History of slavery in Missouri: Difference between revisions
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The '''history of [[slavery]] in [[Missouri]]''' began in 1720, when a man named Philippe Francois Renault brought some 500 slaves from [[Santo Domingo]] to work in lead mines in the [[River des Peres]] area, located in the present-day [[St. Louis County, Missouri|St. Louis]] and [[Jefferson County, Missouri|Jefferson]] counties. |
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The institution only became prominent in the area following two major events: the [[Louisiana Purchase]] (1803) and the invention of the [[cotton gin]] by [[Eli Whitney]] (1793). This led to a mass movement of slave-owning proprietors to the area of present-day Missouri and [[Arkansas]], then known as [[Upper Louisiana]]. However, the spread of major cotton growth was limited to the more southerly area, near the border with present-day [[Arkansas]]. Instead, slavery in the other areas of Missouri was concentrated into other major crops, such as [[tobacco]], [[hemp]], [[grain]] and [[livestock]]. A number of slaves was hired out as [[stevedore]]s, [[cabin boy]]s, or deck hands for the ferries of the [[Mississippi River]]. |
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The majority of slaveowners in Missouri came from the worn-out agricultural lands of [[North Carolina]], [[Tennessee]], [[Kentucky]] and [[Virginia]]/[[West Virginia]]. By 1860, only 36 counties in Missouri had 1,000 or more slaves; top male slaves fetched a price of $1,300, and top female slaves fetched around $1,000. The value of all the slaves in Missouri was estimated by the State Auditor's 1860 report at around US$44,181,912. |
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==Slave codes== |
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The territorial slave code was enacted in 1804, a year after the purchase of the [[Louisiana Territory]], under which slaves were banned from the use of [[firearm]]s, participation in unlawful assemblies, or selling [[alcohol]] to other slaves. It also severely punished slaves for participating in riots, insurrections, or offering resistance to their masters. It also provided for the mutilation of slaves for [[sexual assault]] upon a white woman; a white man who sexually assaulted a slave woman was charged with trespassing upon her owner's property. The code was retained by the State Constitution of 1820. |
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An 1825 law, passed by the [[Missouri State Legislature]], declared Blacks as incompetent as witnesses in cases which involved Whites, and testimonies by black witnesses were automatically considered invalid. |
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In 1847, an ordinance banning the education of Blacks and [[mulatto]]es was enacted. Anyone caught teaching a black or mulatto person, slave or free, was to be fined $500 and serve six months in jail. |
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==Abolitionism== |
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[[Elijah Lovejoy]] edited a controversial abolitionist newspaper, the ''Observer'', in [[St. Louis, Missouri]], before being driven out by a mob. He fled to [[Alton, Illinois]]. As one of the [[border states (Civil War)|border states]], Missouri was exempt from President [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s 1863 [[Emancipation Proclamation]] decreeing the freedom of slaves in all territory then held by [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] forces. Governor Thomas C. Fletcher ended slavery in Missouri on [[January 11]], [[1865]], by executive proclamation. |
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==See also== |
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*[[Missouri Constitutional Convention (1861-63)]] |
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==External links== |
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* [http://www.missouri-slave-data.org/slaveinfo.html Missouri Slaves/Slaveowner Database] |
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* [http://www.duboislc.org/MissouriBlacks/p01_slavery.html Slavery in Missouri] |
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* [http://www.centerplace.org/history/misc/soc/soc14.htm Another history of slavery in Missouri] |
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{{Missouri in the Civil War}} |
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{{History of slavery in the United States}} |
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[[Category:History of Missouri|Slavery]] |
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[[Category:Slavery in the United States by state|Missouri]] |
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Revision as of 20:04, 7 November 2008
Rony is cool