Download Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period

BEFORE You READ
MAIN IDEA
READING Focus
Free African
Americans lived
in every region of
the United States
in the early 1800s,
but in each region
they faced different
challenges.
• What opportunities and restrictions did free blacks in the North
and the South face?
rii;ILDING
• What roles did free blacks play in
westward expansion in the early
1800s?
BACKGROUND
I From the earliest
KEY TERMS AND
PEOPLE
Louisiana Purchase
York
James Beckwourth
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days of the American colonies, some African Americans were free.
In the years before the Civil War, the number of free blacks increased dramatically. The
growing free black population faced many new challenges and opportunities.
Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period
Since colonial times, free blacks had lived and prospered in the United States. In the
antebellum period, or the years before the Civil War, the free black population slowly
began to increase. Free blacks in the South and the North faced many challenges.
Becoming Free
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As you have just read, the slave system remained strong in the South through the
early 1800s. How then did the free black population in that region grow so much?
Several factors contributed to the increase. Some slaves continued to save money to
buy their freedom, while others served owners who, perhaps overtaken by feelings
of guilt, released their slaves from bondage-at least until states passed laws making
the emancipation, or freeing, of slaves much harder. Just as slaves had been granted
freedom for fighting in the Revolutionary War, thousands more were released
for their service in the War of 1812. A few slaves were granted freedom for some
extraordinary service they performed. For example, a slave in Georgia was made free
in 1834 after he saved the state capitol from burning. The free black population also
increased naturally, as free blacks got married and had children.
1. What are some
ways in which African
Americans gained their
freedom?
I Free Black Society in the South
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Though they did not have to work as slaves, southern free blacks did not lead easy,
carefree lives. State laws denied them such basic rights as voting, testifying in court,
and receiving an education. Furthermore, free blacks in some parts of the South had
to be wary even just walking down the street, because unscrupulous slave traders
;, sometimes kidnapped free blacks and sold them into bondage. Nevertheless, hunen
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dreds of free blacks in the South persevered and even prospered.
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AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEW REPUBLIC
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Slaves
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Free Blacks
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1820
1830
1840
Year
1850
1860
2. Approximately
how many more slaves than free blacks
lived in the United States in 18607
The jobs available to free blacks were, in most cases,
limited by law. States passed laws that barred African
Americans from working in certain jobs. For example, in
South Carolina they could not be clerks, and in Georgia
they could not be typesetters. Even jobs not forbidden to
free African Americans often required a special license,
such as the license black shop owners needed to sell wheat
or corn in Maryland.
Despite the restrictions limiting their job opportunities, most free blacks managed to find employment. Many
found positions as skilled artisans, working as cobblers,
blacksmiths, and carpenters. Others hired themselves out
as general laborers, often for low wages. Still others were
farmers. Blacks had little choice but to work Laws in
every southern state required that free blacks work States
passed laws declaring that any black person who could
not furnish proof of employment could be sentenced to
forced labor. Children of those sentenced would be taken
away and sent to live with white families.
Black Slave Owners
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
3. Use the context, or surrounding words in the sentence, to
write a definition of the word
apprenticed.
Through their efforts, some free blacks became quite wealthy. Some free African
Americans used their wealth to purchase slaves and become slave owners themselves. For example, William Ellison was born a slave on a small plantation in South
Carolina. Rather than work in the fields, Ellison was apprenticed to a cotton gin
builder to learn how to make and repair the machines. At age 26 he was granted his
freedom and went into business for himself. His business was quite successful, and
by 1860 Ellison had saved enough to buy a plantation and as many as 60 slaves.
According to the U.S. census, about 3,400 blacks owned slaves in the United
States by 1840. However, not all of them were plantation owners like William Ellison.
The majority lived in southern towns and cities where they ran businesses or factories that used slaves as their primary source oflabor. Many of the black slave owners
were not typical slave owners. In many cases, when slaves were freed, their family
members often remained enslaved. Former slaves sometimes purchased their wives
and children. Southern laws during the antebellum period, however, made granting
a slave his or her freedom very difficult. As a result, many free blacks officially owned
members of their own families as slaves.
Free Blacks in Florida
VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP
Go online to experience a
virtual field trip to key sites
from the antebellum period.
't!W.i.i.iiS.i
90 CHAPTER4
1.1
In one area of the South, Florida, the free black community was very different from
that in the rest of the South. Most of the black residents of Florida were escaped
slaves who had fled to the area in the early 1800s. At that time, Florida had been a
Spanish colony and had not permitted slavery. When the British took Florida from
the Spanish in 1763, thousands of these escaped slaves fled to Havana, Cuba. Others,
however, chose to stay in Florida, where they established hidden settlements in the
Florida wilderness.
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In the wilderness, free blacks met and settled with Native American peoples, the
Seminoles. In general, each group had its own communities, but some blacks lived
in Seminole settlements, either free or as slaves. Those blacks who were slaves were
often better off than they had been under the British. For example, they were given
land of their own to farm and weapons with which to hunt.
In 1816 when US. general Andrew Jackson led troops into Spanish Florida, runaway African Americans fired on Jackson's troops. He responded by capturing the
men and selling them into slavery. Over the next several years, free blacks and their
Seminole allies were involved in several disputes with the US. Army. The contlict
died off for a time when Florida became part of the United States in 1821 and free
blacks there were guaranteed their freedom. Before long, however, the Seminole
Wars broke out, and black soldiers once more fought against the US. Army. By 1842
the wars were over, and the Seminoles were forced to leave Florida.
Blacks in the North
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African Americans living in the South viewed the North as a land of freedom and
opportunity. To an extent, they were right. Northern blacks did have more rights
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th an th ose wove
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e Sou th . S·ince th e Revo Iutionary
War, [Ior examp Ie, most
African Americans in the North had had the right to vote. They could serve on juries
and had more careers open to them. Additionally, black citizens in the North had
more freedom to move around from place to place than did free blacks in the South.
Northern free blacks still faced discrimination, though, and over time their rights
were gradually stripped away. Even in the North, few white people considered black
people their equals, and the prejudice showed. In Philadelphia, for example, African
Americans were not admitted into concert halls, churches, and orphanages or on
public transportation. Gradually, they were also banned from certain careers.
During the antebellum period, black voting rights in the North slowly eroded
as well. New Jersey banned free blacks from voting in 1807, as did Pennsylvania in
1838. Connecticut and New York placed voting restrictions on black men. The only
states in which voting rights were never limited for black men were Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. ~~
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THE GRANGER
COLLE010N,
INFO TO KNOW
Free blacks in the North also
livedwith the threat of being
kidnapped and sold into
slavery.In 1841 Solomon
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Northup, a free blackfrom
NewYork,was abducted and
enslaved. Heworked as a
slave for 12years before winrunq back hisfreedom.
g Reading
Check
What rights did
free blacks inth! North have that
those in the SOUt:1did not?
4. Compare
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5. Draw Conclusions What was the likelypurpose of
this illustration?What indicates that to you?
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AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEW REPUBLIC
91
Westwa.rd Expansion
~ Reading Check
6. Draw Conclusions Why do
you think many African Americans were eager to move west?
After 1800 the United States began rapidly acquiring new land to the west of what
was then its borders. The largest acquisition ofland was the~uTsi"a®..pu.r~bas~ of
1803. The Louisiana Territory, purchased from France by U.S. President Thomas
Jefferson, included all the land drained by the Mississippi River and its tributaries,
a vast expanse that more than doubled the size of the United States.
Jefferson sent a 33-person expedition out to explore the newly purchased territory. Led by explorers Lewis and Clark, the expedition journeyed all the way across
North America to the Pacific and mapped much of the Louisiana Territory. Among
the people who made up the expedition was York, Clark's African American slave
and personal servant. According to the expedition's journals, York was a first-rate
hunter, swimmer, and fisher; York is also said to have worked with the famous Native
American guide Sacagawea in interpreting for the rest of the party. When the party
returned horne after their exploration, York asked Clark for his freedom, but it was
not immediately granted. York had to wait 10 years to be free.
Once Lewis, Clark, and the others had mapped out the new American territory,
people began heading west to settle. When the United States gained most of what
is now the western United States in the 1840s-including the Oregon Territory and
Texas-the move west accelerated. African Americans played some key roles in the
westward expansion. James Beckwourth, for example, established an important
pass through the Sierra Nevadas to California. Later, he became a chief of the Crow
people and was renamed Morning Star. George Washington Bush, a free black who
had fought bravely for the United States during the War of 1812, was one of the
founders of Oregon. Bush Prairie bears his name today. In California, 26 of the original46 settlers of the settlement now known as Los Angeles were black, some of them
free, some slaves. In the 1790s one black settler, Francisco Reyes, was elected mayor
of Los Angeles. Free black people also helped settle other communities in California,
including San Jose, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Monterey. (II
Reviewing Ideas, Terms, and People
7. Identify What difficulties did free blacks in the South face?
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8. Explain How did the rights of African Americans in the North change over time?
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9. Make Judgments If you were a free African American living in the early 18005, in
which region would you have wanted to live? Why?
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CHAPTER4