Edward Raymond Turner

“ CHAPTER II. Legal Status of the Slave.
The legal origin of slavery [52] in Pennsylvania is not easy to discover, for the statute of 1700, which seems to have recognized slavery there, is, like similar statutes in some of the other American colonies, very indirect and uncertain in its wording. Before this time, it is true, there occur instances where negroes were held for life, so that undoubtedly there was de facto slavery; but by what authority it existed, or how it began, is not clear. It may have grown up to meet the necessities of a new country. ”

“ If ever it be possible not to condemn modern slavery, it might seem that slavery as it existed in Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century was a good, probably for the masters, certainly for the slaves. ”

“ The slave legislation of Pennsylvania involved discriminations based both upon inferior status, and what was regarded as inferior race. Nevertheless it will be shown that in most respects the punishments and restrictions imposed upon negro slaves were either similar to those imposed upon white servants, or involved discriminations based upon the inability of the slave to pay a fine, and upon the fact that mere imprisonment punished the master alone. Moreover, what harshness there was must be ascribed partly to the spirit of the times, which made harsher laws for both white men and black men. ”

“ Many Friends who would have scrupled to buy more slaves, and who were convinced that slave-holding was an evil, yet retained such slaves as they had, through motives of expediency, and also because they believed that negroes held in mild bondage were better off than when free. Against this temporizing policy the reformers fought hard, and aided by the decision of the Yearly Meeting that slaveholders should no longer participate in the affairs of the Society, carried forward their work with such success that within one more generation slavery among the Friends in Pennsylvania had passed away. ”

“ In 1793 the Friends petitioned the Senate for the complete abolition of slavery, and in 1799 they sent a memorial showing their deep concern at the keeping of slaves. In the following year citizens of Philadelphia prayed for abolition, and a few days later the free blacks of the city petitioned that their brethren in bondage be set free, suggesting that a tax be laid upon themselves to help compensate the masters dispossessed. The demand for freedom was supported in other quarters of the state, and undoubtedly a strong feeling was aroused. ”

“ In the first place perpetual service gave rise to a new class of slaves. At first the only ones in Pennsylvania were such negroes as were imported and sold for life. But after a time children were born to them. These children were also slaves, because ownership of a negro held for life involved ownership of his offspring also, since, the negro being debarred by economic helplessness from rearing children, all of his substance belonging to his master, the master must assume the cost of rearing them, and might have the service of the children as recompense. ”

“ In 1700 Penn, anxious to improve their moral condition, sent to the Assembly a bill for the regulation of their marriages, but much to his grief this was defeated. [142] In the absence of such legislation they came under the law which forbade servants to marry during their servitude without the master’s consent. [143] Doubtless in this matter there was much of the laxity which is inseparable from slavery, but it is said that many owners allowed their slaves to marry in accordance with inclination, except that a master would try to have his slaves marry among themselves. ”

“ No negro was to go farther than ten miles from home without written leave from his master, under penalty of ten lashes on his bare back. Nor was he to be away from his master’s house, except by special leave, after nine o’clock at night, nor to be found in tippling-houses, under like penalty. For preventing these things counter-restrictions were imposed upon white people. They were forbidden to employ such negroes, or knowingly to harbor or shelter them, except in very unseasonable weather, under penalty of thirty shillings for every twenty-four hours. ”

“ Negro slaves were subject to another class of restrictions which were made against them rather as slaves than as black men. These concerned freedom of movement and freedom of action. During the earlier years of the colony’s history regulation of the movements of the slaves rested principally in the hands of the owners. The continual complaints about the tumultuous assembling of negroes, to be noticed presently, would seem to indicate that considerable leniency was exercised. [95] But frequently white people lured them away, and harbored and employed them. ”

“ In 1760 hunting on Indians’ lands or on other people’s lands, shooting in the city, or hunting on Sunday, were forbidden under penalty of whipping up to thirty-one lashes. In 1750–1751 the penalty for offending against the night watch in Philadelphia was made twenty-one lashes and imprisonment in the work-house for three days at hard labor; for the second offence, thirty-one lashes and six days. Sometimes it was provided that a slave might be punished as a free man, if his master would stand for him. ”

“ There seems to be no doubt that they were treated much more kindly than the negroes in the West Indies, and that they were far happier than the slaves in the lower South. It is said that they were not obliged to labor more than white people, and, although this may hardly have been so, and although, indeed, there is occasional evidence that they were worked hard, yet for the most part it is clear that they were not overworked. [118] The advertisements of negroes for sale show, as might be expected, that most of the slaves were either house-servants or farm-hands. ”

“ Aside from this one fundamental difference the incidents of each status were nearly the same. The negro held for life was subject to the same restrictions, tried in the same courts, and punished with the same punishments as the white servant. So far as either class was subject to special regulation at this time it was because of the laws for the management of servants, passed in 1683 and 1693, which concerned white servants equally with black slaves. These restrictions were as yet neither numerous nor detailed, being largely directed against free people who abetted servants in wrong doing. ”

“ The white people do not seem to have regarded their negroes as dangerous. [154] Almost never were there efforts for severe repression, and a slave insurrection seems hardly to have been thought of. [155] There are no statistics whatever on which to base an estimate, but judging from the relative frequency of notices it seems probable that crime among the negroes of Pennsylvania during the slavery period--no doubt because they were under better control—was less than at any period thereafter.
But there was a misdemeanor of another kind: negro slaves frequently ran away. ”

“ The plantation system, which is most favorable to the increase of slavery, never appeared in Pennsylvania. During the whole of the eighteenth century the activities of the colony developed along two lines not favorable to negro labor: small farming, and manufacturing and commerce. [47] The small farms were almost always held by people who were too poor to purchase slaves, at least for a long while, and the kind of farming was not such as to make slavery particularly profitable. ”

“ This section asserts that the servant if white shall atone for such theft by additional servitude at the end of his time sufficient to pay for double the value of the goods; but if black he shall be severely whipped in the most public place of the township. [61] It is probable that the law was so worded because it had come to be seen that there were few cases in which a negro could give satisfaction by additional time at the end of his term, since negroes were being held for life. If such be the case, this law may be said to contain the formal recognition of slavery in the colony. ”

“ It is said that in Philadelphia at the time of fairs, the blacks to the number of a thousand of both sexes used to go to “Potter’s Field,” and there amuse themselves, dancing, singing, and rejoicing, in native barbaric fashion. [128]
If, now, from material comfort we turn to the matter of the moral and intellectual well-being of the slaves, we find that considering the time, surprising efforts were made to help them. In Pennsylvania there seems never to have been opposition to improving them. Not much was done, it is true, and perhaps most of the negroes were not reached by the efforts made. ”

“ Whenever men can treat their slaves as men in Pennsylvania treated them, they are living in a moral atmosphere inconsistent with the holding of slaves. Nothing can then preserve slavery but paramount economic needs. In Pennsylvania, since such needs were not paramount, slavery was doomed.
CHAPTER IV. The Breaking up of Slavery—Manumission.
In Pennsylvania the disintegration of slavery began as soon as slavery was established, for there were free negroes in the colony at the beginning of the eighteenth century. ”

“ In commerce no large number of negroes was ever employed, while manufacturing demanded a higher grade of labor than slaves could give. It is true that in some cases where there was an approach to the factory system, and where the work was rough and needed little skill, slaves could answer every purpose. For this reason at the old ironworks negroes were in demand. [48] As a rule, however, this was not the case. It was because of its industrial character that Pennsylvania was peculiarly the colony of indentured white servants. ”

“ This was the source of the second and largest class of slaves. The child of a slave was not necessarily a slave if one of the parents was free. The line of servile descent lay through the mother. [74] Accordingly the child of a slave mother and a free father was a slave, of a free mother and a slave father a servant for a term of years only. The result of the application of this doctrine to the offspring of a negro and a white person was that mulattoes were divided into two classes. Some were servants for a term of years; the others formed a third class of slaves. ”

“ Frequently one member of a negro family bought freedom for another, the husband often paying for his wife, the father for his children. [196] Furthermore it had now become common to bind out negroes for a term of years, and many owners who desired their slaves to be free, found partial compensation in selling them for a limited period, on express condition that all servitude should be terminated strictly in accordance with the contract. By furthering such transactions the benevolent tried to help negroes to gain freedom. ”

“ We also kindly received your advice about negro slaves, and we are one with you, that the multiplying of them, may be of a dangerous consequence, and therefore a Law was made in Pennsylvania laying Twenty pounds Duty upon every one imported there, which Law the Queen was pleas’d to disanull, we would heartily wish that a way might be found to stop the bringing in more here, or at least that Friends may be less concerned in buying or selling, of any that may be brought in, and hope for your assistance with the Government if any farther Law should be made discouraging the importation. ”

“ There had already begun an age of reformers, forerunners by a hundred years of Garrison and his associates, men who were content with nothing less than entire abolition.
The first of the abolitionists was William Southeby of Maryland, who went to Pennsylvania. For years the subject of slavery weighed heavily upon his mind. As early as 1696 he urged the Meeting to take action. His petition to the Provincial Assembly in 1712 asking that all slaves be set free was one of the most memorable incidents in the early struggle against slavery. ”

“ It was feared that people would be driven to the necessity of providing themselves with negro slaves, as property in them seemed more secure. This is probably just what occurred, for the increase of negroes is said to have been alarming. [23] As a result restrictive legislation was tried again in 1761, when the duty was made ten pounds. The law was carried only after considerable effort. While the bill was in the hands of the governor a petition was sent to him, signed by twenty-four merchants of Philadelphia, who set forth the scarcity and high price of labor, and their need of slaves. ”

“ Three years later the Friends of Germantown issued their celebrated protest against slavery, [59] while in 1693 George Keith denounced the practice of enslaving men and holding them in perpetual bondage. [60] Meanwhile no law was made authorizing slavery in the colony, and no court seems to have been called upon to decide whether slavery was legal. It is not until 1700 that a statute was passed bearing upon the subject. In that year a law for the regulation of servants contains a section designed to prevent the embezzlement by servants of their masters’ goods. ”

“ By that time merchants of Philadelphia made the importation of negroes a regular part of their business. [9] Thenceforth they are a noticeable factor in the life of the colony.
While there was an active demand for negroes, there was, nevertheless, almost from the first, strong opposition to importing them. This is evident from the fact that during the colonial period the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed a long series of acts imposing restrictions upon the traffic. In 1700 a maximum duty of twenty shillings was imposed on each negro imported. ”

“ Opposition on the part of the Friends had begun before Pennsylvania was founded. In 1671 Fox, travelling in the West Indies, advised his brethren in Barbadoes to deal mildly with their negroes, and after certain years of servitude to make them free. Four years later William Edmundson in one of his letters asked how it was possible for men to reconcile Christ’s command, to do as they would be done by, with the practice of holding slaves without hope or expectation of freedom. ”

“ In the period between the middle of the century and the Revolution this older country became well developed and prosperous; farms became larger and better cultivated; there were numerous respectable manufacturers and wealthy merchants. These men could easily afford to have slaves, and large importations might have been expected; but there was no great influx of negroes. Economic conditions were favorable, but ethical influences worked strongly against it. In this eastern half of Pennsylvania two racial elements predominated: the Germans and the English Quakers. ”

“ In 1693 George Keith, leader of a dissenting faction of Quakers, laid down as one of his doctrines that negroes were men, and that slavery was contrary to the religion of Christ; also that masters should set their negroes at liberty after some reasonable time. [204] At a meeting of Friends held in Philadelphia in 1693 the prevailing opinion was that none should buy except to set free. ”

“ That this legislation failed to produce the desired effect is shown by the experience of Philadelphia in dealing with negro disorder. Such disorder was complained of as early as 1693, when, on presentment of the grand jury, it was directed that the constables or any other person should arrest such negroes as they might find gadding abroad on first days of the week, without written permission from the master, and take them to jail, where, after imprisonment, they should be given thirty-nine lashes well laid on, to be paid for by the master. ”

“ The law of 1700, which marked the differentiation of slaves from servants, marked also the beginning of discrimination. For negroes there were to be different punishments as well as a different mode of trial. Murder, buggery, burglary, or rape of a white woman, were to be punished by death; attempted rape by castration; robbing and stealing by whipping, the master to make good the theft. ”

“ The succeeding period was characterized by an inevitable struggle which ensued between considerations of economy and ethics. The attitude of many Friends was that in refusing to buy any more slaves they were fulfilling all reasonable obligations. Sometimes there was a desire to hush up the whole matter and get it out of mind. Isaac Norris tells of a meeting that was large and comfortable, where the business would have gone very well but for the warm pushing by some Friends of Chester in the matter of negroes. ”