US labor writing

The British colonization of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia in the 1600s was marked by an extensive demand for agricultural labor. As the assigned class readings show, planters shifted from using indentured servants for much of the 1600s to African slaves by the late 1600s and early 1700s. What factors contributed to the development of indentured servitude and slavery as labor systems? Why did the transition from indentured servitude to slavery occur?

Write a 4 to 5 page, double-spaced paper in 12-point font that addresses the questions posed above.

Be sure to base your claims on the assigned readings, documents, and other materials covered in class. These include chapters 1 and 2 of the textbook and the “Evolution of slavery documents” and “South Carolina slave codes excerpts”

U.S. Labor and Work Before the End of Reconstruction

37:575:201:06

Paper Assignment 1

Prof. Brucher

Write a 4 to 5 page, double-spaced paper in 12-point font that addresses the questions posed above. Be sure to base your claims on the assigned readings, documents, and other materials covered in class. These include chapters 1 and 2 of the textbook and the “Evolution of slavery documents” and “South Carolina slave codes excerpts” in the Week 3 folder in resources section on Sakai.

Your paper should follow standard grammar, punctuation, and citation methods (APA, MLA, or Chicago). Citation guides are in the resources folder on Sakai.

The first draft of the paper is due at the start of class on Week 3, February 2.

Citation:
Transcription from McCord, David J., ed. The Statutes at Large of South Carolina. Vol. 7, Containing the Acts Relating

to Charleston, Courts, Slaves, and Rivers. Columbia, SC: A.S. Johnston, 1840, p. 397.

NO. 670

AN ACT FOR THE BETTER ORDERING AND GOVERNING NEGROES AND OTHER SLAVES
IN THIS PROVINCE

WHEREAS, in his Majesty’s plantations in America, slavery has been introduced
and allowed, and the people commonly called Negroes, Indians, mulattoes and mustizoes,
have been deemed absolute slaves, and the subjects of property in the hands of the
particular persons, the extend of whose power over such slaves ought to be settled and
limited by positive laws, so that the slave may be kept in due subjection and obedience,
and the owners and other persons having the care and government of slaves may be
restrained from exercising too great rigour and cruelty over them, and that the public
peace and order of this Province may be preserved: We pray your most sacred Majesty
that it may be enacted,

I. And be it enacted, by the honorable William Bull, Esquire, Lieutenant
Governor and Commander-in-chief, by and with the advice and consent of his Majesty’s
honorable Council, and the Commons House of Assembly of this Province, and by the
authority of the same, That all Negroes and Indians, (free Indians in amity with this
government, and degrees, mulattoes, and mustizoes, who are now free, excepted,)
mulattoes or mustizoes who now are, or shall hereafter be, in this Province, and all their
issue and offspring, born or to be born, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, and
remain forever hereafter, absolute slaves, and shall follow the condition of the mother,
and shall be deemed, held, taken, reputed and adjudged in law, to be chattels personal, in
the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and assigns,
to all intents, constructions and purposes whatsoever; provided always, that if any Negro,
Indian, mulatto or mustizo, shall claim his or her freedom, it shall and may be lawful for
such Negro, Indian, mulatto or mustizo, or any person or persons whatsoever, on his or
her behalf, to apply to the justices of his Majesty’s court of common pleas, by petition or
motion, either during the sitting of the said court, or before any of the justices of the same
court, at any time in the vacation; and by the said court, or any of the justices thereof,
shall, and they are hereby fully impowered to, admit any person so applying to be
guardian for any Negro, Indian, mulatto or mustizo , claiming his, her or their freedom;
and such guardians shall be enabled, entitled and capable in law, to bring an action of
trespass in the nature of ravishment of ward, against any person who shall claim property
in, or who shall be in possession of, any such Negro, Indian, mulatto or mustizo; and the
defendant shall and may plead the general issue on such action brought, and the special
matter may and shall be given in evidence, and upon a general of special verdict found,
judgment shall be given according to the very right of the cause, without having any
regard to any defect in the proceedings, either in form or substance; and if judgment
shall be given for the plaintiff, a special entry shall be made, declaring that the ward of
the plaintiff is free, and the jury shall assess damages which the plaintiff’s ward hath
sustained, and the court shall give judgment and award execution, against the defendant
for such damage, with full costs of suit; but in case judgment shall be given for the
defendant, the said court is hereby fully impowered to inflict such corporal punishment,
not extending to life or limb, on the ward of the plaintiff, as they, in their discretion, shall

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Citation:
Transcription from McCord, David J., ed. The Statutes at Large of South Carolina. Vol. 7, Containing the Acts Relating

to Charleston, Courts, Slaves, and Rivers. Columbia, SC: A.S. Johnston, 1840, p. 397.

think fit; provided always, that in any action or suit to be brought in pursuance of the
direction of this Act, the burthen of the proof shall lay on the plaintiff, and it shall be
always presumed that every Negro, Indian, mulatto, and mustizo, is a slave, unless the
contrary can be made appear, the Indians in amity with this government excepted, in
which case the burthen of the proof shall lye on the defendant; provided also, that nothing
in this Act shall be construed to hinder or restrain any other court of law or equity in this
Province, from determining the property of slaves, or their right to freedom, which now
have cognizance or jurisdiction of the same, when the same shall happen to come in
judgment before such courts, or any of them always taking this Act for their direction
therein.

II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in every action or
suit to be brought by any such guardian as aforesaid, appointed pursuant to the direction
of this Act, the defendant shall recognizance, with one or more sufficient sureties, to the
plaintiff, in such a sum as the said court of common please shall direct, with condition
that the sum as the said court of common pleas shall direct, with condition that he shall
produce the ward of the plaintiff at all times when required by the said court, and that
whilst such action or suit shall be depending and undetermined, the ward of the plaintiff
shall not be eloined, abused or misused.

III. And for the better keeping slaves in due order and subjection, Be it further
enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no person whatsoever shall permit or suffer any
slave under his or their care or management, and who lives or is employed in
Charlestown, or any other town in this Province, to go out of the limits of the said town,
or any such slave who lives in the country, to go out of the plantation to which such slave
belongs, or in which plantation such slave is usually employed, without a letter
superscribed and directed, or a ticket in the words following:
Permit this slave to be absent from Charlestown, (or any other town, or if he lives
in the country, from Mr. ________ plantation, _______ parish,) for ________ days or
hours; dated the _______ day of _______.
Or, to that purpose or effect; which ticket shall be signed by the master or other
person having the care or charge of such slave, or by some other [person] by his or their
order, directions and consent; and every slave who shall be found out of Charlestown, or
any other town (if such slave lives or is usually employed there,) or out of the plantation
to which such slave belongs, or in which [such] slave is usually employed, or if such
slave lives in the country, without such letter or ticket as aforesaid, or without a white
person in his company, shall be punished with whipping on the bare back, not exceeding
twenty lashes.

IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person shall
presume to give a ticket or license to any slave who is the property or under the care of
charge of another, without the consent or against the will of the owner or other person
having charge of such slave, shall forfeit to the owner the sum of twenty pounds, current
money.

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Citation:
Transcription from McCord, David J., ed. The Statutes at Large of South Carolina. Vol. 7, Containing the Acts Relating
to Charleston, Courts, Slaves, and Rivers. Columbia, SC: A.S. Johnston, 1840, p. 397.

V. And it shall be further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any slave
who shall be out of the house or plantation where such slave shall live, or shall be usually
employed, or without some whiter person in company with such slave, shall refuse to
submit or undergo the examination of any white person, it shall be lawful for any such
white person to pursue, apprehend, and moderately correct such slave; and if any such
slave shall assault and stricke such white person, such slave may be lawfully killed.

VI. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if
any Negro or other slave, who shall be employed in the lawful business or service of his
master, owner, overseer, or other person having charge of such slave, shall be beaten,
bruised, maimed or disabled by any person or persons not having sufficient cause or
lawful authority for so doing, (of which cause the justices of the peace, respectively, may
judge,) every person and persons so offending, shall, for every such offence, forfeit and
pay the sum of forty shillings, current money, over and besides the damages hereinafter
mentioned, to the use of the poor of that parish in which such offence shall be committed:
And if such slave or slaves shall be maimed or disabled by such beating, from performing
his or her work, such person and persons so offending, shall also forfeit and pay to the
owner or owners of such slaves, the sum of fifteen shillings, current money, per diem, for
every day of his lost time, and also the charge of the cure of such slave; and if the said
damages, in whole, shall not exceed the sum of twenty pounds, current money, the same
shall , upon lawful proof thereof made, be recoverable before any one of his Majesty’s
justices of the peace, in the save way and manner as debts are recoverable by the Act for
the trial of small and mean causes; and such justices before whom the same shall be
recovered, shall have power to commit the offender or offenders to goal, if he, se or they
shall produce no goods of which the said penalty and damages may be levied, there to
remain without bail, until such penalty and damages shall be paid; any law statute, usage
or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding.

VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be
lawful for every justice assigned to keep the peace in this Province, within his respective
county and jurisdiction, upon his own knowledge or view, or upon information received
upon oath, eithe4r to go in person, or by warrant or warrants directed to any constable or
other proper person, to command to their assistance any number of persons as they shall
see convenient, to disperse any assembly or meeting of slaves which may disturb the
peace or endanger the safety of his Majesty’s subjects, and to search all suspected places
for arms, ammunition or stolen goods, and to apprehend and secure all such slaves as
they shall suspect to be guilty of any crimes or offences whatsoever, and to bring them to
speedy trial, according to the directions of this Act; and in case any constable or other
person shall refuse to obey or execute any of the warrants of precepts of such justices, or
any of them, within their several limits and precincts, or shall refuse to assist the said
justices or constables, of any of them, when commanded or required, such person or
persons shall forfeit and pay the sum of five pounds, current money, to be recovered by a
warrant under the hand and seal of any other justice of the peace, in the same way and
manner as is directed by the Act of the trial of small and mean causes.

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by the prosecutors; for whipping or other corporal punishments not extending to life, the
sum of twenty shillings; and for any punishment extending to life, the sum of five pounds
current money; and such other charges for keeping and maintaining such slaves, as are
allowed to the warden of the work house in Charlestown, for keeping and maintaining
such slaves, committed to his custody; for the levying of which charges against the
prosecutor, the justice or justices are hereby empowered to issue their warrant. And that
no delay may happen in causing execution to be done upon such offending slave or
slaves, the constable who shall be directed to cause execution to be done, shall be, and is
hereby, empowered to press one or more slave or slaves, in or near the place where such
whipping or corporal punishment shall be inflicted, to whip or inflict such other corporal
punishment upon the offender or offenders; and such slave or slave so pressed, shall be
obedient to and observe the orders and direction of the constable in and about the
premises, upon pain of being punished by the said constable, by whipping on the bare
back, not exceeding twenty lashes, which punishment the said constable is hereby
authorized and empowered to inflict; and the constable shall, if he presses a Negro, pay
the said Negro five shillings out of his fee for doing the said execution.

XXII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person in
this Province shall, on the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday, employ any slave in any
work or labour, (works of absolute necessity and the necessary occasions of the family
one excepted,) every person in such case offending, shall forfeit the sum of five pounds,
current money, for every slave they shall so work or labour.

XXIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall not be

lawful for any slave, unless in the presence of some white person, to carry or make sue of
fire arms, or any offensive weapons whatsoever, unless such Negro or slave shall have a
ticket or license, in writing, from his master, mistress or overseer, to hunt and kill game,
cattle, or mischievous birds, or beasts of prey, and that such license be renewed once
every month, or unless there be some whit person of the ago of sixteen years or upwards,
in the company of such slave, when he is hunting or shooting or that such slave be
actually carrying his master’s arms to or from his master’s plantation, by a special ticket
for that purpose, or unless such slave be found in the day time actually keeping off rice
birds, or other birds, within the plantation to which such slave belongs, lodging the same
gun at night within the dwelling house of his master, mistress or white overseer; and
provided also, that no Negro or other slave shall have liberty to carry any gun, cutlass,
pistol or other weapon, abroad from home, at any time between Saturday evening after
sun-set, and Monday morning before sun-rise, notwithstanding a license or ticket for so
doing. And in case any person shall find any slave using or carrying fire arms, or other
offensive weapons, contrary to the true intention of this Act, every such person may
lawfully seize and take away such fire arms or offensive weapons. But before the
property of such goods shall be vested in the person who shall seize the same, such
person shall, within forty-eight hours next after such seizure, go before the next justice of
the peace, and shall make oath of the manner of the taking; and if such justice of the
peace, after such oath shall be made, or if, upon any other examination, he shall be
satisfied that the said fire arms or other offensive weapons shall have been seized
according to the direction and agreeable to the true intent and meaning of this Act, the

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said justice shall, by certificate under his hand and seal, declare them forfeited, and that
the property is lawfully vested in the person who seized the same: Provided always, that
no such certificate shall be granted by any justice of the peace, until the owner or owners
of such fire arms of other offensive weapons so to be seized as aforesaid, or the overseer
or overseers who shall or may have the charge of such slave or slaves from whom such
fire arms or other offensive weapons shall be taken or seized, shall be duly summoned, to
show cause, if any such they have, why the same should not be condemned as forfeited,
or until forty-eight hours after the service of such summons, and oath made of the service
of such summons before the said justice.

XXIV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any slave

shall presume to strike any white person, such slave, upon trial and conviction before the
justice or justices and freeholders, aforesaid, according to the directions of this Act, shall,
for the first and second offence, suffer such punishment as the said justice and
freeholders, or such of them as are empowered to try such offence, shall in their
discretion, think fit, not extending to life or limb; and for the third offence, shall suffer
death. But in case any such slave shall grievously wound, maim or bruise any white
person, though it by only the first offence, such slave shall suffer death. Provided
always, that such striking, wounding, maiming or bruising, not be done by the command,
and in the defense of, the person or property of the owner or other person having the care
and government of such slave, in which case the slave shall be wholly excused, and the
owner or other person having the care and government of such slave shall be answerable,
as far as by law he ought.

XXV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may

be lawful for every person in this Province, to take, apprehend and secure any runaway or
fugitive slave, and they are hereby directed and required to send such slave to the master
or other person having the care or government of such slave, if the person taking up or
securing such slave knows, or can, without difficulty, be informed, to whom such slave
shall belong; but if not known or discovered, then such slave shall be sent, carried or
delivered into the custody of the warden of the work-house in Charlestown; and the
master or other person who has the care or government of such slave, shall pay for the
taking up of such slave, whether by a free person or slave, the sum of twenty shillings,
current money; and the warden of the work-house, upon receipt of every fugitive or
runaway slave, is hereby directed and required to keep such slave in safe custody until
such slave shall be lawfully discharged, and shall, as soon as conveniently it may be,
publish, in the weekly gazette, such slave, with the best descriptions he shall be able to
give, first carefully viewing and examining such slave, naked to the waist, for any mark
or brand, which he shall also publish to the intent the owner or other person who shall
have the care and charge of such slave, may come to the knowledge that such slave is in
custody. And if such slave shall make escape through the negligence of the warden of
the work-house, and cannot be taken within three months, the said warden of the work-
house shall answer to the owner for the value of such slave, or the damage which the
owner shall sustain by reason of such escape, as the cause shall happen.

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sized and forfeited, and shall be sued for and recovered before any one justice assigned to
keep the peace in Charlestown, and shall be applied and disposed of, one half to him or
them who shall seize, inform and sue for the same, and the other half to the
commissioners of the poor of the parish of St. Philips, Charlestown; and moreover, that
the said justice shall order every slave who shall be convicted of such offence, to be
publicly whipped on the bare back, not exceeding twenty lashes; provided always that it
shall and may be lawful for any slave who lives or is usually employed in Charlestown,
after such license and ticket as hereinafter is directed shall be obtained, to buy or sell
fruit, fish and garden stuff, and to be employed as porters, carters or fishermen, and to
purchase anything for the use of their masters, owners or other person who shall have the
charge and government of such slave, in open market, under such regulations as are or
shall be appointed by law concerning the market of Charlestown, or in any open shop
kept by a white person.

XXI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no slave or slaves

whatsoever, belonging to Charlestown, shall be permitted to buy any thing to sell again,
or to sell any thing upon their own account, in Charlestown; and it shall and may be
lawful for any person or persons whosoever to seize and take away all and all manner of
goods, wares or merchanize, that shall be found in the possession of any such slave or
slaves in Charlestown, which they have bought to sell again, or which they shall offer to
sale upon their own accounts, in Charlestown, one half of which shall be to the use of the
poor of the said parish, and the other to the informer, and shall be adjudged and
condemned by any justice of the peace in the said parish.

XXII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any keeper of a

tavern or punch house, or retailer of strong liquors, shall give, sell utter or deliver to any
slave, any beer, ale, cider, wine, run, brandy, or other spirituous liquors, or strong liquor
whatsoever, without the license or consent of the owner, or such other person who shall
have the care or government of such slave, ever person so offending shall forfeit the sum
of five pounds, current money, for the first offence, and for the second offence, ten
pounds; and shall be bound in recognizance in the sum of one hundred pounds, current
money, with one or more sufficient sureties, before any of the justices of the court of
general sessions, not to offend in the like kind, and to be of good behaviour, for one year;
and for want of such sufficient sureties, to be committed to prison without bail or
mainprize, for any term not exceeding three months.

XXXIII. And whereas, several owners of slaves do suffer their slaves to go and

work where they please, upon conditions of paying to their owners certain sums of
money agreed upon between the owner and the slave; which practice has occasioned such
slaves to pilfer and steal, to raise money for their owners, as well as to maintain
themselves in drunkenness and evil courses; for prevention for which practices for the
future, Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no owner, master or mistress of any
slave, after the passing of this Act, shall permit or suffer any of his, her or their slaves to
go and work out of their respective houses of families, without a ticket in writing, under
pain of forfeiting the sum of ten pounds, current money, for every such offence, to be
paid the one half to the church-wardens of the parish, for the use of the poor of the parish

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in which the offence is committed, and the other half to him or them that will inform and
sue for the same, to be recovered in the same way as debts are by the Act for the trail of
small and mean causes. And every person employing any slave without a ticket from the
owner of such slave, shall forfeit to the informer five pounds, current money, for each
day he so employees such slave, over and above the wages agreed to be paid such slave
for his work; provided that the said penalty of five pounds per diem, shall not extend to
any person whose property in such slave is disputable; and provided, that nothing herein
contained shall hinder any person or persons from hiring out by the year, week, or day, or
any other time, any Negroes or slaves, to be under the care and direction of his or their
owner, master or employer, and that the master is to receive the whole of the earnings of
such slave or slaves, and that the employer have a certificate or note, in writing, of the
time or terms of such slave’s employment, from the owner, attorney or overseer of every
such slave, severally and respectively.

XXXIV. And whereas, several owners of slaves have permitted them to keep

canoes, and to breed and raise horses, neat cattle and hogs, and to traffic and barter in
several parts of this Province, for the particular and peculiar benefit of such slaves, by
which means they have not only and opportunity of receiving and concealing stolen
goods, but to plot and confederate together, and form conspiracies dangerous to the peace
and safety of the whole Province; Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That
it shall not be lawful for any slave so to buy, sell, trade, traffic, deal, or barter for any
goods or commodities, (except as before excepted,) nor shall any slave be permitted to
keep any boat, perriauger or canoe, or to raise and breed, for the use and benefit of such
slave, any horses, mares, neat cattle, sheep or hogs, under pain of forfeiting all the goods
and commodities which shall be so bought, sold traded, trafficked, dealt or bartered for,
by any slave, and of all the boats, perriaugers, or canoes, cattle, sheep or hogs, which any
slave shall keep, raise or breed for the peculiar use, benefit and profit of such slave; and it
shall and may be lawful for any person of persons whatsoever, to seize and take away
from any slave, all such goods, commodities, boats perriaugers, canoes, horses, mares,
neat cattle, sheep or hogs, and to deliver the same into the hands of any one of his
Majesty’s justices of the peace, nearest to the place where the seizure shall be made; and
such justice shall take the oath of such person who shall make any such seizure,
concerning the manner of seizing and taking the same, and if the said justice shall be
satisfied that such seizure hath been made according to the directions of this Act, he shall
pronounce and declare the goods so seized, to be forfeited, and shall order the same to be
sold at public outcry; and the monies arising by such sale shall be disposed of and applied
as is hereinafter directed; provided, that if any goods shall be seized which come to the
possession of any slave by theft, finding or otherwise, without the knowledge, privity,
consent or connivance of the person who have a right to the property or lawful custody of
any such goods, all such goods shall be restored, on such person’s making an oath before
any justice as aforesaid, who is hereby impowered to administer such oath, to the effect
or in the following words:

“I, A B, do sincerely swear, that I have a just and lawful right or title to certain
goods seized and taken by C D, out of the possession of a slave named –; and I do
sincerely swear and declare, that I did not, directly or indirectly, permit or suffer the said
slave, or any other slave whatsoever, to use, keep or employ the said goods for the use,

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committed on slaves, because no white person may be present to give evidence to the
same, unless some method be provided for the better discovery of such offences; and as
slaves are under the government, so they ought to be under the protection, of masters and
managers of plantations; Be it therefore further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if
any slave shall suffer in live, limb or member, or shall be maimed, beaten or abused,
contrary to the directions and true intent and meaning of this Act, when no white person
shall be present, or being present, shall neglect or refuse to give evidence, or be examined
upon oath, concerning the same, in every such case, the owner or other person who shall
have the care and government of such slave, and in whose possession or power such slave
shall be, shall be deemed, taken, reputed and adjudged to be guilty or such offence, and
shall be proceeded against accordingly, without further proof, unless such owner or other
person as aforesaid, can make the contrary appear by good and sufficient evidence, or
shall be his own oath, clear and exculpate himself; which oath, every court where such
offence shall be tried, is hereby empowered to administer, and to acquit the offender
accordingly, if clear proof of the offence be now made by two witnesses at least; any law,
usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

XL. And whereas, many of the slaves in this Province wear clothes much above

the condition of slaves, for the procuring whereof they use sinister and evil methods: For
the prevention, therefore, of such practices for the future, Be it enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That no owner or proprietor of any Negro slave, or other slave, (except livery
men and boys,) shall permit or suffer such Negro or other slave, to have or wear any sort
of apparel whatsoever, finer, other, or greater value than Negro cloth, duffels, kerseys,
osnabrigs, blue linen, check linen or coarse garlix, or calicoes, checked cottons, or Scotch
plaids, under the pain of forfeiting all and every such apparel and garment, that any
person shall permit or suffer his Negro or other slave to have or wear, finer, other or of
greater value than Negro cloth, duffels, coarse kerseys, osnabrigs, blue linen, check linen
or coarse garlix or calicoes, checked cottons or Scotch plaids, as aforesaid; and all and
every constable and other persons are hereby authorized, empowered, and required, when
as often as they shall find any such Negro slave, or other slave, having or wearing any
sort of garment or apparel whatsoever, finer, other or of greater value than Negro cloth,
duffels, coarse kerseys, osnabrigs, blue linen, check linen, or coarse garlix, or calicoes,
checked cottons or Scottish plaids, as aforesaid, to seize and take away the same, to his or
their own use, benefit and behoof; any law, usage or custom to the contrary
notwithstanding. Provided always, that if any owner of any such slave or slaves, shall
think the garment or apparel of his said slave not liable to forfeiture, or to be taken away
by virtue of this Act, he may not apply to any neighboring justice of the peace, who is
hereby authorized and empowered to determine any difference or dispute that shall
happen thereupon, according to the true intent and meaning of this Act.

XLI. And whereas, an ill custom has prevailed in this Province, of firing guns in

the night time; for the prevention thereof for the future, Be it enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That if any person shall fire or shoot off any gun or pistol in the night time,
after dark and before day-light, without necessity, every such person shall forfeit the sum
of forty shillings, current money, for each gun so fired as aforesaid, to be recovered by
warrant from any one justice of the peace for the county where the offence is committed,

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according to the direction of the Act for the trial of small and mean causes, and shall be
paid to the church-wardens for the parish where the offence shall be committed, for the
use of the poor of the said parish.

XLII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no slave or slaves

shall be permitted to rent or hire any house, room, store or plantation, on his or her own
account, or to be used or occupied by any slave or slaves; and any person or persons who
shall let or hire and house, room, store or plantation, to any slave or slaves, or to any free
person, to be occupied by any slave or slave, every such person so offending shall forfeit
and pay to the informer the sum of twenty pounds, current money, to be recovered as in
the Act for the trial of small and mean causes.

XLIII. And whereas, it may be attended with ill consequences to permit a great

number of slaves to travel together in the high roads without some white person in
company with them; Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no men
slaves exceeding seen in number, shall hereafter be permitted to travel together in any
high road in this Province, without some white person with them; and it shall and may be
lawful for any person or persons, who shall see any men slaves exceeding seven in
number, without some white person with them as aforesaid, traveling or assembled
together in any high road, to apprehend all and every such slaves, and shall and may whip
them, not exceeding twenty lashes on the bare back.

XLIV. And whereas, many owners of slaves, and others who have the care,

management and overseeing of slaves, so confine them so closely to hard labor, that they
have not sufficient time for natural rest; Be it therefore enacted by the authority
aforesaid, That if any owner of slaves, or other person who shall have the care,
management or overseeing of any slaves, shall work or put to labor any such slave or
slaves, more than fifteen hours in for and twenty hours, from the twenty-fifth day of
March to the twenty-fifth day of September, or more than fourteen hours in for and
twenty hours, from the twenty-fifth day of September to the twenty-fifth day of March,
every such person shall forfeit any sum not exceeding twenty pounds, nor under five
pounds, current money, for every time he, she or they shall offend herein, at the
discretion of the justice before whom such complaint shall be made.

XLV. And whereas, the having of slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be

employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences; Be it therefore enacted
by the authority aforesaid, That all and every person and persons whatsoever, who shall
hereinafter teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught, to write, or shall use or employ
any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever, hereafter taught to write,
every such person and persons, shall, for every such offense, forfeit the sum of one
hundred pounds current money.

XLVI. And whereas, plantations settled with slaves without any white person

thereon, may be harbours for runaways and fugitive slaves; Be it therefore enacted by the
authority aforesaid, That no person or persons hereafter shall keep any slaves on any
plantation or settlement, without having a white person on such plantation or settlement,

chris
Highlight

Edward Teach, commonly called Blackboard, was the best-known pirate captain of
the Atlantic world during the early 18th century. Pursued by the Royal Navy, Teach
was finally caught and executed in 1718.

REFLECTIONS

For centuries, as merchant ships plied the high seas, pirates lurked
somewhere nearby to prey upon them. Usually murderous and cruel,
such maritime brigands have seldom been completely lawless. In-
deed, throughout history, and regardless of national origin, most free-
hooters have avoided anarchy; in some cases, they fashioned their
own ethical codes as well as special notions of authority. Between
1716 and 1726, the brief heyday of Anglo-American piracy, thou-
sands of men sailed under the Jolly Roger. Drawing upon 18th-cen-
tury British archives, including the court records of sailors captured
and tried for piracy, historian Marcus Rediker describes the unusual
society of these “desperate Rogues” who not only dreamed of wealth
and revenge but also claimed a certain fraternity and justice.

Writing to the Board of Trade in 1724, Governor Alexander Spotswood of
Virginia lamented his lack of “some safe opportunity to get home” to
London. He insisted that he would travel only in a well-armed man-of-war.

“Your Lordships will easily conceive my Meaning when you reflect on
the Vigorous part I’ve acted to suppress Pirates: and if those barbarous
Wretches can be moved to cut off the Nose & Ears of a Master for but
correcting his own Sailors, what inhuman treatment must I expect, should
I fall within their power, who have been markt as the principle object of
their vengeance, for cutting off their arch Pirate Thatch [Edward Teach,
also known as Blackboard], with all his grand Designs, & making so many
of their Fraternity to swing in the open air of Virginia.”

Spotswood knew these pirates well. He had authorized the expedition
that returned to Virginia claiming Blackboard’s head as a trophy. He knew
that pirates had a fondness for revenge, that they often punished captured
ship captains for “correcting” their crews, and that a kind of “fraternity”
prevailed among them. He had good reason to fear them.

Anglo-American pirates created a crisis for the Empire with their
relentless attacks upon merchants’ property and international commerce

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PIRATES

between 1716 and 1726. Accordingly, these freebooters occupy a grand
position in the long, grim history of robbery at sea. Their numbers, near
5,000, were extraordinary, and their plundering in the Atlantic and else-
where was exceptional in both volume and value.

Piracy represented crime on a massive scale. It was a way of life
voluntarily chosen, for the most part, by large numbers of men who di-
rectly challenged the harsh ways of the maritime society from which they
excepted themselves. Beneath the Jolly Roger, “the banner of King
Death,” a new social world took shape once pirates had, as one of them put
it, “the choice in themselves.”

Going on the Account

From records that describe the activities of pirate ships, and from
reports or projections of crew sizes, it appears that 1,800 to 2,400 Anglo-
American pirates prowled the seas between 1716 and 1718, 1,500 to
2,000 between 1719 and 1722, and 1,000 to 1,500, declining to fewer
than 200, between 1 7 2 3 and 1726. In the only estimate we have from the
other side of the law, a band of pirates in 1716 claimed that “30 Company
of them,” or roughly 2,400 men, plied the oceans of the globe. In all, some
4,500 to 5,500 men went, a s they called it, “upon the account.” T h e
pirates’ chief scourge, Britain’s Royal Navy, employed an average of only
13,000 men in any given year between 1716 and 1726.

These sea robbers preyed upon the most lucrative trade and, like
their predecessors, sought bases for their depredations in the Caribbean
Sea and the Indian Ocean. T h e Bahama Islands, undefended and ungov-
e m e d by the crown, began in 1716 to attract pirates by the hundreds. By
1718 a torrent of complaints had moved George I to commission Governor
Woodes Rogers to lead an expedition to bring the islands under control.
Rogers’s efforts largely succeeded, and the pirates dispersed to the unpeo-
pled inlets of the Carolmas and t o Africa. They had frequented African
shores as early a s 1691; by 1718, Madagascar served a s both an entrepot
for booty and a place for temporary settlement. At the mouth of the Sierra
Leone River on Africa’s west coast, pirates stopped off for “whoring and
drinking” and to unload goods.

Theaters of operations for pirates shifted, however, according to the
deployments of the Royal Navy. Pirates favored the Caribbean’s small,
unsettled cays and shallow waters, which proved hard to negotiate for the
men-of-war that gave chase. But generally, as one pirate noted, these

Marcus Rediker, 36, is associate professor of history at Georgetown Univer-
sity. Born in Owensboro, Kentucky, he received a B.A. from Virginia Com-
monwealth University (1976), and a n M.A. (1978) and a Ph.D. (1982) from
the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Between the Devil and the
Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime
World, 1700-1750, from which this essay is drawn. Copyright @ 1987 Cam-
bridge University Press. Reprinted with permission.

WQ SUMMER 1988

The notorious women pirates Mary Read and A n n e Bonny proved to be as
bold as any of Calico Jack Rackam’s crew. By “pleading their bellies” @reg-
nancy) a t their trials i n 1721, they both managed to dodge the gallows.

rovers were “dispers’t into several parts of the World.” Sea robbers
sought and usually found bases near major trade routes, as distant as
possible from the powers of the state.

Almost all the pirates had earlier labored as merchant seamen, Royal
Navy sailors, or privateenmen.* The vast majority came from captured
merchantmen as volunteers, for reasons suggested by Dr. Samuel John-
son’s observation that “no man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough
to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in jail with the chance
of being drowned. . . A man in jail has more room, better food, and com-
monly better company.”

Dr. Johnson had a point. Service aboard ship did not differ essentially
from incarceration in a jail. Life was harsh in both places. During the early
18th century, disease, accidents, and death were commonplace aboard
ships; natural disasters threatened incessantly, rations were often meager,
and discipline was brutal, even murderous on occasion. Peacetime wages
were low; there were fraud and irregularities in the distribution of pay.
British merchant seamen also had to face the constant risk of impressment
by the Royal Navy, whose commanders sought recruits on land and sea.
*Privateers were privately owned armed vessels licensed by governments in time of war to capture the
merchant ships of an enemy. Proceeds were distributed among king, investors, ship’s officers, and seamen.
Privateering was abolished by the Declaration of Paris in 1856.

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PIRATES

Some pirates had served in the fleet, where conditions aboard ship
were no less harsh. Food supplies often ran short, pay was low, mortality
was high, discipline severe, and desertion consequently chronic. As one
officer reported, the Royal Navy had trouble fighting pirates because the
king’s ships were “so much disabled by sickness, death, and desertion of
their seamen.”

Pirates who had served on privateering vessels knew well that such
employment was far less onerous than that on merchant or naval ships.
Food was usually more plentiful, the pay higher, and the work shifts gener-
ally shorter. Even so, owing to rigid discipline and other grievances, muti-
nies were not uncommon. During Woodes Rogers’s successful privateering
expedition against the Spanish (1708-ll), one Peter Clark was thrown
into irons for wishing himself “aboard a Pirate” and saying that “he should
be glad that an Enemy, who could over-power us, was a-long-side of us.”

Most men became pirates when their merchant vessels were cap-
tured. Colonel Benjamin B e m e t wrote to the Council of Trade and Planta-
tions in 1718, setting forth his worries about freebooters in the West
Indies: “I fear they will soon multiply for so many are willing to joyn with
them when taken.” The seizure of a merchant ship was usually followed by
a moment of great drama. The pirate captain asked the assembled seamen
of the captured vessel who among them would serve under the Jolly
Roger, and frequently several stepped forward. Far fewer pirates began a s
mutineers who had collectively seized control of a merchant vessel. But
piracy was not an option open to landlubbers, since sea robbers, Daniel
Defoe observed, “entertain’d so contemptible a Notion of Landmen.”

Rank Hath No Privileges

Ages a r e known for 117 pirates active between 1716 and 1726. The
range was 1 7 to 50 years, the mean 27.4, and the median 27; the 20-24
and 25-29 age categories had the highest concentrations, with 39 and 37
men, respectively. Three in five were 2 5 or older. The age distribution
was almost identical to that of the British merchant service a s a whole,
suggesting that piracy held roughly equal attraction for sailors of all ages.

Though evidence is sketchy, most pirates seem not to have been
bound to land and home by familial ties or obligations. Wives and children
were rarely mentioned in the records of trials of pirates, and pirate ves-
sels, to forestall desertion, often would “take no Married Man.” Almost
without exception, pirates, like the larger body of seafaring men, came
from the lowest social classes in Britain and its American colonies. They
were, as a royal official observed, “desperate Rogues” who could see little
hope in life ashore.

Yet contemporaries who claimed that pirates had “no regular com-
mand among them” mistook a different social order-different from the
hierarchy aboard merchant, naval, and privateering vessels-for disorder.
This arrangement was conceived by the pirates themselves. Their hall-

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PIRATES

mark was a rough, improvised egalitarianism that placed authority in the
collective hands of the crew.

A striking uniformity of rules and customs prevailed aboard pirate
ships, each of which functioned under the terms of written “articles”-a
compact drawn up a t the beginning of a voyage or upon election of a new
captain, and agreed to by the crew. Under these articles, crews allocated
authority, distributed plunder, and enforced discipline. In effect, these ar-
rangements made the captain the creature of his crew.

Favoring someone both bold of temper and skilled in navigation, the
sailors elected their captain. They gave him few privileges. He “or any
other Officer is allowed no more [food] than another man, nay, the Captain
cannot keep his Cabbin to himself.” Wilharn Snelgrave, a merchant captain
seized by pirates, noted with displeasure that the crew slept on the ship
wherever they pleased, “the Captain himself not being allowed a Bed.”

Distributing Plunder

The crew granted the captain unquestioned authority “in fighting,
chasing, or being chased,” but “in all other Matters whatsoever” he was
“governed by a Majority.” As the majority chose, so did it depose. Cap-
tains were ousted from their positions for cowardice, cruelty, or refusing
“to take and plunder English Vessels.” One captain incurred the class-
conscious wrath of his crew for being too “Gentlemen-like.” Occasionally,
a despotic captain was summarily executed. As pirate Francis Kennedy
explained, most sea robbers, “having suffered formerly from the ill-treat-
ment of their officers, provided carefully against any such evil” once they
arranged their own command.

To prevent the misuse of authority, pirates delegated countervailing
powers to the quartermaster, who was elected to represent and protect
“the Interest of the Crew.” The quartermaster, who was not considered
an officer in the merchant service, was elevated to a position of trust and
authority. His tasks were to adjudicate minor disputes, to distribute food
and money, and, in some instances, to lead the attacks on prize vessels. He
served a s a “civil Magistrate” and dispensed necessaries “with an Equality
to them all,” carefully guarding against the galling and divisive use of
privilege and preferment that characterized the distribution of the necessi-
ties of life in other maritime occupations. This dual authority was a distinc-
tive feature of pirate vessels.

The decisions that had the greatest bearing on the welfare of the
crew were generally reserved t o the council, the highest authority on the
pirate ship. Pirates drew upon an ancient custom, largely forgotten by the
18th century, under which the master consulted his entire crew in making
crucial decisions. The council determined such matters as where the best
prizes could be taken and how any dissension was to be resolved. Some
crews resorted frequently to the council, “carrying every thing by a major-
ity of votes”; others set up the council as a court. The decisions made by

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159

this body were sacrosanct, and even the boldest captain dared not chal-
lenge a council’s mandate.

The distribution of plunder was regulated explicitly by the ship’s arti-
cles, which allocated booty according to skills and duties. Abolishing the
wage relation, pirates turned to a share system to allocate their take.
Captain and quartermaster each received from one and one-half to two
shares; gunners, boatswains, mates, carpenters, and doctors, one and one-
quarter to one and one-half; all others got one share each. The pay system
represented a radical departure from the highly unequal allocation of pay in
the merchant service, Royal Navy, or privateering. Indeed, the pirates
devised perhaps one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of
resources to be found anywhere in the early 18th century.

But not all booty was dispensed this way. A portion went into a
“common fund” to provide for the men who sustained lasting injury. The
loss of eyesight or any appendage merited special compensation. This rudi-
mentary welfare system served to guard against debilities caused by acci-
dents, to protect skills, to enhance recruitment, and to promote loyalty
within the group.

The articles also regulated discipline aboard ship, though “discipline”
is perhaps a misnomer for a system of rules that left large ranges of

A pirate is hanged at Execu-
tion Dock i n Wapping, Lon-
don. British authorities
hoped that such public hang-
ings i n the city’s largest sea-
faring neighborhood would
discourage any would-be
buccaneers.

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PIRATES

behavior uncontrolled. Less arbitrary than that of the merchant service
and less codified than that of the Royal Navy, discipline among pirates
always depended on a collective sense of transgression. Many misdeeds
were accorded “what Punishment the Captain and Majority of the Com-
pany shall think fit,” and it is noteworthy that pirates did not often resort
to the whip.

Three major methods of discipline were employed, all conditioned by
the fact that pirate ships were crowded; an average crew numbered near
8 0 on a 250-ton vessel. T h e articles of Bartholomew Roberta’s ship re-
vealed one tactic for maintaining order: “No striking one another on board,
but every Man’s Quarrels to be ended on Shore at Sword and Pistol.” By
taking such conflicts off the ship (and symbolically off the sea), this practice
was designed to promote harmony in the crowded quarters below decks.

Regulating Conflict

The ideal of harmony was also enforced through the decision to make
a crew member the “Governor of an Island.” Men who were incorrigibly
disruptive or who transgressed important rules were simply marooned.
For defrauding his mates by taking more than a proper share of plunder,
for malingering during battle, for keeping secrets from the crew, or for
stealing, a pirate risked being deposited “where he was sure to encounter
Hardships.”

The ultimate sanction was execution. This penalty was imposed for
bringing on board “a Boy or a Woman” or for meddling with a “prudent
Woman” on a prize ship, but was most commonly invoked to punish a
captain who abused his authority. Some crews attempted to avoid disciplin-
ary problems by taking as a recruit “no Body against their Wills.” By the
same logic, they would keep no unwilling person.

Yet for all the efforts to limit authority and to maintain harmony,
conflict could not always be contained. Occasionally upon election of a new
captain, men who favored other leadership drew up new articles, took
another ship, and sailed away from their former mates. But the very pro-
cess by which new crews were established helped to ensure a social unifor-
mity and, as we shall see, a sense of fraternity among pirates.

One important mechanism in this continuity can be seen by charting
the connections among pirate crews. The diagram on the following page,
arranged according to vessel captaincy, demonstrates that by splintering,
by sailing in consorts, or by other associations, roughly 3,600 pirates-
more than 7 0 percent of all those active between 1716 and 1726-fit into
two main lines of genealogical descent.

Captain Benjamin Hornigold and the pirate rendezvous in the Baha-
mas stood a t the origin of an intricate lineage that ended with the hanging
of John Phillips’s crew in June 1724. The second line, spawned in the
chance meeting of the lately mutinous crews of George Lowther and Ed-
ward Low in 1722, culminated in the British government’s capture, trial,

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PIRATES

Connections among Anglo-American pirate crews, 1714-26. [Key to symbols-(-)
direct descent: crew division became of dispute, overcrowding, or election of a new
captain; (=) sailed in consort; (- – -) other connection: common crew members,
contact without sailing together; 6) used the Bahama Islands as rendezvous.]

and executions of William Fly and his men in July 1726. It was primarily
within and through this network that the social organization of the pirate
ship took on its significance, transmitting and preserving customs and
meanings and helping to structure and perpetuate the pirates’ social world.

Pirates constructed their own world in defiance of the one they left
behind, particularly the maritime system of authority. At a trial in Boston

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PIRATES

in 1718, merchant captain Thomas Checkley told of the capture of his ship
by pirates who “pretended” he said, “to be Robin Hoods Men.” Historian
Eric Hobsbawm has defined such “social banditry” a s a universal and
virtually unchanging phenomenon, an “endemic peasant protest against
oppression and poverty: a cry for vengeance on the rich and the oppres-
sors.” Its goal is “a traditional world in which men are justly dealt with, not
a new and perfect world”; Hobsbawm calls its advocates “revolutionary
traditionalists.” Pirates, of course, were not peasants, but they fit
Hobsbawm’s formulation in every other respect. Of special importance was
their “cry for vengeance.”

In his letter to the Board of Trade in 1724, Virginia’s Governor
Spotswood told no more than the simple truth when he expressed his fear
of pirate reprisals, for the very names of pirate ships made the same
threat. Edward Teach, whom Spotswood’s men captured and killed, called
his vessel Queen Anne’s Revenge; other notorious craft were Stede Bon-
net’s Revenge and John Cole’s New York Revenge’s Revenge. The fore-
most target of vengeance was the merchant captain, a man “past all re-
straint,” who often made life miserable for his crew. Spotswood noted how
pirates avenged the captain’s past “correcting” of his sailors.

Beasts of Prey

Upon seizing a merchantman, pirates often administered the “Distri-
bution of Justice,” “enquiring into the Manner of the Commander’s Behav-
iour to their Men, and those, against whom Complaint was made” were
‘whipp’d and pickled.” Many captured captains were “barbarously used,”
and some were summarily executed. The punishment of captains was not
indiscriminate: A captain who had been “an honest Fellow that never
abused any Sailors” was often rewarded by pirates. To pirates, revenge
was simply justice; punishment was meted out to barbarous captains, a s
befitted the captains’ crimes.

Freebooters who fell into the hands of the British government were
treated severely. The official view of piracy was outlined in 1718 by Vice-
Admiralty Judge Nicholas Trott in his charge to the jury in the trial of
Stede Bonnet and 33 members of his crew at Charleston, South Carolina.
Declaring that “the Sea was given by God for the use of Men, and is
subject to Dominion and Property, a s well a s the Land,” Trott observed of
the accused that “the Law of Nations never granted to them a Power to
change the Right of Property.” Pirates on trial were denied benefits of
clergy, were “called Hostis H u m a n i Generis, with whom neither Faith
nor Oath” were t o be kept, and were regarded a s “Brutes, and Beasts of
Prey.” Turning from the jury to the accused, Trott circumspectly sur-
mised that “no further Good or Benefit can be expected from you but by
the Example of your Deaths.”

T h e insistence on obtaining this final benefit locked royal officials and
pirates into a war of reciprocal terror. Just as the authorities offered boun-

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PIRATES

ties for the capture of pirates, so did pirates “offer any price” for certain
officials. T h e American Weekly Mercury reported that, in Virginia in
1720, one of six pirates facing the gallows “called for a Bottle of Wine, and
taking a Glass of it, he Drank Damnation to the Governour and Confusion
to the Colony, which the rest pledged.” Not to be outdone, Governor
Spotswood thought it “necessary for the greater Terrour to hang up four
of them in Chains.”

At the Charleston trial over which Trott presided, Richard Alien,
attorney general of South Carolina, told the jury that “pirates prey upon all
Mankind, their own Species and Fellow-Creatures without Distinction of
Nations or Religions.” Alien was right in claiming that pirates did not
respect nationality in their plunders, but he was wrong in claiming that
they did not respect any of their “Fellow-Creatures.” Pirates did not prey
on one another.

On the contrary, they showed a recurrent willingness to join forces a t
sea and in port. In April 1719, when Howell Davis sailed into the Sierra
Leone River, the pirates captained by Thomas Cocklyn were wary until
they saw on the approaching ship “her Black Flag”; then “immediately
they were easy in their minds, and a little time after,” the crews “saluted
one another with their Cannon.” Other crews exchanged similar greetings
and, hke Davis and Cocklyn who combined their forces, often invoked an
unwritten code of hospitality to forge spontaneous alliances.

Skull and Bones

Without a doubt, one of the strongest indicators of solidarity was the
absence of discord among different pirate crews. To some extent, this was
even a transnational matter: French, Dutch, Spanish, and Anglo-American
pirates usually cooperated peaceably, only occasionally getting into conflict.
Anglo-American crews consistently refused to attack one another.

In no way was the pirate sense of fraternity, which Governor
Spotswood and others noted, better shown than in the threats and acts of
revenge taken by pirates. Theirs was truly a case of hanging together or
being hanged separately. In April 1717, the pirate ship Whidah was
wrecked near Boston. Most of its crew perished; the survivors were jailed.
In July, Thomas Fox, a Boston ship captain, was taken by other pirates
who “Questioned him whether anything was done to the Pyrates in Boston
Goall,” promising “that if the Prisoners Suffered they would Kill every
Body they took belonging to New England.” Shortly after this incident,
Teach’s crew captured a merchant vessel and, “because she belonged to
Boston, [Teach] alledging the People of Boston had hanged some of the
Pirates, so burnt her.” Teach declared that all Boston ships deserved a
similar fate.

In January 1724, Lieutenant Governor Charles Hope of Bermuda
wrote to the Board of Trade that he found it difficult to procure trial
evidence against pirates because residents “feared that this very execution

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PIRATES

wou’d make our vessels fare the worse for it, when they happen’d to fall
into pirate hands.” The threats of revenge were sometimes effective.

Pirates also affirmed their unity symbolically. Certainly the best-
known symbol of piracy is the flag, the Jolly Roger. Less known is the fact
that the flag was very widely used. No fewer, and probably a great many
more, than 2,500 men sailed under this banner alone. The Jolly Roger was
described a s a “black Ensign, in the Middle of which is a large white
Skeleton with a Dart in one hand striking a bleeding Heart, and in the
other an Hour Glass.” Although there was considerable variation in par-
ticulars among these flags, there was also a general uniformity of chosen
images. The flag’s background was black, adorned with white representa-
tional figures. The most common symbol was the human skull, or “death’s
head,” sometimes isolated but more frequently the most prominent fea-
ture of an entire skeleton. Other recurring items were a weapon-cutlass,
sword, or dart-and an hour glass.

Cleansing the Seas

The flag was intended to ternfy the pirate’s prey, but its interlocking
symbols-death, violence, limited time-simultaneously pointed to mean-
ingful parts of the seaman’s experience and eloquently bespoke the pirates’
own consciousness of themselves as preyed upon in return.

The self-righteousness of many Anglo-American pirates was strongly
linked to their vision of a world-traditional, mythical, or utopianÃ‘Ui
which men are justly dealt with,” as described by Hobsbawm. Indeed,
some authorities, including the British Commissioners for Trade and Plan-
tations, feared that pirates might “set up a sort of Commonwealth” in
uninhabited regions, since “no Power in those Parts of the World could
have been able to dispute it with them.”

But piracy never took national shape, and indeed, by 1726, it had been
effectively suppressed by vigorous governmental action. Circumstantial
factors such a s the remobihzation of the Royal Navy cannot account fully
for its demise. The number of men in the fleet increased from 6,298 in
1 7 2 5 t o 16,872 in 1726 and again to 20,697 in 1727, which had some
bearing on the declining number of sea robbers. Yet some 20,000 sailors
had been in the navy in 1719 and 1720, years when pirates were numer-
ous. Seafaring wages only occasionally rose above 3 0 shillings per month
between 1713 and the mid-1730s. The conditions of life at sea did not
change appreciably until Britain went to war with Spain in 1739.

The royal pardons offered to pirates in 1717 and 1718 failed t o rid
the sea of robbers. Since the pardons specified that only crimes committed
at certain times and in particular regions would be forgiven, many pirates
saw enormous latitude for official trickery and refused to surrender. The
offer of amnesty having failed, royal officials intensified the naval campaign
against piracy-with great and gruesome effect. Corpses dangled in chains
in British ports around the world “as a Spectacle for the Warning of oth-

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PIRATES

ers.” No fewer than 400, and probably 500 to 600, Anglo-American pi-
rates were executed between 1716 and 1726. Parliament also passed laws
that crirninalized all contact with pirates. Anyone known to “truck, barter,
exchange” with pirates, furnish them with stores, or even consult with
them might be punished with death.

The campaign to cleanse the seas was supported by clergymen, royal
officials, and publicists who variously sought, through sermons, proclama-
tions, pamphlets, and the newspapers, to create an image of the pirate that
would justify his extermination. Especially among seamen and dealers in
stolen cargo, piracy had always depended in some measure on the rumors
and tales of its successes. Not surprisingly, in 1722 and 1723, after a spate
of well-publicized hangings and a burst of propaganda, the pirate population
began to decline. By 1726, only a handful of the fraternity remained.

The Anglo-American pirates themselves unwittingly took a hand in
their own destruction. From the outset, theirs had been a fragile existence.
They produced nothing and had no secure place in the economic order.
They had no nation, no home; they were widely dispersed; their cornrnu-
nity had virtually no geographic boundaries. Try as they might, they were
unable to create reliable ways of replenishing their ranks or mobilizing
their collective strength. These deficiencies made them, in the long run,
relatively easy prey.

Although the heyday of the Anglo-American pirates soon passed, it
remains a remarkable historical phenomenon. For a brief time, a sizeable
number of desperate men lived beyond the church, beyond the family, and
beyond disciplined labor. Using the sea to distance themselves from the
powers of the state, they made a society in which poor men in canvas
jackets and tarred breeches had “the choice in themselves.”

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Introduction and Course Requirements
Week 1

U.S. Labor and Work Before the End of Reconstruction

37:575:201

Prof. Will Brucher

Martin Luther King, Jr., January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963

March on Behalf of Striking Memphis Sanitation Workers, March 28, 1968

Coretta Scott King and the Public Hospital Workers Strike, Charleston, South Carolina, 1969

5
“The Other America” speech, April 14, 1967

Some questions…
What is “work?”

Why should we study the history of work?

… and some more questions
What was work like in the past?
What work did people do in the 1600s? In the 1700s? The 1800s? Who did the work?
How did work change?
Did working people have any say in how work changed?
7

In this class we will:
Study the important themes of the history of work in the Americas from the initial contact of European, Native America, and African peoples to the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction, ca. 1492 – 1877
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In this class we will:
Look at the political history of work
Look at the economic history of work
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… and most importantly:
We will look at the social and cultural histories of work and those who did it!
What were the experiences of ordinary people?

The “Atlantic Proletariat”

U.S. Labor and Work – 201

Week 2

Prof. Brucher

What does “Proletariat” mean?
From the Latin proletarius: a person having no wealth or property and only served the state by producing offspring.
By the mid-17th century “proletarian” and “proletariat” were used in English to describe common workers.
Today, these terms are used to describe the working class in broad terms.

Why call it the“Atlantic Proletariat”?
Social historians argue that a wide-ranging group of workers provided the labor necessary for colonial expansion in the Atlantic economy of the Americas from the time of contact between European, African, and Native American Peoples.

Who were the Atlantic Proletariat?
Indentured Servants
Slaves
Dispossessed commoners
Transported felons
Religious radicals
Urban laborers
Soldiers
Sailors
Pirates
Native Americans

Why focus on workers?
Of course, we can look at other factors when studying the Atlantic economy:
Technological advancement and knowledge driving exploration (better sailing ships, navigation methods, etc.).
Agricultural advancement (cultivating crops).
Political developments fuelling expansion and trade (see textbook chapter 1!).
Religious motivations (Spanish, Portuguese, and French Catholic missionaries, English religious dissenters, etc.).

Why focus on workers?
Ordinary workers did the labor that was essential to the rise of the Atlantic economy from the 16th through 19th centuries, which in turn fueled the growth of the modern global economy.
At the same time, many members of the Atlantic Proletariat tried to resist or adapt to conditions that were often brutal, violent, and inhumane.

Processes that help create the Atlantic Proletariat
Expropriation: The seizure of common property used by the many (ordinary people) and put in the hands of the few (governments/kingdoms, colonial corporations). Examples:
Spanish conquistadors seizing lands in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America to create enconmiendas controlled by wealthy Spanish landlords under the Spanish crown.
Wealthy lords enclosing the commons (shared agricultural lands used by poor communities) in Great Britain.
English corporations like the Virginia Company that set up agricultural colonies on the east coast, claiming property for themselves and the English crown.

Processes that help create the Atlantic Proletariat
Exploitation: The act of mistreating someone to benefit from their labor. The work involved in expropriation was particularly exploitative:
Encomiendas: Native Americans forced to work for the Spanish landlords, clearing land and harvesting crops. African slaves later imported to the Spanish colonies.
Enclosing the commons: Poor people kicked people off the land, forcing them to become tenant farmers, move to the cities for work, or become indentured servants in America. Poor people also imprisoned and forced to work; many sent to work as sailors or to work in the Americas.
The Virginia company and other colonial corporations: pushed Native Americans off of the land (violently), forced indentured servants and later African slaves to work under brutal conditions.

Native Americans
Prior to contact with Columbus and other Europeans, there were as many as 15 to 20 million Native Americans in Mexico and anywhere from 1 to 18 million (5 million is a good estimate) north of Mexico in the present day U.S. and Canada.
Societies ranged from the highly organized city-states and empires (Aztecs) to small family-based communities, including the Lenape in the NJ/NY/PA/DE area (“Delaware” peoples).

Lenape
Traded with Dutch colonies in NY/NJ and English colonies in PA.
Conflicts with the colonists: Dutch West Indian Company director Willem Kieft led an attack against Weckquaesgeek and Tappan villages, killing 120 Native Americans.
In the ensuing “Kieft’s War” of 1643-145, hundreds of colonists were killed by the Lenape and their allies; over 1,000 Lenape were killed by Dutch and English forces.
After a century of wars and conflicts, disease, and encroaching European settlements, most Lenape were forced to leave NY, NJ, and PA after the Treaty of Easton was signed in 1758.
Lenape place names remain throughout the area: Weehawken, Mahwah, Metuchen, Raritan, Piscataway…

Pirates: “Life Under the Jolly Roger”

Capture of the Pirate, Blackbeard, 1718

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