5
Henson, "Uncle Tom's Story of his Life," p. 162.
6
Years thereafter when taking dinner with a distinguished gentleman in London the thought of enjoying such privileges while his only brother was in slavery dawned suddenly and impressed itself so forcefully upon him that he immediately arose from the table, unable to eat. He soon returned to America and at once proceeded to devise means to free his brother. Mr. William Chaplain, of New York, had repeatedly urged him to flee by way of the underground railroad, but he was so demoralized and stultified by slavery that he would not make an effort. Mr. Chaplain made a second effort to induce him to escape but he still refused. Henson finally arranged to sell the narrative of his life to secure funds for his liberation. The book sold well in New England and the requisite four hundred dollars being raised his brother was freed and enabled to join him in Canada.Father Henson's Story of his own Life, pp. 209-212.
7
Liberator, April 11, 1851.
8
For the inscription we are indebted to the Cambridge edition of the poems of Mrs. Browning, edited by Harriet Waters Preston, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, p. xii. Translation: Here wrote and died Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who united to a woman's heart the learning of a savant and the inspiration of a poet, and made her verse a golden link between Italy and England. This tablet was set by grateful Florence in 1861.
9
The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, edited by Frederic G. Kenton, 2 vols., Macmillan, New York and London, 1898. Vol. I, p. 21.
10
Letters, I, 23.
11
I. e., Franklin Pierce.
12
Letters, II, 110.
13
Letters, II, 183.
14
Quoted from Browning Society Papers, Part XII, by Elizabeth Porter Gould in The Brownings and America, p. 55.
15
Mrs. Sutherland Orr, Life and Letters of Robert Browning. 2 vols. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1891. Vol. I, p. 8.
16
Bourne, "Spain in America," 271.
17
California Miscellany, I, 9.
18
Bancroft, "History of California," I, 175; Place Notices, I, 151.
19
Hittell, "History of California," II, 115.
20
Garrison, "Westward Extension," 26.
21
Cong. Globe, 29 Cong., 2 Sess., 509.
22
Garrison, "Westward Extension," 254-268, 284-314. Cong. Globe, 29 Cong., 2d Sess., 178, 453, 455; 30 Cong., 1st Sess., 875, 989, 910, 1002-1005, 1062, 1081; 2d Sess., 216, 381.
23
Tuthill, "Hist. of California," 312, 316.
24
Proclamation To the Inhabitants of California.
It having come to the knowledge of the Commander in Chief of the District that certain persons have been and still are imprisoning and holding to service Indians against their will and without any legal contract for service. It is thereby ordered that all persons so holding or detaining Indians shall release them, and permit them to return to their own homes. Unless they can make a contract with them which shall be binding upon both parties. The Indian population must not be regarded in the light of slaves, but it is deemed necessary that the Indians within the settlement shall have employment, with the right of choosing their own master and employment. Having made such a choice they must abide by it, unless they can obtain permission in writing to leave, or the Justice in their complaint shall consider they have just cause to annull the contract and permit them to obtain another employee. All Indians must be required to obtain service and not be permitted to wander about the country in idleness in a dissolute manner. If found doing so they will be liable to arrest and punishment by labor on the public works at the direction of the Magistrate. All officers, Civil or Military under my command are required to execute the terms of this order and take notice of every violation thereof.Given at headquarters in Yerba Buena.Signed, John Montgomery. Sept. 15, 1846. Published for the Government of all concerned. Washington A. Bartlett, Magistrate of San Francisco, Sept. 15, 1846.California Star, Sept. 15, 1846.
25
California Laws, 1849-50, p. 408.
26
Ibid., p. 408.
27
Bancroft, "History of California," VI, p. 313.
28
Ibid., p. 313.
29
The Californian, March 16 and Nov. 4, 1848.
30
Bancroft, "History of California," p. 287.
31
Jour. Cal. Leg., 1850, 372-373.
32
Cong. Globe, 1849-50, App., pt. I, 149-157.
33
Tuthill, "History of California," p. 320.
34
Bancroft, "History of California," VI, pp. 252-253.
35
Ibid., p. 595.
36
Many Negroes were returned to slavery by the Courts. An owner of slaves in Mississippi brought them voluntarily into California before the adoption of the Constitution by the State. The slaves asserted their freedom and for some months were engaged in business for themselves. The owner under the provision of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1852 brought them before the Justice of Peace, who allowed the claim of the owners and ordered them into his custody. The slaves then petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus which came before the Supreme. Court and after hearing the case the Court ordered that the writ be dismissed and the slaves remanded to their owners.California Reports, II, 424-426.
The case of Alvin Coffey is equally as interesting. This account was given by a lifelong friend of the subject.
Alvin Coffey was born in 1822, in Saint Louis, Missouri. He came to California with his sick master, a Mr. Duvall, who landed in San Francisco, September 1, 1849. They went to Sacramento, October 13, 1849. During the next eight months the slave earned for his master $5,000, working in the mines, and by washing for the miners and mining for himself after night, he earned $700 of his own. As the master continued in poor health he decided to return with Alvin to Missouri at the expiration of two years. When they reached Kansas City, Missouri, the master sold Alvin to Nelson Tindle, first taking from him the $5,000, earned for the master, and also the $700 earned for himself.
26
Ibid., p. 408.
27
Bancroft, "History of California," VI, p. 313.
28
Ibid., p. 313.
29
The Californian, March 16 and Nov. 4, 1848.
30
Bancroft, "History of California," p. 287.
31
Jour. Cal. Leg., 1850, 372-373.
32
Cong. Globe, 1849-50, App., pt. I, 149-157.
33
Tuthill, "History of California," p. 320.
34
Bancroft, "History of California," VI, pp. 252-253.
35
Ibid., p. 595.
36
Many Negroes were returned to slavery by the Courts. An owner of slaves in Mississippi brought them voluntarily into California before the adoption of the Constitution by the State. The slaves asserted their freedom and for some months were engaged in business for themselves. The owner under the provision of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1852 brought them before the Justice of Peace, who allowed the claim of the owners and ordered them into his custody. The slaves then petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus which came before the Supreme. Court and after hearing the case the Court ordered that the writ be dismissed and the slaves remanded to their owners.California Reports, II, 424-426.
The case of Alvin Coffey is equally as interesting. This account was given by a lifelong friend of the subject.
Alvin Coffey was born in 1822, in Saint Louis, Missouri. He came to California with his sick master, a Mr. Duvall, who landed in San Francisco, September 1, 1849. They went to Sacramento, October 13, 1849. During the next eight months the slave earned for his master $5,000, working in the mines, and by washing for the miners and mining for himself after night, he earned $700 of his own. As the master continued in poor health he decided to return with Alvin to Missouri at the expiration of two years. When they reached Kansas City, Missouri, the master sold Alvin to Nelson Tindle, first taking from him the $5,000, earned for the master, and also the $700 earned for himself.
Nelson Tindle took a great liking to Alvin and in a short time made him overseer over a number of slaves. Alvin, however, longed to return to California and, in order to earn his freedom, bought his time from his master and took contracts to build railroads. One day Nelson Tindle said to Alvin that he was too smart a man to be a slave and ought to try and purchase his freedom. Whereupon Alvin told him if he would let him return to California, he could easily earn enough money to effect the purchase. Alvin was permitted to return to California, and in a short time sent his master the $1,500 to pay for his freedom. Alvin then undertook to earn the money to pay for the freedom of his wife and daughters, who were slaves of Doctor Bassett, of Missouri. He earned the required sum and returned for his family. After paying for their freedom, he went with them to Canada, where he left his daughters to be educated. He and his wife Mahalia came to California. It cost him for the freedom of himself and family together with the trips to and from California about $7000. See Bancroft, "History of California," VI, p. 382.
37
Some of these cases are more than interesting. Daniel Rodgers came across the plains with his master from Little Rock, Arkansas, worked in the mines in Sonora, California, during the day for his master and at night for himself, earning and paying his master $1,100 for his freedom. Soon afterward the master returned with him to Little Rock and sold him. A number of the leading white gentlemen of Little Rock raised a sum of money, paid for his freedom and set him free. William Pollock and wife from North Carolina came to California with their master who located at Cold Springs, Coloma, California. He paid $1,000 for himself and $800 for his wife. The money was earned by washing for the miners at night and making doughnuts. They removed to Placerville, California, and afterward earned their living as caterers. In 1849, a slaveholder brought his slave to California. Not wishing to take the Negro back to his native State, Alabama, he concluded to sell him by auction. An advertisement was put in the papers, the boy was purchased for $1,000, by Caleb T. Fay, a strong abolitionist, who gave the boy his freedom.
A Mississippi slaveholder brought several slaves from that State and promised to give them their freedom in two years. They all ran away save one, Charles Bates, when they learned that they were already free. The owner, finding mining did not pay, started east, taking Charles with him. On the Isthmus of Panama, Charles was persuaded to leave his master. He returned to California and to Stockton with his true friend. On the street one day he was recognized by a party who had lent money to Charles's master. The debtor got out an attachment for the former slave as chattel property, and according to the State law, the Negro was put up and sold at auction. A number of anti-slavery men bought the boy for $750 and gave him his freedom.California Reports, I, 424-426.
38
Bancroft, "History of California," VI, p. 716.
39
Bancroft, "History of California," VI, p. 716.
40
Ibid., VI, p. 716.
41
These Documents were collected by Miss D. L. Beasley and M. N. Work.
42
Miscellany, p. 35.
43
Miscellany, p. 545.
44
This paper is from the collection of 105 in the Court House at Eureka. Austin Wiley, whose name appears in the document, was later appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California; and during his term of office did much to bring to a satisfactory termination the trouble then existing between the settlers and the natives.
45
Miscellany, p. 541.
46
These are freedom papers as recorded in the California County Court records, and as they have been found by the California Archivist, Mr. Owen Coy.
47
This court record was obtained by Mr. W. N. Work.
48
Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, III, p. 102.
49
"Rights of British America," Ford edition of Jefferson's Writings, I, p. 440.
50
"This clause," says Jefferson, in his Autobiography (I, p. 19), "was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it. Our northern brethren, also, I believe, felt a little tender under those censures; for though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others."