History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880
Chapter 67 : History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880.Vol. 2.by George Was.h.i.+ngton

History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880.

Vol. 2.

by George Was.h.i.+ngton Williams.

NOTE.

This second volume brings the HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA from 1800 down to 1880. It consists of six parts and twenty-nine chapters. Few memories can cover this eventful period of American history. Commencing its career with the Republic, slavery grew with its growth and strengthened with its strength. The dark spectre kept pace and company with liberty until separated by the sword. Beginning with the struggle for restriction or extension of slavery, I have striven to record, in the spirit of honest and impartial historical inquiry, all the events of this period belonging properly to my subject. The development and decay of anti-slavery sentiment at the South; the pious efforts of the good Quakers to ameliorate the condition of the slaves; the service of Negroes as soldiers and sailors; the anti-slavery agitation movement; the insurrections of slaves; the national legislation on the slavery question; the John Brown movement; the war for the Union; the valorous conduct of Negro soldiers; the emanc.i.p.ation proclamations; the reconstruction of the late Confederate States; the errors of reconstruction; the results of emanc.i.p.ation; vital, prison, labor, educational, financial, and social statistics; the exodus--cause and effect; and a sober prophecy of the future,--are all faithfully recorded.

After seven years I am loath to part with the saddest task ever committed to human hands! I have tracked my bleeding countrymen through the widely scattered doc.u.ments of American history; I have listened to their groans, their clanking chains, and melting prayers, until the woes of a race and the agonies of centuries seem to crowd upon my soul as a bitter reality. Many pages of this history have been blistered with my tears; and, although having lived but a little more than a generation, my mind feels as if it were cycles old.

The long spectral hand on the clock of American history points to the completion of the second decade since the American slave became an American citizen. How wondrous have been his strides, how marvellous his achievements! Twenty years ago we were in the midst of a great war for the extinction of slavery; in this anniversary week I complete my task, record the results of that struggle. I modestly strive to lift the Negro race to its pedestal in American history. I raise this post to indicate the progress of humanity; to instruct the present, to inform the future. I commit this work to the considerate judgment of my fellow-citizens of every race, "with malice toward none, and charity for all."

GEO. W. WILLIAMS.

HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA.

Part 4.

_CONSERVATIVE ERA--NEGROES IN THE ARMY AND NAVY._

CHAPTER I.

RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION.

1800-1825.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--SLAVE POPULATION OF 1800.--MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO CONGRESS CALLING ATTENTION TO THE SLAVE-TRADE TO THE COAST OF GUINEA.--GEORGIA CEDES THE TERRITORY LYING WEST OF HER TO BECOME A STATE.--OHIO ADOPTS A STATE CONSt.i.tUTION.--WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF THE TERRITORY OF INDIANA.--AN ACT OF CONGRESS PROHIBITING THE IMPORTATION OF SLAVES INTO THE UNITED STATES OR TERRITORIES.--SLAVE POPULATION OF 1810.--MISSISSIPPI APPLIES FOR ADMISSION INTO THE UNION WITH A SLAVE CONSt.i.tUTION.--CONGRESS BESIEGED BY MEMORIALS URGING MORE SPECIFIC LEGISLATION AGAINST THE SLAVE-TRADE.--PREMIUM OFFERED TO THE INFORMER OF EVERY ILLEGALLY IMPORTED AFRICAN SEIZED WITHIN THE UNITED STATES.--CIRCULAR LETTERS SENT TO THE NAVAL OFFICERS ON THE SEACOAST OF THE SLAVE-HOLDING STATES.--PRESIDENT MONROE'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS ON THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY.--PEt.i.tION PRESENTED BY THE MISSOURI DELEGATES FOR THE ADMISSION OF THAT STATE INTO THE UNION.--THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ARKANSAS TERRITORY.--RESOLUTIONS Pa.s.sED FOR THE RESTRICTION OF SLAVERY IN NEW STATES.--THE MISSOURI CONTROVERSY.--THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES.--AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN NEW JERSEY.--ITS PROVISIONS.--THE ATt.i.tUDE OF THE NORTHERN PRESS ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION.--SLAVE POPULATION OF 1820.--ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT AT THE NORTH.

The nineteenth century opened auspiciously for the cause of the Negro.

Although slavery had ceased to exist in Ma.s.sachusetts and Vermont, the census of 1800 showed that the slave population in the other States was steadily on the increase. In the total population of 5,305,925, there were 893,041 slaves. The subjoined table exhibits the number of slaves in each of the slave-holding States in the year 1800.

CENSUS OF 1800--SLAVE POPULATION.

District of Columbia 3,244 Connecticut 951 Delaware 6,153 Georgia 59,404 Indiana Territory 135 Kentucky 40,343 Maryland 105,635 Mississippi Territory 3,489 New Jersey 12,422 New Hamps.h.i.+re 8 New York 20,343 North Carolina 133,296 Pennsylvania 1,706 Rhode Island 381 South Carolina 146,151 Tennessee 13,584 Virginia 345,796 ------- Aggregate 893,041

On the 2d of January, 1800, a number of Colored citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia presented a memorial to Congress, through the delegate from that city, Mr. Waln, calling attention to the slave-trade to the coast of Guinea. The memorial charged that the slave-trade was clandestinely carried on from various ports of the United States contrary to law; that under this wicked practice free Colored men were often seized and sold as slaves; and that the fugitive-slave law of 1793 subjected them to great inconvenience and severe persecutions. The memorialists did not request Congress to transcend their authority respecting the slave-trade, nor to emanc.i.p.ate the slaves, but only to prepare the way, so that, at an early period, the oppressed might go free.

Upon a motion by Mr. Waln for the reference of the memorial to the Committee on the Slave-trade, Rutledge, Harper, Lee, Randolph, and other Southern members, made speeches against such a reference. They maintained that the pet.i.tion requested Congress to take action on a question over which they had no control. Waln, Thacher, Smilie, Dana, and Gallatin contended that there were portions of the pet.i.tion that came within the jurisdiction of the Const.i.tution, and, therefore, ought to be received and acted upon. Mr. Rutledge demanded the yeas and nays; but in such a spirit as put Mr. Waln on his guard, so he withdrew his motion, and submitted another one by which such parts of the memorial as came within the jurisdiction of Congress should be referred. Mr. Rutledge raised a point of order on the motion of the gentleman from Pennsylvania that a "part" of the memorial could not be referred, but was promptly overruled. Mr. Gray, of Virginia, moved to amend by adding a declaratory clause that the portions of the memorial, not referred, inviting Congress to exercise authority not delegated, "have a tendency to create disquiet and jealousy, and ought, therefore, to receive the pointed disapprobation of this House." After some discussion, it was finally agreed to strike out the last clause and insert the following: "ought therefore to receive no encouragement or countenance from this House." The call of the roll resulted in the adoption of the amendment, with but one vote in the negative by Mr. Thacher, of Maine, an uncompromising enemy of slavery.

The committee to whom the memorial was referred brought in a bill during the session prohibiting American s.h.i.+ps from supplying slaves from the United States to foreign markets.

On the 2d of April, 1802, Georgia ceded the territory lying west of her present limits, now embracing the States of Alabama and Mississippi. Among the conditions she exacted was the following:

"That the territory thus ceded shall become a State, and be admitted into the Union as soon as it shall contain sixty thousand free inhabitants, or at an earlier period, if Congress shall think it expedient, on the same conditions and restrictions, with the same privileges, and in the same manner, as provided in the ordinance of Congress of the 13th day of July, 1787, for the government of the western territory of the United States: which ordinance shall, in all its parts, extend to the territory contained in the present act of cession, the article only excepted which forbids slavery."

The demand was acceded to, and, as the world knows, Alabama and Mississippi became the most cruel slave States in the United States.

Ohio adopted a State const.i.tution in 1802-3, and the residue of the territory not included in the State as it is now, was designated as Indiana Territory. William Henry Harrison was appointed governor. One of the earliest moves of the government of the new territory was to secure a modification of the ordinance of 1787 by which slavery or involuntary servitude was prohibited in the territory northwest of the Ohio River. It was ordered by a convention presided over by Gen.

Harrison in 1802-3, that a memorial be sent to Congress urging a restriction of the ordinance of 1787. It was referred to a select committee, with John Randolph as chairman. On the 2d of March, 1803, he made a report by the unanimous request of his committee, and the portion referring to slavery was as follows:

"The rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces, in the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in that region. That this labor--demonstrably the dearest of any--can only be employed in the cultivation of products more valuable than any known to that quarter of the United States; that the committee deem it highly dangerous and inexpedient to impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity of the northwestern country, and to give strength and security to that extensive frontier. In the salutary operations of this sagacious and benevolent restraint, it is believed that the inhabitants of Indiana will, at no very distant day, find ample remuneration for a temporary privation of labor and of emigration."

After discussing the subject-matter embodied in the memorial from the territory of Indiana, the committee presented eight resolves, one of which related to the subject of slavery, and was as follows:

"_Resolved_, That it is inexpedient to suspend, for a limited time, the operation of the sixth article of the compact between the original States and the people and the States west of the river Ohio."

Congress was about to close its session, and, therefore, there was no action taken upon this report. At the next session it went into the hands of a new committee whose chairman was Caesar Rodney, of Delaware, who had just been elected to Congress. On the 17th of February, 1804, Mr. Rodney made the following report:

"That taking into their consideration the facts stated in the said memorial and pet.i.tion, they are induced to believe that a qualified suspension, for a limited time, of the sixth article of compact between the original States and the people and States west of the river Ohio, might be productive of benefit and advantage to said territory."

After discussing other matters contained in the Indiana pet.i.tion, the committee says, in reference to slavery:

"That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery within the said territory, be suspended in a qualified manner for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of slaves born within the United States, from any of the individual States: _provided_, that such individual State does not permit the importation of slaves from foreign countries; _and_ provided _further_, that the descendants of all such slaves shall, if males, be free at the age of twenty-five years, and, if female, at the age of twenty-one years."

The House did not take up and act upon this report, and so the matter pa.s.sed for the time being. But the original memorial, with several pet.i.tions of like import, came before Congress in 1805-6. They were referred to a select committee, and on the 14th of February, 1806, Mr.

Garnett, of Virginia, the chairman, made the following favorable report:

"That, having attentively considered the facts stated in the said pet.i.tions and memorials, they are of opinion that a qualified suspension for a limited time, of the sixth article of compact between the original States and the people and States west of the river Ohio, would be beneficial to the people of the Indiana Territory. The suspension of this article is an object almost universally desired in that Territory.

"It appears to your committee to be a question entirely different from that between Slavery and Freedom; inasmuch as it would merely occasion the removal of persons, already slaves, from one part of the country to another. The good effects of this suspension, in the present instance, would be to accelerate the population of that Territory, hitherto r.e.t.a.r.ded by the operation of that article of compact, as slave-holders emigrating into the Western country might then indulge any preference which they might feel for a settlement in the Indiana Territory, instead of seeking, as they are now compelled to do, settlements in other States or countries permitting the introduction of slaves. The condition of the slaves themselves would be much ameliorated by it, as it is evident, from experience, that the more they are separated and diffused, the more care and attention are bestowed on them by their masters--each proprietor having it in his power to increase their comforts and conveniences, in proportion to the smallness of their numbers. The dangers, too (if any are to be apprehended), from too large a black population existing in any one section of country, would certainly be very much diminished, if not entirely removed. But whether dangers are to be feared from this source or not, it is certainly an obvious dictate of sound policy to guard against them, as far as possible. If this danger does exist, or there is any cause to apprehend it, and our Western brethren are not only willing but desirous to aid us in taking precautions against it, would it not be wise to accept their a.s.sistance?

"We should benefit ourselves, without injuring them, as their population must always so far exceed any black population which can ever exist in that country, as to render the idea of danger from that source chimerical."

After a lengthy discussion of matters embodied in the Indiana memorial, the committee recommended the following resolve on the question of slavery:

"_Resolved_, That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibits slavery within the Indiana Territory, be suspended for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of slaves born within the United States, from any of the individual States."

The report and resolves were made the special order for the following Monday, but were never called up.

At the opening of the next session, Gen. Harrison presented another letter, accompanied by several resolves pa.s.sed by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives, urging the pa.s.sage of a measure restricting the ordinance of 1787. The letter and enclosures were received on the 21st of January, 1807, and referred to the following select committee: Parke, of Indiana, chairman; Alston, North Carolina; Masters, New York; Morrow, Ohio; Rhea, Tennessee; Sandford, Kentucky; Trigg, Virginia.

On the 12th of February, 1807, the chairman, Mr. Parke, made the following report in favor of the request of the memorialists [the _third_]. It was unanimous.

"The resolutions of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory relate to a suspension, for the term of ten years, of the sixth article of compact between the United States and the Territories and States northwest of the river Ohio, pa.s.sed the 13th July, 1787. That article declares that there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory.

"The suspension of the said article would operate an immediate and essential benefit to the Territory, as emigration to it will be inconsiderable for many years, except from those States where Slavery is tolerated.

"And although it is not considered expedient to force the population of the Territory, yet it is desirable to connect its scattered settlements, and, in admitted political rights, to place it on an equal footing with the different States. From the interior situation of the Territory, it is not believed that slaves could ever become so numerous as to endanger the internal peace or future prosperity of the country. The current of emigration flowing to the Western country, the Territories should all be opened to their introduction. The abstract question of Liberty and Slavery is not involved in the proposed measure, as Slavery now exists to a considerable extent in different parts of the Union; it would not augment the number of slaves, but merely authorize the removal to Indiana of such as are held in bondage in the United States. If Slavery is an evil, means ought to be devised to render it least dangerous to the community, and by which the hapless situation of the slaves would be most ameliorated; and to accomplish these objects, no measure would be so effectual as the one proposed. The Committee, therefore, respectfully submit to the House the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That it is expedient to suspend, from and after the 1st day of January, 1808, the sixth article of compact between the United States and the Territories and States northwest of the Ohio, pa.s.sed the 13th day of July, 1787, for the term of ten years."

Like its predecessor this report was made a special order, but was never taken up.