Slavery existed in the Dutch and Swedish colonies of the Delaware Valley, and is documented as early as 1639.[1] William Penn and the colonists who settled Pennsylvania were at first tolerant of slavery, but Quakers and German immigrants were among the first to speak out against it. High tariffs in the 18th century discouraged the importation of additional slaves, and encouraged the use of white indentured servants. Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act (1780) began a slow freeing of slaves, that was not completed until 1847.
Contents |
After the founding of Pennsylvania in 1682, Philadelphia became the region's main port for the import of slaves and throughout Pennsylvania's history the majority of slaves lived in or near that city. Although most slaves came into the colony in small groups, in December of 1684 the slave ship Isabella unloaded a cargo of 150 slaves from Africa. Accurate population figures do not exist for the colonial period, although after 1750 more demographic data is available. Estate records from 1682 to 1705 reveal less than 7% of families in Philadelphia, in the first 13 years of the colony, owned slaves.[2]
The first recorded formal protest against slavery, the 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery was signed by German members of a Quaker congregation. Even though a number of Quakers were slave-owners the Quakers continued a protest against slavery.
William Penn, the proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania had 12 slaves on his estate, Pennsbury. He left the colony in 1701, and never returned.
Until 1700 slaves were under the same laws governing indentured servants. Slaves and free blacks were tried in separate, non-jury courts, beginning in 1700.
Under An Act for the Better Regulating of Negroes in this Province (March 5, 1725–1726), additional laws were established. (Section I) if a slave was sentenced to death the owner would be paid full value for the slave. (Sec II) Duties on slaves transported from other colonies for a crime are doubled. (Sec III) If a slave is freed the owner must have a sureties bond of £30 to indemnify the local government in case he/she becomes incapable of supporting himself. (Sec IV) A freed slave fit but unwilling to work shall be bound out on a year to year basis as the magistrates see fit. And their male children may be bound out until 24 and women children until 21.(Sec V) Free Negroes and Mulattoes cannot entertain, barter or trade with slaves or bound servants in their homes without leave and consent of their master under penalty of fines and whipping. (Sec VI) If fines cannot be paid the freeman can be bound out. (Sec VII) A minister, pastor, or magistrate who marries a negro to a white is fined £100 (Sec VIII) If a white cohabits under pretense of being married with a negro the white will be fined 30 shillings or bound out for seven years and the white persons children will be bound out until 31. If a free negro marries a white they become slaves during life. If a free negro commits fornication or adultery with a white they are bound out for 7 years. The white person shall be punished for fornication or adultery under existing law. (Sec IX) Slaves tippling or drinking at or near a liquor shop or out after nine 10 lashes. (Sec X) If more than 10 miles from their master's home 10 lashes. (Sec XI) Masters not allowed to have their slaves to find and or go to work at their own will a 20 shilling fine. (Sec XII) Harboring or concealing a slave a 30 shillings a day fine. (Sec XIII)Fine to be used to pay the owners of slaves sentenced to death. This law was repealed in 1780.[3]
During the colonial period a long series of laws were passed to restrict the slave trade. Beginning in 1700 duties were imposed on the import of slaves. They were invariably rescinded by the Board of Trade in England and reimposed by the Pennsylvania Assembly. 1700 20 shillings, 1750 40 shillings, 1712 £20, 1715 to 1722 and again in 1725 £5: each time the Law was overturned in London it was re-established in Pennsylvania.[1]
In the first years of the colony slaves were used to clear land and build housing. Once the colony was established they were given different jobs and occupations. In Philadelphia, where the majority of slaves lived, many were household servants while others were trained in different trades. In the data from 1767: 44% of slaves were owned by the 10% wealthiest residents while 05% were owned by the 50% poorest. Slaves were used as a show of conspicuous wealth and were generally household servants among the wealthy; among the middling merchants they were also used for the same jobs as indentured servants and apprentices in the business; and in the ocean shipping sector they were used in gangs in rope-walks, by sail makers, and frequently by sailors who took them along on voyages to increase the share of the ships profit they would receive.[2] In the countryside they were either household servants or farmhands. The exception being in the iron industry. Iron masters would own slaves and would lease local slaves for charcoal manufacture and the surface mining of limestone and iron ore.[4] Since Philadelphia was an unhealthy place during the colonial period with a death rate of 58 per 1,000 many slaves died early and since the proportion of male to female was unfavorable, without the import of new slaves their numbers would not have increased.[2]
The total number of slaves increased to its highest number at the time of the French and Indian War, when the supply of white indentured servants was low. Still, slaves as a percentage of the total population decreased over time.[2] By the time of the American Revolution a number of factors had greatly decreased the scope of slavery in Pennsylvania, including: the Quakers growing disapproval of slavery; the Germans near universal disapproval from the time they arrived in the colony; the Scotch-Irish never as a group having become wealthy enough to afford slaves; the growing affordability of employees compared to indentured servants and slaves during the late colonial period; and a distaste for the institution of slavery caused by revolutionary fervor.[1]
Religious resistance to slavery and the slave-import taxes led to a ban on slave imports in 1767. Slaveholders included: Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, Robert Morris, Edmund Physick and Samuel Mifflin. Franklin and Dickinson, however, both gradually became supporters of abolition.
The first Abolition Act in the United States was passed in 1780 ending future slavery:
That all Persons, as well Negroes, and Mulattos, as others, who shall be born within this State, from and after the Passing of this Act, shall not be deemed and considered as Servants for Life or Slaves; and that all Servitude for Life or Slavery of Children in Consequence of the Slavery of their Mothers, in the Case of all Children born within this State from and after the passing of this Act as aforesaid, shall be, an hereby is, utterly taken away, extinguished and for ever abolished.
It did not free those approximately 6,000 persons already slaves in Pennsylvania and it made their future children indentured servants until they were 28 years old. This act also repealed the acts of 1700 and 1726 ending separate courts and laws specific to Negroes. At this point, slaves had the same rights as bound servants and free Negroes had, in theory, the same rights as free Whites.[5]
In 1780, An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery began a process for freeing the future children of slaves. The first U.S. Census in 1790 showed 3,737 slaves in Pennsylvania (36% of Black population enslaved). By 1810 the total Black population had more than doubled, and there were 795 slaves in Pennsylvania (3% of Black population enslaved).[2]
The following table represents the growth in Pennsylvania's free black population and decline of its slave population[6]
| Year | Free Blacks | Total Blacks | Slaves | Percentage of Blacks Free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1790 | 6,537 | 10,274 | 3,737 | 63.62 |
| 1810 | 22,492 | 23,287 | 795 | 96.58 |
| 1820 | 30,202 | 30,413 | 211 | 99.31 |
| 1840 | 47,854 | 47,918 | 64 | 99.87 |
| 1860 | 56,949 | 56,949 | 0 | 100.00 |
Total abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania did not take place until 1847. By that time, slavery had become a much weaker institution than it had been in the early 18th century.
|
|||||||||||