CHAPTER TWO

RACE AND THE LAW IN ANTEBELLUM MARYLAND

I.         Blacks in the State of Maryland in the Eighteenth Century - The Attack on the
Institution of Slavery

Slavery reached its peak in late colonial times in Maryland. Shortly after the Revolution,
attempts were made to abolish slavery. The importation of slaves was banned. The courts during
this period also made it easier for a black person to successfully claim freedom. By the
beginning of the nineteenth century, however, the abolitionist movement in the state had spent its
force. The institution of slavery was maintained. Nevertheless, slaves declined as a percentage
of the population while free blacks increased.1

A.         Sources of Abolitionist Sentiment

The morality of slavery began to come under attack during the quarter century prior to the
revolution from both religious and political sources. In 1760 Maryland Quakers declared that
"Friends should not in any wise encourage the importation of negroes, by buying or selling them,
or other slaves."2   In 1766 John Woolman traveled on foot through the eastern shore, urging that
slavery was a disease poisoning the moral and spiritual life of the Society of Friends and of
America.3 Quakers began to manumit their slaves in increasing numbers and in 1770 decided that
persons who held slaves should not be appointed as elders.4 Finally, in 1777 the Maryland Yearly
Meeting resolved that if any members continued to reject the advice against slaveholding, they
should be "disunited from our religious society."5

Another small sect centered in Caroline County, known as the Nicholite Society from
their preacher John Nichols, manumitted their slaves in 1768.6 The early Methodist movement
also repudiated slavery, hi 1774 John Wesley published his "Thoughts on Slavery" condemning
the purchase of slaves equally with the original act of enslavement. "Liberty is the right of every
human creature as soon as he breathes the vital air, and no human being can deprive him of that
right which he derives from the law of nature.7 Bishop Frances Asbury who was in charge of
Methodists on the eastern shore and in Virginia from 1778 to 1813 was vehemently opposed to
slavery.8 The Methodist Conference made several attempts to bar slaveholders from
membership, but the strictures weakened and became a dead letter during the nineteenth century.9
Nevertheless, the early impetus against slavery led to numerous acts of manumission.

These religious groups were isolated. The largest group's commitment to abolition waned
over time. The Quakers and Nicholites had manumitted all their slaves by 1790 while
Methodists continued to hold slaves and to manumit them well into the nineteenth century.10
These groups were important both for the specific slaves they freed and for the example which
they set of religious opposition to slavery. Other sects such as the Baptists and the German

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