Slavery and the ConstitutionBowditch, William I. (William Ingersoll)
Religion
Slavery and the Constitution
Bowditch, William I. (William Ingersoll)
Enslaved persons -- United States -- Social conditions; Slavery -- United States
"Any free person who shall hereafter teach, or attempt to teach, any
slave within this State to read or write, the use of figures
excepted, or shall give or sell to such slave or slaves any books or
pamphlets, shall be liable to indictment in any court of record in
this State having jurisdiction thereof; and, upon conviction, shall,
at the discretion of the court, if a white man or woman, be fined
not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than two hundred
dollars, or imprisoned; and, if a free person of color, shall be
fined, imprisoned, or whipped, at the discretion of the court, not
exceeding thirty-nine lashes, nor less than twenty lashes."
Chap. 111, sec. 27 (Statute, 1830, chap. 6, § 2), provides that,--
"If any slave shall teach, or attempt to teach, any other slave to
read or write, the use of figures excepted, he or she may be carried
before any justice of the peace, and, on conviction thereof, shall
be sentenced to receive thirty-nine lashes on his or her bare back."
In SOUTH CAROLINA, the "Negro Act" (1740, § 45; "2 Brev. Dig." 243),
provides that--
"All and every person and persons whatsoever who shall hereafter
teach, or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall
use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing
whatsoever, hereafter taught to write; every such person and persons
shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds
current money."
In ALABAMA (Statute, 1832, chap. 8, § 10; "Clay's Digest," p. 543, §
24),--
"Any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free person of
color, or slave, to spell, read, or write, shall, upon conviction
thereof by indictment, be fined in a sum not less than two hundred
and fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars."
In GEORGIA ("Penal Code approved Dec. 23, 1833," 13th div., sec. 18;
"Prince's Digest," p. 658; "William A. Hotchkiss's Codification," 1845,
p. 772),--
"If any person shall teach any slave, negro, or free person of
color, to read or write either written or printed characters, or
shall procure, suffer, or permit a slave, negro, or person of color,
to transact business for him in writing, such person so offending
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be
punished by fine, or imprisonment in the common jail of the county,
or both, at the discretion of the court."
In MISSISSIPPI ("Howard & Hutchinson's Laws," p. 673),
"No slave or free person of color can be employed in the setting of
types in any printing office."
In MISSOURI, the "Revised Statutes" (chap. 8, sec. 10, p. 117) provide
that,--
"When an apprentice is a negro or mulatto, it shall _not_ be the
duty of the master to cause such colored apprentice to be taught to
read or write, or a knowledge of arithmetic; but he shall be
allowed, at the expiration of his term of service, a sum of money in
lieu of education, to be assessed by the county court."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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