In August, 1619, approximately 20 enslaved people were brought to Jamestown on the slave ship White Lion. They were legally treated as indentured servants in Virginia, some secured their freedom after an unspecified time, and some even received plots of land after release from their "service." Regardless, their time as servants was very similar to that of slaves as defined by slave laws later enacted and the conditions were very harsh. Records of slavery at this time are minimal and can be contradictory.
John Casor was a black man who felt that he had served his time of indenture, but a Virginia court ruled that his term of servitude was to include his entire life, being the first defined case of slavery for life in the territory which became the United States.
Bacon's Rebellion was lead by Nathaniel Bacon against the Colonial Governor William Berkeley, primarily to protest the benign treatment of Native Americans by Berkeley. The rebellion united white and black frontiersmen and it was this united group which in the end was perceived as most threatening to the ruling elite. This lead to the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 and the use of poor white citizens to assist in the policing of enslaved people.
The Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 were a series of laws which codified slavery in the Virginia colony and established the framework for relations between whites and Black enslaved people in the colony.
The 1785 ordinance laid the foundations of land policy until passage of the Homestead Act of 1862. The Land Ordinance established the basis for the Public Land Survey System. The initial surveying was performed by Thomas Hutchins. After he died in 1789, responsibility for surveying was transferred to the Surveyor General. Land was to be systematically surveyed into square townships, 6 mi (9.7 km) on a side, each divided into thirty-six sections of 1 sq mi (2.6 km2) or 640 acres (260 ha). These sections could then be subdivided for re-sale by settlers and land speculators.[4] The ordinance was also significant for establishing a mechanism for funding public education. Section 16 in each township was reserved for the maintenance of public schools. Many schools today are still located in section sixteen of their respective townships, although a great many of the school sections were sold to raise money for public education. In later States, section 36 of each township was also designated as a "school section".[5][6][7] (From Wikipedia
This was the effective date of the Constitution of the United States. Although there are many lofty ideals contained therein, the issue of slavery was prevalent and led to amendments later. Those issues relating to slavery in the original document are: Article 1, Section 9, prohibits Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808, and Article 5 prohibited this from being amended. Article 1, Section 2, provides that, for purposes of representation in Congress, enslaved black people in a state would be counted as three-fifths of the number of white inhabitants of that state. Article 4, Section 2, contains the “fugitive slave clause,” which required that an escaped slave be returned to his or her owner. Ultimately, it took a Civil War and constitutional amendments to eliminate slavery. https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/09/17/constitutions-biggest-flaw-protecting-slavery/
The enslaved people of St. Domingue rose up against the French planters and military on Aug 21, 1791, manifesting many of the fears of the enslaving white populations of the Western Hemisphere. With a French population of about 40,000 and an enslaved population of about 450,000, the rebellion was successful, but the power of the French military continued the battle through different French governments, abolition of slavery by the French Parliament in 1795, and wars between France, Spain, and Britain. It had a profound effect on the fragile psyche of slaveholders in the United States and was a reason for the sale of the Louisiana Purchase Territories to the US by France (to raise money for Napoleon).
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was written to clarify and give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution, Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3. This Act created the legal mechanism by which former enslaved people who fled to free states would be returned to their former slaveholders. They were described as "fugitives from justice". It was subsequently strengthened by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
The Louisiana Purchase (French: Vente de la Louisiane 'Sale of Louisiana') was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from France in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or approximately eighteen dollars per square mile, the United States nominally acquired a total of 828,000 sq mi (2,140,000 km2; 530,000,000 acres). However, France only controlled a small fraction of this area, with most of it inhabited by Indegenous People; for the majority of the area, what the United States bought was the "preemptive" right to obtain Native American lands by treaty or by conquest, to the exclusion of other colonial powers. Wikipedia By William Morris
Native American removal north of the Missouri River complete. Crighton, John, A History of Columbia and Boone County, 1987
Columbia was settled in 1820, the original name being Smithton and centered close to the water tower on Walnut and Garth
Missouri was admitted into the United States as part of the bargain called the Missouri Compromise in which Maine was also admitted in order to maintain equality in numbers between free and slave-holding states. The linked Wiki article on the Missouri gives great detail about this compromise.
"To guard against law violations by blacks and to search for runaway slaves, the county court appoints five men to constitute a company of patrollers within Columbia Township for a period of one year. They are required to be on duty at least twenty hours a month in their assigned territory." Similar patrols are established in other townships. Crighton, John, A History of Columbia and Boone county, 1987
Legislation in 1822 and 1825 authorized the construction of schools on land grant sections in the state of Missouri as provided in the Federal Land Ordinance of 1785 which established a mechanism to fund schools using section number 16 from each township, 6x6 miles square and the formation of township school districts therein. It should be noted that this originally included only schools for white students.
The Boone County Court declares Columbia to be incorporated. The elected Columbia Board of Trustees is assisted by the following appointed officials: town clerk, recorder (who presides over the local police court), assessor, marshall (police chief), city attorney, and treasurer. Supplementing state legislation, Columbia enacts its own "slave code." "The following actions by slaves are banned: drunkenness within the corporate limits; loitering in groups of five or more in town; selling edibles on the streets on election days or other public occasions without a license; carrying deadly weapons, and violating curfew hours without a written permit. All of the offenses except curfew violation are punishable by various numbers of stripes or lashes “well laid on by the Marshall”". Crighton, John, A History of Columbia and Boone County, 1987.
The first Boone County School for white children is established at Thrall's Prairie.
Boone County Population in 1828:7870, including 1533 enslaved persons.
In addition to an auction of enslaved persons at the Boone County Courthouse, these auctions were also held outside taverns owned by Richard and Ann Gentry and Thomas Selby. Both were on Broadway, the Gentry tavern was between 7th and 8th streets from 1821-1831 and at the corner of 9th and Broadway from 1831. The Selby tavern was at the southwest corner of 8th and Broadway.
First appearance of William Lloyd Garrison’s Abolitionist paper: The Liberator.
A revolt pf enslaved persons in Virginia was led by Nat Turner where he and several followers killed the Travis family and with recruitment of about 75 other enslaved people killed an additional 51 white people. This resulted in fear of similar revolts and increasingly harsh "slave codes". The state executed 56 black people, and militias killed at least 100 more.
Jan. 30: First Columbia school opened at 2nd and Broadway; charged tuition for white boys.
On March 14, 1835 the General Assembly of the State of Missouri passed "An act concerning free negroes and mulattoes". The act stated that all free persons of color had to apply for a freedom license. The courts could, if they chose, grant a license to "any free negro or mulatto, possessing the qualifications required by this act to reside within the state".1 The act was another hurdle that African Americans living in Missouri had to overcome. Not only did they have to go to the court and possess the qualifications to apply for a freedom license, but the applicant also had to be either born in Missouri or prove that they "were residents of this state on the seventh day of January, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-five, and continue to be such residents at the taking effect of this act"2 and "produce satisfactory evidence that he is of the class of persons who may obtain such license, that he is of good character and behavior, and capable of supporting himself by lawful employment, [that] the court may grant him a license to reside with the state" General Assembly of the State of Missouri "Negroes and Mulattoes: An act concerning free negroes and mulattoes." Section 10. Approved March 14th, 1835. pg. 415. Missouri State Archives. Ebony Jenkins, Freedom Licenses in St. Louis City and County 1835-1865
MU was founded in 1839 as part of the Geyer Act to establish a state land-grant university, the first west of the Mississippi River. The year of its founding the citizens of Columbia and Boone County pledged $117,921 in cash and land to beat out five other mid-Missouri counties for the location of the state university. The land on which the university was eventually constructed was just south of Columbia's downtown and owned by James S. Rollins, who is known as the "father of the university." It was the first university in Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase and was designed in part upon Thomas Jefferson's original plans for the University of Virginia. Because of this, the original tombstone of Thomas Jefferson was given to MU by Jefferson's heirs in July 1883.
The University of Missouri opens for students. John Hiram Lathrop was the first president of the University and was credited with laying the foundations of the University, however the board of curators became involved in sectarian controversy and in the agitation of the slavery issue. Lathrop, a Northerner, lost the confidence and support of some of the proslavery members of his board. He resigned in 1849. James Shannon was chosen as his replacement. Shannon combines a high level of contentiousness with extreme pro-slavery views, which he had a compulsion to express on every possible occasion. He spent much of his time giving proslavery lectures in various parts of the state. Shannon is granted permission by the curators to continue to preach the Gospel (as a Disciples of Christ minister) as well as teach university classes and administer the institution. Shannon went on to be one of the founders of Columbia College and Christian University(Culver -Stockton College in Canton, MO) *John Hiram Lathrop, first university president, 1841-1849 and 1865-1866. John Crighton, A History of Columbia and Boone County, 1987.
Prigg v. Pennsylvania, Supreme Court held that th US Constitution required that escaped enslaved persons in Northern states had to be returned to "owners", undermining a contradictory 1780 PA law.
June: Five of Hiram Beasley’s enslaved persons were charged with murdering their "master". Two of the enslaved persons, a married couple(Henry and America), were hanged after being tried and convicted of murder though there is disagreement as to where: on the gate leading into the Beasley plantation or in the near Columbia area on a specifically built gallows. Doctors who examined the female enslaved person before the hanging said she was not pregnant, a doctor who examined the female enslaved person posthumously claimed she was pregnant. Two other enslaved persons, both male, were found guilty of second‐degree murder and punished by 39 lashes and banishment from the state. The other enslaved person, a female, was acquitted of the murder. See William Switzler, A History of Boone County, pp 341-343
Jefferson Garth publishes a notice in the Missouri Statesman warning Columbians against hiring any of his Negroes to do any kind of work at night or on Sundays, or trading with them without his permission.
NEGROES AND MULA TTOES. AN ACT respecting slaves, free negroes and mulattoes. 1. Negreos or mulattoes not to be taught to read or write. 2. Where preacher is negro or mullato; certain officers to be present at service. 3. Certain specified meetings unlawful; how suppressed 4. No free negro or mulatto to emigrate to this State. 5. Punishment for violation of this act. 6. Free negroes and mulatoes under twenty-one years; for certain causes, not to be bound out in this State. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows: § 1. No person shall keep or teach any school for the instruction of negroes or mulattoes, in reading or writing, in this State. See the attached, linked original text.
Auctions of enslaved persons took place on the steps of the Boone County Courthouse from the 1830's through 1864. Columbia had become a large-scale market for enslaved persons, with auctions as well as four dealers advertising for consignments of boys, girls, men, and women ranging up to 100 persons, for which they offered to pay cash. Prices for enslaved persons on the eve of the Civil War are the highest in history, averaging $1,000 for female and $1,300 for male workers. In contrast, there were two auctions in January, 1864 with auction prices on Jan 1 $1672 for a total of 10 enslaved persons, that on January 15th were $2,080 for 22 enslaved persons, 32 human beings.
An advertisement was posted in the Columbia Missouri by John Parker (the leading businessman of Providence in Boone County) offering a "$100 reward for the return of slave William, age 26-28, able to read and write, and well dressed".
From the COMO Bicentennial Site: John Batiste Lange (later shortened to Lang), Sr., 1802-1879, was a free French Creole from Louisiana who was married to Louisa, an enslaved person "belonging" to the wife of James Shannon (James Shannon was the leader of the College of Louisiana in Jackson, LA 1835-1840). Shannon then moved to Harrodsburg, KY to Bacon College where he was president for 10 years before moving to Columbia. [Were Lang and his wife separated for those 10 years or had he moved to Harrodsburg, KY, also?]. Lang moved to Columbia in 1850 when Shannon became the president of the University of Missouri. Lang opened a successful butcher shop at the corner of Fourth and Cherry streets in 1851. Some claim it was the only meat market in Columbia at the time. Because of his connection to Shannon, he received a contract to provide Christian (now Columbia) College with meat. He also secured a contract in the last year of the Civil War to provide Columbia’s home guard troops, known as tigers, with meat. After the war, Lang opened what may have been Columbia’s first grocery store on Broadway, where he sold meat, vegetables and no perishable goods. He also owned a dairy on the south side of Broadway, across from what is now Stephens Lake Park. Lang helped organize Columbia’s first school for African American children. The Cummings Academy met in his home during its first year. Second Baptist Church also met in his home until 1870, when they built their own facility.
The Boone county court gives "permission" to free black John Batiste Lange (later shortened to Lang), a butcher, to reside in Boone County. James Shannon (MU president) serves as his security.1802 – 1879 From John Crighton, A History of Columbia and Boone County, 1987.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850 which had several components including the definition of the boundaries of the state of Texas, establishment of the New Mexico and Utah territories, local determination in the New Mexico and Utah territories as to whether they would become slave or free states, and a strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. This required that enslaved persons who were captured be returned to their "masters" and that officials of free states had to cooperate. The Congressional debate was quite heated and included Henry S Foote of Mississippi pulling a pistol on Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri.
Langs Butcher Shop opened in May at the corner of 4th and Cherry. James Winthrop: Butcher Shop on Walnut between 5th and 6th, John Lang Jr: Public Works contracting.
AME Church founded in Rocheport, Rev Jordon Winston
August 22: Hiram, an enslaved person of Edward Young was arrested and charged for attempted assault of a white woman. The trial never occurred. He escaped the first mob which attempted to lynch him, but a second mob took him from the jail and he was lynched, Eli Bass was the head of the mob. Edward Young who "owned Hiram" brought suit against the leaders of the mob for killing of his property resulting in a judgement of $1200. The female “victim” brought suit against Edward Young for the attack by his enslaved person and won a judgement of $800
The Columbia Board of Trustees establish a town patrol, commanded by the marshal, with special orders to search for stolen articles and fugitive enslaved persons. John Crighton, A History of Columbia and Boone County
Greenbury McQuin, a tailor and enslaved person, bought his freedom from Etta Ready for $900. Some enslaved people could earn money on their own or incidental to their work as enslaved persons. Economic activity by enslaved persons was banned by Columbia ordinance.
This landmark Supreme Court decision was a lawsuit brought by Dred Scott, an enslaved person from Missouri. His "owner" transported him to another part of the Missouri Territory which was not a slaveholding territory and after returning to Missouri, sued for his release as an enslaved person. The trial was held in the old courthouse in St. Louis, MO. All courts ruled against him including that in St. Louis, the Federal Court, and then the Supreme Court which ruled 7-2 against him. The majority opinion by Chief Justice Roger Taney, as related in Wikipedia, "ruled that black people "are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States." "
See the attached results from 1859 of the hiring and sale of enslaved persons from Switzler "History of Boone County" on the Boone County Courthouse steps.
The 1861 Black Code in Columbia 1. Prohibited Negros from settling within the corporate limits. 2. Required all Negros within Columbia without official papers to leave. 3. Required eviction of more than one family or more than 5 individuals living in a single room. 4. Provided that any able bodied person without visible means of support to be auctioned off for 4 months of labor. 5. Forbidden to hire out own labor 6. Forbade public drunkenness or possession of liquor except with the written permission of their "master". If free-$5.00 fine. For "slaves", punishment of 10-25 lashes 7. Possession of weapons: forbidden guns, dirk, and bowie knives specified; punishment--10-39 lashes 8. Travel restrictions: Forbidden to leave "master’s" property after 9pm between September 20 and March 20, after 10pm the rest of the year 9. Forbidden to loiter or gather in groups of and greater than: 5 day or night: Punishment: 5-15 lashes(the term stripes used to sound more benign) 10. Religious services exempted (A civil officer needed to be present at black religious services)
General John C. Fremont, commander of the Western Department of the Union forces, declares that enslaved persons belonging to people taking up arms against the United States are free. President Lincoln promptly rescinds the order. John Crighton, A History of Columbia and Boone County, 1987.
Feb. 27: James R. Selby, “a large scale slave dealer,” sent to St Louis as prisoner of war (along with John Samuel, CC Newman, WH Tillery, and Dr. WH Duncan. They are paroled and in April all are elected to the Columbia City Council on the “Lynch Negro Yard Ticket.”
During the Civil War, the Homestead Act of 1862 was enacted to encourage the settlement of the West by enabling individuals to procure 160 Acres of land for a minimal filing fee, settlement on the land for 5 years during which minimal improvements to the land were made, and payment of $1.25/Acre at the end of the 5 years.
Congress passes a law declaring that enslaved persons of disloyal citizens are free, and that military authorities are forbidden to assist in capturing escaped enslaved persons even of loyal owners. These measures abrogate the former fugitive slave laws.
January 1: Emancipation Proclamation was declared to be in force in seceding slave states and because of this, did not apply to the state of Missouri.
Summer: Blacks are enlisted in the Union Army and sent to Benton Barracks in St. Louis for training. Most are put in non-combat positions because of their lack of experience with firearms and general education. Loyal owners of enslaved persons were compensated $400 for enlisted enslaved persons. Enslaved women with children moved to town or fled to Illinois, Iowa and Kansas
The Missouri State Convention passes an ordinance providing for gradual emancipation of enslaved persons. Boone County’s two delegates, Eli E. Bass and Warren Woodson, vote for the measure. John Crighton, A History of Columbia and Boone County, 1987. The attached articles is from the New York Times
See the attached results of the auctions of enslaved persons on Jan 1 and 25, 1864 from Switzler's History of Boone County
Congress passed two statutes (the first--13 Stat. 11 (1864)) that permitted Northern owners of enslaved persons who fought for the Union Army to file a claim with the federal government for the loss of that enslaved person's services. The only requirements to file a claim were proof of ownership of the enslaved person and proof of their military service. Loyal owners were entitled to $300 in compensation & $100 bounty for each enslaved person enlisted. $400 was more than the prevailing price for enslaved persons at that time.
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