Chapter 4 Quarles The “Non-Slave Negro”

Origins of the Free Negro Group

1. descendants of former indentured servants
2. runaways
3. military or naval service
4. gradual abolition laws in some states
5. Blacks coming from other countries
6. self-purchase
7. manumission

What were the attitudes of the White South toward the “free Blacks”?

Restrictions on Civil Liberties

1. could not hold public office
2. could not vote (except Tenn until 1834 and North Carolina until1835)
3. could not testify against a white (except in Delaware and Louisiana)
4. could not bear arms
5. no free assembly, had to observe curfews

In short, the non-slave Negro was not free and he did not enjoy the rights of citizenship and the freedoms accorded to others via the Bill of Rights in the Constitution

http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/charters_of_freedom/bill_of_rights/amendments_1-10.html

Class Distinctions

1. “les gens de couleur libres” free men of color (mixed race, mulattoes)
2. “free blacks “ of predominantly African ancestry

Distinction between Blacks in the South and the Blacks in the North

1. the restrictions against them were less severe
2. they could protest against them
3. they had greater opportunity for self-expression through churches, newspapers, convention, and participating in reform movements

The relatively small number of Blacks in the North gave the community a little more freedom to organize. However, racism was just as strong as evidenced by laws in almost every state restricting prohibiting Black immigration.

One solution to the perceived problem of the increasing number of Blacks in the United States in the United States was the plan to send African descendants Back to Africa.

1817 American Colonization Society was formed

1822 Colony of Liberia came into existence. By 1852, fewer than 8000 Blacks went

to Liberia. The attitude of Blacks for the large part was against the exportation

of Blacks from the United States

Black Organizations Mutual Aid Organizations

1. Masonic Order founded by prince Hall 1787 formed African Lodge No. 459
2. Grand Order of Odd Fellows 1843
3. Sons of African Society Boston 1789
4. Literary Societies
5. Vigilant Groups
6. Churches

Impulse Toward Independent Religious Worship

1794 Absolom Jones founded St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church

1794 Richard Allen founded the Bethel African Methodist Church. Branched out to

Establish churches in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina

1796African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was founded. James Varick became

the Bishop

1805 10 All Black Baptist Churches in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York were established

Church becomes a multifaceted institution-religious, educational, political activity, aiding abolitionists and runaway slaves, coloured convention movement.

Events that preceded the Civil War :

Fugitive Slave Law 1850 denied the testimony of alleged runaways and assumed guilt rather than innocence

http://www.nationalcenter.org/FugitiveSlaveAct.html

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1826-1850/slavery/act.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASfugitive.htm

3. Kansas Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery in the Kansas Nebraska Territory

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h511.html

http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/secessioncrisis/200303.html

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/kanneb.htm

4. Dred Scott Decision 1857 Blacks were not citizens ‘A Black man has no rights that a white man should respect. The Supreme Court case denied citizenship rights for African descendants who were brought into “non-slave” state

http://library.wustl.edu/vlib/dredscott/

http://www.nps.gov/jeff/ocv-dscottd.htm

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1851-1875/dredscott/dredxx.htm

5. John Brown Raid 1859

http://www.javins.com/HarpersFerry.html

http://www.iath.virginia.edu/jbrown/master.html

What are the economic, political, and social causes of the civil war?