Jersey, and later into Delaware, when they conquered the Swedes in that colony.

The Swedish colony of Delaware and the Governor Oglethorpe colony in Georgia, were the only American colonies where slavery was absolutely prohibited at the beginning. As we have seen, the Dutch introduced slavery into Delaware; Georgia remained a free colony for sixteen years after its founding, when (1749) on a petition of her settlers for the "one thing needful" parliament repealed the prohibition against slavery. Thus it appears that each of the American colonies held slaves within its borders.

180. Sentiment Against Slavery.-Slavery existed in the Old World as a recognized institution, under the control of law. It is, therefore, not surprising that it was soon transplanted to America. Nearly all the colonies accepted slavery as a custom and sought early to control and regulate it, or to restrict it by law-some sought to prohibit it altogether. As the period of the Revolution approached, public sentiment in the colonies was setting in strongly against slavery. There were leaders who opposed it in all the colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia. In the south George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Henry Laurens opposed it, and deplored its existence in their section-each hoping that in some way not yet imagined its gradual and peaceful abolition might be accomplished. Slavery was felt to be opposed to the spirit of the times and met with opposition in many sections on high moral grounds. In 1760, the Quaker church in Pennsylvania made slave holding and slave trading a matter of church discipline. There was a general feeling that the system was evil in itself and that it was desirable to rid the country of it by gradual abolition.

181. Number of Slaves. From the beginning, the white race in the cold north colonies had found it easier to do work for itself than to compel work from the slaves; while in the warmer south it was found easier for the white man to com

pel work from the slave than to do it himself. As a result, the slave population was greatest in the south, where slave labor proved very profitable in the cultivation of tobacco, rice, cotton, and the indigo plant. Indeed, New York and New Jersey were the only northern colonies where slaves were held in large numbers.

Of the total population in 1701, fifty thousand were negro slaves. Ten thousand of these were north of Mason and Dixon's line (the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland) and forty thousand in the colonies south of that line. This was before Great Britain had secured a monopoly of the slave trade in the West Indies. In the census of 1755 the number of slaves had increased to two hundred and sixty thousand-about thirty thousand were in the New England and middle colonies, and the remainder (two hundred and thirty thousand) in the southern colonies. In 1775 the number had still further increased to forty-six thousand north of Mason and Dixon's line, as opposed to four hundred and fifty-five thousand south of it.

These figures show how slowly slavery was increasing in the north and also how alarming was its increase in the south-the negro slaves constituting one-third of the entire population of that section. It is not surprising, therefore, that Washington and Jefferson, as well as other able leaders in the south, looked upon the growing slave population of their section with the greatest alarm. The condition of the slaves was far better in the northern colonies than in the southern. In the north the slaves were used as domestic servants, while in the south they constituted the vast majority of the field laborers.

182. Slave Laws.-Numerous slave laws were passed by the colonial legislatures. In the southern colonies, the laws were largely in the interest of the master as against the slave. In the northern colonies, where public sentiment was strongly against the system of slavery, the laws were in the main against the master and aimed to lessen the

hardships of the "bound" class.

Still, in all the colonies

severe laws for the punishment of runaway slaves were passed. Persons aiding slaves to escape, or secreting them after escape, were held liable to punishment. A slave committing a crime was punished by death, and that, too, whether his crime was theft or murder. Even the masters who failed to punish their runaway slaves were themselves punishable by law.

The forms of punishment usually visited upon the slave by the master were flogging, branding with a red-hot iron, or the cutting off of an ear. In some colonies, should a slave die while receiving punishment, his master would not be molested unless it were shown that he intended to commit murder. In such an event, a fine would be imposed and the master released.

183. Indented Servants.-As we have already seen in the history of Virginia, white slavery was permitted in that colony under the name of "indentured servants. These "indented" white persons were sometimes called "redemptioners," because they could redeem themselves by their labor. Indented service existed in all the American colonies, -it was especially common in Virginia and Maryland. There were two classes of these servants—those who voluntarily sold themselves, and those who without their consent were sold into slavery. Of this latter class were many prisoners of war from England, as well as political prisoners and prisoners for debt. Even criminals brought from the jails of England and Scotland were sold in the colonies, where they were known as "jail-birds."

The length of indented service was limited by law and varied with age, ranging from five to seven years, and rarely extending beyond fourteen years. When these redemptioners had gained their freedom they were given at once all the privileges of any other class of citizens. In some colonies their masters had to provide them with clothing and certain necessary supplies on the completion of their term of service.

Many of the indented class were refined and educated people. One of the future signers of the Declaration of Independence had served time as a redemptioner. However, the vast

majority of these servants were illiterate. On gaining their freedom, their poverty and their lack of education forced them to continue, as a matter of fact, in a state of servitude Thus, as we have learned in the history of Virginia and North Carolina, these poor white slaves were the parent stock of the "poor whites" in the south.

184. The Trade in Indented Servants.-Certain sea-captains made a regular business of trade in indented servants. When such a captain would arrive in a colonial port, he would at once post a notice in the town stating that he had tailors, carpenters, shoemakers, farmers, or domestic servants for sale; whereupon all those desiring such labor would go on board ship, make their purchase, and retire. The traffic in this kind of slavery encouraged kidnapping, and the greatest abuses against the laws of society were committed by wicked sea-captains.

As the colonies grew in population, the traffic in indented servants largely decreased on account of a growing disposition on the part of the servants to run away from their purchasers. However, on the breaking out of the Revolution, there were several thousand of these indented servants in the colonies. Many of them enlisted in the patriot army. On the strong recommendation of Washington, all such were given their freedom, payment for their unredeemed time to be made to their masters by the general government. After the Revolution, the system rapidly declined, only one state, Connecticut, retaining it for any length of time.

POLITICAL LIFE

185. The Government of the Colonies. As to government, the colonies at the time of the Revolution were divided into three classes.

per

(1) Charter colonies, or those holding charters which mitted them to elect their own governors. Connecticut and Rhode Island were charter colonies in this sense.

(2) Proprietary colonies. Such were to be ruled by a proprietor, or proprietors, to whom the king had granted the land, or by governors, appointed by them. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland were proprietary colonies.

(3) Royal colonies, or those ruled by governors appointed by the king, and held subject to him. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia were royal colonies.

In all these forms of government, subjection to the king was the chief feature.

Each colony had a legislature of its own similar to the legislatures of the states at the present time,-consisting, as a rule, of an upper and a lower house. Members of the lower house were elected by the votes of the people, the right to vote being limited to landowners, taxpayers, or those receiving a yearly income. In nearly all of the colonies each voter must be a member of some Christian church. Representatives in the upper house were appointed by the governor. These legislatures made laws very much as laws are made by the state legislatures of to-day. All laws passed must be in harmony with the laws of England and no law could be passed over the governor's vetą. In some of the colonies the king claimed the right to veto a law at any time within three years after its passage, and this claim he frequently made good.

186. Colonial Governors and Lords of Trade.-Each colony had a colonial governor, who, in the royal colonies, was appointed by the king; in the proprietary, by the proprietors. In the charter colonies, the governors were elected by the people. The crown of England, however, growing weary of personally controlling affairs in the colonies, appointed a commission in 1696, to be known as the Lords of Trade and Plantations. This body from that date to the