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ANTI-SLAVERY TRACTS. No. 2.

WHITE SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES.

The rule of the Boman slave code — the child follows the condi
tion of the mother — is universally adopted in the Southern States.
If the mother be a slave, the child is one also, notwithstanding the
father is a free man.
The effect of this rule is to enslave all the issue in the maternal
line to the remotest generation. The father in each generation may
be a free white person, so that soon not the slightest tinge of negro
blood nor the faintest trace of negro feature may be, visible, and
yet the unfortunate being whose remote maternal ancestor was a
negro is doomed to as hopeless a slavery as that ancestor ever
was. With us the mixed races are generally called mulattoes, or per
sons of color ; but in tlje West Indies names are given to the differ
ent degrees of the mixed races, expressive of their distance from the
original stock. One ancestor in each generation being a white per
son, the child of the negro is called a mulatto; of the mulatto, a
terceron; of the terceron, a quarteron; and the child of this latter
is called a quinteron. " This is the last gradation, there being no
visible difference between them and the whites, either in color or
features." They are, indeed, often fairer than the Spaniards.! (Ed
wards's West Indies, book 4, c. 1.) Judge O'Neall, of South Caro
lina, thinks even quadroons should always be rated as white. He
Bays, " When the blood is reduced to or below one eighth, the jury
eught ' always to find' the- party white." And we know that terce-
rons frequently pass for whites, so little real difference is there be
tween them ind white persons, either in color or [feature. ( See 1 Dall.
Rep. 167.) ' The laws of Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, ahd Arkansas
appafetttly'rate as white all the mixed issue below teraertos. All
1 . ¦ "' (1)
fVALE

^ / '^ ^ !R«?1

2 anti-slavery TEACTS.
below quadroons are apparently so considered in Tennessee, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas ; but in
North Carolina, not even the fourth generation is so rated.
Persons of mixed blood of every degree are prima facie presumed
to be free in Delaware, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Louis
iana, and probably in some other States. The contrary presumption
(except as to persons apparently white) obtains in Virginiei, Ken-
mcky, and in South Carolina. In Missouri and Arkansas, a mulatto
who is held as a slave must prove his right to freedom. But in all
the States a presumption of freedom undoubtedly attaches in favor
of those who are to be legally classed or rated as whites, though
held as slaves.
These presumptions are, however, never imperative, even in case
of a person manife.stly white ; for slavery legally extends to all
the issue, however remote from the original stock. The presump
tion only obliges the master, in case of dispute arising, to be able to
prove the descent from a female slave, according to law, of the per
son whom he claims to own ; and so long as he can do this, the law
in all the States upholds the slavery of his victims, however white
they may be.
That the law thus allows an owner to prove the descent of his
white slave, and by so doing overthrow the presumption of freedom
arising from color, has been settled in several cases.
In Virginia, in the case of Hook vs. Nanny Pagee and her Chil
dren, (2 Munf. Rep. 379, 385, 387,) the verdict of the jury was, "that
the said Nanny Pagee was a white woman," and therefore free. But
Judge Brooke said that it was competent for Hook "to have proved, if
he could, that the plaintiff was descended in the maternal line from
a slave. Having not proved it, she and her children raust be consid
ered as free." In the case of Hudgins vs. Wrights, ( 1 Hen. and Munf.
Re!p. 134, 140,) Judge Tucker held, that if one evidently white be,
notwithstanding, claimed as a slave, the proof lies on the party
claiming to make the other his slave. Judge Roane's opinion was
the same. (Ibid. p. 141.) "A white person maybe a slave, according
to our laws," says Judge Green, of the same State, (2 Leigh Rep.
653,) " if all his female ancestors were slaves."
In Kentucky, says Chief Justice Robertson, " a white person of
unmixed blood cannot be a slave. * # * ^But as a person
apparently white may, nevertheless, have some African taint, and

, white slavery in the united states. 3
may, consequently, have descended from a mother who was a slave,
the apparent color is but prima facie evidence ; and consequently,
where a jury, on their view, decide that the color is white, testimony
will be admissible to prove that, notwithstanding the visible com
plexion, there is African blood in the veins sufficient to doom to
slavery." (3 Dana Rep. 387, 388.) In Gatliff vs. Rose, (8 B. Munr.
Rep. 629,) it appeared that James Lauderdale, of Bottetourt county,
Virginia, sold Rose as a slave, she being from five to seven years of
age. Rose was " as white as most children through the country," and
" was sometimes mistaken, while in the family of Lauderdale, for
one of his children ; " and there was evidence adduced " conducing
to prove " that he was her father.
The law of North Carolina, by forbidding " any white man or wo
man, being free," to do a certain act, implies that such persons may
be slaves. (Rev. StaL c. 71, sec. S.)
In Tennessee (Miller vs. Denman, 8 Yerg. 233) it was admitted
fliat a woman of fair complexion and straight hair, and who was so
white that " no one suspected that she was a slave, or that she had
any negro blood," might be proved to be a slave.
In Georgia (Hunter vs. Shaffer, Dudley, 224) it was admitted that
a woman who had been married to a white person, who had enjoyed
liberty and property for a long time, and transmitted them to her
descendants, and who was actually presumed to be free so far as
to give effect to a deed made by her, could yet be proved to have
been -a. slave.
In Arkansas it is a penitentiary offence to steal a " white " slave.
(Eng. Dig. c. 51, art. 2, sec. 6.)
In Maryland there formerly existed a law for enslaving the issue
of white women. Some time in the early part of the year 1681, Lord
Baltimore brought into this State, as a domestic servant, a free white
woman, called Eleanor, or Irish Nell. She was married to a negro
slave whilst the law of 1663, c. 30, was in force. By this law, any free
white woman so marrying a negro slave was obliged to " serve the
master of such slave during the life of her husband ; " and the issue
of such marriage were declared to be slaves, as their father was.
In the month of August, 1681, after the marriage of Eleanor, the act
of 1663 was repealed ; but the repealing ayt expressly saved the
rights acquired under the aet of 1663, before the date of the repeal
ing act, BO far as concerned the enslavement of the woman and her
issue. (Stroud's Sketch, 9, 10.) After the lapse of nearly ninety years,

4 anti- slavery tracts.
during which time Eleanor and ber children had died, William and
Mary Butler, husband and vrife, and first cousins, who were her
grandchildren, petitioned for freedom. The court below, following
the impulses of the times, decided in their favor; but the owner
appealed, and in 1770 (1 Har. and McHen. Rep. 371) the decision
was reversed by the Supreme Court ; and it was held that issue born
after the repealing law were slaves. William and Mary toiled on
hopelessly as ever, and died. , Seventeen years elapsed, and their
child, Mary Butler, a great-granddaughter of Eleanor, again peti
tioned for freedom; and in 1787, after the lapse of more than a cen
tury of wrong and outrage committed on her family, she was de
clared free, for want of a conviction in a court of record of Nell's
having intermarried with a slave, (2 ib. 214;) a striking illustration
of that fiction, the certainty of the law, and of the great, almost
overwhelming, difficulties in the way of establishing even a legal
claim to freedom, and by persons apparently white. In another
case (3 ib. 139) the great-granddaughter of a Spanish woman, whose
grandmother and mother had been held and died in slavery, was
finally set free.
We have no statistics in relation to the number of, the mixed
races ; it must, however, be large. The female slave cannot resist
her master's power; and the law every where practically teaches
her to acquiesce in his wishes, by denying her the capacity to con
tract a valid marriage even with a slave. If she must be the concu
bine of some one, how much better, then, to be the mistress of the
owner, who has it in his power to do so much for her ! She cannot
commit adultery; nor is a slave ever punished for incontinence. It
was a southerner who said that the best blood of Virginia flowed in
the veins of her slaves ! The following advertisements serve to
confirm this view.
From the Richmond ( Virginia) Whig : —
One Hundked Dollars Reward will be given for the appre
hension of my negro (!) Edmund Kenney. He has straight hair, and
complexion so nearly white that it is believed a stranger would suppose
there was no African blood in him. He was with -my boy Dick a short
time since in Norfolk, and offered him for sale, and was apprehended,
but escaped under pretence of being a white man !
Anderson Bowles.
January 6, 1836.

white slavery in the united states. 5
From the Republican Banner and Nashville Whig, July, 14,
1849: —
Two Hundred Dollars Reward. — Ran away from the sub
scriber, on the 23d of June last, a bright mulatto woman, named
Julia, about twenty-five years of age. She is of common size, nearly
white, and very likely. She is a good seamstress, and can read a
little. She may attempt to pass for white ; dresses fine. She took
with her Anna, her child, eight or nine years old, and considerably
darker than her mother. * * * She once belonged to a Mr.
Helm, of Columbia, Tennessee.
I will give a reward of $50 for said negro and child if delivered
to me, or confined in any jail in this State so I can get them; SlOO
if caught in any other slave State, and confined in a jail so that I
can get them ; and $200 if caught in any free State, and put in any
good jail in Kentucky or Tennessee so I can get them.
A. W. Johnson.
Nashville, July 9, 1849.
From the Chattanooga (Tennessee) Gazette, Octobers, 1852 : —
Five Hundred Dollars Reward. — Ran away from the sub
scriber, on the 25th of May, a very bright mulatto boy, about twenty-
one or twenty-two years old, named Wash. Said boy, without
close observation, might pass himself for a white man, as he is very
bright; has sandy hair, blue eyes, and a fine set of teeth. He is au
excellent bricklayer ; but I have no idea that he will pursue his trade,
for fear of detection. Although he is like a white man in appearance,
he has the disposition of a negro, and delights in comic songs and
witty expressions. He is an excellent house servant ; very handy
about a hotel ; tall, slender, and has rather a down look, especially
when spoken to, and is sometimes inclined to be sulky. I have no
doubt but he has been decoyed off by some scoundrel ; and I will
give the above reward for the apprehension of the boy and thief, if
delivered at Chattanooga ; or I will give $200 for the boy alone ;
or $100 if confined in any jail in the United States so that I can
get him. George O. Raglano.
Chattanooga, June 15, 1852.
1*

b anti-slavery tracts.
From the Newbern (North Carolina) Spectator : —
Fifty Dollars Reward will be given for the apprehension
and delivery to me of the following slaves : Samuel, and Judy, his
wife, with their four children, belonging to the estate of Sacker
Dubberly, deceased.
I will give $10 for the apprehension of William Dubberly, a slave
belonging to the estate. William is about nineteen years old, quite
white, and would not readily be taken for a slave. John J. Lane.
March 13, 1837.
The following three advertisements are taken from Alabama
papers : —
Ran away from the subscriber, working on the plantation of
Colonel H. Tinker, a bright mulatto boy named Alfred. Alfred is
about eighteen years old, pretty well grown ; has blue eyes, light
flaxen hair, skin disposed to freckle. He will try to pass as freeborn.
S. G. Stewart.
Green county, Alabama.
One Hundred Dollars Reward. — Ran away from the sub
scriber a bright mulatto man slave, named Sam. Li.ght, sandy hair,
blue eyes, ruddy complexion ; is so white as very easily to pass for a
free white man. Edwin Peck.
Mobile, April 22, 1837.
Ran away on the 15th of May, from me, a negro woman,
named Fanny. Said woman is twenty years old ; is rather tall ; can
read and write, and so forge passes for herself. Carried away with
her a pair of ear rings, a Bible with a red cover. Is very pious ; she
prays a great deal, and was, as supposed, contented and happy. She
is as white as most white women, with straight light hair and blue eyes,
and can pass herself for a white woman. I will give $500 for her
apprehension and delivery to me. She is very intelligent. John Balch.
Tuscaloosa, May 29, 1845.
The next advertisements we cut from the New Orleans Picayune,
(September 2, 1846:) —

white. slavery in the united states. 7
Twenty-Five Dollars Reward. — Ran away from the planta-
bon of Madame Fergus Duplantier, on or about the 27th of June,
1846, a bright mulatto, named Ned, very stout built, about five feet
eleven inches high, speaks English and French, about thirty-five
years old, waddles in his walk. He may try to pass himself for a
white man, as he is of a very dear color, and has sandy hair. The
above reward will be paid to whoever will bring him to Madame
Duplantier's plantation, Manchac, or lodge him in some jail where
he can be conveniently obtained.
Two Hundred Dollars Reward. — Ran away from the sub
scriber, last November, a white negro man, about thirty-five years
old, height about five feet eight or ten inches, blue eyes, has a yellow
woolly head, very fair skin, (particula.Tlyv.nAer his clothes.) * * *
Said negro man was raised in Columbia, S. C, and is well known
by the name of Dick Frazier. * * # He was lately known to
be working on the railroad in Alabama, near Moore's Turnout, and
passed as a white man, by the name of Jesse Teams. I will give the
above reward for his delivery in any jail so that I can get him;
and I will give five hundred dollars for sufficient proof to convict,
in open court, any man who carried him a^V^ay.
' J. D. Allen.
Barnwell Court House, S. C,
P. S. — Said man has a good-shaped foot and leg, and his foot
is very small and hollow.
' A later number of the same paper (1848) contains this : —
Fifty Dollars Seward. — Ran away from the subscriber,
about two months ago, a bright mulatto girl, named Mary, about
twenty-five years of age, almost white, and reddish hair, front teeth
out, a cut on her upper lip ; about five feet five inches high ; has a
scar on her forehead ; she passes for free ; talks French, Italian, Dutch,
English, and Spanish. Andre Grasso.
Upper side of St. Marj^'s Market. — N. 0. Picayune.
In the New Orleans Bee of June 22, 1831, P. Bahi advertises, as
a runaway, " Maria, with a clear white complexion."
The story of Ellen Craft is well known. The slave traders Bruin

8 anti-slavery tracts.
and Hill thought that Emily Russell, the quadroon girl, was worth
at least eighteen hundred dollars in the New Orleans market. Two
or three gentlemen from the south were anxious to buy her. She
was thought to be, they said, "the finest-looking woman in this
country." In the summer of 1852, the Rev. Francis Bishop, of Liverpool,
visited the slave market of Pullam and Davis, in Richmond, Vir
ginia. Among the slaves offered for sale were a mother and her
six children. These are his words : " The eldest of that family
was a young woman, eighteen or nineteen years of age — a beautiful
young woman, nearly white." She " excited great notice when she
was placed on the stand, and the auctioneer seemed to take pride in
selling such a valuable article ; and he said, ' There, gentlemen ;
that speaks for itself.' Taking her by the shoulders, he turned her
round that they might see her figure. ' There is not a finer figure in
all America than that,' he saidll^^And so he went on praising the
poor creature. She seemed indignant at it. She was nearly white,
as I have said, and her bosom heaved with indignation at being
thus pointed at and so spoken of; and far worse treatment she was
subject to than even this, such as I dare not mention here."
A friend, a resident for some time in New Orleans, describes to
us a very beautiful slave he saw there, who had light, curling hai.,
blue eyes, and almost a blond complexion. After having been kept
as a mistress by her owner, he finally sold her to pay his debts !
And so we might go on multiplying proofs ; but enough has been
said to prove that white slavery not only actually, but legally, exists
in these United States. ,And will not those whose ears are closed
to the cry of the despised and hated negro extend a helping hand
to relieve the anguish of the white slave 1

Published for gratuitous distribution, at the office of the Americau
Anti-Slavery Society, No. 138 Nassau Street, New York. Also
to be had at the Anti-Slavery Offices, No. 21 CornhUl, Boston, and No. 31
North Fifth Street, Philadelphia.

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