DOCUMENT BASED WORK ON SLAVERY

SCHMOLL/HISTORY 231

The key to working with these documents is to get a sense first of all of what they say and only then of what they mean. Once you go through each of the sources, try to start grouping the documents by theme. Then you can start to make some assertions. Try to make historical claims that are backed up by the documents. You may use some of the following language if it helps you to make your historical arguments:

 Based on documents __, __, and __, it seems clear that…

 Document __ seems to stand on its own and does not fit into categories.

 Documents __ and __ seem to suggest that slavery was

 Documents __ and __ illustrate

 What we learn about labor in Virginia from documents __ and __ is

 The role of slaves in Virginia society is clear from documents __ and __ and __. Slaves functioned in the historical trajectory in the following ways:



NOW, LET’S SEE WHAT BRILLIANT ARGUMENT YOU COME UP WITH BELOW:
1.



2.



3.



4.



5.


6.



7.



SCHMOLL/HISTORY231/DOCUMENT BASED WORK ON SLAVERY

1. One Englishman, William Harrison, wrote, (wm harrison) "As for slaves and bondmen, we have none, naie such is the privilege of our countrie, by the especiall grace of God and bountie of our princes, that if anie come hither from other realms, so soone as they set foot on land they become so free of condition as their master , whereby all note of servile bondage is removed from them." (1577, written about England)
2. Sarah Frances Shaw Graves, Age 87 "I was born March 23, 1850 in Kentucky, somewhere near Louisville. I am goin' on 88 years right now. (1937). I was brought to Missouri when I was six months old, along with my mama, who was a slave owned by a man named Shaw, who had allotted her to a man named Jimmie Graves, who came to Missouri to live with his daughter Emily Graves Crowdes. I always lived with Emily Crowdes."
The matter of allotment was confusing to the interviewer and Aunt Sally endeavored to explain.
"Yes'm. Allotted? Yes'm. I'm goin' to explain that, " she replied. "You see there was slave traders in those days, jes' like you got horse and mule an' auto traders now. They bought and sold slaves and hired 'em out. Yes'm, rented 'em out. Allotted means somethin' like hired out. But the slave never got no wages. That all went to the master. The man they was allotted to paid the master."
"I was never sold. My mama was sold only once, but she was hired out many times. Yes'm when a slave was allotted, somebody made a down payment and gave a mortgage for the rest. A chattel mortgage. . . ."
"Allotments made a lot of grief for the slaves," Aunt Sally asserted. "We left my papa in Kentucky, 'cause he was allotted to another man. My papa never knew where my mama went, an' my mama never knew where papa went." Aunt Sally paused a moment, then went on bitterly. "They never wanted mama to know, 'cause they knowed she would never marry so long she knew where he was. Our master wanted her to marry again and raise more children to be slaves. They never wanted mama to know where papa was, an' she never did," sighed Aunt Sally.
3. Sarah Gudger, Age 121
I 'membahs de time when mah mammy wah alive, I wah a small chile, afoah dey tuck huh t' Rims Crick. All us chillens wah playin' in de ya'd one night. Jes' arunnin' an' aplayin' lak chillun will. All a sudden mammy cum to de do' all a'sited. "Cum in heah dis minnit," she say. "Jes look up at what is ahappenin'," and bless yo' life, honey, da sta's wah fallin' jes' lak rain.* Mammy wah tebble skeered, but we chillen wa'nt afeard, no, we wa'nt afeard. But mammy she say evah time a sta' fall, somebuddy gonna die. Look lak lotta folks gonna die f'om de looks ob dem sta's. Ebbathin' wah jes' as bright as day. Yo' cudda pick a pin up. Yo' know de sta's don' shine as bright as dey did back den. I wondah wy dey don'. Dey jes' don' shine as bright. Wa'nt long afoah dey took mah mammy away, and I wah lef' alone.
4. Charley Williams, Age 94
When de day begin to crack de whole plantation break out wid all kinds of noises, and you could tell what going on by de kind of noise you hear.
Come de daybreak you hear de guinea fowls start potracking down at the edge of de woods lot, and den de roosters all start up 'round de barn and de ducks finally wake up and jine in. You can smell de sow belly frying down at the cabins in de "row," to go wid de hoecake and de buttermilk.
Den purty soon de wind rise a little, and you can hear a old bell donging way on some plantation a mile or two off, and den more bells at other places and maybe a horn, and purty soon younder go old Master's old ram horn wid a long toot and den some short toots, and here come de overseer down de row of cabins, hollering right and left, and picking de ham out'n his teeth wid a long shiny goose quill pick.
Bells and horns! Bells for dis and horns for dat! All we knowed was go and come by de bells and horns!


5. SOME SLAVERY STATISTICS:
Slaves as a percentage of Virginia's total population in 1680: 7
Slaves as a percentage of Virginia's total population in 1720: 30
Slaves as a percentage of Virginia's total population in 1770: 42
Number of slaves in Virginia in 1750: 100,000
Number of slaves in Virginia in 1850: 200,000

6. no photo





7. no photo

8. no photo


9.
Charles City County, VA Slave Schedule - 1860 Census
(Number next to name is number of slaves owned - names are listed in order of appearance in census)
Valentine Walker, 7
William H. Hearwood, 7
John L. Parsons, 3
Anthony H. Lamb, 15
Junius Lamb, 3
Jacob Vaiden, 9
Ann E. Vaiden, 9
Thomas H. Wilcox, 1
Thomas J. Mocock, 2
William J. Billifont, 4
Adolphus Goddin, 4
Wyatt B. Walker, 8
Edward T. Haynes, 3
William H. A. Southall, 17
James E. Holdcraft, 3
William F. Walker, 17
Beverly F. Harwood, 3
John M. Harwood, 3
George W. Vaiden, 7
Susan A. Martin, 1
Pleasant D. Ellett, 3
Edward H. Marable, 7
Ann E. Lamb, 14
William S. Graves, 12
Joseph T. Brown, 4
Albert G. Brown, 9
Letitia A. Brown, 4
Robert J. Vaiden, 25
Susan Gregory, 8
Sarah E. Townley, 4
James H. Lipscomb, 3
B. E. Graves, 5
Morris F. Vaiden, 7
James H. Christian, 29
James H. Pierce (in trust), 13
Jerome M. Vaiden, 2
Elizabeth T. Vaiden, 11
Edmund A Sanders, 1
Marieva Sanders, 1
Marietta Sanders, 1
Essy Walker, 4
Robert W. Graves, 4
William F. Graves, 3
Thomas S. Christian, 2
Thomas Bowry, 14
Richard M. Graves, 16
John S. Vaiden, 7
Susan Barrow, 2
Henry B. Hopkins, 22
Henry P. Barrow, 12
Mildred Lacy, 2
Alfred Finch, 5
John Smith, 22
Sarah E. Coleman, 18
Thomas P. Harrison, 10
C. A. M. Harrison, 13
Nanny B. Harrison, 12
Josiah C. Wilson, 60
Charles J. Major, 2
Mary M. Major, 1
Joseph L. New, 6
B. P. Binns, 15
Ann K. C. Otey, 15
Bettie J. Lipscomb, 1
John M. Lamb, 18
Henry M. Clay, 2
James Hubbard, 4
Frances A. Ware, 3
Samuel Waddell, 17
Joyce Binns, 1
William Jordon, 89
Mary A. C. Walker, 23
Sam Brown, 1
L. W. Vaiden, 11
A. M. Ferguson, 28
E. A. Adams, 2
John M. Ferguson, 1
William H. Clopaton (?), 25
John Tyler, 44
George Major, 27
Elizabeth Marable, 1
Anderson Wade, 10
Thomas H. Wilcox, 31
Thomas W. Wilcox, 15
F. L. Douthat, 29
Robert Douthat, 47
Eleanor Douthat, 11
P. F. Gary, 15
William H. Seldon, 44
E. M. Gordon, 5
Tabitha Christian, 14
Edmund Waddell, 3
Richard Christian, 9
George Walker, 10
William H. Taylor, 15
Wm. H. Taylor, 2
Isaac H. Christian, 3
Selden C. Slater, 1
Franklin Gary, 6 Vernon J. M. Castle, 1
Thomas Christian, 39
Philip Haxall, 7
Goerge G. Bowry, 2
Lucy Kezee, 6
Thomas Stagg, 6
Mary A. Mumford, 3
Thomas W. Bradley, 41
Robert T. Epps, 10
B. A. Nance, 16
L. A. Marston, 7
Martha Butler, 13
William A. Marston, 9
Thomas H. Marston, 14
Susan A. Epps, 6
Robert Maddox, 2
Edwin L. Ware, 9
Christopher Maddox, 10
John H. Bowry, 11
Marion Gary, 1
Mary A. Gary, 7
William Otey, 5
R S. C. Robbins, 2
James Lawrence, 8
Nat Lawrence, 8
William A. Pearman, 6
Mary A. Bradly, 1
William Pemberton, 11
Rubin Moss, 3
William M. Warinner, 6
William Warinner, 3
Philip C. Buffet, 2
John M. Barlow, 1
John Rock 3
Priscilla Fauqua, 2
James B. Wayanack, 5
William Waddell, 1
John L. Walker, 10
Lucy Barnes, 7
A. Barnes, 1
James Nance, 2
Patric Pearman, 10
James A. Ladd, 8
Sam Hampton, 1
Isiah Bradly, 1
Allen Bradly, 23
Robert Bradly, 2
Patsy & Rebecca Pierce, 1
Ed James ward R. Phillips, 17
Joseph Gentry, 5
Daniel J. Adams, 7
Alexander A. Bugleston, 43
(agent for Edmund Ruffin)
William E. Christian, 17
Conellum C.Folkes, 8
R. W. Christian, 7
Phillip Christian, 4
Mary Christian, 1
Elizabeth Christian, 5
William H. Hayes, 5
Richard Hayes, 5
Rebecca Hayes, 2
John A. Clark, 2
Archer Taylor, 20
Augustus T. Crenshaw, 22
Gideon Christian, 1
Martha A. Taylor, 9
William E. Gill, 14
Matthew Gentry, 5
Benn Ladd, 1
William H. Pearman, 1
Feeling W. Binnsaft, 1
G. A. Crenshaw, 11
John D. Clark, 10
William H. T. clark, 1
David Haxall, 36
William H. Alexander, 2
John P. Royal, 36
Hill Carter, 142
W. L. Crawford, 42
(agent for Rich Epps)
William L, Shaw, 29
(agent for William M.Harrison)
William Taylor, 2
Del Clark, 1
Miles K. Crenshaw, 13
H. P. Barrow, 1
Richard Folkes, 1
James E. Roane, 31
Powhatan B. Stark, 10
P.B. Stark, 19
Mary M. Orgain, 9
Mary Minge, 6
William A. Harrison, 45
William White, 3
(agent for William Bishop)
Edward Major, 2
George E. Waddell, 16
John A. Selden, 25
Edward Wilcox, 75
William J. Upshaw, 29
Martha A. Taylor, 9
William E. Gill, 14
Matthew Gentry, 5
Benn Ladd, 1
William H. Pearman, 1
Feeling W. Binnsaft, 1
G. A. Crenshaw, 11
John D. Clark, 10
William H. T. clark, 1
John J. Clark, 16
John R. Armistead, 45
John Selden, 53
James M. Wilcox, 82
Edward L. Young, 24
M. P. Barker, 9
employeed. by J. Parker, 6
(owners, William Marable, C. Harrison, E. B.
Anderson, Mary Mumford, Elizabeth Warren)
Theodrick Lipscomb, 182
(agent for Richard Baylor)
Ben Harrison, 32
employeed. by Ben Harrison, 3
(H. D. Gordon, owner)
Archer Harrison, 6
John T. Holt, 9
William R. Stagg, 14
Gideon Christian, 13 (Mary Christian,
owned 4, B. L. Christian owned 7)
Thomas F. Pollard, 9
employeed. by Thomas F. Pollard, 4
(Alfred Finch, owned 2, B. L. Christian
owned 1, L. Royston owned 1)
William A. Winston, 3
James H. Crump, 3
Sam Hampton, 1
Isiah Bradly, 1
Allen Bradly, 23
Robert Bradly, 2
Patsy & Rebecca Pierce, 1
Ed James ward R. Phillips, 17
Joseph Gentry, 5
Daniel J. Adams, 7
Alexander A. Bugleston, 43
(agent for Edmund Ruffin)
William E. Christian, 17
Conellum C.Folkes, 8
R. W. Christian, 7
Phillip Christian, 4
Mary Christian, 1
Elizabeth Christian, 5
William H. Hayes, 5
Richard Hayes, 5
Rebecca Hayes, 2
John A. Clark, 2
Archer Taylor, 20
Augustus T. Crenshaw, 22
Gideon Christian, 1
David Haxall, 36
William H. Alexander, 2
John P. Royal, 36
Hill Carter, 142
W. L. Crawford, 42
(agent for Rich Epps)
William L, Shaw, 29
(agent for William M.Harrison)
William Taylor, 2
Del Clark, 1
Miles K. Crenshaw, 13
H. P. Barrow, 1
Richard Folkes, 1
James E. Roane, 31
Powhatan B. Stark, 10
P.B. Stark, 19
Mary M. Orgain, 9
Mary Minge, 6
William A. Harrison, 45
William White, 3 (agent for William Bishop)
Edward Major, 2
George E. Waddell, 16
John A. Selden, 25
Edward Wilcox, 75
William J. Upshaw, 29
John J. Clark, 16
John R. Armistead, 45
John Selden, 53
James M. Wilcox, 82
Edward L. Young, 24
M. P. Barker, 9
employeed. by J. Parker, 6
(owners, William Marable, C.Harrison, E. B.
Anderson, Mary Mumford, Elizabeth Warren)
Theodrick Lipscomb, 182
(agent for Richard Baylor)
Ben Harrison, 32
employeed. by Ben Harrison, 3
(H. D. Gordon, owner)
Archer Harrison, 6
John T. Holt, 9
William R. Stagg, 14
Gideon Christian, 13 (Mary Christian,
owned 4, B. L. Christian owned 7)
Thomas F. Pollard, 9
employeed. by Thomas F. Pollard, 4
(Alfred Finch, owned 2, B. L. Christian
owned 1, L. Royston owned 1)
William A. Winston, 3
James H. Crump, 3






10.
Slavery In Early America's Colonies: Seeds of Servitude Rooted in The Civil Law of Rome
by Charles P.M. Outwin (1996)

The question of definable humanity in the slave continued to plagued the courts. Though his Negroes were impersonally "salable," an owner was not allowed arbitrarily to kill one "as he could an ox." Indeed, in 1706 it was determined that "the common law takes no notice of negroes (sic) for being different from other men. By common law no man can have property in another, except in special instances ....” The opinion handed down by Sir Philip Yorke, Attorney-General of the realm at the end of 1729, stated that
a slave, by coming from the West Indies, either with or without his master, to Great Britain or Ireland, doth not become free; and that his master's property or right in him is not thereby determined or varied; and baptism doth not bestow freedom on him, nor make any alteration in his temporal condition in these kingdoms.This was an unfortunate decision, because by then American and British legal practice had already begun to diverge along the lines of economic expediency, supported by resort to Roman civil code. American courts in the South were to look more and more to Roman law concerning propertied interest for antecedents. The common law, then, had become victim of its own flexibility.


11. no photo

12. no photo



13. “The Universal Law of Slavery," by George Fitzhugh (most important advocate of slavery) 1857

He the Negro is but a grown up child, and must be governed as a child, not as a lunatic or criminal. The master occupies toward him the place of parent or guardian. We shall not dwell on this view, for no one will differ with us who thinks as we do of the negro's capacity, and we might argue till dooms-day in vain, with those who have a high opinion of the negro's moral and intellectual capacity.
Secondly. The negro is improvident; will not lay up in summer for the wants of winter; will not accumulate in youth for the exigencies of age. He would become an insufferable burden to society. Society has the right to prevent this, and can only do so by subjecting him to domestic slavery. In the last place, the negro race is inferior to the white race, and living in their midst, they would be far outstripped or outwitted in the chaos of free competition. Gradual but certain extermination would be their fate. We presume the maddest abolitionist does not think the negro's providence of habits and money-making capacity at all to compare to those of the whites. This defect of character would alone justify enslaving him, if he is to remain here. In Africa or the West Indies, he would become idolatrous, savage and cannibal, or be devoured by savages and cannibals. At the North he would freeze or starve.
We would remind those who deprecate and sympathize with negro slavery, that his slavery here relieves him from a far more cruel slavery in Africa, or from idolatry and cannibalism, and every brutal vice and crime that can disgrace humanity; and that it christianizes, protects, supports and civilizes him; that it governs him far better than free laborers at the North are governed. There, wife-murder has become a mere holiday pastime; and where so many wives are murdered, almost all must be brutally treated. Nay, more; men who kill their wives or treat them brutally, must be ready for all kinds of crime, and the calendar of crime at the North proves the inference to be correct. Negroes never kill their wives. If it be objected that legally they have no wives, then we reply, that in an experience of more than forty years, we never yet heard of a negro man killing a negro woman. Our negroes are not only better off as to physical comfort than free laborers, but their moral condition is better.
The negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world. The children and the aged and infirm work not at all, and yet have all the comforts and necessaries of life provided for them. They enjoy liberty, because they are oppressed neither by care nor labor. The women do little hard work, and are protected from the despotism of their husbands by their masters. The negro men and stout boys work, on the average, in good weather, not more than nine hours a day. The balance of their time is spent in perfect abandon. Besides' they have their Sabbaths and holidays. White men, with so much of license and liberty, would die of ennui; but negroes luxuriate in corporeal and mental repose. With their faces upturned to the sun, they can sleep at any hour; and quiet sleep is the greatest of human enjoyments. "Blessed be the man who invented sleep." 'Tis happiness in itself--and results from contentment with the present, and confident assurance of the future.
A common charge preferred against slavery is, that it induces idleness with the masters. The trouble, care and labor, of providing for wife, children and slaves, and of properly governing and administering the whole affairs of the farm, is usually borne on small estates by the master. On larger ones, he is aided by an overseer or manager. If they do their duty, their time is fully occupied. If they do not, the estate goes to ruin. The mistress, on Southern farms, is usually more busily, usefully and benevolently occupied than any one on the farm. She unites in her person, the offices of wife, mother, mistress, housekeeper, and sister of charity. And she fulfills all these offices admirably well. The rich men, in free society, may, if they please, lounge about town, visit clubs, attend the theatre, and have no other trouble than that of collecting rents, interest and dividends of stock. In a well constituted slave society, there should be no idlers. But we cannot divine how the capitalists in free society are to put to work. The master labors for the slave, they exchange industrial value. But the capitalist, living on his income, gives nothing to his subjects. He lives by mere exploitations.

The Black American A Documentary History, Third Edition, by Leslie H. Fishel, Jr. and Benjamin Quarles, Scott, Foresman and Company, Illinois, 1976,1970



14. Theodore Dwight Weld, 1839, Slavery as it Really Is
Reader, you are empaneled as a juror to try a plain case and bring in an honest verdict. The question at issue is not one of law, but of fact--"What is the actual condition of the slaves in the United States?" A plainer case never went to a jury. Look at it. Twenty seven hundred thousand persons in this country, men, women, and children, are in slavery. Is slavery, as a condition for human beings, good, bad, or indifferent?...
Two millions seven hundred thousand persons in these States are in this condition. They are made slaves and are held such by force, and by being put in fear, and this for no crime!...
As slaveholders and their apologists are...flooding the world with testimony that their slaves are kindly treated; that they are well fed, well clothed, well housed, well lodged, moderately worked, and bountifully provided with all things needful for their comfort, we propose--first, to disprove their assertions by the testimony of a multitude of impartial witnesses, and then to put slaveholders themselves through a course of cross-questioning which shall draw their condemnation out of their own mouths. We will prove that the slaves in the United States are treated with barbarous inhumanity; that they are overworked, underfed, wretchedly clad and lodged, and have insufficient sleep; that they are often made to wear round their necks iron collars armed with prongs, to drag heavy chains and weights at their feet while working in the field, and to wear yokes, and bells, and iron horns; that they are often kept confined in the stocks day and night for weeks together, made to wear gags in their mouths for hours or days, have some of their front teeth torn out or broken off, that they may be easily detected when they run away; that they are frequently flogged with terrible severity, have red pepper rubbed into their lacerated flesh, and hot brine, spirits of turpentine, &c., poured over the gashes to increase the torture; that they are often stripped naked, their backs and limbs cut with knives, bruised and mangled by scores and hundreds of blows with the paddle, and terribly torn by the claws of cats, drawn over them by their tormenters; that they are often hunted with blood hounds and shot down like beasts, or torn in pieces by dogs; that they are often suspended by the arms and whipped and beaten till they faint, and when revived by restoratives, beaten again till they faint, and sometimes till they die; that their ears are often cut off, their eyes knocked out, their bones broken, their flesh branded with red hot irons; that they are maimed, mutilated, and burned to death over slow fires.... We will establish all these facts by the testimony of scores and hundreds of eye witnesses, by the testimony of slaveholders in all parts of the slave states, by slaveholding members of Congress and of state legislatures, by ambassadors to foreign courts, by judges, by doctors of divinity, and clergy men of all denominations, by merchants, mechanics, lawyers and physicians, by presidents and professors in colleges and professional seminaries, by planters, overseers and drivers.