Friday, February 11, 2011

Black History Month Day 11, Women Speak for freedom

Indiana territory was a sectio of the larger Northwest Territory. By 1816, the population in Indiana's territory was large enough to organize into a state. Becoming a state in the Northwest Territory required a Constitution. The state Constitution was the governing document. There were certain provisions that had to be included in each new state Constitution. The wording forbidding slavery and indentured servitude. had to be included, not outlawed in states. In essence, the provision banning slavery was not because of sympathy towards enslaved African-Americans, but to discourage new settlers from bringing more African-Americans into NWT. George Washington's, the surveyor, wanted the NWT to be a place for raced white males to govern. A place that did not depend on the labor of enslaved African-Americans.


The Northwest Territory Ordinance, had a provision in it governing the distribution of its land to these new settlers. The new world would become a place ruled by those who were privileged, raced white man only. The NWTO required five thousand free men to begin a territory transformation. A ruling class of males were only allowed to participate in leadership roles. This ruling class had to own at least two hundred acres of land a piece. Those who owned at least fifty acres of land were not allowed leadership position but they were allowed to vote for the males in the ruling class.

Thus voting right were important because under the NWTO, voting was allowed only by the raced white male population property owners, land not enslaved African-Americans. This meant that foreigners and others would count for growing the population but would not have any say in the development of the state. To become a state, a territory only had to have sixty thousand people living in its borders, not all landowners. Some foreigners came over to the new territory as indentured servants, to help work the land, in hope of owning their own land. These indentured servants would be bonded to the contract for seven years, to pay off their debt. But these folks could not be eligible to vote.

These raced whites were disenfranchised right along with freed African-Americans. Even those they owned the necessary amount of land, they were not allowed to vote. This re-enforced the governing body allowing only raced white males with large land holdings. George Washington would take Indian lands and sell it to southern aristocrats. Raced white laborers in large numbers who would outnumber the raced whites in the southern states. Laborers who would have voting rights. In the south, enslaved laborers were not counted as whole persons nor did they have the right to vote. Washington wanted rich raced white males from the south. To do this, land grants were established to entice raced white males to the new territory. This policy would create conflict among the various classes of raced white folks.
But that would not be the only conflict. The largest issue was slavery crossing into the new territory.

Some of the earlier settlers were not pleased with policies that were in conflict with the provisions banning slavery. The reason for the discontent was that some of these settlers had enslaved laborers and were not willing to give up their enslaved laborers. The issue to own laborers or not would grow as the preferred new raced white settlers were bringing in slave labor from the south. While the earlier settlers could not purchase any new enslaved laborers. This conflict grew among the settlers, who argued at the provision in the governing document forbid slavery and was not being enforced equally amongst the settlers in the territory..

Governor Arthur St. Clair decided to protect these earlier settlers and ignored violations of the governing document. The next Governor saw that the preferential treatment of the first settlers would discourage new landowners who owned enslaved laborers. So Governor William Henry Harrison opened the door to a new type of slavery, called contracted indentured servitude for life. Under a scheme of a written contracts, landowners would have their enslaved African-Americans agree to labor for these landowners for a specific time frame. This was a form of sponsorship into the free world, as a different type of enslaved labor.

The catch was that, these were illusory contracts. Contracts for long term servitude that were not entered into freely. Many African-Americans could not read and the contract were for a life time that included the binding of their children to such contracts. This meant that those African-Americans coerced into signing these contracts would be enslaved for life and their children. The dispute of banned enslavement under the Indiana Constitution would not be addressed until a new governor of Indiana, Jonathan Jenning is questioned about the constitutionality of the practice of slavery under the Indiana Constitution.

It would be an African-American woman that would challenge the practice. In 1820, Polly, challenged the legislators' meaning of the clause forbidding slavery. Polly, an African-American was the daughter of a woman who was enslaved. Antione Lasselle gave Polly to Hyacinth Lasselle. a French fur trader. Polly was the daughter of a woman who was bought by Isaac Williams. a slave owner who lived at Kekionga. Polly believed that her birth by an enslaved mother did not automatic make her a slave. Polly believed because she was born in Indiana, a state that forbid slavery would determined her status in the new world. The Judge of the newly established Indiana Supreme Court agreed with Polly and stated she was not considered enslaved. Polly was not born into bondage as the custom of the southern state, she was free being born in Indiana.

This ruling was not necessarily in Polly best interest as much as it was in the best interest of the State of Indiana. Indiana wanted to rid the territory of French settlers. Thus the ruling freed the French enslaved laborers. To protect their property rights, the French began to migrate toward Canada. The court did not honor the French rights under the Deed of Cessation to own slaves. So now Washington was free to steal the French abandoned land. The abandoned land would be confiscated and sold to raced white males. With the ideal of raced white territory and the French fleeing, the only problem left was getting rid of the African-Americans population. Because Polly case had taught African-Americans they were free from slavery once they crossed into the Northwest Territory. And another African-American woman would take the illegal indentured servant contract to the courts.

Mary Clark took on the challenge of the racialist practice of coercing African-Americans into slavery with slave like terms embedded in the indentured servant contract. In 1821, Clark believed her long term contract was a form of indentured servitude. The Indiana Supreme Court agreed. The Court found that her binding contract was odious to the purpose for establishing the provision forbidding indentured servant and ordered Clark discharged from her contract. This ruling addressed the state's laissez-faire lack of enforcement toward migrating slave labor. And at the same time freed Mary Clark, and other African-Americans indentured servants. Two African-Americans women fought for their own freedom long before Abraham Lincoln's election as President in 1860.

However, after these battles were won, a movement began to rid Indiana of these free African-Americans. The movement would speed up the ousting of the French. And it discouraged new settlers from bringing in enslaved laborers from the bordering states. This Back to Africa movement would take care of the problem of the south, discarding of the old and unwanted African-Americans onto Indiana soil.

Governor James Ray required certificate of freedom for African-American coming to Indiana to prevent slave labor. If African-Americans did not voluntarily return back to the south, Indiana would send them back to Africa. Later, a bond would have to be paid by those attempting to bring African-Americans into Indiana. If Indiana could no longer have non paid African-Americans workers, they did not want them on the land. Indiana did not want African-Americans competing for paid laborers positions.

The Indiana Constitution was revised in 1851 with strong language, to exclude African-Americans from the soil of Indiana, making it a crime for African-Americans to set foot in Indiana. By 1857, Chief Justice Roger Taney issued a ruling under the Dred Scott case that allowed even free African-Americans in northern state to be forcefully returned to the south back into slavery. Three years later, Lincoln would support this back to Africa movement theme, in his expressed sentiment of wanting to maintain the new republic without African-Americans during his time as President.

This was to discourage African-Americans from migrating to the north. But in 1862, after news of the emancipation proclamation, national freedom, African-Americans from the south began their journey to the north. The North was not prepared for the number of African-American flowing into their towns and did not want them. The south wanted African-Americans as non paid laborers. African-Americans found themselves battling for full participation in the new world as citizens. Citizenship that was so easily given to others coming to the new world.
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