The Domestic Slave Trade of the Southern StatesCollins, Winfield H. (Winfield Hazlitt)
History
The Domestic Slave Trade of the Southern States
Collins, Winfield H. (Winfield Hazlitt)
Slave trade -- United States
"There are many planters who cannot be persuaded to sell their slaves.
They have far more than they can find work for, and could at any time
obtain a high price for them. The temptation is strong for they want
more money and fewer dependents. But they resist it, and nothing can
induce them to part with a single slave, though they know that they
would be greatly the gainers in a pecuniary sense, were they to sell
one-half of them."[219]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 190: Bernard, Duke of Saxe Weimar, Travels Through North
America, 1825-26, Vol. II., p. 63.]
[Footnote 191: Reed and Matheson: Visit to the Am. Churches, Vol. II.,
p. 173.]
[Footnote 192: Tower: Slavery Unmasked, p. 53. Note.--"The following
story was told me by one conversant with the facts as they occurred on
Mr. J.'s plantation, containing about 100 slaves. One day the owner
ordered all the women into the barn; he followed them whip in hand,
and told them he meant to flog them all to death; they, as a matter
of course, began to cry out, 'What have I done, Massa?' 'What have I
done, Massa?' He replied: 'Damn you, I will let you know what you have
done; you don't breed. I have not had a young one from you for several
months.' They promptly told him they could not breed while they had to
work in the rice ditches."
Slavery Unmasked was published in 1856. Exactly the same story as
above, almost verbatim, is found in "Interesting Memoirs and Documents
Relating to American Slavery." published in 1846. The fact that this
story is told in different books published ten years apart indicates
that such instances were very rare. It seemed strange that each
writer should claim to have received the story from a friend, or "one
conversant with the facts," for one seems to have copied directly from
the other. It was no doubt mere hearsay with both writers.
Others on slave breeding are: Buckingham: Slave States of America, Vol.
I., p. 182; Miss Martineau: Society in America, Vol. II., p. 41. Jay;
Miscellaneous Writings, p. 457. Abdy: Journal of a Residence in the
United States, Vol. II., p. 90. Rankin: Letters on American Slavery, p.
35. Candler: A Summary View of America, p. 277. Kemble: Journal of a
Residence on a Georgian Plantation, pp. 60, 122.]
[Footnote 193: Proceedings and Debates of the Virginia State
Constitutional Convention, 1829-30, p. 178. Dew: Debates in Virginia
Legislature, 1831-2. Pro-Slavery Argument, p. 358. Andrews: Domestic
Slave Trade, p. 77.]
[Footnote 194: Chambers: Am. Slavery and C. Laws, p. 148.]
[Footnote 195: Kemble: Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation,
pp. 190, 191, 199, 204, 214, 215. We get from these that out of about
74 born 42 died very young.]
[Footnote 196: Stuart: Three Years in North America, Vol. II., p. 103.
He says it cost $35 per year to feed and clothe an adult negro a year.
Must cost half that much for a young one.]
[Footnote 197: Proceedings and Debates of Virginia State Con.
Convention, 1829-30, p. 178.]
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