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Abolishing Slavery and Announcing the Treaty of Paris in 1784, Official Act, Signed and Sealed
Abolishing Slavery and Announcing the Treaty of Paris in 1784, Official Act, Signed and Sealed
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Description:

Slavery


Abolishing Slavery and Announcing the Treaty of Paris in 1784, Official Act, Signed and Sealed

 

[TREATY OF PARIS.] An Act authorizing the Manumission of Negroes, Mulattoes and others, and for the gradual Abolition of Slavery, in Acts passed by the General Assembly of Rhode Island, February 1784. Printed Document Signed by Henry Ward, Secretary. 30 pp., 7.375" x 12.125". With embossed paper over wax seal on first page. Several pages separated; some foxing; good.

 

Excerpts:

 

“Whereas all Men are entitled to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, and the holding Mankind in a State of Slavery, as private Property, which has gradually obtained by unrestrained Custom and the Permission of the Laws, is repugnant to this Principle, and subversive of the Happiness of Mankind, the great End of all civil Government:

 

“Be it therefore Enacted by this General Assembly, and by the Authority thereof it is Enacted, That no Person or Persons, whether Negroes, Mulattoes, or others, who shall be born within the Limits of this State, on or after the First Day of March, A.D. 1784, shall be deemed or considered as Servants for Life, or Slaves; and that all Servitude for Life, or Slavery of Children, to be born as aforesaid, in Consequence of the Condition of their Mothers, be, and the same is hereby taken away, extinguished and for ever abolished.

 

“And, whereas Humanity requires, that Children declared free as aforesaid remain with their Mothers a convenient Time from and after their Birth; to enable therefore those who claim the Services of such Mothers to maintain and support such Children in a becoming Manner, It is further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that such Support and Maintenance be at the Expence of the respective Towns where those reside and are settled: Provided however, That the respective Town-Councils may bind out such Children as Apprentices, or otherwise provide for their Support and Maintenance, at any Time after they arrive to the Age of One Year, and before they arrive to their respective Ages of Twenty-one, if Males, and Eighteen, if Females.”

 

“And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all Persons held in Servitude or Slavery, who shall be hereafter emancipated by those who claim them, shall be supported as other Paupers, and not at the separate Expence of the Claimants, if they become chargeable; provided they shall be between the Ages of Twenty-one Years, if Males, and Eighteen Years, if Females, and Forty Years, and are of sound Body and Mind; which shall be judged of, and determined by the Town-Councils aforesaid.”

 

“And it is Enacted by this General Assembly, and by the Authority thereof, That for the future no Negro or Mulatto Slave be brought into this State, to be disposed of or sold, under any Colour or Pretext whatever; any Law, Custom, or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding.”

 

“It is Voted and Resolved, That the Attorney-General, James M. Varnum, Rowse J. Helme, Henry Marchant, and Benjamin Bourne, Esquires, be, and they are hereby appointed, a Committee to draft an Act, pursuant to the Recommendation of Congress, relative to the Treaty of Peace between the United States and the King of Great-Britain.”

 

“Whereas the Definitive Articles of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and his Britannic Majesty have, at the present Session, been officially received from Congress, together with the Approbation and Ratification of Congress thereof: It is therefore Voted and Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor be requested to issue a Proclamation, making known the same, and the Resolves of Congress thereon, and cause it to be proclaimed by the Sheriffs of the several Counties, in their respective County Towns, on such Day as his Excellency shall appoint.”

 


Historical Background:

 

There were slaves in Rhode Island by 1652, and by the end of the seventeenth century, Rhode Island was the only New England colony to use slaves for both labor and trade. Newport and Bristol became major slave markets. By the beginning of the Revolutionary War, slaves accounted for 6.3 percent of Rhode Island’s population, more than any other New England colony. Rhode Island merchants also played a major role in the international slave trade, sponsoring more than 900 slaving voyages between 1709 and 1807, which carried more than 106,000 slaves to the New World.

 

During the Revolution, Quaker abolitionists clashed with Newport merchants over slavery. Through this act in February 1784, the General Assembly prohibited the future importation of slaves into the state. It also freed all children born after March 1, 1784, though they were to remain with their mothers for at least one year and be supported by the towns. The legislature also authorized the towns to bind such children out as apprentices from the age of one until they were freed from their “apprenticeships” at age 18 for girls and at age 21 for boys.

 

More than three years later, the General Assembly passed another act to end Rhode Island’s participation in the slave trade, but it proved difficult to enforce. In 1789, Rhode Islanders formed an Abolition Society to secure enforcement of existing laws against the slave trade. Although the slave trade became much less important to Rhode Island’s maritime commerce than before the Revolutionary War, the state’s citizens continued to participate in the trade illegally into the nineteenth century.

 

Negotiators began discussions to bring the American Revolutionary War to an end in Paris in April 1782. They drafted a treaty on November 30, 1782, which the Confederation Congress approved in April 1783, but representatives of King George III and of the United States did not sign the Treaty of Paris until September 3, 1783. The Confederation Congress, temporarily convened at Annapolis, Maryland, ratified the Treaty of Congress on January 14, 1784. This resolution by the Rhode Island Legislature provided for the proclamation of the treaty throughout the state.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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