Aspects of Slavery and Freedom Seeking in North Carolina Main Menu Creative Commons License Preface and Acknowledgements ArcOnline Maps and ArcStory Maps Additional Project Components Introduction Earth Wood Fire Water Wind Escaping Network to Freedom Underground Railroad Locations Maps and Additional Resources Resources Brian Robinson 351175f8b63e375b96b75c26edde5534c94e8162 Torren Gatson 9cd3f098d43ed240801c35d1d0fd0737b5602944 Rhonda Jones 4c7a2610c10c17f5b487bcebc8abbbf64c221aa6 Arwin Smallwood 329b2d587e93ceaac77a3b3e316b5ce377128ac0 Self-Publish
Euro-Native American Slave Trade
1 2021-12-01T18:28:06+00:00 Brian Robinson 351175f8b63e375b96b75c26edde5534c94e8162 3 1 Arwin Smallwood, (1997). (The Atlas of African-American History and Politics: From the Slave Trade to Modern Times). pp. 192. McGraw Hill. plain 2021-12-01T18:28:06+00:00 Brian Robinson 351175f8b63e375b96b75c26edde5534c94e8162This page is referenced by:
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Water-Seaborne Slave Trade
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Most African/Americans enslaved in North Carolina mainly derived from sister colonies like Virginia and South Carolina overland travel. Those that traveled by way of the sea came primarily from Northern colonies and Southern colonies, West Indies, and some came directly from Africa. Thus, there was slavery in North Carolina before there was a slave law, which was created in 1715.
As settlers left Virginia and settled into the Albemarle region of North Carolina, they brought their slaves. Moreover, it must be kept in mind that many of the early servants in North Carolina were not merely Africans/Americans but also Native Americans.As the demand for slaves increased in the mid-1700s, more slaves were brought into North Carolina through the seaborne slave trade. As more Native Americans became slaves, following a series of wars in North Carolina, many Native Americans were sold into Northern states and the West indies.
British colonists increased demand for slaves derived from the desire to cultivate tobacco along the north border and cultivate rice in the low lands.
The earliest import record was a “negro woman” who came from Virginia through the port of Roanoke on June 6, 1702. However, the bulk of the enslaved imported by way of the sea came from other colonies, with the majority coming from South Carolina. North Carolina’s inability to gain the trades lines that would provide more slaves directly from Africa was a consistent complaint of North Carolina leaders. They were often upset that the people of North Carolina had to purchase slaves from Virginia at hire price and often received enslaved persons that were the most non-compliant.Speaking of the problems of buying slaves and complaining of the enslaved behavior of the enslaved people purchased in Virginia, Governor Burrington noted, “those who take such pains to carry Provisions to Virginia at the Charge of a great Land Carriage, do it Chiefly to lodge Money there to purchase Slaves, which are difficult to be bought any other way.” The slaves thus obtained were by no means satisfactory. “Great is the loss this Country has sustained in not being supply’d by vessells from Guinea with Negroes; in any part of the Province the People are able to pay for a ships load; but as none can come directly from Affrica, we are under a necessity to buy the refuse refractory and distemper’d Negroes.”
Nevertheless, North Carolina was able to acquire enslaved people directly from Africa, a few compared to other places, but it is worth noting. For instance, 258 Africans were imported in 1759 from the Windward Coast of Africa, now called the Ivory Coast.
The West Indies did provide North Carolina with several enslaved persons. Over 750 enslaved people were imported into North Carolina from Jamaica.
Most of the enslaved people imported by ship came through the port of Brunswick below the city of Wilmington. The port of Brunswick was destroyed during the American Revolution, and the port of Wilmington was built in its place.
The exact amount of enslaved people imported into North Carolina by way of the sea is not known. Poor and inconsistent record-keeping prevents researchers from gaining an accurate account of slaves imported before and after the ban of the slave trade in 1808. Enslaved people were imported into the United States illegally after the ban. Slaveholders continued to import slaves into North Carolina, which is known to be a fact until 1816, 9 years after the ban on the slave trade.
North Carolina did pass laws to punish those participating in the illegal slave trade. If caught, “Act, North Carolina required that "each and every negro, mulatto, or person of colour, imported into this state from any foreign port or place, for a slave, or to be held to service of labor" be "sold and disposed of for the use of the State"
Suppression of the Slave Trade, W.E.B. Dubois
Men and Women Born Born in America
A few examples are presented below:
- The Carolina (Sloop Lucy) vs Slave Sampson, 1814: A slave named Sergeant Sampson was taken aboard the private armed schooner Carolina from the British sloop Lucy.
- U.S. vs 2 Boats and Slaves, 1814:The case involves 7 slaves, whose names and combined values are given. They were aboard the private armed schooner Mary.
- U.S. vs St. Jose el Dilegente, 1817: 5 slaves were brought to Elizabeth City from the island of Old Providence. Samuel Sifson owned them. The case contains several depositions.
- U.S. vs Schooner Commerce, 1810: 3 slaves were brought to the port of Camden aboard the ship Commerce from the West Indies.
If more were imported after 1817, it was hidden, not caught, or not recorded as before. It is essential to keep in mind that no one record is perfect.Regarding the seaborne slave trade, not only are the records of how many enslaved people entered the state by way of sea less than accurate but it must be kept in mind that North Carolina temporarily banned or restricted slave imports several times during the colonial period. Although these restrictions were not executed perfectly, these laws stifled some importation, as did the American Revolutionary War.
After the revolution, there was an increased desire to import slaves. As a result, most enslaved persons docked in Wilmington and the parts of Beaufort and Roanoke.
The desire for more slaves stemmed from the desire to build canals, cultivate tobacco and rice. For instance, 80 to 100 Africans were imported by the Lake Company to build a canal connecting Lake Phelps to the Scuppernong river-off the Albemarle sound. As a result, this company was able to import at least 150 Africans.
The Lake Company - North Carolina History Project
The irony of the slave trade by sea, along the coast of America and the West Indies, was that some of the vessels were made by slave labor or by the products gained from slave labor.
Enslaved persons coming forced migrating to North Carolina way of a vessel often came with mixed cargo, meaning these were not slave ships. Instead, imported slaves were often a private focus or payment for naval stores "that formed a market in the mainland colonies and the west indies.” Thus, the number of enslaved people coming by ship was not substantial and contributed little to the increase of the black population in North Carolina. Nonetheless, this history is worth knowing and provides a greater understanding of the development of slavery in North Carolina.
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The Native American Slave Trade, the Legalization of Slavery, the Rise of Slave Codes, and the Growth of the African Slave Population in the English Colonies (1650-1755)
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Slavery had been practiced by the English in Virginia as early as 1610. Many of the early slaves were Native Americans, mostly the Algonquians of coastal Virginia and North Carolina. By the 1680s English settlers were routinely kidnaping Native American women and children in the coastal plains of North Carolina and Virginia in order to sell them. This Native American slave trade involved a number of colonies, including Virginia, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Kitts, and Nevis. So many Indian slaves were being traded to Pennsylvania that Pennsylvania passed a law in 1705 forbidding the importation of Carolina Indian slaves. This law crune about to avoid conflict with the Iroquois confederacy, who threatened to militarily intervene to stop the trade.
From 1680 to 1715 thousands of Indians were sold into slavery by the English; some were sent as far away as the Caribbean. Indian slavery, however, was filled with problems, not the least of which were Indian attacks, and by 1720 Indian slavery was abandoned for African slavery. Although in 1640 there were only 1,600 Africans in the thirteen colonies (New York contained the majority, with 500), over the next three decades the number would continue to grow with the legalization of the institution and the introduction of race-based slavery.
The first colonies to legalize slavery were Massachusetts in 1641, Connecticut in 1650, Virginia in 1661, Maryland in 1663, New York in 1665, and South Carolina in 1682. The south ern and Caribbean colonies unlike the northern colonies became increasingly dependent on slaves to run large tobacco, rice and indigo, and sugar plantations. Although the laws of Massachusetts, Connecticut, ai1d Virginia recognized the institution of slavery, Maryland held the distinction of being the first. colony in 1661-to man date slavery as a lifelong condition for Africans and their children, a step that preceded its actual statutory recognition of the institution in 1663. Virginia followed suit in 1670, defining slavery as a lifelong inheritable "racial" status.
As settlements spread along the Atlantic coast, so did the need for slave labor and the legalization of slavery. With the onset of the eighteenth century, the remaining colonies legalized slavery, be ginning with Pennsylvania in 1700 and followed closely by New Jersey in 1702 and Rhode Island in 1703. The legalization of slavery in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Rhode Island was especially surprising, considering that these colonies were heavily populated by the Quakers, who disapproved of the institution of slavery. The last colonies to legalize slavery were Nev; Hampshire in 1714; North Carolina, also a Quaker haven, in 1715; Delaware in 1721; and finally Georgia in 1755. Initially, when it was established in 1732, Georgia was conceived as a penal colony. Its purpose was to rehabilitate criminals for England, as well as serve as a defensive buffer between South Carolina and Spanish Florida. Led by James Oglethorpe, the colony remained alcohol-free and slave-free until 1750. Oglethorpe harbored a strong dislike for slavery, not only because he viewed it as cruel, but because he thought it caused many whites to be lazy and unproductive.
By 1755, however, slavery was legalized throughout the colonies and spread rapidly. As the number of African slaves increased, it became necessary to develop a system to regulate the growing slave population. Many colonies looked to the Spanish. The Spanish were the first to pass codes to prevent slave revolts in the Caribbean. Following the Spanish model, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Maryland fashioned slave codes that regulated every aspect of the slaves' lives. The codes forbade teaching slaves to read and write, and outlawed group gatherings. The codes also required slaves to carry passes and prohibited them from affiliating with free blacks, who were often viewed as instigators of slave revolts.
Despite the comprehensiveness of the slave codes, the severity of punishment and the level of enforcement varied from colony to colony. Georgia and South Carolina developed and enforced the most brutal slave codes in British North America. South Carolina, which had the largest population of slaves in the colonial period-often larger than the white population-enacted the strictest codes. Soon thereafter, Georgia adopted many of the same practices. Scholars have advanced numerous theories to explain the harshness of these codes, one prominent theory being that the codes were precipitated by white fea.rs of the large numbers of enslaved Africans, whom they did not like or trust.