by Julie Winch
We [were] employed in the military service of the late governor, and we hope we may be permitted to say, that our conduct in that service has ever been distinguished by a ready attention to the duties required of us. Should we be in like manner honored by the American government, to which every principle of interest as well as affection attaches us, permit us to assure your excellency that we shall serve with fidelity and zeal. We therefore respectfully offer our services to the government as a corps of volunteers, agreeably to any arrangement which may be thought expedient.
Source: Republican Star (Maryland), March 20, 1804
Black Voting Rights in New York (1810)
Free men of color in New York who owned property and paid taxes expected to be able to cast their votes on election day, and they generally voted for Federalist candidates. It had not escaped their attention that Federalists tended to favor the abolition of slavery in New York and often championed the rights of African Americans, free and enslaved. In 1821, New York would disfranchise all but the wealthiest black men, while giving the vote to poorer white men, but in 1810, when they held an election rally at the appropriately-named Liberty Hall, black New Yorkers were still optimistic about the future and still firmly in the Federalist camp. New York’s Democratic Republicans criticized them as naive and misguided, but they replied that they were astute enough to know who their friends were.
At a very numerous and respectable meeting of the free people of colour, held . . . on Saturday evening, April 21, at Liberty Hall, for the purpose of taking into consideration, and of approving of those Candidates that [were] nominated by the Federal Committee . . .
Resolved unanimously, That as free People of Colour, in a Land of Liberty, we claim the privilege, to assemble in a peaceable manner, especially on an occasion so important as the present. . . .
Resolved unanimously, That . . . we are determined to support the Federalist Ticket, fully convinced that from the American Independence the Constitution of these U. States was Federal, and approved of by Washington, the Saviour of our Country, who was first in war and first in peace.
Resolved unanimously, That we owe our gratitude to the Present Corporation of the City of N. York—that we will use all our exertions in behalf of the Federal Ticket, trusting that if Federal men are elevated to the highest offices in the government we shall enjoy the blessings of Liberty and Justice.
Source: New York Spectator, April 25, 1810
African-American Cultural and Religious Life in Baltimore (1810)
Although slavery was legal in Maryland, Baltimore had one of the largest free black communities in the nation. The wave of emancipations that had taken place across the Upper South in the 1780s, combined with the economic opportunities that Baltimore offered to black migrants, resulted in a free population that numbered almost 4,000 by 1810. However, numbers did not translate into social equality. It would have been unthinkable, for instance, to have asked whites and blacks to sit together, or even enter a building by the same door. On this occasion, black community leaders were eager to display the talents of their young people, raise funds for a new church, and convince upper-class whites that they, too, were law-abiding citizens who valued education and religion.
There will be an exhibition of the African School on Tuesday night next, in the African Church, in Sharp-street. The performance will commence with singing and prayer, after which the Constitution of the Baltimore African Library Society for Mutual Relief will be read . . . and 5 appropriate speeches spoken by 5 of the pupils. Next, a collection will be made in order to defray the expences [sic] of the night, and the surplus (if any) shall be for the purpose of aiding the Trustees of said Church in lessening the debt that is still due on the African Church recently purchased in Old Town. After which, the whole will be concluded with singing and prayer.
Seats will be reserved in the lower part of the house, for the white gentlemen and ladies that may be disposed to attend, who will be admitted in at the side door without tickets.
Sources: Federal Gazette (Baltimore) July 16, 1810
Protesting Discriminatory Legislation in Pennsylvania (1813)
In 1813, Pennsylvania lawmakers drafted a new law that would have required all black residents to register with the authorities and carry “free papers,” just as their counterparts in many southern states had to do. Anyone who failed to register would be subject to arrest and prosecution. The law would also have stopped any more free blacks entering the state. Freeborn black businessman James Forten (1766–1842) begged lawmakers to reconsider. Forten was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. He had heard the Declaration of Independence read in public for the first time, and he considered himself well qualified to instruct lawmakers on the true meaning of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Ultimately, the Pennsylvania legislature did not pass the proposed law. It was not Forten’s pamphlet that influenced lawmakers. It was the wartime crisis the state was facing. The need to defend Pennsylvania against a possible British attack took precedence over every other issue.
Many of our ancestors were brought here more than one hundred years ago; many of our fathers, many of ourselves, have fought and bled for the Independence of our country. . . . Has the God who made the white man and the black, left any record declaring us a different species?
Are not men of colour sufficiently degraded? Why then increase their degradation? . . . There are men among us of reputation and property, as good citizens as any men can be, and who, for their property, pay as heavy taxes as any citizens are compelled to pay. . . . The villainous part of the community, of all colours, we wish to see punished. . . . Enact laws to punish them severely, but do not let them operate against the innocent as well as the guilty.
By the third section of this bill . . . police officers are authorized to apprehend any black, whether a vagrant or a man of reputable character, who cannot produce a Certificate that he has been registered. He is to be arrayed [arraigned] before a justice, who is thereupon to commit him to prison!—The jailor is to advertise a Freeman, and at the expiration of six months, if no owner appear . . . he is to be exposed to sale, and if not sold to be confined at hard labour for seven years!!—Man of feeling, read this! . . . The Constable, whose antipathy generally against the black is very great, will take every opportunity of hurting his feelings!—Perhaps, he sees him at a distance, and having a mind to raise the boys in hue and cry against him, exclaims, “Halloa! Stop the Negro!” The boys, delighting in the sport, immediately begin to hunt him, and immediately from a hundred tongues, is heard the cry—“Hoa, Negro, where is your Certificate!” —Can any thing be conceived more degrading to humanity!—Can any thing be done more shocking to the principles of Civil Liberty! A person arriving from another state, ignorant . . . of such a law, may fall a victim to its cruel oppression. But he is to be advertised, and if no owner appear—How can an owner appear for a man who is free and belongs to no one!—If no owner appear, he is exposed for sale! . . . My God, what a situation is his. Search the legends of tyranny and find no precedent . . . It stands alone. It has been left for Pennsylvania, to raise her ponderous arm against the liberties of the black whose greatest boast has been, that he resided in a State where Civil Liberty, and sacred Justice were administered alike to all . . .
The fifth section of this bill is also peculiarly hard, inasmuch as it prevents freemen from living where they please.—Pennsylvania has always been a refuge from slavery, and to this state the Southern black, when freed, has flown for safety. Why does he this! When masters in many of the Southern states . . . free a particular black, unless the Black leaves the state in so many hours, any person resident of the said state, can have him arrested and again sold to Slavery:—The hunted black is obliged to flee, or remain and be again a Slave. . . . Where shall he go? . . . Is there no spot on earth that will protect him! Against their inclination, his ancestors were forced from their homes by traders in human flesh, and even under such circumstances, the wretched offspring are de
nied the protection you afford to brutes . . .
Source: Letters from a Man of Colour, on a Late Bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1813)
Protesting African Colonization (1817)
The influential white men who came together in Washington, D.C. in December 1816 to found the American Colonization Society emphasized their concern for the nation’s entire black population, free and enslaved. Some hoped that slavery would soon be abolished and they saw the colonization of free blacks as a step toward achieving that goal, while others supported the slave system and thought that free blacks should be shipped off to Africa before they inspired the slaves to rebel. Abolitionists or defenders of slavery, they found the idea of the United States becoming a racially inclusive nation with freedom and equality for all of its people totally unacceptable. While the ACS’s founders spoke of colonizing somewhere in Africa only those free blacks who wanted to leave America, panic set in once the scheme was reported in the press. Black people throughout the North and Upper South feared that the ACS’s true goal was to round them up and deport them. Black Philadelphians were among the first to voice their opposition.
philadelphia, Jan. 1817
At a numerous meeting of the People of Colour, convened at Bethel Church, to take into consideration the propriety of remonstrating against the contemplated measure, that is to exile us from the land of our nativity; james forten was called to the chair, and russel parrott, secretary. The intent of the meeting, having been stated by the Chairman, the following Resolutions were adopted, without one dissenting voice.
WHEREAS our ancestors (not of choice) were the first cultivators of the wilds of America, we their descendants feel ourselves entitled to participate in the blessings of her luxuriant soil, which their blood and sweat manured; and that any measures, having a tendency to banish us from her bosom, would not only be cruel, but in direct violation of those principles, which have been the boast of the republic.
Resolved, that we view with deep abhorrence the unmerited stigma attempted to be cast upon the reputation of the free People of Colour, by the promoters of this measure, “that they are a dangerous and useless part of the community” . . .
Resolved, that we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from the slave population in this country; they are our brethren by the ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrongs; and we feel that there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied advantages for a season.
Source: American Watchman (Wilmington, Delaware), September 20, 1817
Schooling Black Children in the Nation’s Capital (1818)
William Costin and the other free men of color who organized Washington’s Resolute Beneficial Society knew they had to be cautious. In the heart of a slave-holding community they were proposing to open a school for free black children and for slaves whose owners were prepared to enroll them. They were well aware that many whites feared the consequences of educating blacks. Give free blacks the chance to learn to read and write, so the argument went, and they would teach the slaves. Actually send slaves to school and you were asking for trouble. Costin and his friends assured slaveholders that they and the teacher they had hired would make sure there were no “disagreeable occurrences.” The school did operate successfully for a while, but lack of funds soon forced it to close. Few free black parents could pay even the “remarkably moderate” fees the school charged for their children’s education, and whites were simply not prepared to let their slaves attend.
A School
Founded by an association of free people of color of the city of Washington, called the “Resolute Beneficial Society” . . . is now open for the reception of children of free people of color, and others that ladies and gentlemen may think proper to send, to be instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, or other branches of education, applicable to their capacities, by a steady, active and experienced teacher, whose attention is wholly devoted to the purposes described. It is presumed, that free colored families will embrace the advantages thus presented to them, either by subscribing to the funds of the society, or by sending their children to the school; the terms in either case being remarkably moderate. An improvement of the intellect and morals of colored youth being the leading object of this institution, the patronage of benevolent ladies and gentlemen, by donation or subscription, is humbly solicited in aid of the funds—the demands thereon being heavy, and the means at present much too limited . . . And, to avoid disagreeable occurrences, no writings are to be done by the teacher for a slave, neither directly nor indirectly to serve the purposes of a slave, on any account whatsoever. Further particulars may be known, by applying to any of the undersigned officers.
william costin, President
george hicks, Vice President
james harris, Secretary
george bell, Treasurer
archibald johnson, Marshal
fred lewis, Chairman of the Committee
isaac johnson, Committee
scipio beens, Committee
Source: Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), August 29, 1818
South Carolina’s Black Code (1822)
Denmark Vesey’s 1822 plot to seize control of the city of Charleston and liberate the slaves shook whites in South Carolina to the core. The fact that Vesey was a free man, not a slave, and that he was a successful craftsman with his own home and business was something they found especially unnerving. What they failed to understand was that Vesey had been a slave until he won the money in a lottery to buy his freedom. He also had close ties to the slave community. He had numerous family members who were still enslaved. The authorities executed Vesey and his co-conspirators, all of whom were slaves, and then they passed a sweeping new law in an effort to keep the free black community under tight control and prevent any more rebellions. “An Act for the better regulation of free negroes and persons of colour” was one of the harshest black codes in force anywhere in the nation. It stipulated, among other things, that
[N]o free negro or person of colour, who shall leave this state, shall be suffered to return . . .
[E]very free male negro or person of colour, between the age of fifteen and fifty years, within this state, who may not be a native of said state . . . shall pay a tax of fifty dollars per annum . . .
[I]f any vessel shall come into any port or harbor of this state, from any other state or foreign port, having on board any free negroes or persons of colour as cooks, stewards, mariners, or in any other employment on board of said vessel, such free negroes or persons of colour shall be liable to be seized and confined in jail, until said vessel shall clear out and depart from this state . . . And . . . the captain of said vessel shall be bound to carry away the said free negro or free person of colour, and to pay the expenses of his detention, and in case of his neglect or refusal so to do . . . such free negroes or persons of colour shall be deemed and taken as absolute slaves, and sold. . . .
[E]very free male negro, mulatto or mestizo in this state, above the age of fifteen years, shall be compelled to have a guardian, who shall be a respectable freeholder of the district in which said free negro, mulatto or mestizo shall reside; and it shall be the duty of the said guardian to go before the clerk of the court of the said district . . . and . . . give to the clerk his certificate, that the said negro, mulatto or mestizo . . . is of good character and correct habits . . .
[I]f any person or persons shall counsel, aid, or hire any slave or slaves, free negroes, or persons of colour, to raise a rebellion . . . such person or persons on conviction thereof, shall be adjudged felons, and suffer death.
Source: Charleston City Gazette, January 6, 1823
Emigration to Haiti (1824–1825)
In 1817, black Philadelphians had roundly rejected the idea of leaving America for West Africa. Black people elsewhere were equally hostile. However, when the president of Haiti announced his resettlement plan, he found many eager recruits. To thousands of free blacks th
e idea of emigrating to an independent black republic in the Americas was much more appealing than venturing off to a white-run colony in Africa. “Doctor” Belfast Burton (ca. 1775–1849), a skilled healer from Philadelphia, leaped at the chance to go to Haiti. Most of the emigrants soon returned to the United States disappointed and disillusioned, but Burton was full of enthusiasm, as his letter to his old friend Richard Allen shows. (It is worth noting, though, that Burton himself eventually came back to live in Philadelphia.)
I will remark that no man can have any just conception of the country without seeing it, and I had no idea of there being any such place on the globe . . . It is well known there are some people who will not be satisfied in any place nor any situation, but those here generally express the highest satisfaction, and say it surpasses their most sanguine expectations. . . . [T]he government gives them the land as promised, and all, whether mechanics, or of any other occupation, receive the like quantity; and if any choose to rent, they still receive their land . . . they receive their four months provisions, and if that does not prove sufficient, they have assurances from [the] government, to be supported, until they can support themselves. The preparations for schools are making. Their religious freedom is most perfect . . . As to war, by invasion from the French, we have scarcely heard anything about it . . . I could say much more, but time will not admit . . .
belfast burton
Source: Spectator (New York), February 25, 1825
