History of slavery in Missouri

History of slavery in Missouri

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 and Jefferson counties.

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 stevedores, cabin boys, or deck hands for the ferries of the Mississippi River.

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.

lave codes

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 firearms, 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.

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.

In 1847, an ordinance banning the education of Blacks and mulattoes was enacted. Anyone caught teaching a black or mulatto person, slave or free, was to be fined $500 and serve six months in jail.

Abolitionism

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, Missouri was exempt from President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation decreeing the freedom of slaves in all territory then held by Confederate forces. Governor Thomas C. Fletcher ended slavery in Missouri on January 11, 1865, by executive proclamation.

ee also

*Missouri Constitutional Convention (1861-63)

External links

* [http://www.missouri-slave-data.org/slaveinfo.html Missouri Slaves/Slaveowner Database]
* [http://www.duboislc.org/MissouriBlacks/p01_slavery.html Slavery in Missouri]
* [http://www.centerplace.org/history/misc/soc/soc14.htm Another history of slavery in Missouri]


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