This study is an attempt to
give a connected and concise account of the institution of slavery as it
existed in the State of Kentucky from 1792 to 1865. Much has been written of
slavery in other States, but there has not been published a single account
which deals adequately with the institution in Kentucky. A scholarly
treatise on The Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky, by Professor Asa E.
Martin, of Pennsylvania State College, has appeared but, as this work is
limited to a discussion of the history of the movement to overthrow slavery,
our study parallels and supplements it.
In this study the chief
emphasis has been placed upon the legal, economic and social history of
slavery in Kentucky, mention being made of a few of the interesting
antislavery incidents when these are known to have influenced the local
status of the slave. We have first considered the inception of the system as
based fundamentally upon the type of land settlement and tenure, followed by
a study of the growth of the slave population, which brings in the question
of the local economic value of the slave. An attempt has been made to
explain the internal slave trade; and to consider to what extent Kentucky
served as a breeding State for slaves destined to the market in the lower
South.
In the chapter on the legal
status of slavery special emphasis has been placed not only upon the legal
position of the institution but upon the general evolution of the rights of
the Negro in servitude. This section is vitally connected with the
anti-slavery movement after about the year 1835. The problem of the fugitive
slave and the general rights of emancipation and of the freed Negro have
been approached purely from the legal standpoint.
The chapter on the social
status of the slave considers the conditions of slave life that were more or
less peculiar to Kentucky. There has often been made the statement, that in
Kentucky Negro servitude was generally on a higher plane than in the States
to the south and the treatment of slaves was much more humane. Some light
has been thrown on these questions.
As a supplement to the
discussion of the legal and social status a general summary of public
opinion regarding emancipation and colonization has been added. Although for
the most part consisting of previously published material this section has
been treated from the viewpoint of the existing institution and not from the
anti-slavery side which occasioned most of the original publication.
This study has been made from
a consideration of the contemporary evidence as found in newspapers,
statements of slaves, and general evidence of travelers and citizens of
Kentucky during the period before the Civil War. The material for the study
of this field is not only scattered throughout the country but for the most
part it is very meager compared with the records of States like Virginia and
Missouri. All the documents, papers, manuscripts and works known to be of
value, however, have been consulted. The most valuable records for this
treatise are to be found in the Durrett Collection at the University of
Chicago, the extensive files of early Kentucky papers in the Library of the
American Antiquarian Society, and the documents in the Kentucky State
Library at Frankfort.
To Mr. Clarence S. Brigham,
of the American Antiquarian Society, Mr. Edward A. Henry, of the University
of Chicago Library, and Mr. Frank Kavanaugh, of the Kentucky State Library,
I am indebted for invaluable assistance rendered in securing material for
this work. The treatment of the legal status of slavery would have been very
meager, were it not for the valuable aid given by Dr. George E. Wire, of the
Worcester County (Massachusetts) Law Library. To Miss Florence Dillard, of
the Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library, I am indebted for assistance given
throughout the period of my studies. To Prof. George II. Blakeslee, of Clark
University, I owe more than to any one else—for his inspiration during my
three years of study, for his most valuable aid in the correction of the
manuscript, his candid judgment and judicial reasoning and the many
suggestions which have helped to make this study what it is.
Ivan E. McDougle
Clark. University,
Wohcester, Massachusetts. |