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D |
uring the late 18th century, the South was unique
among slave societies in its openness to antislavery ideas. In Maryland and
North Carolina, Quakers freed more than
1500 slaves and sent them out of state. Scattered Baptist, Methodist, and
Presbyterian ministers condemned slavery as a sin "contrary to the word of
God." Meanwhile, many planters, especially in Virginia and Maryland,
described slavery as a source of debt, economic stagnation, and moral
dissipation.
During the early 19th century, however, Quakers
and Unitarians who were strongly antagonist to slavery, migrated out of the
region. Many southern religious sects that had expressed opposition to slavery
modified their religious beliefs. By the second decade of the 19th century,
antislavery sentiment was confined to Kentucky, Maryland, the Piedmont counties
of North Carolina, and the mountains in eastern Tennessee and western Virginia.
Many white Southerners who felt genuine moral
doubts about slavery directed their energies into "reforming" the
institution. They tried to Christianize slaves, ameliorate their position, and
make slavery conform to the ideal depicted in the Old Testament. During the
18th century, the slave codes were exceedingly harsh. They permitted owners to
punish slaves by castration and amputation. Slaveowners had no specific
obligations for housing, food, or clothing, and many observers reported seeing
slaves half-clothed or naked.
During the early 19th century, southern state
legislatures defined killing a slave with malice as murder and made
dismemberment illegal. Three states
forbade the sale of young slave children from their parents. Many of the new
laws went unenforced, but they suggested that a new code of values was emerging
under slavery. Paternalism was the defining characterist of this new code. According to this new ideal, slaveholding
carried strict obligations. Humane masters were supposed to show concern for
the spiritual and physical well-being of their slaves.
These limited efforts at reform were accompanied
by tighter restrictions on other aspects of slave life. Private manumissions
were made illegal. Most states placed tight restrictions on slave funerals and
barred black preachers from conducting religious services unless a white person
was present.