1. Race, Gender, and Citizenship: The Making of a White Mans Country Prof. French AAS 101 Thursday, Oct. 21

2. Lecture Outline From Servitude to Slavery: The Evolution of Virginias Black Codes Race, Rebellion, and Revolution

3. 2. From Servitude to Slavery: The Evolution of Virginias Black Codes How, in the course of a century, did the words Negro and Slave come to be interchangeable? How did the black codes reshape class relations and gender roles?

4. The Planters First Labor Source: White Indentured Servitude For the first three quarters of the seventeenth century, Virginia tobacco planters relied on white indentured servants from Europe to fill the bulk of their labor needs. Master paid for cost of trans-Atlantic transportation for servant Servant agreed to provide labor for fixed period of indenture (typically seven years). This system of labor was subsidized by the British crown, which awarded the planters a "headright" or land allotment of 50 acres for each servant imported.

5. Legal Status of Indentured Servants v. Slaves Like slaves, indentured servants were considered the chattel property of the masters who had purchased their indentures and could be bought, sold, and inherited. Unlike slaves, indentured servants enjoyed basic rights shared by all of the kings subjects. Their children were considered free. Also, at the end of their terms, servants received freedom dues, which included land, farming implements, etc. Many went on to become small freeholders.

6. The Charter Generation The status of the first generation of Africans to arrive in Virginia – sometimes called the charter generation -- is somewhat ambiguous. The first mention of Negroes in colonial records appears in 1619; the first mention of Negroes in Virginia law does not appear until 1630.

7. There is evidence that African laborers – still few in number -- held a status similar to that of white indentured servants in the early decades of English settlement. Free persons of African descent could demand payment, gain their freedom, legally marry, own property, and even import servants of their own (including white ones). Anthony Johnson: five servants – headrights of 250 acres Richard Johnson: two servants…headrights of 150 acres

8. But there are some clues that persons of African descent were viewed and treated differently than those of European descent by Virginia authorities. Censuses taken in 1624 and 1625 reveal the early subordination of Africans within Virginia society. –last names absent –appear at the end of lists –no place of origin or date of arrival

9. Early Virginia Black Codes 1630: Hugh Davis to be soundly whipped … for abusing himself to the dishonor of God and shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a negro… 1639: All persons except Negroes are to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined at the pleasure of the governor and council. 1640: Robert Sweet to do penance for church according to laws of England, for getting a negroe woman with child and the woman whipt.

10. Other clues to subordinate status of African-Americans As early as 1643, African American women were declared tithables, subject to taxation, whereas Anglo-American women were not.

11. Defining Negro Women as Tithables 1644: It is declared that because there shall be no scruple or evasion as to who are and who are not tithable, it is resolved by the General Assembly that all Negro men and women, and all other men, from the age of sixteen to sixty shall be adjudged tithable.

12. Historian Kathleen Brown on the significance of these taxation laws: Virginia lawmakers began in 1643 to define the social meaning of racial difference by reserving the privileges of womanhood for the masters and husbands of English women. In a colony where many English women worked regularly in tobacco fields, creating a legal identity that would distinguish them from enslaved women was crucial to maintaining traditional English family roles.

13. Cultivating Tobacco in Virginia, 1798. (Sketched from life near FredericksburgCultivating Tobacco in Virginia, 1798. (Sketched from life near Fredericksburg)

14. Beginning in 1661, a series of Virginia laws fixed the status of Negroes as slaves for life and systematically eliminated many of the avenues to freedom enjoyed by the Charter Generation. Moreover, these laws made slaves of all children born to slave women, regardless of the fathers status.

15. Virginia Laws Make Racial Slavery Hereditary 1661: "Be it enacted...that all Negroes or other slaves already within the province and all Negroes and other slaves to be hereafter imported into the province shall serve durante vita (duration of life) and all children born to any Negro or other slaves shall be slaves as their fathers were for the term of their lives." 1662: Children got by an Englishman upon a Negro woman shall be bond or free according to the condition of the mother …

16. 1667 Colonial Virginia Law Removes Christian Conversion as Path to Freedom Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children that are slaves by birth, and by the charity and pity of their owners made partakers of the blessed sacrament of baptism, should by virtue of their baptism does not alter the condition of the person as to his bondage or freedom; masters freed from this doubt may more carefully propagate Christianity by permitting slaves to be admitted to that sacrament.

17. Prohibiting private manumission of slaves 1691: A great inconvenience may happen to this country by setting negroes and mulattoes free, by their entertaining Negroes from their masters service, or receiving stolen goods, or being grown old bringing a charge upon the country... it is enacted that no Negroes, or mulattoes be set free by any person whatsoever, unless such person pay for the transportation of such Negro out of the country within six months after such setting free, upon penalty of ten pounds sterling to the church wardens … 1723: No Negro or Indian slave shall be set free upon any pretense whatsoever, except for some meritorious service to be adjudged by the governor.

18. 1691 Virginia Law Bans Interracial Marriage And for the prevention of that abominable mixture and spurious issue which hereafter may increase as well by Negroes, mullatoes, and Indians intermarrying with English, or other white women, it is enacted that for the time to come, that Whatsoever English or other white man or woman being free shall intermarry with a negroe, mulatto, or Indian man or woman bond or free, shall within three months after such marriage be banished and removed from this dominion forever …

19. 1691 Law Condemns Mixed-Race Offspring of White Women to 30 Years of Servitude If any English woman being free shall have a bastard child by any negro or mulatto … she [shall] pay the sum of fifteen pounds sterling, within one month after such bastard child shall be born, to the Church wardens of the parish where she have delivered of such child … such bastard child [shall] be bound out as a servant by the said Church wardens untill he or she shall attaine the age of thirty years … In case the English woman that shall have a bastard is a servant, she shall be sold by the church wardens (after her time is expired) for five years, and the child serve as aforesaid.)

20. Note that these anti-miscegenation laws discouraged consensual relationships between blacks and whites, yet at the same, rewarded the exploitation of enslaved black women and indentured white women by white men. The mixed race child of an enslaved black women and a white man (whether her master or not) became the property of the slave womans master. The master, in effect, profited from his - - or any white mans --violation of the law.

21. How did these anti-miscegenation laws serve the interests of the white ruling class? RACE: Creation/policing of a bifurcated racial order that excluded mixed-race persons from rights of Englishmen and privileges of whiteness CLASS: Creation/policing of sexual relationships between members of white and black laboring classes GENDER: Policing of white womens sexuality/

22. Virginias Planters Shift from Indentured Servitude to Slave Labor in late 17 th C.

23. In 1668 white servants outnumbered black slaves more than 5 to 1 in the Chesapeake Region. By the 1700, the ratio had been reversed. Why?

24. Beginning in the 1680s, planters began turning away from indentured servitude to slave labor, particularly in the Chesapeake colonies. 1.A steep decline in white immigration from England, as economic conditions improved and new provisions were made for the poor. 2.A sharp increase in the availability of enslaved laborers, thanks to British domination of the African slave trade and the establishment of the slavetrading Royal African Company. 3.Rising life expectancy/declining mortality rates made slaves a better investment 4.Competition from other colonies for European labor

25. Cultural Impact As the demand for slaves in the Chesapeake region increased, the primary source of slaves shifted from the West Indies to the African interior. As a result, a larger and larger proportion of the slaves transported to the Chesapeake region were born in Africa.

26. African Immigrants to Virginia and S.C. in 18 th C.

28. Ira Berlin on the Africanization of African-American Culture Men and women with filed teeth, plaited hair, and ritual scarification were everywhere to be seen. Their music -- particularly their drums -- filled the air with sounds that frightened European and European-American settlers. Their religious practices -- probably polytheistic although sometimes Islamic -- were dismissed as idolatry and devil worship by the established clergy.

29. Description of Runaway Slaves in Virginia Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon), Williamsburg, January 14, 1773. Three Hundred Pounds Reward. RUN away from the Subscriber, in St. Stephen's Parish, South Carolina, about fifteen Months since, two Negro Fellows and a Wench, namely: WILL, GEORGE, and SYLVIA. Will is a Cooper and rough Carpenter, about twenty five Years of Age, five Feet eight Inches high, of a yellowish Complexion, slim made, a little knock-kneed, his Teeth filed, and has his Country Marks in his Face. George is about twenty Years of Age, five Feet five Inches high, of a dark Complexion, is very artful, and has been used to take Care of Horses. Sylvia is a likely young Wench, about five Feet five Inches high, of a yellowish Complexion, her Teeth filed, and has attended in a House.

30. Examples of Filed Teeth and Country Marks from Trinidad, ca. 1830s LINK LINK

31. 2. Resistance, Rebellion, and Revolution

32. Defining Resistance To some historians, resistance applies to all acts of non-cooperation/disobedience on the part of the slaves.

33. Everyday Acts of Resistance -- feigning illness -- stealing/taking from master -- poisoning -- sabotaging the crop -- destroying tools -- mistreating animals -- arson -- running away/running around

34. Resistance v. Non-Cooperation? Historians Christopher Lasch and George Frederickson question whether individual, unorganized forms of non-cooperation constitute resistance. Lasch and Frederickson define resistance as a political concept – that is, collective action designed to subvert the system, to facilitate and regularize escape from it, or at the very least, to force important changes in it.

35. Slave Revolts as Political Action Lasch and Frederickson describe slave revolts as the most rudimentary form of political action.

36. What makes these upheavals political is that they rest on some sense of collective victimization. They require, moreover, at least a minimum of organization and planning.

37. What makes them rudimentary is that they do not aim so much at changing the balance of power as at giving expression to apocalyptic visions of retribution. In most cases, they are directed at particular individuals rather than at larger systems of authority.

38. The weakness of early slave revolts, Lasch and Frederickson argue, lay in the absence of a revolutionary ideology linking individual grievances to collective victimization and a vision of social and political change.

39. The Age of Revolution – particularly the American (1776), French (1789) and Haitian revolutions (1791) – fundamentally transformed the ideological context of slave rebellions.

40. By the end of the 18 th century, historian Eugene Genovese argues, the historical content of slave revolts had shifted decisively. What had been sporadic, localized attempts to secure freedom became linked to a worldwide antislavery movement, aimed at abolishing slavery as a social system.

41. Insurrection Anxieties That the white ruling elite of colonial Virginia feared rebellion among the indentured servants and enslaved Negroes is evident from the passage of increasingly repressive laws throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries:

42. 1638. Act X. All persons except Negroes are to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined at the pleasure of the governor and council.

43. 1680: Whereas the frequent meetings of considerable numbers of Negro slaves under pretense of feasts and burials is judged of dangerous consequence, it is enacted that no Negro or slave may carry arms, such as any club, staff, gun, sword, or other weapon, nor go from his owners plantation without a certificate and then only on necessary occasions; the punishment twenty lashes on the bare back, well laid on. And, further, if any Negro lift up his hand again any Christian he shall receive thirty lashes, and if he absent himself or lie out from his masters service and resist lawful apprehension, he may be killed and this law shall be published every six months.

44. 1682: Whereas the act of 1680 on Negro insurrections has not had the intended effect, it is enacted that church wardens read this and the other act, twice every year, in the time of divine service, or forfeit each of them six hundred pounds of tobacco, and further to prevent insurrections no master or overseer shall allow a Negro slave of another to remain on his plantation above four hours without leave of the slaves own master.

45. 1691: An act for suppressing outlying slaves covering divers subjects, states whereas many times Negroes, mulattoes and other slaves lie hid and lurk in obscure places killing hogs and committing other injuries, it is enacted, that the sheriff may raise so many forces from time to time as he shall think convenient for the effectual apprehending of such Negroes. If they resist or runaway they may be killed of destroyed by gun or otherwise whatsoever, provided that the owner of any slave killed shall be paid four thousand pounds of tobacco by the public.

46. Major American Slave Revolts of the 18 th C 1712: New York – About 25 Indian and black slaves upset over ill-treatment rebelled, killing 9, wounding 6. Some of the alleged conspirators were tortured and hanged; others were burned at stake. Led to passage of restrictive laws. 1739: South Carolina – some 20 slaves living near the Stono River seized guns and ammunition, killed 25 whites, destroyed white-owned stores. Rebel forces grew to hundreds; most were captured or killed, their heads posted on fenceposts in city of Charleston. Led to passage of both restrictive and ameliorative laws.

47. Genovese notes that African-born slaves dominated both the New York and S.C. revolts. The New York rebels espoused traditional African religions, as they understood it, and called for a war on the Christians in a manner suggestive of the early Caribbean obeahmen. The religion of the rebels at Stono appears to have been more clearly syncretic: Angolan slaves with at least a formal adherence to Catholicism sought an alliance with the Spanish in Florida.

48. Why so relatively few slave revolts of note in British Colonial North America as compared to Caribbean and South America? In his book From Rebellion to Revolution (1979), historian Eugene Genovese underscored the conditions favorable to rebellion in the Caribbean and Brazil and the unique obstacles to the organization of successful slave rebellions in the American South.

49. General conditions favoring slave rebellion in Caribbean Islands and South America Depersonalization of master-slave relationship; cultural estrangement of whites and blacks Economic distress and famine Large slaveholding units averaging one hundred or two hundred slaves A divided ruling class Blacks heavily outnumbered whites

50. General conditions favoring slave rebellion in Caribbean Islands and South America African-born slaves outnumbered those born into American slavery (creoles) Social structure of slaveholding regime permits emergence of autonomous black leadership Geographical, social, and political environment provided terrain and opportunity for the formation of colonies of runaway slaves (maroons) strong enough to threaten the plantation regime. (Quilombos of Palmares)

51. Conditions unfavorable to slave rebellion in America South Economic depression did not have same effect on slaves in U.S. that it did in the Caribbean islands (I.e., no widespread famines) U.S. slaveholding units were much smaller than those in sugar colonies, where slaveholding units averaged 100- 200 slaves. Slave society in Old South provided less room for the development of advanced strata of black leaders than in Caribbean Islands and Brazil

52. Conditions unfavorable to slave rebellion in America South (contd) Little dissension within white ruling class. Slaveholders of U.S. had no metropolitan capital in Europe to answer to and shared power effectively in Washington. When faced with threat of slave revolt in early 19 th c., they suppressed internal divisions and established political consensus by eliminating the slavery issue and settling other issues. Blacks remained a minority in U.S. South except in restricted areas (such as South Carolina rice-growing regions)

53. Conditions unfavorable to slave rebellion in America South Maroon activity in the U.S., while by no means trivial, could not spark general revolt as readily as it could elsewhere. The terrain of the Old South put unsual difficulties in the way of would-be maroons. With the exception of Florida, the very geographic isolation and limited means of subsistence drastically reduced both the possibilities for large-scale maroon concentrations and for decisive military-political interventions.

54. The closing of international slave trade (1808) demanded improvement in material conditions of slave life in order to guarantee adequate rate of reproduction. This, in turn, removed one of the prime conditions for revolt. Development of paternalist ideology undermined solidarity of slaves by emphasizing personal relationships between individual slaves and masters. Slaves were led, increasingly, to an accommodation with the regime. Viewing revolt as suicidal, they centered efforts on forms of resistance appropriate to their survival. Conditions unfavorable to slave rebellion in America South

55. Paternalism For Genovese, paternalism describes a world in which masters and slaves -- like lords and serfs of the earlier times -- "faced each other with reciprocal demands and expectations.

56. Masters and slaves had to work out an arrangement that they could both live with -- a kind of truce -- that would minimize open hostility and ensure some measure of stability within the plantation community. Though slaveholders held immense power over slaves, that power was never absolute. And slaves seized every opportunity to win concessions from slaveholders and improve their individual and collective lots.

57. Genovese on Paternalisms Consequences for Slave Resistance Wherever paternalism exists, it undermines solidarity among the oppressed by linking them as individuals to their oppressors. Paternalism created a tendency for slaves to identify with a particular community through identification with its master; it reduced the possibilities for identification with each other as a a class. At the same time, racism undermined the slaves sense of worth as black people and reinforced their dependence on white masters.

58. Genovese argues that both blacks and whites accepted paternalism, but with radically different interpretations. Masters embraced the ideology because it allowed them to justify their subordination of the slaves. Slaves embraced the ideology because it afforded them some measure of bargaining power and, ultimately, affirmed their humanity.

59. Rise of Antislavery Sentiment in late 18 th Century Fueled by Spread of Enlightenment ideals/ revolutionary ideology Evangelical Christianity – all men equal in eyes of God

60. Upper South: liberalization of Black Codes and increase in manumission slaves New England and mid-Atlantic: gradual abolition of slavery

61. A Revolutionary Era Change of Policy on Tithables 1769: The law which declared all free Negro, mulatto, and Indian women and all wives of free Negroes to be tithable is found very burdensome to such Negroes, and moreover derogatory of the rights of free-born subjects. It is therefore enacted that all free Negro and Indian women, and all wives, other than slaves, of free Negroes and Indians are exempt from being tithables, and from the payment of public or parish levies.

62. Early Virginia colonial law defined free blacks as pariahs and imposed strict conditions on private manumission to discourage the growth of the free black population.

63. 1691: A great inconvenience may happen to this country by setting negroes and mulattoes free, by their entertaining Negroes from their masters service, or receiving stolen goods, or being grown old bringing a charge upon the country... it is enacted that no Negroes, or mulattoes be set free by any person whatsoever, unless such person pay for the transportation of such Negro out of the country within six months after such setting free, upon penalty of ten pounds sterling to the church wardens … 1723: No Negro or Indian slave shall be set free upon any pretense whatsoever, except for some meritorious service to be adjudged by the governor.

64. A Revolutionary Era Shift in Policy on Manumission 1769: Thomas Jefferson prevails upon Richard Bland to introduce in Virginias colonial legislature an initiative to ease restrictions on private manumission. The measure, pushed by Southern Quakers and Methodists, is soundly defeated. 1782: Virginia state legislature enacts liberalized manumission law: It is lawful for any person by last will or other instrument in writing, seal and witnessed, to emancipate his slaves.

65. Delaware and Maryland passed similar laws shortly afterward. By 1790, manumission was slaveholders prerogative throughout the South, except in N.C. Even there, many masters (particularly Quakers) flouted the law and allowed slaves to simply go free.

66. Excerpt from George Washington's Last Will and Testament George Washington's Last Will and Testament, in which he manumitted 124 slaves. m Upon the decease my wife, it is my Will & desire th all the Slaves which I hold in own right, shall receive their free. To emancipate them during life, would, tho' earnestly wish me, be attended with such insu ble difficulties on account of thei ixture by Marriages with the er Negroes, as to excite the most pa ful sensations, if not disagreeabl onsequences from the latter.

67. Wholesale private emancipation (manumission) released thousands from bondage in Upper South. By the first decade of 19 th century, there were more than 100,000 free blacks in the Southern states – 5 percent of the free population and nearly 9 percent of the black population. Regional variation: Upper South: masters indiscriminately granted freedom Lower South: much more selective Source: Ira Berlin, Slaves Without Masters

68. Motives for manumission ideological – revolutionary doctrine of human rights religious – Great Awakening/evangelical egalitarianism – all men equal in sight of God personal – freedom to offspring of white planters, slaves deemed worthy by virtue of meritorious service

69. Question: Why were free blacks tolerated in the South when they so clearly challenged the natural racial order (i.e.: white=free, black=slave)

70. Whites in a slave society viewed free blacks as a valued supplementary labor source free blacks who did not own land worked as sharecroppers or tenant farmers, domestic laborers, or hired hands, a pattern more generally adopted after emancipation Also a source of tax revenue – free blacks were taxed. What happened if they defaulted? Reenslavement/apprenticeship of children

71. Growth of Free Black Population in Virginia, 1780-1810 1780: 1,800 1790: 13,000 (609 percent increase) 1800: 20,000 (58 percent increase) 1810: 30,500 (59 percent increase)

72. Percentage of Free Black Population in Virginia 1790 1800

73. Growth of Free Black Population 1790-1810 in South

74. Growth of Free Black Population 1790-1810 in U.S. Percentage Growth: 1790-1800 – 82.5 percent 1800-1810 -- 72 percent

75. Backlash: Virginia Clamps Down on Manumission and Growth of Free Black Population 1806: If any slave hereafter emancipated shall remain within this Commonwealth more than twelve months after his freedom, he shall forfeit such right, and may be sold by the overseers for the benefit of the poor.

76. Virginia House of Burgesses to the King, April 1772 The importation of Slaves into the Colonies from the Coast of Africa hath long been considered as a Trade of great Inhumanity, and, under its present Encouragement, we have too much Reason to fear will endanger the very Existence of your Majestys American dominions.

77. Address of Virginia House of Burgesses, 1772 (contd) We are sensible that some of your majestys subjects in Great-Britain may reap Emoluments from this Sort of Traffic, but when we consider that it greatly retards the Settlement of the Colonies with more useful inhabitants, and may, in Time, have the most destructive Influence, we presume to hope that the Interest of a few will be disregarded when placed in Competition with the Security and Happiness of such Numbers of your Majestys dutiful and loyal subjects.

78. Thomas Jefferson A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774) Prepared as instructions for Virginias delegates to the First Continental Congress Jefferson cited the Kings veto of anti- slave trade legislation as a prime example of his shameful abuse of power.

79. Jeffersons Summary View of Rights of British America (1774) The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those colonies, where it was unhappily introduced in their infant state. But previous to the enfranchisement of the slaves we have, it is necessary to exclude all further importations from Africa; yet our repeated attempts to effect this by prohibitions, and by imposing duties which might amount to a prohibition, have been hitherto defeated by his majesty's negative: Thus preferring the immediate advantages of a few African corsairs to the lasting interests of the American states, and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this infamous practice.

80. Making the Case for American Independence & Revolution Jefferson warned that the American colonists risked enslavement at the hands of a King who had shown no moral scruples over the continuation of the international slave trade or the perpetuation of domestic slavery in the British American colonies. Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day, he wrote, but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery.

81. American Revolution April 1775 – Outbreak of war June 1775 - Virginias royal governor, Lord Dunmore, takes asylum aboard ship in Yorktown August 1775 – Dunmore initiates unofficial policy of soliciting slaves to augment his military guard October 1775 – Lord Dunmore sails up and down the river, and where he finds a defenceless place, he lands, plunders the plantation and carries off the negroes. November 1775 – Dunmore issues proclamation establishing martial law.

82. Lord Dunmores Proclamation (Dec. 7, 1775) I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to resort to His MAJESTY'S STANDARD, or be looked upon as Traitors to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offenses; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &. &. And I do hereby further declare all indented Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY'S Troops as soon as may be, foe the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Dignity.

83. Virginias slaveholding patriots respond Colonial propagandists urged slaves to cast their lot with their Virginia masters, who pity their condition, who wish in general to make it as easy and comfortable as possible, and who would willingly, if it were in their power, or were they permitted, not only prevent any more negroes from losing their freedom, but restore it to such as have already lost it. Virginia colonial authorities made an official offer of mercy to those slaves who had been seduced into taking up arms for the British.

84. Lord Dunmores Ethiopian Regiment Estimates vary on numbers of runaway slaves enlisted – probably only about 800 Relocated as British American loyalists to Nova Scotia after war Veterans of Dunmores regiment joined other freed slaves in establishing private British colony of Sierra Leone (1792)

85. Declaration of Independence (1776) Jeffersons draft includes this indictment of King George:draft He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people [Africans] who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain, determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold; he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit this execrable commerce …

86. Jeffersons draft revised to eliminate refs to slave trade The Continental Congress, meeting behind closed doors in Philadelphia, voted to delete all but the most oblique references to slavery from the final draft of the Declaration. As Jefferson later explained in his autobiography: autobiography The clause... reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa, was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina & Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary still wished it to continue. Our northern brethren also I believe felt a little tender under those censures; for tho' their people have very few slaves themselves yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others.

87. Declaration of Independence Jeffersons rough draft (contd)... and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off further crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.