Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865: A History of Human Bondage in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and WisconsinAlthough the passing of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 banned African American slavery in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, making the new territory officially "free," slavery in fact persisted in the region through the end of the Civil War. Slaves accompanied presidential appointees serving as soldiers or federal officials in the Upper Mississippi, worked in federally supported mines, and openly accompanied southern travelers. Entrepreneurs from the East Coast started pro-slavery riverfront communities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota to woo vacationing slaveholders. Midwestern slaves joined their southern counterparts in suffering family separations, beatings, auctions, and other indignities that accompanied status as chattel. This revealing work explores all facets of the "peculiar institution" in this peculiar location and its impact on the social and political development of the United States. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 5 | |
The Politics of Indentured Servitude | 27 |
Miners and Soldiers | 59 |
Migrating Southerners | 85 |
Hoteliers and Local Slaveholders | 114 |
Dred Scott and the Boom in Upper Mississippi Slavery | 142 |
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Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865: A History of Human ... Christopher P. Lehman No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
abolitionists addition African Amer African American slaves African Americans Andrews antislavery laws appointed arrival became brought Calhoun Caruthers census central Minnesota citizens Clark Cloud Democrat Congress County county’s court Daviess decade despite Dred Scott Dwight Harris Elbert emancipation enforcement enslavement ethnic European Americans father federal government female slave Forstalls Fort Crawford free African Americans fugitive slaves Galena governor Hays Ho-Chunk household Ibid icans Illinois indentured indigenous institution Iowa Territory Iowa’s Jackson James Jefferson John Kentucky land lived Lowry’s masters Meanwhile Michigan Territory Midwest military mines Minnesota Territory Mississippi River Missouri Compromise Moreover negro Northwest Ordinance Northwest Territory owners political Prairie du Chien President proslavery region relocated remained Reverend Lowry Rountree servant served servitude settlers slave labor slaveholders soldiers South southern migrants state’s steamboat Stearns County Swisshelm Sylvanus Tennessee territory’s took town Union Upper Mississippi slavery upriver Virginia William Wisconsin Territory York