This preliminary study suggests the general lines along which the
institution of slavery developed in the succeeding decades. The social
and religious phases of the negro’s life were given less attention than
the economic and legal. His common law status was constantly changing to
a statutory basis. He was exchanging the status of a servant at common
law for that of a mere chattel at statute law. His place in judicial
procedure was determined. It was in this connection that racial prejudice
made its appearance. The foundation for a comprehensive patrol system
was established. The state asserted its right to limit manumission.
Free negroes had not become sufficiently numerous by 1796 to call for
the serious consideration that they later received. Consequently, there
was a relatively small amount of legislation concerning them prior to
this date. Some restrictions, however, were made on their relations with
the slave and on the process of manumission. On the whole, it may be
concluded that there had been laid a fairly secure foundation, for the
status of both the slave and the free negro, which future events only
modified.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Tennessee belonged to Virginia from 1607 to 1663, to Carolina from
1663 to 1693, and to North Carolina from 1693 to 1790. Garrett, W. R.,
and Goodpasture, A. V., History of Tennessee, p. 14.
[2] The first settlements in Tennessee were made in 1769 and 1772. Ibid.,
pp. 49-52.
[3] The settlements of western North Carolina became the State of
Franklin in 1785, the Southwest Territory in 1790, and the State of
Tennessee in 1796. Ibid., pp. 91, 105, and 127.
[4] Doyle, J. A., The English Colonies in America, I, 331.
[5] Bassett, John Spencer, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Vol. 14, p.
18.
[6] Ibid., p. 19.
[7] Doyle, I, 389.
[8] Colonial Entry Book, No. lxxxii, p. 129. (Quoted by Doyle, I, 386.)
[9] Bassett, Op. Cit., p. 20.
[10] N. C. Col. Records, II, 17.
[11] Ibid., V, 320.
[12] Ibid., VII, 5391.
[13] Hale, W. J., and Merritt, D. L., History of Tennessee, II, 292.
[14] “A bill of sale from Micajah to Andrew Jackson, Esquire, for a
negro woman named Nancy about eighteen or twenty years of age was proven
in open court by the oath of David Allison, a subscribing witness,
and ordered to be recorded.” Record of the Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions, Jonesboro, Tennessee, for November Term, 1788.
[15] Haywood, John, The Civil and Political History of the State of
Tennessee, 406.
[16] (He) “was a very prominent negro. He had a garden, and supplied a
great many people with vegetables. His oldest daughter married Graham, a
barber. She had a big wedding and invited all the prominent white people
in town, and they all went. He was a very respectable, upright, humble
negro. General Andrew Jackson attended the wedding, and Dr. McNairy
danced the reel with the bride.” Hale and Merritt, II, 293.
[17] Ramsey, J. G. M., The Annals of Tennessee, 648.
[18] Hale and Merritt, II, 294.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account