History of the United States – HIS 211
Cynthia Wilson
Mrs. Clark
March 20, 2014
Abstract There are many groups of individuals that have been very influential in American History. This essay will compare two very important groups. These two groups are the Native Americans and the Free Blacks. This essay will discuss how these two groups were treated in America. This essay will also discuss the opportunities, if any, and their limitations. This essay will show how each of these groups were treated in society and discuss any successes.
Introduction American history is generally about powerful individuals who helped shape this country. However, there have been many different groups …show more content…
White North Carolinians, like white southerners in general, were committed of protecting their slave population from the evil effects of free blacks. Before 1800, slave owners could emancipate their slaves in three ways: by will, by the decision of a county court and the legislative act. In 1830, the legislature began demanding newly freed slaves to leave the state within ninety days and instructed that only slaves over fifty could be emancipated for meritorious service. An 1826 North Carolina law stated that any able free black person “in idleness and dissipation” could be detained and hired out for up to three years to help reform him or her to habits of industry and morality. By 1827 any free slave not born in North Carolina had to leave the state within twenty days after he entered it. The free blacks were fined $500 if they failed to do so. The free blacks were forced into slavery for a period up to ten years, if they could not pay the fine. Any free black individual who left the state for more than ninety days that individual was not allowed to return. The General Assembly ratified additional laws furthering limiting the rights and freedoms of the state’s free blacks. The free blacks were prevented from selling goods outside their county of which they resided without first purchasing a license. The free blacks were also forbidden to …show more content…
A few owned hundreds of acres of land and thousands of dollars in other possessions. One surprising fact was that many free blacks were the owners of real property in the form of slaves. The practice of free blacks owning slaves had existed since the seventeenth century. The fact that free blacks in the South owned slaves is undeniable. The reasons the free blacks owned slaves are not very plain. Some of the free blacks owned slaves for personal economic benefit and others for benevolent reasons (Rohers, 2012, pp.