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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Meeting David Wilson
  • Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:46:13 EDT


> > know that some northern slaves were sold back into the
> south and some were freed, but that was just before or near the time
> of the Civil War.

Unlikely since by the 1850's most Southern states had laws that strictly
prohibitied bringing more slaves into the state.

> Perhaps, it happened on a broader scale at an

> earlier time when more northerners owned slaves.


Yes, the north divested itself of most of its slave property between 1790 and
1820's or 1830's and, as you might guess, the reasons were far more economic
than philantropic.

>
> >I thought, though I could be wrong, that quite a few of the slaves who
> escaped via the Underground Railroad ended up in Canada.


Again, for a very good reason. Before 1840, northern slave holders by and
large sold their "property" and the best market was Dutch slave traders
selling
the slaves in Brazil and Central America for sugar plantations. The market
was drying up by the mid 1800's and many of the remaining slaves were
manumitted out of economic necessity. A great number of Northern states then
passes
laws that made it illegal for freed blacks to remain in the state. By the
time
of the Underground Railroad a black person fleeing the South would have been
arrested in Mass, Penn. or NY etc.

Canada was the only option.


> >I guess I'm wondering if you have any numbers.
>

I do, I'll post them later.


James </HTML>




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