The work was begun under the direction of Professors Jernegan and Dodd of the University of Chicago, and continued under the guidance of Professor Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard, Professor U. B. Phillips of the University of Michigan, and Professor William A. Dunning of Columbia University. Professor B. B. Kendrick of Columbia University was especially helpful in organizing the material. But for the stimulating and sympathetic assistance of these men, the study could not have been completed. The author alone is responsible for any errors of fact and the conclusions. CALEB PERRY PATTERSON. The University of Texas, Austin, Texas. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The introduction of slavery into Tennessee was a part of the westward movement of colonization. It had passed the experimental stage of its development in North Carolina before Tennessee acquired an independent political existence.[1] Its economic, social, and legal aspects had largely been determined before Tennessee was even settled.[2] As a system of labor, it had proved a valuable adjunct to the sturdy pioneers in converting the wilderness of North Carolina into a growing community that began immediately to look forward to statehood.[3] As a social institution, it had been left primarily to the regulation of custom. As a problem of government, an elaborate code had been enacted for its control. Its establishment and regulation in North Carolina prior to 1790 constitute, therefore, the genesis of this study. Negro slaves were brought into North Carolina in 1663 by Virginia immigrants who planted a settlement on the Albemarle River.[4] A group of more thrifty Virginians, with a large number of slaves, settled in the central part of the state about the middle of the eighteenth century.[5] A number of small farmers came to the western part of the state with their slaves at about the same time.[6] It is impossible to state the exact number of slaves owned by these early settlers.