last few pages they set down their plan
for the gradual emancipation of the slaves in Kentucky —
the most able contribution towards a reconstruction of the
existing social system in the State which had been made up
to that time.
**The plan, then, which we propose is, for the master to
retain during a limited period, and with regard to the wel-
fare of the slave, that authority which he before held, in
perpetuity, and solely for his own interest. Let the full
liberty of the slave be secured against all contingencies, by
a recorded deed of emancipation, to take effect at a speci-
fied time. In the meanwhile, let the servant be treated with
kindness — ^let all those things which degrade him be re-
moved — let him enjoy means of instruction, let his moral
and religious improvement be sought— let his prospects be
presented before him, to stimulate him to acquire those
habits of foresight, economy, industry, activity, skill and
integrity, which wiU fit him for using well the liberty he is
soon to enjoy." The actual plan of potential freedom was
stated briefly in these words: **(!) We would recommend
that all slaves now under 20 years of age, and all those yet
to be bom in our possession, be emancipated as they sev-
erally reach their 25th year. (2) We recommend that deeds
of emancipation be drawn up, and recorded in our respec-
tive county courts, specifying the slaves whom we are about
BMiwiUea of Kentucky Synod, Vol. 5, pp. 50-52.
Slaveby in Kentucky 307
to emancipate, and the age at which each is to be free. (3)
We recommend that our slaves be instructed in the conmaon
elementary branches of education. (4) We reconmaend that
strenuous and persevering eflForts be made to induce them
to attend upon the ordinary services of religion, both do-
mestic and public. (5) We recommend that great pains be
taken to teach them the Holy Scriptures ; and that, to eflfect
this the instrumentality of Sabbath Schools, wherever they
can be enjoyed, be united with that of domestic instruction. ' ^®
This appeal was not to the officials of the State but to the
members of a particular religious body by its governing
organization. The success or failure of the plan depended
entirely upon the individual slaveholder's attitude in the
matter. The committee added this sentence by way of ex-
planation : * * These are measures which all ought to adopt ;
and we know of no peculiarity of circumstances in the case
of any individual which can free him from culpability if he
neglects them.''^^
The sentiments embodied in this appeal were not, how-
ever, any indication of the feeling among the slaveholding
Presbyterians of the State nor were they expressive of the
Synod itself, for that body never took any action upon the
address, it being the work of the committee of ten entirely.^^
Davidson, writing in 1847, made the following comment on
the sentiment of the church people in Kentucky at that time.
* * In the morbid and feverish state of the public mind, it is
not to be concealed, that by some they (the Committee)
were considered as going to an unwarrantable and impru-
dent length. The northern abolitionists were waging a hot
crusade against slavery, sending out itinerant lecturers, and
loading the mails with inflammatory publications. Their
measures were marked with a fanatical virulence rarely ex-
hibited, and the people were exasperated beyond forbear-
ance . . . the eflfects were truly disastrous. The prospect. of
emancipation was retarded for years. The laws bearing on
the slave population were made more stringent than ever,
9 Address to Presbyterians of Kentucky, pp. 33-34.
lojfttd., p. 34.
11 Davidson, History of the Presbyterian Chwch in Kentucky, p. 340.
308 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
and their privileges were curtailed. In Kentucky, the re-
ligious meetings of the blacks were broken up or interrupted
and their Sabbath schools dispersed. "^^
When the subject of emancipation was under discussion
in the Kentucky Synod one of the elders arose and stated
that he owned one hundred slaves, nearly all of whom he
had inherited. Many of them were so old that they could
not provide for themselves, others were women and children
whom no one was willing to feed and clothe for their labor.
He stated emphatically that he had no desire to hold them
in bondage, but that he was willing to do whatever was best
for the slaves themselves. If he should free them, what
would become of the aged and the women and children?
Furthermore, it was a serious matter to give bond and
security for the support of so many slaves of different ages
and character. He could not send them out of the State,
for they were intermarried with the slaves of others ; and
as to giving them wages, he could not, for they were eating
him up as it was. With a feeling of intense interest in the
slave and anxiety on his own behalf to do the right, he asked
his brethren of the Synod, what he ought to do.^^ The
position of this kind-hearted Kentucky slaveholder shows
more clearly than any other picture we could draw the diffi-
culties of emancipation in Kentucky even when one was
convinced of the evils of the slavery system.
The final word of the Presbyterian Church on the whole
subject of slavery was sounded at its General Assembly in
Cincinnati in 1845, when a resolution was adopted, as sub-
mitted by Nathan L. Eice, of Kentucky, stating that it was
not competent for the church to legislate where Christ and
his apostles had not legislated. This, at least for the time
being, proved acceptable to the churches south of the Ohio
and avoided a breach in the Presbyterians such as had just
taken place among the Methodists and Baptists.
The Baptists as a State organization did not pursue a
policy similar to that of the Presbyterians. After the
12 Op. cit, p. 340.
18 Blanchard and Bice^ Debate on Shwery, p. 88.
Slaveby in Kentucky 309
failure of the emancipationist campaign in 1792 and again
at the constitutional convention in 1799 a few members of
the Baptist Church began a movement for immediate aboli-
tion under the lead of several ministers -Tarrent, Barrow,
Sutton, Holmes and others. The policy which they advo-
cated was not only one of immediate abolition but of non-
fellowship with the slaveholders within their own denomi-
nation. There was no general governing body for the
State, as the Baptists had several so-called associations
which covered only a few counties each. The trend of
opinion throughout the various commonwealth organiza-
tions was apparently against the position held by the eman-
cipationist group, for the latter in 1807 withdrew from the
regular organizations and established an association of
their own which they called the Licking Locust Association.
They were only able to muster the assent of twelve churches
to their newer group and soon died out in importance."
The real sentiment of the Baptists was no doubt much like
that of the Presbyterians, but these early advocates of Ne-
gro freedom in their own organization were entirely too
radical even for their own church membership. Had they
followed a course of action and policy more in keeping with
their own constituents they might have accomplished much
good, whereas, as it was, they only stirred up the feeling
within their own denomination to such an extent that there-
after little progress was made towards a policy of even
gradual emancipation of the slave.
Throughout the slavery era, however, the Baptists in the
State were divided into the ** regular^' and the ** separa-
tists,^^ the former being in favor of non-interference with
the question and the latter representing the advocates of
emancipation in one form or another. Both agreed that
slavery was an evil, but the regular group was unwilling to
make it the cause of the expulsion of a slaveholder from the
church. In May, 1845, a ** Southern Baptist Convention'^
was held at Augusta, Georgia. The meeting had been
hastily called and representatives were present only from
1* Spencer, History of the Baptists in Kentucky, Vol. 1, p. 186.
310 JouBNAL OP Negbo Histoby
Maryland, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Ala-
bama, Louisiana, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia.
Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida were repre-
sented only by letters. The convention had been summoned
as a protest against the action of the *' Acting Board" of
the church in the country in refusing to consent to the ap-
pointment of a slaveholder to any field of foreign mis-
sionary labors.^^ In June of the same year the Kentucky
Baptists for the most part withdrew from the northern
organization and pledged themselves to this newly formed
southern convention. The creed was not changed. It was
simply a matter of rebuke toward the northern section ^s
attitude on the slavery question.^®
The Methodists had also struggled to find a peaceful
solution of the problem of harmonizing Christianity with
slavery. At the meeting of the General Conference of the
Methodist Church in 1845, several days were taken up in the
debate over the status of Bishop James Osgood Andrew, of
Kentucky. By inheritance and marriage he was a slave-
holder. Finally he was requested by a vote of 110 to 68 **to
desist from the exercise of the ofiBce of Bishop while this
impediment remained. ' ' The southerners in the convention
became unusually indignant, declaring that the infliction of
such a stigma upon Bishop Andrew would make it impossi-
ble for them to maintain the influence of Methodism in the
South.*'' So they withdrew from the convention and in
May, 1845, held a convention of the Methodist churches of
the Southern States in Louisville. After a nineteen-days '
session they decided to set up an organization of their own
to be known as the '^Methodist Episcopal Church South^'
and to have their first meeting at Petersburg, Virginia, in
May, 1846.18
The Kentucky Methodist Conference met at Frankfort
on September 17, 1845, and the entire attention of the meet-
ing was given over to the question of whether they would
i^mies' Begister, May 24, 1845.
le Ihid,, June 28, 1845.
17 Hid., June 8, 1844.
18 n,id,, May 17, 24, 31, 1845.
Slavbby in Kentucky 311
adhere to the general conference or would pledge them-
selves to the newly formed southern organization. Bishop
Andrew appeared at Frankfort at the crucial moment and
stated all the facts concerning himself and the action which
the Louisville Conference had taken as a result of the
trouble in the previous Gteneral Conference. By a vote of
146 to 5 they then declared that henceforth they would ad-
here to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and that all
proceedings, records and official acts would thereafter be in
the name of the '* Kentucky Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church South. '^^^
At its annual conference in 1858 held in Hopkinsville
the Louisville Conference held a very heated debate over
the rules of the church regarding slaveholders. Finally
they voted to expunge from the General Eules the one which
forbade *Hhe buying and selling of men, women and chil-
dren, with the intention to enslave them.'^^^ The regula-
tion thus repealed, although it was a part of the rules of
Methodism, was just another indication of the sentiment in
Kentucky at that time to resent more and more the en-
croachments of the North on the slave system of the South
and to hang on to the institution with a grim determination.
But they were not willing to go to unwarrantable lengths,
for at the Kentucky Conference held in Germantown in
March, 1860, a proposition submitted by the sister confer-
ences to the South with a view to further altering the rules
on slavery was denied.^^
The churches of Kentucky for the most part pursued a
policy of benevolent neutrality in the struggle which the
slave forces of the State were having with their neighbors
to the North. The Baptists and Methodists within the com-
monwealth officially never made any positive contribution
to the forces of either side, and they took no definite stand
until the whole southern division of their general national
organization withdrew from membership in the national
conventions and set up an organization of their own. When
i^Niles' Register, September 27, 1845.
20 ColHiiB, History of Kentucky^ Vol. 1, p. 81.
21 Hid., Vol. 1, p. 83.
312 JOUBNAL OF NeGBO HiSTOBY
this much had been done both the Methodists and Baptists
of Kentucky pledged their allegiance to their respective
newly formed southern conventions. On the other hand
the Presbyterians of the State maintained a policy that was
distinctively their own, separate and apart from any acts
of their national organization. They were the only religious
body in Kentucky to issue officially a constructive plan for
the betterment of social and economic conditions under
slavery. When it came to the advocacy of even gradual
emancipation they were careful to state that the plan was
only published for the benefit of the slaveholding members
of their own religious body. The Presbyterians went
further in their interference with the institution of slavery
in the State than any other religious body, but even they
were not willing to try to extend their home missionary field
beyond their own membership, ^n the whole, the churches
in Kentucky merely followed the dictates of public opinion
on the subject of slavery, trying to pursue a policy of
neutrality as long as possible and then when it was no longer
feasible, most of them sided with the slaveholding group.
The northern section of none of these religious bodies, how-
ever, was driven out of the Stat^ There were a good many
of the so-called ** northern ^^ churches which remained loyal
to the old national orgaaizations.
The summary of the actions of the three principal re-
ligious bodies of the State shows that there was a ^growing
sentiment against the institution of slaveryj Kentucky
being a slaveholding State, the significance of this attitude
was very important. While it may be true that the majority
sentiment even among the churches was not in favor of the
elimination of slavery the very fact that even a minority
were coming to the front unmolested by violence and threats
and favoring the gradual elimination of the established in-
stitution revealed the general trend of public opinion among
the people of Kentucky. These measures were taken en-
tirely upon their own initiative and were not prompted by
an outside anti-slavery influence.
Any discussion of the evolution of public opinion in
Slaveby in Kentucky 313
Kentucky on the subject of emancipation and of slavery in
general would be incomplete without describing the attitude
of Henry Clay toward the institution in Kentucky. During
almost the entire period of slavery in Kentucky he was the
foremost citizen of the State and one of the principal slave-
holders. From those two viewpoints alone anything that he
had to say on the local type and problems of slavery is
valuable in this connection.
The general position of Clay on the subject of Negro
servitude has never been very widely understood. Among
the radical abolitionists of the North he was looked upon as
a friend of slavery for the sake of political advancement
and among the slaveholders in some parts of the South he
was regarded as almost a member of the Garrisonian group
of the enemies of slavery. To understand Clay's real posi-
tion we need only to consider his relation to the institution
as it existed in his native State.
Coming from Virginia to Lexington in 1797, Clay soon
found ample opporiiunities for a public career. He first
came into prominence as a writer on slavery in the columns
of the Lexington Gazette and the Kentucky Reporter.
When the constitutional convention of 1799 was called for
a revision of the fundamental law of the State Clay bent all
his efforts towards the adoption of a system of gradual
emancipation for the slaves of Kentucky. It was pointed
out that there were relatively few slaves in the State and
that a progressive plan of liberation would be much easier
than at any future time.
The consensus of opinion at the time was that the
emancipationists led by this young man from Virginia
would have been successful, had it not been for the interven-
ing excitement produced by the Alien and Sedition Laws
and the resulting famous Virginia and Kentucky Resolu-
tions of 1798. Clay threw himself heart and soul into the
newer campaign against the mistakes of the Federalists and
the former enthusiasm for the gradual freedom of the slaves
seems to have died down in his thought as well as among
the Kentucky people in general. Thus the constitutional
314 JouBNAii OP Negbo Histoby
convention of 1799 left the conditions of slavery as they
were.
In a speech delivered three decades later before the Ken-
tucky Colonization Society, Clay said in commenting on his
position in 1798 : * * More than thirty years ago, an attempt
was made, in this commonwealth, to adopt a system of grad-
ual emancipation, similar to that which the illustrious Frank-
lin had mainly contributed to introduce in 1780, in the state
founded by the benevolent Penn. And among the facts of
my life which I look back to with most satisfaction is that
of my having cooperated, with other zealous and intelligent
friends, to procure the establishment of that system in this
state. We were overpowered by numbers, but submitted to
the decision of the majority with that grace which the
minority in a republic should ever yield to that decision. I
have, nevertheless, never ceased, and shall never cease, to
regret a decision, the effects of which have been to place us
in the rear of our neighbors, who are exempt from slavery,
in the state of agriculture, the progress of manufactures,
the advance of improvements, and the general progress of
society. ''22 In his famous speech in the Senate on Aboli-
tion in 1839, referring further to his activities in 1798, Clay
stated that ''no one was rash enough to propose or think of
immediate abolition. No one was rash enough to think of
throwing loose upon the community, ignorant and unpre-
pared, the untutored slaves of the state, "^s
Clay's private dealings with the institution were always
consistent with his political principles on the subject of
slavery. He bought many slaves during his lifetime but he
never sold any.^* Clay believed that the slaves should be
22 Schurz, Carl, Eenry Clay, Vol. 1, p. 31.
28 Colton, Works of Clay, Vol. 6, p. 153.
24 His attitude was perhaps best shown when, on. a visit to Bichmond,
Indiana, in the fall of 1846, he was presented with a petition hj a Quaker by
the name of Mendenhall asking him to liberate all the slaves he owned. Clay
made a rather lengthy speech to the gentleman on the general principles of the
question and then, came down to the practical side of the problem:
''Without any knowledge of the relation in which I stand to my slaves,
or their individual condition, you, Mr. Mendenhall, and your associates, who
have been active in getting up this petition, call upon me forthwith to liberate
Slaveby in Kentucky 315
freed, but at the same time considered the difl&culties at-
tendant upon instant emancipation. Among the mass of the
slaveholders of the State, Clay was one of the very few
who held a perfectly consistent attitude on gradual eman-
cipation as was finally shown by his will.2«
the whole of thenu Now let me tell you, that some half a dozen of them, from
age, decrepitude, or infirmity, are whoUy unable to gain a livelihood for them-
selves, and are a heavy charge upon me. Do you think that I should conform
to the dictates of humanity by ridding myself of that charge, and sending them
forth into the world with the boon of liberty, to end a wretched existence in
starvation? Another class is composed of helpless infants, with or without
improvident mothers. Do you believe as a Christian, that I should perform my
duty toward them by abandoning them to their fatef Then there is another
class who would not accept their freedom if I would give it to them. I have
for many years owned a slave that I wished would leave me, but he would not.
What shall I do with that class f"
"What my treatment of my slaves is you can learn from Charles, who
accompanies me on this journey, and who has traveled witii me over the greater
part of the United States, and in both the Canadas, and has had a thousand
opportunities, if he had chosen to embrace them, to leave me. Elzcuse me, Mr.
JBiiendenhall, for saying that my slaves are as well fed and clad, look as sleek
and hearty, and are quite as civil and: respectful in their demeanor, and as
little disposed to wound the feelings of any one, as you are."
"I shall, Mr. Mendenhall, take your petition into respectful and deliberate
consideration; but before I come to a final decision, I should like to know what
you and your associates are willing to do for the slaves in my possession, if I
should think proper to liberate them. I own about fifty, who are probably worth
about fifteen thousand dollara To turn them loose upon society without any
means of subsistence or support would be an act of cruelty. Are you willing
to raise and secure the payment of fifteen thousand dollars for their benefit, if
I should be induced to free themf The security of the payment of that sum
would materially lessen the obstacle in the way of their emancipation." — Col-
ton, Beed & MoKinley, WorJca of Senry Clay, Vol. 6, pp. 388-390.
This sums up in Clay's own words his treatment of the slaves that were
under his control. It is not to be presumed in any case that general condi-
tions in the State were like this. There were obvious reasons why Clay couldn 't
get one or two of his slaves to accept freedom when he offered it, for they
realized that they were far better off under his own particular care than they
could ever hope to be under an absolutely free status in society.
25 So consistent was Clay in deed as well as words in spite of all that the
opposing forces had accomplished in the iState of Kentucky that when he died
he left a will which did for his own slaves just what he would have had others
do in his lifetime. As long as he lived he refused to emancipate his slaves but
when he passed away he left a written document, the following portion of
which forms the eminent climax to a career of continuous labors for the
eventual good of the Kentucky slave owners as well as the slaves themselves.
316 JOXJBNAL OF NeGBO HiSTOBY
With a more radical policy than that of Henry Clay
the Kentucky Abolition Society had been established as
early as 1807, but its membership was composed largely
of Presbyterian and Baptist preachers who were not in
sympathy with the stand taken by the constitutional con-
vention of 1799. It was not until about 1830 that there
began in the State any real movement which was wide
enough in influence to be taken as an indication of the trend
of public opinion. It will be recalled tbat it was not until
1835 that the Presbyterian Synod was able to decide on a
plan of gradual emancipation.
It was in 1831 that some 48 slaveholders of Kentucky
met and declared themselves in favor of the gradual libera-
tion of the slaves.^ James G. Bimey, who was at that time
living in Danville, took this statement of the slave owners
rather seriously and sent out an invitation to the prominent
''In the sale of any of mj slaves^ I direct that members of families shall
not be separated without their consent.
"My will is, and I accordingly direct, that the issue of all my female
slaves, which shall be bom after the first day of January, 1860, shall be free
at the respective ages, of the males at twenty-eight, and of the females at
twenty-five; and that the three years next preceding their arrival at the age of
freedom, they shall be entitled to their hire or wages for those years, or of the
fair value of their services, to defray the expense of transporting them to one
of the African colonies and of furnishing them with an outfit on their arrival
there.
"And I further direct, that they be taught to read, to write, and to
cipher, and that they be sent to Africa. I further will and direct, that the
issue of any of the females, who are so to be entitled to their freedom, at the
age of twenty-five, shall be free at their birth, and that they be bound out as
apprentices to learn farming, or some useful trade, upon the condition also, of
being taught to read, to write, and to cipher. And I direct also, that the age
of twenty-one having been attained, they shall be sent to one of the African
colonies, to raise the necessary funds for which purpose, if they shall not have
previously earned them, they must be hired out for a sufficient length of time.
"I require and enjoin my executors and descendants to pay particular at-
tention to the execution of this provision of my will. And if they should sell
any of the females who or whose issue are to be free, I especially diesire them to
guard carefully the rights of such issue by all suitable stipulations and sanctions
in the contract of sale. But I hope that it may not be necessary to sell any such
persons who are to be entitled to their freedom^ but that they may be retained
in the possession of some of my descendants. "—<!olton', Beed & McKinley, Vol.
3, p. 15d.
26 Birney, William, James G, Birney and his Times, p. 132.
Slaveby in Kentucky 317
men of the State to attend an emancipation convention on
December 6, 1831. After several months of determined
eflfort Bimey only succeeded in getting together nine men,
all slaveholders. It is evident from the writings of Bimey
that he thought these men were all determined to free their
slaves and that whatever plan he should propose would be
accepted. But when the nine slaveholders began to talk
about the existing conditions in Kentucky Bimey 's eyes
were opened. It was pointed out that those who advocated
immediate emancipation were coming more and more to be
victims of social ostracism. Furthermore, Bimey learned
that there was among the prominent slaveholders of the
State a sort of secret organization which had been formed
to protect the constitutional rights of Kentucky slaveholders
against the encroachments of the people from the North.
James G. Bimey was one of the most intelligent of the
Kentuckians who favored emancipation, but the ardent en-
thusiasm which he had hitherto held for the future of his
cause in Kentucky was decidedly cooled by this little gather-
ing of nine slaveholders. These men showed him a point of
view about which he had thought very little. Outside of the
new vision which this conference gave to Bimey the only
result of the deliberations was that there was formed a
society of slaveholders which advocated the gradual eman-
cipation of the future oflFspring of slaves when they reached
the age of twenty-one.?'^
Soon after this episode Bimey came out in opposition to
both gradual emaacipation and colonization. The majority
of liberal-minded Kentuckians were coming more and more
to believe in these two propositions as the ultimate solution
of the slave problems of the State and once Bimey came
out in opposition to them he was put down as a radical
abolitionist. In July, 1835, the feeling of the people of
Danville was aroused to the highest pitch and his anti-
slavery paper The PhUcmthropist was forced to suspend
publication when the local printer was bought out.^® The
27 Bimey, William, James G» Birney and hia Times, p. 133.
^^Ilid,, p. 182. The interesting story of Birney and his troubles with
his fellow townsmen does not come within the scope of this investigation and
318 JOXJBNAL OF NeGBO HiSTOBY
feeling of the people tbroughout the State, however, was
well shown by the fact that for the next two months Bimey
made personal visits to Lexington, Frankfort and Louis-
ville in an attempt to get a printer to issue his newspaper.
He was entirely unsuccessful and on September 13 he wrote
to Gerrit Smith that he had determined to move to Cin-
cinnati.2® While the people of the State could not agree
with Birney^s attitude on slavery they were the first to
admire his courage. George D. Prentice, the pro-slavery
editor of the Louisville Journail, had this comment to make :
''He is an enthusiastic, but, in our opinion, a visionary philan-
thropist, whose efforts, though well intended, are likely to be of no
real service to the cause of humanity. He at least shows, however,
that he has the courage to reside among the people whose institu-
tions he assails. He is not like William Lloyd Garrison living in
Massachusetts, and opening the battery upon the states five hun-
dred or one thousand miles off. He is not such a coward or fool
as to think of cannonading the South from the steeple of a New
England meeting house. '/
The climax of Bimey 's career in Kentucky had been
reached in the early part of 1835 when he split with the
Kentucky Colonization Society. Judge Underwood in the
annual colonization address at Frankfort had attempted to
show that the only way to exterminate slavery in the State
was by African colonization. He advocated the expendi-
ture of $140,000 annually for the transportation of four
thousand Negroes between the ages of seventeen and twenty.
The plan if followed for fifty years he stated would rid the
State of all slaves.^^ In a letter to Gerrit Smith on Jan-
uary 31, 1835, Bimey voiced his opposition to the plan of
Judge Underwood and to any scheme of colonization. Thus
on another point he was to be classed as a radical abo-
litionist and his career of usefulness in Kentucky was at ao
end. If he had chosen a more middle ground and aided
will be found treated at length in WiHiam Bimey 's James G, Bimey and
His Times.
2»Birney, William, James G, Birney and his Times, p. 185.
sojftid., p. 155.
#1
Slaveby in Kentucky 319
the cause of colonization, he would no doubt have accom-
plished much good. As it was, he was forced to leave the
State after many threats and thereafter he stormed the in-
stitution of slavery in his native State from a safe region
north of the Ohio River. From that time on everything
that he uttered in opposition to slavery in Kentucky was met
with a strong current of opposition. Where Bimey might
have accomplished much for his native State he really did
harm because he went beyond the point where the people
would listen to his advice. In September, 1834, he visited
Henry Clay and that most liberal of all Kentucky slave-
holders pointed out to Bimey the error of his ways but the
latter showed no signs of listening to advice and thereafter
Clay and Bimey were sworn political antagonists. Had
Bimey joined with Clay at this time there might have been
a much brighter future in Kentucky for the cause of emanci-
pation. As it was, Bimey never receded from his position
and when the Presbyterian Synod came out with its plan of
gradual emancipation Bimey voiced his determined opposi-
tion to the scheme because it did not favor the immediate
liberation of the slaves.'^ With the advent of the abolition
movement most of the Kentucky masters who were in favor
of gradual emancipation receded from their position and
held on firmly to the existing institution.^^
31 Bimey, William, James G. Birney and his Times, p. 156.
82 Quick to recognize this tendency^ Clay referred to it in his Senate speech
of February 7, 1839:
"The proposition in Kentucky for gradual emancipation did not prevail,
but it was sustained by a large and respectable minority. That minority had
increased, and was increasing, until the abolitionists commenced their opera-
tions. The effect has been to dissipate all prospects whatever, for the present,
of any scheme of gradual or other emancipation. The people of that state
have been shocked and alarmed by these abolition movements, and the number
who would now favor a system even of gradual emancipation is probably less
than it was in the years 1798-9. At the session of the legislature held in
1837-8 the question of calling a convention was submitted to a consideration
of the people by a law passed in conformity with the Constitution of that state.
Many motives existed for the passage of the law, and among them that of
emancipation had its influence. When the question was passed upon by the
people at their last annual election, only about one fourth of the whole voters
of the state supported a call of a convention. The apprehension of the danger
320 JouBNAL OP Neobo Histoby
The series of events from 1831 to 1835, centering around
the activities of Bimey, brought the attention of the public
to the slavery question more than ever. As was common in
all other movements of popular interest it became the cus-
tom for local gatherings to be held to discuss the problem.
It was always customary at the conclusion of these meetings
to draw up a series of resolutions and it is noticeable that
they all voiced a similarity of sentiment on the slavery ques-
tion. Ai typical set of resolves were those drawn up at a
gathering held in Shelbyville in June, 1835 :
** Resolved, that the system of domestic slavery as it now exists
in this commonwealth, is both a moral and a political evil, and in
violation of the rights of man.
''Resolved, as the opinion of this meeting, that the additional
value which would be given to our property, and its products by
the introduction of free white labor, would in itself be sufi5cient,
under a system of gradual emancipation, to transport the whole of
our colored population.
''Resolved, that no system of emancipation will meet with our
approbation, unless colonization be inseparably connected with it,
and that any scheme of emancipation which will leave the blacks
within our borders, is more to be deprecated than slavery itself."'*
These resolutions were just another indication that the
feentiment of the people of Kentucky during the decade
from 1830 to 1840 was in favor of gradual emancipation of
the slaves and their colonization in Africa. We have seen
that this was the plan of the various church bodies, and also
of abolition was the leading consideration among the people for opposing the
call. But for that, but for the agitation of the question of abolition in states
whose population had no right, in the opinion of the people of Kentucky, to
interfere in the matter, the vote for a convention would have been much larger,
if it had not been carried. . . . Prior to the agitation of this subject of aboli-
tion, there was a progressive melioration in the condition of the slaves — ^schools
of instruction were opened by humane and religious persons. These are now
all checked, and a spirit of insubordination having shown itself in some locali-
ties, traceable, it is believed, to abolition movements and exertions, the legisla-
tive authority has found it expedient to infuse fresh vigor into the police and
the laws which regulate the conduct of the slaves. ' ' — Colton, Beed & McKinley,
WorJcs of Henry Clay, Vol. 6, pp. 153-154.
^^miea' Begister, July 4, 1806,
^ ^
Slavbby in Kentucky 321
of Kentucky's greatest statesman, Henry Clay. Added to
this we find that the majority of the liberal-minded people
of the State held to the same conviction. But why, one
asfcs, did all this feeling come to naught. The answer can
be better expressed in the words of a contemporary Ken-
tucMan, Nathaniel Shaler: ''From the local histories the
deliberate student will easily become convinced that if there
had been no external pressure against slavery at this time
there would still have been a progressive elimination of the
slave element from the population by emancipation on the
soil, by the sale of slaves to the planters of the Southern
States, and by their colonization in foreign parts. * '^*
During the decade from 1840 to 1850 this outside pres-
sure of which Shaler speaks was at its height. We have
seen typical examples of it within the borders of Kentucky
in the discussion of the cases of Delia Webster, Calvin Fair-
bank and John B. Mahan. The change in the trend of pop-
ular thought during this period does not show itself much
in the open until 1849, when the third constitutional con-
vention was about to assemble. It was then that all phases
of the problem of slavery were discussed, in the press, in
the pulpit, on the platform and in the elections. George D.
Prentice in an editorial gave the best exposition of Kentucky
sentiment. He said: ''The sentiment of Kentucky we be-
lieve to be, that slavery is an evil which must be borne with
patience, simply because there is no known plan for its
rapid extinction which would not produce incalculable sac-
rifices and appalling risks. At the same time we think the
people of Kentucky are not inclined to increase the evil, but
are inclined to favor its gradual emancipation and remote
termination, by prohibiting the further introduction of
slaves and by some provision tending to encourage volun-
tary emancipation with colonization. These measures they
believe, taken in connection with the known tendency in
widening circles to substitute free for slave labor, will has-
ten the social revolution in question as fast as it can be
8* Shaler, N. S., Kentucky, p. 197.
322 JouBNAL OF Nbgbo Histoby
carried with safety to the Commonwealth or with benefit to
the colonized negro. ' ***
So miiversal was this feeling that even Cassius M. Clay,
the only real abolitionist left in the State, came out more or
less in favor of it. Under his leadership there was held at
Frankfort, April 25, 1849, an emancipation convention to
which all the more radical element were invited. Clay himself
proved to be the most radical member of the convention but
when they came to draw up a series of resolutions the only
ones to pass were those which favored the absolute pro-
hibition of the importation of any more slaves into Ken-
tucky and the complete power to enforce and perfect, under
the new constitution, whenever the people desired it, a sys-
tem of gradual emancipation of the slaves.^® Here we are
confronted with the unusual fact that the radical element of
the State agreed with the plan of George D. Prentice, one
of the chief pro-slavery men of Kentucky, and with that of
Henry Clay.
While sojourning for his health in New Orleans in Feb-
ruary, 1849, Clay sent Richard Pindell for publication a
letter on the gradual emancipation of slavery in Kentucky,
as the State at that time was about to hold another constitu-
tional convention. This long and able document constitutes
the most constructive program for the progressive elimina-
tion of slavery from the State that was ever drawn up. It
embodied not only the fundamental principles of Clay's atti-
tude on the Kentucky slavery question but it undoubtedly
typified the real position of the average high-minded Ken-
tucky slaveholder of that day. Clay frankly admitted that
he had little hope of the immediate success of the plan, but
he thought it was his duty to present the facts of the prob-
lem to the people of his own State, at a time when they were
about to alter the existing constitution. The spirit of the
plan as well as its context shows that Clay had thoroughly
considered the emancipation question from all aspects,
ss Louisville Weekly Journal, September 26, 184^.
s^mies' J&egister, May », 1849.
Clay, CassiuB, MeTnoirs, pp. 17'5-178.
CodlinB, History of Kentuclcy, Vol. 1, p. 59.
Slavbby in Kentucky 323
especially in relation to its practical operation. The actual
plan was based on three principles: (1) that any gradual
emancipation should be slow in its operation, so as not to
disturb the existing habits of society; (2) as an indispen-
sable condition the liberated slaves were to be sent out of
the State and colonized in Africa; (3) and the expenses of
their transportation and six months subsistence were to be
borne by a fund supplied by the labor of the freed negro.
Eegarding the progressive plan of liberation, Clay sug-
gested that a certain date, January 1, 1855 or 1860, be fixed
for the commencement of the plan. All slaves born after
that date were to be free at the age of twenty-five ; but they
were liable thereafter to be hired out under State authority
for a period of not more than three years, in order to raise
money to pay for their expenses of transportation to their
colony and their subsistence for the term of six months. It
was suggested that the offspring of those who were to be
free at twenty-five should be free at their birth, but subject
to apprenticeship until they reached their majority and
then to be hired out as in the case of the parent to pay the
expenses of transportation to the colony and their settle-
ment there. In the meanwhile the master would have the
usual legal rights over the slaves and could sell, devise or
remove them out of the State.
Clay considered colonization to be an indispensable part
of his scheme and went so far as to say that he would be
'* utterly opposed'* to any system of emancipation without
it. He firmly believed that the nearly two hundred thou-
sand blacks along with their descendants * * could never live
in peace and harmony and equality with the residue of the
population*' if they were free. He thought the expense of
colonizing should be borne by a fund from the labor of the
liberated Negro because he was the individual who secured
the most benefit thereby. The non-slaveholder should not
be taxed for any share in the expense and the slaveholder
would have enough sacrifices to make without any addi-
tional financial burdens. Clay figured that the average
324 JouBNAL OP Nbgbo Histoby
annual hire of each slave would be about fifty dollars, or
one hundred and fifty dollars for the whole period of three
years. One third of this sum would be required for the
transportation of the Negro to Africa and the other two
thirds would go towards a fund to establish him in his new
country.'^
The persistence of Clay in his avowed convictions on
the subject of slavery and emancipation in Kentucky was
kept up in spite of the fact that within a few days after the
publication of his plan of emancipation throughout Ken-
tucky the House of Eepresentatives at Frankfort by the
unanimous vote of 93 to declared that **we the represen-
tatives of the people of Kentucky, are opposed to abolition
or emancipation of slavery in any shape or form whatever,
except as now provided by the laws and constitution of the
state. '*^® This was their answer to the plea set forth by
Clay and strange to say the same group of men voted unan-
imously at the same session to return Clay for six years
more to the United States Senate.
A convention of the so-called *' Friends of Constitutional
S7 Clay endeavored in Mb plan to be fair to all parties concerned, not only
the Negro but the slave owner as well, as is well evident in the following para-
graph, in which he sought to show the justice of his scheme to the holders of
Negroes in the State:
''That the system will be attended with some sacrifices on the part of the
slaveholders, which are to be regretted, need not be denied. What great and
beneficent enterprise was ever accomplished without risk and sacrifice! But
these sacrifices are distant, contingent, and inconsiderable. Assuming the
year 1860 for the commencement of the erystem, all slaves born prior to that
time would remain such during their lives, and the present loss of the slave-
holder would be only the difference in value of the female slave whose off-
spring, if she had any, bom after the first day of January, 1860, should be
free at the age of twenty-five or should be slaves for Hf e. In the meantime, if
the right to remove or sell the slave out of the State should be exercised, that
trifiing loss would not be incurred. The slaveholder, after the commencement
of the system, would lose the difference between the value of the slaves for life
and slaves until the age of twenty-five years. He might also incur some incon-
siderable expense in rearing from their birth the issue of those who were to be
free at twenty-five, until they were old enough to be apprenticed out; but as it
is probable that they would be most generally bound to Imn, he would receive
some indemnity from their services until they attained their majority."
»8 Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. 1, p. 58.
Slavbby in Kentucky 325
Eeform** had been held at the State capital on February 5,
1849, and had drawn up a series of twelve resolutions on
the several questions which were to be debated in the con-
stitutional convention. They made mention incidentally of
the desired reforms in connection with slavery stating
''that we do not desire or contemplate any change in the
relative condition of master and slave in the new Cfonstitu-
tion, and intend a firm and decided resistance to any such
change. We have no objection to a proper provision for
colonizing the present free blacks, and those who shall here-
after be set free, but protest against abolition or emancipa-
tion without the consent of the owner, unless upon full com-
I)ensation and colonization. ' *'*
This element dominated the convention. The body not
only ignored any plan of emancipation but drew the reins
of the existing institution tighter than ever before by incor-
porating in the Bill of Eights the famous phrase that ' ' the
right of property is before and higher than any constitu-
tional sanction, and the right of the owner of a slave to such
slave and its increase is the same and as inviolable as the
right of the owner of any property whatsoever.*' Such a
statement was, however, not brought on by the words of
Clay, but was a direct answer to the ''higher law than the
constitution** plea of the abolitionists.*^ The convention
amended the standard article on slavery with a section to
the effect that the "General Assembly should pass laws
••Nilea' Begister, Pebniary 21, 1849.
M W€ know how day felt about this matter, for he referred to it at length
in his speech in the Senate on February 20, 1850, in the debate on the Cknn-
promise resolutione. Speaking particularly of his letter of emancipation he
declared: ''I knew at the moment that I wrote that letter in New Orleans, as
well as I know at this moment, that a majority of the people of Kentucky
would not adopt my scheme, or probably any project whatever of gradual
emancipation. Perfectly well did I know it; but I was anxious that, if any
of my posterity, or any human being who comes after me, should have occasion
to look into my sentiments, and ascertain what they were on this great institu-
tion of slavery, to put them on record then; and ineffectual as I saw the project
would be, I felt it was a duty which I owed to myself, to truth, to my
country, and to my God, to record my sentiments. The State of Kentucky has
decided as I anticipated she would do. I regret it; but I acquiesce in- her de-
cision." — Colton, Beed & MdKinley, Works of Henry Clay, Vol. 3, p. 353.
326 JouBNAL OF Nbgbo Histoby
providing that any free negro or mulatto immigrating to,
and any slave thereafter emancipated in, and refusing to
leave that State, should be deemed guilty of a felony, pun-
ished by confinement in the penitentiary/'
The obvious purpose of this amendment was to reduce
the number of Negroes in the State. Accordingly every
slave emancipated was forced to leave the State and the
Negro population was decreased just so much every time
any slaves were set free. The convention was thus willing
to do something towards eliminating the Negro, but was not
in favor of any scheme of a general gradual liberation of the
slaves. The necessary legislative act for carrying out the
provision of the constitution was enacted March 24, 1851.*^
This law only went half way in that it only prevented those
Negroes who had been freed in Kentucky from living in the
State. It was not until March 3, 1860, that the prohibition
was extended to all free Negro immigration into the State.*^
An interesting development of this policy was shown in the
enactment of the legislature in 1863 which declared it un-
lawful for any Negro or mulatto claiming to be free under
the Emancipation Proclamation to migrate to or remain in
the State. Any Negro violating this law was to be treated
as a runaway slave.* ^
The desire of the State authorities to eliminate the free
Negro was accompanied by constructive measures in behalf
of the emancipated slave. On March 3, 1856, the State leg-
islature passed a law appropriating $5,000 annually to aid
the Kentucky Colonization Society in the transportation of
free Negroes to Liberia.** The universal sentiment of the
time was that the salvation of the Negro race rested in their
elimination from the State even as free men and their trans-
portation to their native African soil. Henry Clay of all
others was the most persistent advocate of colonization.
We have seen that the general trend of public opinion
from about 1798 had been progressively in favor of gradual
*i Collins, Eiatory of Kentucky, VoL 1, p. 61.
^^Ihid., VoL 1, p. Sa.
«sSefl6ion Laws of 1363; p. 366.
4* Ihid., 1856, Vol. 1, p. 50.
J
'
Slavbby in Kentucky 327
emancipation provided it was coupled with some form of
colonization which would remove the liberated Negroes from
the State. Public sentiment, however, received a serious
set-back about 1838 with the beginning of the Underground
Railroad system and the incoming of the abolitionist litera-
ture. In a speech in the Kentucky legislature of 1838 James
T. Morehead, one of the leading anti-slavery statesmen of
the State, portrayed the coming of the newer era in the
history of Kentucky slavery when the people would make
more strenuous efforts to hold firmly to the slavery institu-
tion. Morehead pictured the popular mind in these words :
'*Any man who desires to see slavery abolished— any friend
of emancipation, gradual or immediate— who supposes for
a moment that now is the time to carry out this favorite
policy, must be blind to the prognostics that lower from
every quarter of the political sky. Sir, the present is not the
period to unmanacle the slave in this or any other state of
the Union. Four years ago you might have had some hope.
But the wild spirit of fanaticism has done much to retard
the work of emancipation and to rivet the fetters of slaverj-
in Kentucky. . . . The advocates of abolition— the phren-
zied fanatics of the North, neither sleep nor slumber.
Their footsteps are even now to be seen wherever mischief
can be perpetrated — and it may be that while the i)eople of
Kentucky are reposing in the confidence of fancied security,
the tocsin of rebellion may resound through the land— the
firebrand of the incendiary may wrap their dwellings in
flames — their towns and cities may become heaps of ashes
before their eyes and their minds drawn off from all
thoughts of reforming the government to consider the means
necessary for their self-preservation— the protection of
their families and all that is dear to men. ' ^^^
Such was the idea of one of the most prominent public
men of Kentucky and such became in time the opinion of the
average citizen who had come to believe in gradual emanci-
pation as the hope and solution of the Negro problem in the
State. The future course of events regarding slavery in
«6 MayavUle Eagle, April 11, 18^8.
328 JouBKAL OF Negbo Histoby
Kentucky is to be explained by this radical change of mind.
Thus did the wise and constructive plans of the gradual
emancipationists come to naught with the incoming of the
radical abolitionist movement which the Kentucky populace
thought would bring about a civil insurrection among the
slaves in their own State. The abolitionists misunderstood
the gradual emancipation movement in Kentucky and really
fanned the flame of the pro-slavery sentiment that came in
its place.
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