A time-line History of Slavery and Racism 1790 – 1829

1790
The United States- According to the first census, there are 757,000 blacks in the United States, comprising 19% of the total population. Nine percent of blacks are free. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis)

Virginia’s slave population reaches 200,000, up from over 100,000 from 1756. (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)

The Census of 1790, revealed 59,557 Free Negroes and 697,624 slaves in a population of 3,929,625, the most slaves being in Virginia (292,627) and the least in New Hampshire (157). (Growth Of The Nation 1800 – 40 Jefferson's Administrations Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX)

1790
The population of the United States in 1790 was about 4 million, of whom 60,000 were free blacks and 400,000 were slaves. The largest contributor of colonists to the Americas was Great Britain. During the 17th century, about 250,000 English immigrants arrived, settling primarily in Virginia, Massachusetts, and the Caribbean islands. In the 18th century more than 1.5 million people came from the British Isles to America. The majority of newcomers to the Western Hemisphere, however, were African slaves. About 10 million of them were brought over before 1800. (Compton's Encyclopedia Online )

1790/10/28
Uprising of Free colored men in Port-with-Prince, Haiti (Chronology of the abolition of French slavery Remerciements à Pascal Boyries, Professeur d'Histoire-Géographie, au lycée Charles Baudelaire d'Annecy)

Haiti, of course, is often held up as an exception to history--a successful slave revolution. Langley's account is sufficiently complete, however, to show that it was nothing of the sort. The leaders of the revolt against French rule were certainly black, but they were not slaves--they were slave-owners themselves. Saint Domingue (as it was known before the revolution) was exceptional in the Caribbean in having a large number of free coloreds who included "French-educated planters, tradesmen, artisans and small landholders," and whose "rapid advancement occasionally alarmed even the grand blancs," or white plantation owners (p. 106). The free coloreds copied white manners and dress, and provoked a backlash of legal restrictions from the 1760s through the 1780s. Beginning with prohibitions against the practice of medicine, coloreds were later barred from serving as court clerks or notaries. By the late 1780s, coloreds were obliged to file for a permit to conduct any trade except farming. They were denied the rights of assembly, refused noble status, and kept out of the regular military. In their view, the free coloreds had become "a class of men born French, but degraded by cruel and vile prejudices and laws" (p. 106). With forty thousand whites and five hundred thousand African slaves, the colony of Saint Domingue had a similar white/slave structure to many other Caribbean and even southern British colonies. But it also had thirty thousand free coloreds, who in effect held the balance. For the white elite was sharply divided between highland and lowland, northern and southern, coffee and sugar, planter and merchant, groups. White divisions intensified when France was swept by its revolution in the 1790s, and the free coloreds stepped up to demand their rights as citizens.

1791
Upper Canada (now the province of Ontario), was created in 1791 to cope with the influx of refugees from the American Revolution, was home to several hundred slaves, many of them brought there by their loyalist owners fleeing the new republics. Upper Canada's first parliament, under pressure from Governor Simcoe, passed an act to gradually abolish slavery in the colony: No more slaves could be brought into Upper Canada. Those already in the colony prior to the Act were to remain slaves for the rest of their lives. The children of female slaves already in Upper Canada would be free upon reading their 25th birthday. Reflecting pressure from slave owners and some members of the elective Assembly, what were seen as existing property rights were protected but legal slavery was doomed to steadily decline and eventual disappearance in the colony. This Upper Canadian statute did not explicitly deal with the question of the rights of fugitive slaves who had escaped to Upper Canada but as a result of the legal opinion of the colony's Chief Justice in 1818 no one seen as a slave in another jurisdiction could be returned there simply because he/she had sought freedom in Upper Canada. Whatever their status in the U.S. or elsewhere, in Upper Canada they were free long before the abolition of slavery throughout the British empire in 1833. (Posting on SLAVERY@LISTSERV.UH.EDU by Dr. Jeffrey L. McNairn, Department of History, York University, Toronto, Ontario, oluap@idirect.com

1791/08/22
Haitian Revolution began with revolt of slaves in northern province.

1791
Louisiana- Twenty-three slaves are hanged and three white sympathizers deported, following suppression of a black revolt. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis)

1791/08/19
Benjamin Banneker, a freedman from Maryland, wrote to Thomas Jefferson complaining that it was time to eradicate false racial stereotypes. While expressing doubts regarding the merits of slavery in his "Notes on Virginia", Jefferson had expressed his belief in the inferiority of the African. Banneker had educated himself, especially in mathematics and astronomy, and in 1789 he was one of those who helped to survey the District of Columbia. Later, he predicted a solar eclipse. In 1791 he had begun the publication of a series of almanacs, and the next year he sent one of these to Jefferson in an attempt to challenge his racial views. Jefferson was so impressed with the work that he sent it to the French Academy of Science. However, he seemed to view Banneker as an exception rather than fresh evidence undermining white stereotypes. (Norman Coombs, The Immigrant Heritage of America, Twayne Press, 1972. Chapter 5 A Nation Divided. The Black Experience In America Part 2, Emancipation Without Freedom. Chapter 5 A Nation Divided, Black Moderates And Black Militants)

1791/09/28
French Constitutional Assembly abolishes slavery in France, where there are no slaves, according to the former decision of Louis the XIVth. (Chronology of the abolition of French slavery Remerciements à Pascal Boyries, Professeur d'Histoire-Géographie, au lycée Charles Baudelaire d'Annecy )

1793

In 1793 Eli Whitney, working as a tutor on a Georgia plantation, invented the cotton gin. This machine, which separates the seeds from the cotton, makes the production of cotton easier and its sale price much lower. Cotton growing on a large scale (it was grown earlier in small amounts) spread widely in the South and became yet another cornerstone in Southern culture and land use. (Compton's Encyclopedia Online)

U.S. cotton production will rise from 140,000 pounds in 1791 to 35 million pounds in 1800 as the efficiency of the Whitney cotton gin leads to rapid growth of cotton planting in the South and a boom in northern and English cotton mills. (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf)

The price of slaves increased as cotton production proved profitable on the Southern frontier reversing the efforts to encourage emancipation that had begun between the American Revolution and before the War of 1812. (See William Cooper Nell, The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution (Boston: Robert F. Wallcut, 1855) and Sidney Kaplan, The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, 1770-1800 (Greenwich: New York Graphic Society, 1973), 10-13. Cited in The Underground Railroad In American History )

The Rise Of Cotton: Before the 1790s Slavery seemed to be a dying institution. Most Northern states had set emancipation in motion and in the Chesapeake states of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, the philosophy of the American Revolution - the idea that all men were created equal, with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - also motivated planters to free their slaves. Of crucial importance to the act of freeing slaves in the Chesapeake was the decline of tobacco. Years of overplanting had left the land worn out. As farmers produced less tobacco and turned instead to more profitable grains their need for large numbers of slaves decreased. Rather than assume the cost of caring for their slaves, many farmers freed them instead. ("Let My People Go - African Americans 1804-1860", Deborah Gray white, p. 15.)

But the introduction of cotton, which increase the demand for slaves south of the Chesapeake, caused a hurried change in attitude. Before the turn of the 19th century, there was little cotton production in the South. Eli Whitney's cotton gin changed that, and with it also the history of Black America. The cotton gin made the production of the heartier short-staple cotton profitable. Before the invention of the cotton gin it took a slave a day to clean a pound of the short-staple cotton. With the gin, by contrast, the slave could clean up to 50 pounds a day. . ("Let My People Go - African Americans 1804-1860", Deborah Gray white, p. 15.)

Between 1790 and 1860, about one million slaves were moved west, almost twice the number of Africans shipped to the United States during the whole period of the transatlantic slave trade. Some slaves moved with their masters and others moved as part of a new domestic trade in which owners from the seaboard states sold slaves to planters in the cotton-growing states of the new Southwest. ("Slavery in the United States," Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia.)

1793/02/12
Fugitive Slave Act becomes a federal law. Allows slaveowners, their agents or attorneys to seize fugitive slaves in free states and territories.

The Fugitive Slave Act voted by Congress at Philadelphia February 12 makes it illegal for anyone to help a slave escape to freedom or give a runaway slave refuge (see Underground Railway, 1838). (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf also see here for the document)

1794
Haitian slaves in the French colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti) on Hispaniola rise under the leadership of Pierre Dominque Toussaint L’Ouverture, 51, Jean Jacques Dessalines, 36, and Henri Christophe, 27. They lead 500,000 blacks and mulattos against the colony’s 40,000 whites (see 1802). (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf)

1795
Louisiana- More slave uprising are suppressed with some 50 blacks killed and executed.(Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis )

1800
Africans in Philadelphia petition Congress to end slavery. (The History Channels Chronology of Slavery in America)

Washington, D.C.- By a vote of 85 to 1, Congress rejects petition by free blacks of Philadelphia to gradually end slavery in the United States. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis )

1802
South Carolina resumes importing slaves as Eli Whitney’s 1792 cotton gin makes cotton growing profitable and boosts demand for field hands. (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf)

1802
Slave boatmen plot rebellion along Roanoke River in Virginia (Exploring Amistad at the Mystic Museum)

1803
Cotton passes tobacco for the first time as the leading U.S. export crop. (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf)

South Carolina resumes importing slaves as Eli Whitney’s 1792 cotton gin makes cotton growing profitable and boosts demand for field hands. (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)

New York City- Blacks of New York burn parts of the city and destroy several homes. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis )

The Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the

Haiti’s revolutionists free all slaves and kill all whites that do not flee. Gain independence from France and establish Haiti. Many whites that flee emigrate to Baltimore. (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)

1804
Ohio- The legislature enacts the first of the "Black Laws" restricting the rights and movements of Blacks. Other Western states soon follow suit. Illinois, Indiana and Oregon later have anti-immigration clauses in their state constitutions. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis http://www.triadntr.net/~rdavis/)

New Jersey- New Jersey passes an emancipation law. All states north of the Mason-Dixon Line now have laws forbidding slavery or providing for its gradual elimination. However, there are to be some slaves in New Jersey right up to the Civil War. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis )

1806
Free blacks in Virginia occasionally acquired slaves as gifts or as inheritance from whites. During the 18th century, these unique slaveholders usually freed their bondsmen after holding them for brief periods. The state's repression of free blacks after 1806 altered this arrangement. Subject to expulsion from Virginia at the whim of county officials, those free blacks who owned slaves now held them for longer periods as a means to demonstrate their reliability to the state. They also fully realized that their charges, a group that often included family members, would as slaves be insulated from the dangers that confronted the state's free black population. Based on Virginia county tax records and secondary sources; 2 illus., 2 photos, 40 notes. (Schwarz, Philip J. Emancipators, Protectors, And Anomalies: Free Black Slaveowners In Virginia. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1987 95 (3): 317-338.)

Virginia required all slaves freed after 1 May to leave the state. (c) Such restrictions were typical of the types of laws passed, denying free Negroes the right to vote, serve on juries, testify against a white person or at all, or access to certain types of jobs, living in certain areas or burial in certain "all-white" cemeteries. (d) Educated free blacks were mistrusted, believed to be insurrectionists (2) One response to the problem of the free Negro was to sent them back to Africa. (Growth Of The Nation 1800 – 40 Jefferson's Administrations Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX )

1808
Slave importation outlawed. Some 250,000 slaves were illegally imported from 1808-60. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996 from MS Bookshelf)

Importation of slaves into the United States is banned as of January 1 by an act of Congress passed last year, but illegal imports continue (see 1814). (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)

Some southerners feared slave revolts if importation continued. Religious societies stressed the moral evil of the trade, and free blacks saw the end of the slave trade as a first step toward general emancipation. (National Park Service on Underground Railroad, Early Anti Slavery )

1811

Louisiana- U.S. troops suppress a slave uprising in two parishes some 35 miles from New Orleans. The revolt is led by Charles Deslands. Some 100 slaves are killed or executed. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis )

1816/07/17
Ambush of Navy personnel on Apalachicola River, Spanish Florida, during reconnaissance of fort and settlement occupied by free African Americans and escaped slaves, 17 Jul. 1816. Four Navy killed. (US Navy & Marine Casualties)

Seminole Wars begin in Florida as a result of many slaves taking refuge with Seminole Indians. (Underground Railroad Chronology, National Park Service)

Three hundred fugitive slaves and about 20 Indian allies held Fort Blount on Apalachicola Bay, Fla., for several days before it was attacked by U.S. Troops. (Major Revolts and Escapes, Lerone Bennett, Before the Mayflower)

Throughout the colonial period and until 1819, slaves escaped from the lower south into East and West Florida. While the famous "Negro Fort," once the British Fort Gadsden, was taken by American troops in 1816, it was not until 1819 that the United States made a bold play to take all of East Florida. In that year, Congress attempted to put a stop to slave runaways and Indian raids across the Florida border by sending Andrew Jackson to make war on the encampments and communities of Africans and Native Americans. Jackson went farther and claimed all of Florida for the United States. Spain was not strong enough to reclaim Florida and the descendants of many fugitives moved on to Cuba or retreated into the swamps. (The Underground Railroad In American History, the National Park Service)

1816-18
Spanish Florida - First Seminole War. The Seminole Indians, whose area was a resort for escaped slaves and border ruffians, were attacked by troops under Generals Jackson and Gaines and pursued into northern Florida. Spanish posts were attacked and occupied, British citizens executed. In 1819 the Florida’s' were ceded to the United States. (Instances of Use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798 – 1993 by Ellen C. Collier, Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division Washington DC: Congressional Research Service -- Library of Congress -- October 7, 1993 )

1816
Virginia- Failure of slave rebellion led by George Boxley, a white man. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis )

1818
As a response to the Fugitive Slave Act (1793), abolitionists use the "underground" to assist slaves to escape into Ohio and Canada. (Underground Railroad Chronology, National Park Service )

As a result of the legal opinion of the colony's (Upper Canada) Chief Justice in 1818 no one seen as a slave in another jurisdiction could be returned there simply because he/she had sought freedom in Upper Canada. Whatever their status in the U.S. or elsewhere, in Upper Canada they were free long before the abolition of slavery throughout the British empire in 1833 See also 1791 under Upper Canada. (Posting on SLAVERY@LISTSERV.UH.EDU by Dr. Jeffrey L. McNairn, Department of History, York University, Toronto, Ontario, )

1819/03
African Slave Trade (1) A law in March 1819 paid a bounty for information on illegal importation of Negro slaves into the US or seized at sea. (2) The president was empowered to return all such slaves to Africa. (3) In 1820 the foreign slave trade was declared piracy which could result in forfeiture of vessels and death penalty for all US citizens engaged in importing slaves. (Growth Of The Nation 1800 – 40 Jefferson's Administrations Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX )

1820/02/06
First organized emigration of blacks 86 free black colonists sail from NYC to Sierra Leone, Africa. (D.T.'s Chronology of History 1820-1829!)

1821
Ohio Quaker saddlemaker Benjamin Lundy, 32, urges abolition of slavery and begins publication of his antislavery newspaper Genius of Universal Emancipation. He soon moves to Greenville, Tenn., and will relocate to Baltimore in 1824. A slave trader will attack and severely injure him in 1828, but Lundy will enlist the support of William Lloyd Garrison, now 16, and Garrison will serve as associate editor for 6 months beginning in September 1829 (see 1831). (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)

1821
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is organized on June 21. AME Zion forms a new denomination with members from New Haven, Philadelphia and Long Island. (Slavery and Religion in America: A timeline 1440-1866. By the Internet Public Library )

1822/06/16
Ve·sey (vê¹zê), Denmark 1767?-1822 American insurrectionist. A freed slave in South Carolina, he was implicated in the planning of a large uprising of slaves and was hanged. The event led to more stringent slave codes in many Southern states. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, 1992 From MS Bookshelf.)
Vesey’s Rebellion fails in South Carolina June 16 when authorities at Charleston arrest 10 slaves who have heeded the urgings of local freedman Denmark Vesey, 55. Vesey himself is arrested, defends himself eloquently in court, but is hanged July 2 with four other blacks. Further arrests follow, more than 30 other executions will take place, and several southern states will tighten their slave codes. (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)

1823
Mississippi- Law prohibiting teaching of reading and writing to blacks and meetings of more than five slaves or free blacks is enacted. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis)

Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia- U.S. Circuit Court declares that removal of a slave to a free bestows freedom and that malicious, cruel, or inhuman treatment of a slave is an indictable offense of a common law. (Chronology: A Historical Review, Major Events in Black History 1492 thru 1953 by Roger Davis and Wanda Neal-Davis)

1827/07/04
All slaves in New York became free under gradual emancipation law.

1829
Black abolitionist, David Walker issues David Walker's Appeal. Afterwards, severe slave revolts occurred throughout the South. (Underground Railroad Chronology, National Park Service)

Source: http://innercity.org/holt/chron_1790_1829.html

home