This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 70-6914 WILLIAMS, Jr., Oscar Renal, 1938- BLACKS AND COLONIAL LEGISLATION IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1969 History, m o d e m University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Oscar Renal Williams, Jr. 1970 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED B1ACKS AND COLONIAL LEGISLATION IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Oscar Renal Williams, Jr. B.A., M.A. *********** The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by Ady-pe Department! of Hist ry ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Encouragement and support during my graduate study at Ohio State University flowed from numerous sources. In particular, I am eternally grateful to my advisor, Professor Bradley Chapin, for his valuable advice, kindness and coura­ geous support. Finally, I am greatly indebted to my family for their support. My wife, Marjorie, has shown patience and devotion in typing both rough draft and final copies. Thanks is extended to my children, Teresa, Oscar III, and Iris, who are not fully conscious of the undertaking, but their presence seem to make my graduate effort worthwhile. VITA January 30, 1938 . Born - Goldsboro, North Carolina 1962 ................. B.A., North Carolina College, Durham, North Carolina 1962-1963 .......... Graduate Assistant, North Carolina College, Durham, North Carolina 1963-1964 .......... High School History Teacher, W.E.B. DuBois, Wake Forest, North Carolina 1964-1966 ...... Instructor of American History, Winston-Salem State College, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1966-19C8 .......... Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1968-1969 .......... NDEA Fellowship, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "Afro-American vs Negro." The Bulletin of Negro History March 1969, p. 19.. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Colonial History Colonial and Constitutional History. Professor Bradley Chapin The Early National Period. Professor Paul Bowers The Slavery Controversy. Professor Harold Hancock Modern Middle East. Professor Sydney Fisher iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................ ii VITA ................................................. iii LIST OF TABL E S ......................................... v Chapter I. BLACKS UNDER THE DUTCH ..................... 1 The Introduction of Blacks in New Netherlands From Slave to "Half Slave" to Free Black in New Netherlands Blacks and the Dutch Reformed Church II. AN OVERVIEW OF SLAVERY . ................. 36 New York New Jersey Pennsylvania III. THE FORMATIVE PERIOD OF BLACK STATUS , 1664-1712 64 Duke's Law New York New Jersey Pennsylvania IV. INSURRECTION AND ITS EFFECTS UPON BLACK STATUS 94 White Reaction to Black Insurrectional Fear Urban Regulations V. MANUMISSION AND ABOLITION ............. 147 VI. CONCLUSION .......... 195 BIBLIOGRAPHY 201 LIST OF TABLES Tab le 1. Land Grants of the New Jersey Proprietors............ 83-84 2. Official Census, 1790-1860 . ........................ 192 v CHAPTER I BLACKS UNDER THE DUTCH The Introduction of Blacks in New Netherlands The introduction of black labor in the middle colo­ nies finds its origins in the trade rivalry of the Atlantic during the seventeenth century. The rivalry between the Netherlands and Spain placed the former in possession of Blacks and also in possession of territory where black labor was profitable. The Dutch sought to increase commerce by enchancing the production of their possessions. Thus, this situation created a need for labor in those places. From the desire to establish firm and absolute con­ trol of Atlantic commerce came the elements necessary to make slavery possible in New Netherlands. After forty years of struggle, defacto Dutch independence from the Spanish came in 1609. After the 1609 truce, the Dutch traders turned their attention to gaining Spanish possessions in the new world. The seventeenth century has been called "the age of the great monopolies and grasping charters.” The true image of a seventeenth century holding company came with the formation in 1602 of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch East India Company had phenomenal success. It has been estimated that stockholders received four times their original investment in the first twenty years of the company's existence. With this astronomical success in mind, a group of merchants and capitalists obtained royal permis­ sion to organize the Dutch West India Company in 1621. Naturally, the Dutch hoped to strip the Iberian powers of their new world possessions as they had Portugal in the Far East.1 The Crown immediately sensed the importance of the Dutch West India Company and gave to it great concessions. The charter conferred a trading monopoly and the right to colonize in the new world. The charter also conferred their rights along the West Coast of Africa below the Tropic of Cancer. The Company was organized into five chambers. The most important chamber had control of New Netherlands. The colony of New Netherlands enjoyed only a minor role in ! ■1-Lucy M. Salmon, The Dutch West India Company on the Hudson (Poughkeepise, New York: Lansing and Broas, 1915), pp. 16-17. the enormous trading activities of the Company. The States General placed the burden of carrying the war squarely upon the shoulders of the Company by licensing it to commission privateers on the high seas in the name of the C ro w n^ . The Company "was to maintain armies and fleets, to build forts and cities, to carry on war, to make treaties of peace and of commerce." Most attention was given to the South American territories, but a settlement on the Hudson was also planned. From the inception of the Company, the Dutch realized that the only effective means of controlling trade would emerge through holding territories. The only effective way ^A.J.F, Van Laer ed., Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts (Albany? University of the State of New York, 1908), pp. 87-89; Salmon, The Dutch West India Company on the Hudson, pp. 24-25. The authority of the Company summarized? The Company was given permission to make alliances and con­ tracts with the princes and natives of the country, to build fortresses, to appoint and to remove civil, military, and judicial officers, to promote the settlement of fertile and uninhabited districts, to make good by all such means as could properly be employed all losses sustained through cheating on the part of false friends, or good or money improperly withheld from them, to apprehend deserters, to defend themselves if trade should be injured in spite of treaties, and to retain all prizes of war, subject to certain necessary deductions. Ibid. pp. 818, 24-25; The Charter of the Company is given in full in A.J.F. Van Laer ed., Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts. % a n Laer, Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts pp. 87-89. to control territories would come through settlement. Thus came the necessity of planting colonies. The Company needed efficient leaders , strong fleets, able troops and dynamic business management. Hoping to satisfy these needs, the States General gave the Company virtually complete autonomy. During the struggle for trade the Dutch gained slaves and territory where slave labor was profitable. Short lived colonies were planted at Bahia (1624) and Pernambuco (1630). The Dutch put themselves in a very strong position in the West Indies trade. Through piracy in the name of the Crown, the Dutch seized numerous Spanish ships bearing captive African Blacks. Immediately, the Dutch sensed the importance of this black commodity of labor in the sugar industry of the West Indies and Brazil. The Company took more Portuguese possessions on the Africa Coast. Now it controlled the land in the new world and the source of black labor supply by which it could develop the land. The Company sent many of the captured Blacks to New Netherlands to meet its^ labor demands.^ The planting of New Netherlands began in 1624, With the model of the East India Company before it, the West India ^William Stuart, "Negro Slavery in New Jersey and New York" Americana (American History Magazine), Vol. XVI, (1922) pp. 347-48. Company expected immediate returns from its investment. The latter had established a profitable trade in an area of richly populated countries, but New Netherlands was quite the opposite. The West India Company did, however, establish a ) profitable fur trade with the Indians. The profits from the - Company's fur trade were a mere trifle compared to the rival Dutch East India Company's profits. The Dutch West India Company found its source of revenue steadily waning, and the increasing costs of maintaining a colony further cut profits. After seven years of disappointing results, the Company decided to launch a plan to "encourage the planting of colo­ nies as settlements." The result was the patroon system of huge landed estates. Such a system, obviously, needed agri­ cultural labor. The geographical limits of New Netherlands covered the areas of the middle colonies. New Netherlands consisted of several frontier settlements: Fort Orange (Albany), Esopus (Kingston), New Amsterdam (New York City) Swaunendael (Fort Nassau), and Fort Casimir on the Delaware. The introduction of Blacks into this area came as a result of the need for agricultural labor. 5Ibid. The first Blacks in New Netherlands were prizes taken from Spanish vessels or Spanish territory. The introduction of Negro Slavery cannot be given an exact date,