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Human Marketplace
Public slave market opens on Wall Street in NYC, where all eligible slaves for hire were formally auctioned.1 Slaves were considered property that can be bought and sold for a profit. Slaves were sold or rented out for a high price. Young adult males and females were most expensive and sought after. -
Slave Revolt of 1712
A group of 23 conspiring African American youth revolted in New York City.2 The angry slaves set a building on fire and used firearms and axes to attack white landowners who tried to extinguish the flames. During the revolt, several white colonists were killed and numerous slaves were captured, tortured, and brutally executed. A few slaves had escaped the fiery scene and committed suicide before the white colonists could detain them. -
Stono Rebellion
Slaves in Stono, South Carolina revolt in response to the Security Act and in pursuit of Spain's promise of freedom and land in Florida.3 The Stono Rebellion, the largest slave revolt, involved 100 slaves. The slaves raided a gun shop, armed themselves with guns and ammunition, and killed numerous whites in their path to freedom in Florida. -
Revolutionary War
Governor Lord Dunmore offered the slaves a deal, to join the British militia and fight as loyalists to the crown, in exchange for their freedom.4 Thousands of slaves joined the loyalists to fight against the colonists. George Washington responded by enlisting many free and enslaved African Americans to join the colonial army in fighting against the loyalists and Great Britain. -
Pennsylvania Abolition of Slavery
The Pennsylvania Abolition of Slavery, the first antislavery society, passed the Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act, the first law that initiated the end of slavery.5 The law ruled that all Blacks born after the passing of the act would be free when they turned 28 years old, required all existing slaves to be registered, and forbade importing and exporting slaves in the state. The Abolition Act opted for a gradual method to end slavery, allowing slave owners time to adapt to the new law. -
United States Constitution
The United States Constitution,6 drafted in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, permitted slave trade to continue in America for another 20 years, to accommodate to the south’s ecosystem and allow it time to adjust. The southern states compromised and agreed to count a slave as three-fifths of a man toward the population’s tally in deciding contribution in the House of Representatives. -
The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act
America enforced the Slave Trade Act of 1807, or the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, and officially banned participation in the international slave trade, hopeful that the end of slavery would follow. The law established severe penalties to law breakers to discourage smuggling slaves. However, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act did not directly outlaw national trade of existing slaves, boosting the preexisting slaves’ value and allowing for further opportunity for slave trade in America. -
Bibliography
4 Blackpast.org. "Lord Dunmore's Proclamation." 2017. Retrieved from http://www.blackpast.org/aah/lord-dunmore-s-proclamation-1775.
5 "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery." 1942. Independence Hall Association. Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/presidents house/history/gradual.php.
6 “The United States Constitution,” 1787, in National Archives. Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution -
Bibliography
1 Popular Resistance. 2017. Retrieved from https://popularresistance.org/the-forgotten-origins-of-wall-street-in-slave-auctions/.
2 Meserette Kentake. 2015. New York Maafe (slave) Rebellion of 1712. Retrieved from http://kentakepage.com/new-york-maafa-slave-rebellion-of-1712/.
3 SC Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. Retrieved from http://discoversouthcarolina.com/products/3566. -
Bibliography
7 Wisbech and Fenland Museum. 2017. "First Page of the Slave Trade Act in 1807." Retrieved from http://www.wisbechmuseum.org.
uk/clarkson/index.html.
