The Brig Nautius captained by a Capt. Blair sailed from the port of Norfolk on the morning of Tuesday January 23, 1821. The vessel was bound for the coast of Africa, and carried on board a number of free blacks seeking (or having sought for them) a new life in the African colony, which would later be termed Liberia. Aboard were also a number of clergy from varying denominations ranging from Methodist...
In 1829, the fine for teaching an African-American (slave or free) was raised to the exorbitant sum of 500. This figure was far higher than in many other states (for example: 100-200 in North Carolina). This law applied to slave and free blacks. Even a father could be fined for teaching his own child to read. This law was influenced by the appearance of David Walker's Appeals to the Colored Citizens...
John Brown had started a raid against Harper's Ferry, Virginia (currently West Virginia) on October 16, 1859. The next evening, “the Monday night train, with Baltimore military and marines, arrived at Sandy Hook, where they waited for the arrival of Colonel Lee, deputized by the War Department to take the command' (Life, Trial, and Execution, p. 34). When the troops, with Colonel Robert E. Lee,...
A promissory note is a contract detailing the terms of a promise or loan by one person to pay a sum of money to another person. Many people in the antebellum south used promissory notes when dealing with large amounts of money. John Day and Horatio S. Dexter entered into a promissory note together on October 5, 1824. The amount of the note was for six thousand four hundred and seventy nine dollars....
From 1800-1830 Patty Cannon and other members of her family ran the most notorious slave trading gang in Southern History. Cannon's house straddled the Maryland-Delaware border, and from this base she and her gang would look around for free or enslaved blacks, kidnap them, and then sell them into slavery to Deep South Plantations. This formidable woman, who was notorious for her strength and cruelty,...
Epes Spain put an ad in the Richmond Enquirer advertising the sale of fifty negroes, to be sold at the Price Edward court house at the end of the month of January. He stated that African Americans were raised by him, and that among them was a blacksmith, a carriage driver, a seamstress, a weaver, excellent house-servants, and boys of good size for plough. He also made sure to mention that all of the...
Beginning in 1818, President Monroe sent General Andrew Jackson to Spanish Florida to subdue the Seminole Indians, who were raiding American settlements. Liberally interpreting his ambiguous instructions, Jackson led his troops deep into areas of Florida under Spanish control, capturing two Spanish forts. Because Florida held the potential of becoming a new slave state, southern congressmen eagerly...
Samuel Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts on April 27th 1791. Morse was educated in prestigious institutions nationally, including Phillip's Academy at Andover and Yale University. From 1811 until 1815, Morse lived in England, exhibiting his work at the Royal Academy in 1813. The next ten years of his life were spent as a traveling artist. In 1832, Morse began his travels back to America...
Ever since John Smith arrived on American soil, boats have been a major medium for transportation. Water and boats were the only adequate forms of transportation and ultimately trade. As a cycle of reinforcement, water transport promoted trade and trade promoted water transport. Soon, with the implementation of newer materials, lighter resources and fresher ideas, boats become better and faster then...
John Brown, a notorious trouble-maker and abolitionist from Kansas, launched an offensive against Harper's Ferry, Virginia (currently West Virginia). Brown, who was known as “Old Brown,' “Fighting Brown,' and “Ossawatomie Brown,' first came to public attention in 1855 in Lykins County, Kansas. In Harper's Ferry in 1859, he initiated his final public appearance, with his ultimate goal...