History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 Volume II Part 2

Two Southern States pa.s.sed resolutions,--Delaware and Kentucky: the first in favor of restriction, the last opposed to restriction.

The effort to secure the admission of Missouri with a slave const.i.tution was not dead, but only sleeping. The bill was called up as a special order on the 24th of January, 1820. It occupied most of the time of the House from the 25th of January till the 19th of February, when a bill came from the Senate providing for the admission of Maine into the Union, but containing a rider authorizing the people of Missouri to adopt a State const.i.tution, etc., without restrictions respecting slavery. The bill providing for the admission of Maine had pa.s.sed the House during the early days of the session, and now returned to the House for concurrence in the rider. The debate on the bill and amendments had occupied much of the time of the Senate. In the Judiciary Committee on the 16th of February, the question was taken on amendments to the Maine admission bill, authorizing Missouri to form a State const.i.tution, making no mention of slavery: and twenty-three votes were cast against restriction,--three from Northern States; twenty-one in favor of restriction,--but only two from the South.

Mr. Thomas offered a resolution reaffirming the doctrine of the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, and declaring its applicability to all that territory ceded to the United States by France, under the general designation of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north lat.i.tude, etc. But on the following day he withdrew his original amendment, and submitted the following:

"_And be it further enacted_, That in all the territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, north lat.i.tude, excepting only such part thereof as is included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited. Provided always, that any person escaping into the same, from where labor or service is lawfully claimed in any State or territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid."

Mr. Trimble, of Ohio, offered a subst.i.tute, but it was rejected. The question recurring upon the pa.s.sage of the amendment of Mr. Thomas, excluding slavery from all the territory north and west of Missouri, it was carried by a vote of 34 to 20.

Thus amended, the bill was ordered to engrossment by a vote of 24 to 20. On the 18th of February the bill pa.s.sed, and this was its condition when it came to the House. By a vote of 93 to 72 the House agreed not to leave the Missouri question on the Maine bill as a rider; but immediately thereafter struck out the Thomas Senate amendment by a vote of 159 to 18. The House disagreed to the remaining Senate amendments, striking out the clause restricting slavery in Missouri by a vote of 102 to 68.

Thus rejected, the bill was returned to the Senate shorn of its amendments. After four days of debate in the Senate it was decided not to recede from the attachment of the Missouri subject to the Maine bill; not to recede from the amendment prohibiting slavery west of Missouri, and north of 36 30' north lat.i.tude, and insisted upon the remaining amendments without division.

When the bill was returned to the House a motion was made to insist upon its disagreement to all but section nine of the Senate amendments, and was carried by a vote of 97 to 76.

The Senate asked for a committee of conference upon differences between the two Houses, which was cheerfully granted by the House. On the 2d of March, Mr. Holmes, of Ma.s.sachusetts, as chairman, made the following report:

"1. The Senate should give up the combination of Missouri in the same bill with Maine.

"2. The House should abandon the attempt to restrict Slavery in Missouri.

"3. Both Houses should agree to pa.s.s the Senate's separate Missouri bill, with Mr. Thomas's restriction or compromising proviso, excluding Slavery from all territory north and west of Missouri.

"The report having been read,

"The first and most important question was put, viz.:

"Will the House concur with the Senate in so much of the said amendments as proposes to strike from the fourth section of the [Missouri] bill the provision prohibiting Slavery or involuntary servitude in the contemplated State, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes?"

The vote resulted as follows: For giving up restriction on Missouri, yeas, 90; against giving up restriction of slavery in Missouri, 87.

Mr. Taylor, of New York, offered an amendment to include Arkansas Territory under the prohibition of slavery in the territory west and north of Missouri, but his amendment was cut off by a call for the previous question. Then the House concurred in the Senate amendment excluding forever slavery from the territory west and north of Missouri by a vote of 134 to 42! And on the following day the bill admitting Maine into the Union was pa.s.sed without opposition.

Thus the Northern delegates in Congress were whipped into line, and thus did the South gain her point in the extension of slavery in violation of the sacred compact between the States contained in the ordinance of 1787.

But the struggle was opened afresh when Missouri presented herself for admission on the 16th of November, 1820. The const.i.tution of this new State, adopted by her people on the 19th of July, 1820, contained the following resolutions which greatly angered the Northern members, who so keenly felt the defeat and humiliation they had Suffered so recently:

"The General a.s.sembly shall have no power to pa.s.s laws, first, for the emanc.i.p.ation of Slaves without the consent of their owners, or without paying them, before such emanc.i.p.ation, a full equivalent for such slaves so emanc.i.p.ated; and second: to prevent _bona-fide_ emigrants to this State, or actual settlers therein, from bringing from any of the United States, or from any of their Territories, such persons as may there be deemed to be Slaves, so long as any persons of the same description are allowed to be held as Slaves by the laws of this State.

... "It shall be their duty, as soon as may be, to pa.s.s such laws as may be necessary,

"First, to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to, and settling in, this State, under any pretext whatever."

Upon the motion to admit the State the vote stood: yeas, 79, nays, 93.

Upon a second attempt to admit her, with the understanding that the resolution just quoted should be expunged the vote was worse than before, standing: yeas, 6; nays, 146!

The House now rested, until a joint resolve, admitting her with but a vague and ineffective qualification, came down from the Senate, where it was pa.s.sed by a vote of 26 to 18--six Senators from Free States in the affirmative. Mr. Clay, who had resigned in the recess, and been succeeded, as Speaker, by John W. Taylor, of New York, now appeared as the leader of the Missouri admissionists, and proposed terms of compromise, which were twice voted down by the Northern members, aided by John Randolph and three others from the South, who would have Missouri admitted without condition or qualification. At last, Mr.

Clay proposed a joint committee on this subject, to be chosen by ballot--which the House agreed to by a vote of 101 to 55; and Mr. Clay became its chairman. By this committee it was agreed, that a solemn pledge should be required of the Legislature of Missouri, that the const.i.tution of that State should not be construed to authorize the pa.s.sage of any act, and that no act should be pa.s.sed "by which any of the citizens of either of the States should be excluded from the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are ent.i.tled under the Const.i.tution of the United States." The joint resolution, amended by the addition of this proviso, pa.s.sed the House by 86 yeas to 82 nays; the Senate concurred (Feb. 27, 1821) by 26 yeas to 15 nays--(all Northern but Macon, of N. C.). Missouri complied with the condition, and became an accepted member of the Union. Thus closed the last stage of the fierce Missouri controversy, which for a time seemed to threaten--as so many other controversies have harmlessly threatened--the existence of the Union.

By this time there was scarcely a State in the North but that had organized anti-slavery, or abolition, societies. Pennsylvania boasted of a society that was accomplis.h.i.+ng a great Work. Where it was impossible to secure freedom for the enslaved, religious training was imparted, and many excellent efforts made for the amelioration of the condition of the Negroes, bond and free. A society for promoting the "_Abolition of Slavery_" was formed at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 2d of March, 1786. It adopted an elaborate const.i.tution, which was amended on the 26th of November, 1788. It did an effective work throughout the State; embraced in its members.h.i.+p some of the ablest men of the State; and changed public sentiment for the better by the methods it adopted and the literature it circulated. On the 15th of February, 1804, it secured the pa.s.sage of the following Act for the gradual emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves in the State:

"AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

"SECTION 1. _Be it enacted by the Council and General a.s.sembly of this State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same_, That every child born of a slave within this State, after the fourth day of July next, shall be free; but shall remain the servant of the owner of his or her mother, and the executors, administrators, or a.s.signs of such owner, in the same manner as if such child had been bound to service by the trustees or overseers of the poor, and shall continue in such service, if a male, until the age of twenty-five years, and if a female, until the age of twenty-one years.

"2. _And be it enacted_, That every person being an inhabitant of this State, who shall be ent.i.tled to the service of a child born as aforesaid, after the said fourth day of July next, shall within nine months after the birth of such child, cause to be delivered to the clerk of the county whereof such person shall be an inhabitant, a certificate in writing, containing the name and station of such person, and the name, age, and s.e.x of the child so born; which certificate, whether the same be delivered before or after the said nine months, shall be by the said clerk recorded in a book to be by him provided for that purpose; and such record thereof shall be good evidence of the age of such child; and the clerk of such county shall receive from said person twelve cents for every child so registered; and if any person shall neglect to deliver such certificate to the said clerk within said nine months, such person shall forfeit and pay for every such offence, five dollars, and the further sum of one dollar for every month such person shall neglect to deliver the same, to be sued for and recovered by any person who will sue for the same, the one half to the use of such prosecutor, and the residue to the use of the poor of the towns.h.i.+p in which such delinquent shall reside.

"3. _And be it enacted_, That the person ent.i.tled to the service of any child born as aforesaid, may, nevertheless, within one year after the birth of such child, elect to abandon such right; in which case a notification of such abandonment, under the hand of such person, shall be filed with the clerk of the towns.h.i.+p, or where there may be a county poor-house established, then with the clerk of the board of trustees of said poor-house of the county in which such person shall reside; but every child so abandoned shall be maintained by such person until such child arrives to the age of one year, and thereafter shall be considered as a pauper of such towns.h.i.+p or county, and liable to be bound out by the trustees or overseers of the poor in the same manner as other poor children are directed to be bound out, until, if a male, the age of twenty-five, and if a female, the age of twenty-one; and such child, while such pauper, until it shall be bound out, shall be maintained by the trustees or overseers of the poor of such county or towns.h.i.+p, as the case may be, at the expense of this State; and for that purpose the director of the board of chosen freeholders of the county is hereby required, from time to time, to draw his warrant on the treasurer in favor of such trustees or overseers for the amount of such expense, not exceeding the rate of three dollars per month; provided the accounts for the same be first certified and approved by such board of trustees, or the town committee of such towns.h.i.+p; and every person who shall omit to notify such abandonment as aforesaid, shall be considered as having elected to retain the service of such child, and be liable for its maintenance until the period to which its servitude is limited as aforesaid.

"A. Pa.s.sed at Trenton, Feb. 15, 1804."

The public journals of the larger Northern cities began to take a lively interest in the paramount question of the day, which, without doubt, was the slavery question. Gradual emanc.i.p.ation was doing an excellent work in nearly all the Northern States, as may be seen by the census of 1820. When the entire slave population was footed up it showed an increase of 30 per cent. during the previous ten years, but when examined by States it was found to be on the decrease in all the Northern or free States, except Illinois. The slave population of Virginia had increased only 8 per cent.; North Carolina 21 per cent.; South Carolina 31 per cent.; Tennessee 79 per cent.; Mississippi 92 per cent.; and Louisiana 99 per cent. The slave population by States was as follows:

CENSUS OF 1820--SLAVE POPULATION.

Alabama 41,879 District of Columbia 6,377 Connecticut 97 Delaware 4,509 Georgia 149,654 Illinois 917 Indiana 190 Kentucky 126,732 Louisiana 69,064 Maryland 107,397 Mississippi 32,814 Missouri 10,222 New Jersey 7,557 New York 10,088 North Carolina 205,017 Pennsylvania 211 Rhode Island 48 South Carolina 258,475 Tennessee 80,107 Virginia 425,153 Arkansas Territory 1,617 --------- Aggregate 1,538,125

The anti-slavery sentiment of the Northern States was growing, but no organization with a great leader at its head had yet announced its platform or unfurled its banner in a holy war for the emanc.i.p.ation of the Bondmen of the Free Republic of North America.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] I have in my possession large numbers of official orders and letters on the suppression of the slave-trade, but the s.p.a.ce appropriated to this history precludes their publication. There are, however, some important doc.u.ments in the appendix to this volume.

CHAPTER II.

NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812.

EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS IN THE WAR OF 1812.--THE NEW YORK LEGISLATURE AUTHORIZES THE ENLISTMENT OF A REGIMENT OF COLORED SOLDIERS.--GEN. ANDREW JACKSON'S PROCLAMATION TO THE FREE COLORED INHABITANTS OF LOUISIANA CALLING THEM TO ARMS.--STIRRING ADDRESS TO THE COLORED TROOPS THE SUNDAY BEFORE THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS.--GEN. JACKSON ANTIc.i.p.aTES THE VALOR OF HIS COLORED SOLDIERS.--TERMS OF PEACE AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR BY THE COMMISSIONERS AT GHENT.--NEGROES PLACED AS CHATTEL PROPERTY.--THEIR VALOR IN WAR SECURES THEM NO IMMUNITY IN PEACE.

When the war-clouds gathered in 1812, there was no time wasted in discussing whether it would be prudent to arm the Negro, nor was there a doubt expressed as to his valor. His brilliant achievements in the war of the Revolution, his power of endurance, and martial enthusiasm, were the golden threads of glory that bound his memory to the victorious cause of the American Republic. A lack of troops and an imperiled cause led to the admission of Negroes into the American army during the war of the Revolution. But it was the Negro's eminent fitness for military service that made him a place under the United States flag during the war in Louisiana. The entire country had confidence in the Negro's patriotism and effectiveness as a soldier.

White men were willing to see Negroes go into the army because it reduced their chances of being sent forth to the tented field and dangerous bivouac.

New York did not hesitate to offer a practical endors.e.m.e.nt of the prevalent opinion that Negroes were both competent and worthy to fight the battles of the Nation. Accordingly, the following Act was pa.s.sed authorizing the organization of two regiments of Negroes.

"AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE RAISING OF TWO REGIMENTS OF MEN OF COLOR; Pa.s.sED OCT. 24, 1814.

"SECT. 1. _Be it enacted_ by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and a.s.sembly, That the Governor of the State be, and he is hereby, authorized to raise, by voluntary enlistment, two regiments of free men of color, for the defence of the State for three years, unless sooner discharged.

"SECT. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That each of the said regiments shall consist of one thousand and eighty able-bodied men; and the said regiments shall be formed into a brigade, or be organized in such manner, and shall be employed in such service, as the Governor of the State of New York shall deem best adapted to defend the said State.

"SECT. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That all the commissioned officers of the said regiments and brigade shall be white men; and the Governor of the State of New York shall be, and he is hereby, authorized to commission, by brevet, all the officers of the said regiments and brigade, who shall hold their respective commissions until the council of appointment shall have appointed the officers of the said regiments and brigade, in pursuance of the Const.i.tution and laws of the said State.

"SECT. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That the commissioned officers of the said regiments and brigade shall receive the same pay, rations, forage, and allowances, as officers of the same grade in the army of the United States; and the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the said regiments shall receive the same pay, rations, clothing, and allowances, as the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the army of the United States; and the sum of twenty-five dollars shall be paid to each of the said non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, at the time of enlistment, in lieu of all other bounty.