Chapter I: Front Matter

Publications of the University of Texas

Publications Committee:

FREDERIC DUNCALF
G. C. BUTTE
KILLIS CAMPBELL
F. W. GRAFF
J. L. HENDERSON
E. J. MATHEWS
H. J. MULLER
A. E. TROMBLY
HAL C. WEAVER

The University publishes bulletins four times a month, so numbered that the first two digits of the number show the year of issue, the last two the position in the yearly series. (For example, No. 2201 is the first bulletin of the year 1922.) These comprise the official publications of the University, publications on humanistic and scientific subjects, bulletins prepared by the Bureau of Extension, by the Bureau of Economic Geology and Technology, and other bulletins of general educational interest. With the exception of special numbers, any bulletin will be sent to a citizen of Texas free on request. All communications about University publications should be addressed to University Publications, University of Texas, Austin.

University of Texas Bulletin
No. 2205: February 1, 1922

THE NEGRO IN TENNESSEE, 1790-1865

BY
CALEB PERRY PATTERSON
Adjunct Professor of Government in the University of Texas

PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY FOUR TIMES A MONTH, AND ENTERED AS
SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POSTOFFICE AT AUSTIN, TEXAS,
UNDER THE ACT OF AUGUST 24, 1912

The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally
diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation
of a free government.

Sam Houston

Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy.... It
is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge and the only
security that freemen desire.

Mirabeau B. Lamar

CONTENTS

Preface 7-8

I. Introduction of Slavery into Tennessee 9-24

I. The status of the negro in North Carolina, 1693-1790 12-21

A. Privileges 12-18

B. Restrictions 18-21

II. The status of the negro in the Franklin State, 1785-1788 22-23

III. The status of the negro in the Southwest Territory,
1790-1796 23-24

II. The Status of the Slave in Tennessee, 1796-1865 25-58

I. The Privileges of Slaves 25-30

A. Hunting 25-26

B. Travel 26

C. Suits for freedom 26-28

D. Trial by Jury 28-30

II. Disabilities of Slaves 30-33

III. Relations of Master and Society 34-38

A. Liabilities of the master to society 34-36

1. For his own acts 34-35

2. For the acts of his slaves 35-36

B. Liabilities of society to the master 36-38

IV. The Patrol System 38-41

V. Special Problems of Slave Government 41-52

A. The runaway 41-43

B. Importation of slaves 43-44

C. The stealing of slaves 44-45

D. Trading with slaves 46-49

E. Insurrections 49-50

F. Unlawful assembly of slaves 50-51

G. Punishment of slaves 51-52

VI. Title of Slaves 52-55

VII. The Law of Increase 55-56

VIII. The Legal Status of the Slave 56-58

III. Economics of Slavery in Tennessee 59-79

I. Slavery an Expression of the Soil 59-64

II. The Management of the Plantation 64-72

III. Was Slavery Profitable in Tennessee? 72-79

IV. Anti-Slavery Societies 80-101

I. The Tennessee Manumission Society 80-89

II. The Humane Protecting Society 89

III. The Emancipation Labor Society 89-91

IV. The Moral, Religious Manumission Society of West
Tennessee 91-94

V. The Tennessee Colonization Society 94-101

V. The Religious and Social Aspects of Slavery 102-152

I. The Methodists 104-125

II. The Baptists 125-131

III. Cumberland Presbyterians 131-136

IV. The Friends 136-139

V. The Presbyterians 139-148

VI. The Episcopalians 148-152

VI. The Legal Status of the Free Negro 153-175

I. The Establishment of a Policy 153-160

A. The policy of North Carolina 153

B. The policy of Tennessee in 1831 153

C. Changes in the policy from 1831 to 1865 153-160

II. System of Registration of Free Negroes 161-162

III. Protection of Free Negroes 162

IV. Suffrage for Free Negroes 162-173

A. In North Carolina 162-164

B. In the Convention of 1796 164-167

C. From 1796 to 1834 167-168

D. Its abolition by the Convention of 1834 168-173

V. Limitations upon the freedom of free negroes 173

VI. The Status of the Free Negro 174-175

VII. Abolition 176-198

I. Private Abolition 176-180

A. Methods 176-179

(1) By Deed.

(2) By Will.

(3) By Bill of Sale.

(4) By Implication.

(5) By Effect of Foreign Laws.

B. Extent of Emancipation in Tennessee 179-180

II. Anti-slavery Leaders 180-185

III. Abolition Literature 185-187

IV. Petitions to the Legislature for Abolition 187-189

V. Abolition in the Convention of 1834 189-195

VI. Abolition Sentiment after 1834 195-198

VIII. Conclusions 199-202

IX. Bibliography 202-209

X. Appendices 209-213

A. Anti-Slavery Societies of Tennessee 209

B. Tennessee Colonization Society 209

C. Anti-Slavery Leaders in Tennessee 210

D. List of Emigrants 210-211

E. Vice-President of American Colonization Society from
Tennessee 211

F. Comparative List of Manumission Societies and Members
in the United States 211

G. Slave and Free Negro Population in Tennessee 212

H. Comparative Value of Land and Slaves in the Three
Divisions of Tennessee, 1859 212

I. Approximate Value of Property, Slaves, Land, and
Cotton in Tennessee, 1859 212

J. Classification of Slaveholders in Tennessee and the
United States, on the basis of number of slaves
held, 1860 213