From Slavery to Freedom in Ulster County, New York

From the writing of the Declaration of Independence, the founders of the United States had wrestled with the role played by slavery in the American project, Thomas Jefferson calling it a “cruel war against human nature itself.” This section, of course, never made it into the final document, and Jefferson himself is well known for his prolific slave holdings. Slavery was only reified in the writing of the Constitution, with great concessions given to the southern states in the form of the Three Fifths Compromise and the Fugitive Slave Act. New York would begin the long process of local abolition with the 1799 Gradual Emancipation Act. Pennsylvania, in 1780, was the first northern state to institute a program of gradual emancipation, and New York followed in its footsteps in passing its own Gradual Emancipation Bill in 1799. This first bill designated any child of an enslaved woman born after July 4, 1799 as free, with the caveat that they must serve their mother’s enslaver until they reach the age of 28 for men, and 25 for women. Enslavers of these children were given the option to abandon them, delegating care to the local overseers of the poor, where they would be compensated a maximum of $3.50 per month. Enslavers could then abandon these children, accept them back into their home as servants, and pocket the stipend, allowing them both free service from the child, as well as compensation from the state. In 1802, a law was passed at the urging of Governor George Clinton that limited the compensation for abandoned children to those under the age of four, lowering the maximum monetary compensation to $2.00 a month. This program of compensation for abandoned children was scrapped entirely in 1804, and enslavers were compelled to teach these children to read the holy scripture by the age of 21. Failure to do this would cost the owner four to seven years of service from the child. In 1817, the final amendment was made to the law, requiring enslavers to teach servants to read by age 18, or else provide them with four quarters of schooling. Children of enslaved women born between 1799 and March 31, 1804 were to be provided for by the state according to existing laws, and all children born to enslaved mothers between March 31, 1817 and July 4, 1827 were to be freed upon reaching age 21. All enslaved people born before July 4, 1799 would be freed on July 4, 1827. This, in effect, meant that a child born to an enslaved mother on July 3, 1827 could be held as an indentured servant until 1848. Even with so many concessions and half-measures made to placate enslavers, many were displeased with these arrangements. Senator John Addison, a Kingston native,  gave a speech  in front of the state legislature railing against the proposed law, calling it “unconstitutional & illegal to deprive a man of the Right of acquiring property,” before going on to liken the disciplinary relationship between slave and slave owner to that of man and wife, or father and child. Despite such protests, the laws were passed, and slowly but surely, slavery was eradicated from New York State. What happened to the men, women, and children born into forced servitude? The majority likely faced great hardship, as the cruel world they once knew was replaced with a cruel world they knew nothing of. While the emancipatory laws attempted to soften the societal shock for these freed enslaved people by requiring some rudimentary education be given them by their enslavers, it is likely most were freed with sub-optimal literacy education. Fugitive slave laws were in full effect throughout the years of gradual emancipation, and there were many cases in which free northerners of African descent were kidnapped and taken to the still-flourishing slave societies of the south. The transition from slavery to freedom was chaotic and imperfect, a state of affairs not helped by the slow, gradual nature of the emancipation process. Some enslaved people, however, weathered the transition successfully. Jacky, enslaved to the Crispell family (from which he would take his surname), is one such case we’ve encountered. After being sold from father to son, Jacky was freed from his enslavement, after which he married, settled down, and established himself as an in-demand cobbler. Of course, his case was exceptional, and his chances of success were likely bolstered by a continuing relationship with his former enslavers, along with gifts of property given to him upon his release. In this exhibit, we hope to bring light to the struggles, successes, and ambiguities faced by the freed peoples of Ulster County as they stepped into a world that, for so long, denied them entrance.