BLACKS BEFORE THE LAW IN COLONIAL MARYLAND
Ross Kimmel

¹United States Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, D.C., 1960), p. 756; Lewis C. Gray, History of Agriculture in the Southern United States to 1860, 2 vols. (1933; rpt. Gloucester, 1958), I, pp. 264-265; Stanley Elkins, Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life, 2nd ed. (Chicago, 1968), pp. 44-47. Whittington B. Johnson, "The Origin and Nature of African Slavery in Seventeenth-Century Maryland."

²Archives of Maryland, ed. William Hand Browne et al. (in progress; Baltimore, 1883 to date), I, 520 (hereafter Archives Md.).

³In the case of Butts versus Penny, 1677, the English Court of King's Bench ordered ten blacks suing for their freedom to remain the rightful property of their master "untill they become Christians; and thereby they are Infranchised." This case may be found in Helen C. Catteral, ed., Judical Cases concerning American Slavery and the Negro, Carnegie Institution of Washington, pub. no. 374, Papers of the Division of Historical Research, 5 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1926-1937), I, p. 9.

⁴Archives Md., I, pp. 533-534.

⁵"Freeborn," in this sense, included female English indentured servants who were literally born free and would ultimately reclaim their freedom. Later laws in Maryland clarified this point (see below).

⁶Herbert Moller, "Sex Composition and Correlated Cultural Patterns of Colonial America," The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., II (1945), pp. 135-137. Other authorities useful in discussing the 1664 law include: Jonathan Alpert, "The Origin of Slavery in the United States--The Maryland Precedent," The American Journal of Legal History, XIV (1970), pp. 195, 197, 209; Matthew P. Andrews, The Founding of Maryland (Baltimore, 1933), p. 176; Jeffrey R. Brackett, The Negro in Maryland: A Study of the Institution of Slavery, Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Extra vol. VI (Baltimore, 1889), pp. 27-33, 37; Carl N. Degler, "Slavery and the Genesis of American Race Prejudice," Comparative Studies in Society and History, II (1959), p. 61; Oscar Handlin, Race and Nationality in American Life (Boston and Toronto, 1957), p. 20; Eugene I. McCormac, White Servitude in Maryland, 1634-1820 (Baltimore, 1904), pp. 67-70; and George Washington Williams, History of the Negro Race in America, 2 vols. (1883; rpt. New York, 1968), I, pp. 240-241.

⁷Kenneth Davies, Royal African Company (London and New York, 1957), pp. 299-300.

⁸Russell R. Menard, "The Maryland Slave Population, 1658 to 1730: A Demographic Profile of Blacks in Four Counties," William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 32 (1975), pp. 29-54.

⁹Archives Md., II, p. 272.

¹⁰Authorities useful in discussing the 1671 law include: Alpert, "The Origins of Slavery," p. 195; Brackett, The Negro in Maryland, pp. 31-32; C. Robert Haywood, "Mercantilism and Slave Labor, 1700-1763," The Journal of Southern History 23 (1957), pp. 454-458; George Washington Williams, History of the Negro Race in America, p. 241.

¹¹Archives Md., V, 267. By 1699, baptism of slaves became common enough in Maryland for a Pennsylvania Quaker, Thomas Story, to attack verbally a Maryland Anglican priest, Henry Hall, for baptizing blacks and thereby being a pary to the enslavement of Christians. See Edward D. Neill, Terra Mariae: or, Threads of Maryland Colonial History (Philadelphia, 1867), pp. 146-147.

¹²Archives Md., XIII, pp. 515-506.

¹³Archives Md., VII, pp. 197, 199; Alpert, "The Origins of Slavery," pp. 208-209.

¹⁴Archives Md., LXIX, p. 34.

¹⁵In 1678, Lord Baltimore informed the Lords of Trade that Maryland tobacco brought no more than 1d. per pound. Archives Md., V, p. 268.

¹⁶Archives Md., LXX, p. 195.

¹⁷In 1683, the Provincial Council decided to pay its doorkeeper a fee of 6d. or ten pounds of tobacco for some service rendered. Archives Md., XVII, p. 139.

¹⁸Archives Md., LXX, pp. 411-412.

¹⁹[Maryland] Provincial Court Judgements, Liber W. C., pt. 2 (1679-1684), p. 880, Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland (hereafter abbreviated MdSA).

²⁰Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics, p. 756.

²¹Ibid. Menard, "Maryland Slave Population," p. 32.

²²Archives Md., XXXVIII, pp. 51-52.

²³Ibid., pp. 80-81.

²⁴In his article "The Origins of Slavery," p. 209, Jonathan Alpert argued that the omission of the word "other" indicates that this law was meant to extend the marriage taboo to include free Negroes. More than likely, however, the omission was a clerical error since other such errors appear in the body of the law. The clerk wrote the term "Negroes and other Slaves" in the first clause and again, in the singular, in a later clause. He erroneously left out the word "other" when referring to the title of the 1664 law, in the final clause. Moreover, he needlessly repeated a six-word phrase immediately after writing it the first time elsewhere in the text.

²⁵Archives Md., VII, pp. 203-205.

²⁶In the Charles County Court Proceedings, Liber L #1 (1684-1685), p. 24, MdSA, there appears a verbatim copy of the official text of the 1664 law. It falls under the heading "Perpettuall Lawes." Similarly, a paraphrase of the 1664 law appears in the Somerset County Judical Record, 1690-1692, folio 1 v, MdSA, under the heading "An Abreviation of the Laws of this Province now in force in Anno Dom 1688."

²⁷Archives Md., XIII, pp. 546-549.

²⁸During the decade of the 1690's, the white/black ratio narrowed from 10:1 to 7:1, Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics, p. 756.

²⁹Archives Md., VII, p. 76; XXXVIII, p. 39. Alpert, "The Origins of Slavery," p. 207.

³⁰Archives Md., I, p. 489 (1663); II, pp. 146-147 (1666), pp. 224-226 (1669), pp. 298-300 (1671), pp. 523-528 (1676).

³¹Archives Md., XIII, pp. 451-457.

³²John Codman Hurd, The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States, 2 vols. (Boston, 1858), I, p. 232.

³³Archives Md., XIX, pp. 167, 193; XXXVIII, pp. 48-49. Reenacted, Archives Md., XXXVIII, p. 70 (1695), p. 70 (1696), p. 85 (also 1696).

³⁴[Great Britain Public Record Office] Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, ed. William Noel Sansburyt et al. (in progress; London, 1860 to date), XVI, pp. 390-391.

³⁵During Nicholson's administration, after Maryland became a royal colony, much administrative and legislative housecleaning got underway. The 1699 servant and slave law was but one of many comprehensive enactments aimed at codifying Maryland law. See Matthew P. Andrews, History of Maryland: Province and State (New York, 1929), pp. 204-205.

³⁶Archives Md., XXII, pp. 546-553.

³⁷Menard, "Maryland Slave Population," passim. Archives Md., XXV, pp. 255-59; LII, p. xxi.

³⁸Archives Md., XXV, pp. 87-9, 394-5, 442-444, 450-451.

³⁹Archives Md., XXXVI, pp. 583-586.

⁴⁰Archives Md., XXXV, pp. 505-506, 520, 547, 562.

⁴¹Archives Md., XXVIII, pp. 583, 585, 588, 590; XXXXII, p. 652.

⁴²Archives Md., XXIX, pp. 160-161.

⁴³Archives Md., XXIX, p. 276.

⁴⁴Archives Md., XXX, p. 16.

⁴⁵Archives Md., XXX, pp. 65-66; 177-179.

⁴⁶Archives Md., XXX, pp. 283-292. Bacon's Laws, 1728, Chap. IV.

⁴⁷Archives Md., XXXIII, pp. 111-113.

⁴⁸Talbot County Land Record, R.F. #10, pp. 182-183.

⁴⁹Somerset Judicial Record, 1701-1702, p. 103 (February, 1701). Charles County Circuit Court, 22 (A #2), p. 251 (June, 1703); 26 (E #2), p. 6 (November, 1711). Prince Georges Land Record, D #4, p. 238 (November, 1709); K #3, p. 380 (August, 1721).

⁵⁰Archives Md., XXXIV, pp. 731-733. Bacon's Laws, 1751, Chap. XIV, sec. 9; 1753, Chap. XXVI. Examples of blacks having their ears cropped under this act may be found in: Prince George's County Court Record, W #1, p. 603 (November, 1737); X #12, pp. 118-119 (August, 1738); AA #1 (vol. 29), p. 26 (August, 1768). Examples of whites being appointed constable may be found in: Anne Arundel County Court Judgments, A.B., p. 2 (March, 1738); I.S.B. #2, p. 718 (November, 1753). Charles County Circuit Court, 1741-1743, p. 652 (November, 1743). Prince Georges County Court Record, R #8, pp. 392-393 (March, 1732); X #12, p. 189 (November, 1738); C.C. #15, p. 603 (November, 174).

⁵¹Archives Md., XXXIV, pp. 731-733.

⁵²Provincial Court Judgments, T.P. #2, pp. 505-506 (Hanniball) P.L. #4, pp. 72-73 (Mingo), pp. 287-288 (Sambo); W.G. #1, pp. 541-542 (Daniel); P.L. #7, pp. 156-157 (Bristol).

⁵³Provincial Court Judgments, W. G. #1, pp. 391-392 (Adam and Nann); P.L. #7, p. 162 (Plutoe), p. 269 (Pompey).

⁵⁴Provincial Court Judgments, P.L. #7, pp. 307-309.

⁵⁵Provincial Court Judgments, W.G. #1, pp. 140-141.

⁵⁶Provincial Court Judgments, P.L. #7, p. 161.

⁵⁷Archives Md., XXXIX, pp. 374, 386, 391; XL, pp. 92-95. In 1741 the Baltimore justices sentenced a white, George Goatley, to one year in prison for enticing a slave to run away. See Baltimore County Court Proceedings, T.B. & T.R., pp. 90-91.

⁵⁸Archives Md., XL, pp. 86-87; XLIV, pp. 647-650. Reenacted thereafter: Archives Md., XKVI, p. 625 (1751); LV pp. 393-394 (1757); LVIII, p. 180 (1762).

⁵⁹Archives Md., XLVI, pp. 149-151. Reenacted: Archives Md., LV, pp. 395-396 (1757).

⁶⁰Archives Md., XLVI, pp. 618-621. Reenacted: Archives Md., LV, pp. 396-397 (1757); LVIII, pp. 183-184 (1762); LIX, pp. 287-188 (1765); LXIII, p. 394 (1773).

⁶¹Archives Md., L, pp. 116, 284-285; LII, pp. 450-475; LV, pp. 132-133, 402; LIX, pp. 52, 172.

⁶²Archives Md., L, pp. 7, 9, 38-39, 76-78; LII, pp. 128, 130, 135, 139; LXI, pp. 384, 396-397, 401; LXI, pp. 29, 83. Tax and duty laws: Archives Md., XXIX, pp. 289-292 (1704); XXVI, pp. 349-350 (1704); XXVII, p. 371 (1708); XXX, pp. 326-331 (1715); XXXVIII, p. 198 (1716); XXXIII, pp. 109-110 (1717); XXXV, pp. 268-270 (1721); XLII, p. 11 (1740); XLIV, pp. 166, 168 (1745); L, p. 563 (1754); LVIII, p. 95 (1762); p. 512 (1763); LXII, pp. 29, 62, 80, 89, 91, 92 (1769); LXIII, pp. 242-243 (1771).

⁶³"The Statutory Law of Slavery and Race in the Thirteen Mainland Colonies of British America," William and Mary Quarterly, 3d series, 34 (1977), pp. 258-280. He has practically nothing to say about Maryland in particular. He is heavy on colonies with secondary literature on their slave codes: New York, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.