Slavery in Pennsylvania: A Dissertation Submitted to the Board of University Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in Conformity with the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1910Turner, Edward Raymond
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Slavery in Pennsylvania: A Dissertation Submitted to the Board of University Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in Conformity with the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1910
[64] _The Articles Settlement and Offices of the Free Society of
Traders in Pennsylvania_, etc., article XVIII. This quite
closely resembles the ordinance issued by Governor Rising to
the Swedes in 1654, that after a certain period negroes should
be absolutely free.... "efter 6 åhr vare en slafvare alldeles
fri." Sprinchorn, _Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia_, 271.
[65] "Let no blacks be brought in directly. and if any come out of
Virginia, Maryld. [or elsewhere _erased_] in families that
have formerly bought them elsewhere Let them be declared (as
in the west jersey constitutions) free at 8 years end." "B. F.
Abridgm^t. out of Holland and Germany." Penn MSS. Ford _vs._
Penn. etc., 1674-1716, p. 17.
[66] _Cf. Pa. Mag._, IV, 28-30.
[67] _Ibid._, XIII, 265-270.
[68] Negro servants are mentioned. See _Pa. Mag._, VII, 106. _Cf._
below, p. 54. Little reliance can be placed upon the early use
of this word.
[69] I have found no instance where a negro was indisputably a
servant in the early period. The court records abound in
notices of white servants.
[70] _Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania ... 1682-1700_, p. 153
(1683), 211, 213 (1693). For running away white servants had
to give five days of extra service for each day of absence.
_Ibid._, 166 (1683), 213 (1693). Harboring cost the offender
five shillings a day. _Ibid._, 152 (1683), 212 (1693).
[71] _Ibid._, 113 (1682); _ibid._, 102 (Laws Agreed upon in
England).
[72] _Ibid._, 152. "No Servant white or black ... shall at anie
time after publication hereof be Attached or taken into
Execution for his Master or Mistress debt" ...
[73] The rearing of slave children was regarded as a burden by
owners. A writer declared that in Pennsylvania "negroes just
born are considered an incumbrance only, and if humanity did
not forbid it, they would be instantly given away." _Pa.
Packet_, Jan. 1, 1780. In 1732 the Philadelphia Court of
Common Pleas ordered a man to take back a negress whom he had
sold, and who proved to be pregnant. He was to refund the
purchase money and the money spent "for Phisic and Attendance
of the Said Negroe in her Miserable Condition." MS. Court
Papers. 1732-1744. Phila. Co., June 9, 1732.
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