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By Frank R. Stockton
Originally published in 1896
WE have so long looked
upon New Jersey as
prominent among what were
called the "free States" of
the Union, that it now
seems strange when we
consider, that among the
first of the institutions
established upon its soil by
the early settlers, was the
system of slavery. This was the case not
only in New Jersey, but in all the American
Colonies. The settlers of New England, as
well as those of the Southern Colonies, used negro
slaves as laborers on their farms; and the trade in
native Africans was a very important branch of industry
The Duke of York, to whom his brother, Charles II.,
had made a grant of extensive American possessions,
was at the head of the African Company, formed
for the purpose of bringing slaves from Africa, and
selling them. The Dutch were then the great rivals
of the English in this trade; and the Duke of
York was very glad to possess New Jersey and the
rest of his grant, for then he could not only oust
the Dutch from the territory, but could possess
himself of this very desirable and profitable slave
market.
But it was not only the English and Dutch who
brought negro slaves to America, for it is stated that
the earliest Swedish settlers brought slaves with them
as laborers. So we may say that slavery and freedom
were planted together in this country of ours;
one to be pulled up afterward like a weed, the other
to be left to grow and flourish.
When Berkeley and Carteret acquired authority
over New Jersey, they did everything that they could
to induce settlers to come to the new country; and,
as they were anxious to have the lands opened up
and cultivated as rapidly as possible, they encouraged
immigrants to bring as many slaves as they could
afford. They offered one hundred and fifty acres to
every one who would settle, and another one hundred
and fifty acres for every full-grown able-bodied
male slave, and seventy-five acres each for those not
grown up. Afterwards, when slaves became more
numerous, the bounties given on their account were
diminished, and in course of time they ceased altogether.
A great many slaves must have been brought direct
from Africa to New Jersey, for at Perth Amboy
there was established what was then called a barracks;
and in this, negroes who had
been brought in the slave ships
were confined until they were sold
and sent out into the country.
Not only were there negro slaves
in the State, but there were also
Indians who had been enslaved, and
were regularly sold and bought.
How these red men happened to be
slaves, we do not certainly know;
but we may be very sure that the
whites did not make war upon Indian tribes, and capture prisoners,
for the purpose of making slaves of
them. It is far more likely, that,
when one tribe of Indians made
war upon another, the conquerors
found it a very profitable thing
to sell their prisoners to the whites. There is no
reason to suppose, however, that the natives made
war on purpose to capture and sell their fellow-countrymen, as was the case in Africa.
The early records, however, prove that there were
Indian slaves. When the House of Representatives
for the Province met at Burlington in 1704, an act
was brought before that body for the regulating of
Indian and negro slaves.
Negroes were then considered to be such legitimate articles of merchandise, that English sovereigns
thought it very necessary to see to it that their loyal
settlers were sufficiently supplied with slaves, and at
prices not too high. When Queen Anne sent out
Lord Cornbury as governor of the Province, she
recommended the Royal African Company to the
especial attention of the governor, that New Jersey
might have a constant and sufficient supply of merchantable
negroes at moderate rates in money or
commodities. In consequence of the fostering care
of the Proprietors and the English sovereigns, slaves
rapidly increased in New Jersey.
The English themselves were not at all averse to
the ownership of a good serviceable slave; and about
the middle of the eighteenth century a young gentleman
in England wrote to his father in New Jersey,
begging that he might "be favored with a young
negro boy to present to the brother of the then
Duke of Grafton, to whom he was under obligations,
as `a present of that kind would be-very acceptable.'"
Of course, the existence of slavery made the state
f society in New Jersey and the other Colonies
ery different from what it is now; and this difference
is strongly shown by the advertisements of runaway
negroes, which we can find in some old newsapers.
It seems very strange to see in a Boston
aper of one hundred years ago a picture of a
black man running away with a bag over his shoulder,
and under the picture the statement of the reward
which would be given for his capture; and in
the New Jersey papers there were frequent advertisements
of runaway slaves and of negroes for sale.
One of these, published in Burlington two years after
the Colony had declared itself free and independent,
reads as follows:
–
I am with respect your most obedient servant
This Web version, edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
When Washington was in Morristown in 1777, one
of his aids wrote a letter to a friend in Elizabethtown,
which states,–
TO BE SOLD – For no fault – but a saucy tongue for which
he is now in Burlington jail – A negro man about 39 years of
age. He is a compleat farmer, honest and sober. For further
particulars enquire of the subscriber in Evesham, Burlington Co.
Feb. 4, 1778.
After a time, negro slaves became so plentiful in
New Jersey, that laws were passed restricting their
importation, and a considerable tax was laid upon each
African brought into the country.
The General will esteem it as a singular favor if you can apprehend a mulatto girl, servant and slave of Mrs. Washington, who
eloped from this place yesterday, with what design cannot be conjectured, though as she may intend to the enemy and pass your way
I trouble you with the description: her name is Charlotte but in all
probability will change it, yet may be discovered by question. She
is light complected, about thirteen years of age, pert, dressed in
brown cloth wescoat and petticoat. Your falling upon some method
of recovering her should she be near you will accommodate Mrs.
Washington and lay her under great obligations to you being the
only female servant she brought from home and intending to be
off to-day had she not been missing. A gentle reward will be given
to any soldier or other who shall take her up.
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