O Say Can You See

SLAVE MARKET OF AMERICA.

THE WORD OF GOD.

"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets."

"And they sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage, and God heard their groaning."

"Thus saith the Lord, execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hands of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings."

THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident;—that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

THE CONSITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

"The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several states." Article 4, Section 2.

"Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."—Article 1, Amendment.

"Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United States."—Article 1, Section 8.

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE STATES.

"Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty." Constitutions of Maine, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri.

"The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and therefore ought never to be restrained."—North Carolina.

"The liberty of the press ought to be inviolably preserved."—Maryland.

"The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments."—Virginia. Other States nearly the same.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

"The land of the free."	The residence of 7000 slaves.	"The home of the oppressed."
[illustration] Reading of the Declaration of Independence.	[illustration] Part of Washington City.	[illustration] Capitol of the United States. "Hail Columbia."

RIGHT TO INTERFERE.

People sometimes say we have no right to interfere for the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia. Now what are the facts in the case? Article 1, Sec. 8, of the Constitution (see above) gives Congress "power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district."

But the terms of Cession! On the 23d of December, 1788, Maryland passed an Act to cede to the Congress of the United States, any district in the State, not exceeding ten miles square, which the Congress may fix upon, and accept for the Seat of Government of the United States;" and this with no proviso. On the 3d of December, 1789, Virginia did the same, and in these words, "And the same is hereby forever ceded and relinquished to the Congress and Government of the United states, in full and absolute right, and exclusive jurisdiction, as well of soil as of persons residing or to reside thereon, pursuant to the tenor and effect of the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution." This was accompanied with a provision touching the "Soil," "That nothing herein contained shall be construed to vest in the United States any right of property in the soil, or to affect the rights of individuals therein, otherwise than the same shall or may be transferred by such individuals." There was also the provision, "That the jurisdiction of the Laws of this Commonwealth, over presons and property of individuals residing within the limits of the cession, shall not cease until Congress, having accepted the cession, shall, by law, provide for the government thereof, under their jurisdiction in manner provided by the Article of the Constitution before recited"—plainly implying that then the jurisdiction of the State Laws should cease, and Congress "exercise exclusive legislation" over persons and property, "in all cases whatsoever." And July 16, 1790, Congress accepted the cession, providing that the Laws of the State should remain in force "until the time fixed on for the removal of the Government thereto, and until Congress shall otherwise by law provide." It is therefore every Citizen's right, nay duty to interfere for the Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia.

[Note.—The Slave coffle marching by the Capitol is not fancy, but literal fact. Dr. Torrey in his account of the "American Slave Trade," states on the authority of a Member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Adgate, "That during the last Session of Congress, (1815-16,) as several Members were standing in the street near the new Capitol, a drove of manacled colored people were passing by, and when just opposite, one of them elevating his manacles as high as he could reach, commenced singing the favorite National Song, 'Hail Columbia! happy land,'" &c. Page 64.]

PUBLIC PRISONS IN THE DISTRICT.

Built by Congress with $15,000 of the People's money; perverted from the purposes for which they were built, and used by Slaveholders for the confinement of refractory Slaves, by licensed Slave-dealers as depots for their victims, and by kidnappers for the imprisonment of Free Americans, seized and sold to pay their jail fees!

[illustration] Jail in Alexandria.

[illustration] Jail in Washington,—Sale of a free citizen to pay his jail fees!.

[illustration] View of the interior of the jail in Washington.—Fanny Jackson.

FACTS.

In 1826 Congress appropriated out of the public treasury $5000 "for the purpose of altering and repairing the jail in the city of Washington" and $10,000 to build "a county jail for the city of county of Alexandria."

In 1820 "the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled," empowered the Corporation of the City of Washington "to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which free negroes and mulattoes may reside in the city." On this authority, in May 1827, that Corporation enacted that "every free negro or mulatto, whether male or female, who may come to the City of Washington to reside, shall within thirty days, exhibit to the Mayor satisfactory evidence of his or her title to freedom to be recorded, and shall enter into bonds, with two freehold sureties, in the penalty of $500, conditioned on his or her good conduct, that they will not become chargeable to the Corporation for the space of twelve months"—the bond "to be renewed every year for three years. On failure of this, he or she must depart the city or be committed to the workhouse not exceeding twelve months in any one imprisonment." And all negroes found residing in the city after the passage of this act who shall not be able to establish their title to freedom (except such as may be hired) shall be committed to the jail, as absconding slaves."

By this law color is made a crime, which first robs citizens of their constitutional as well as inalienable rights and is then taken as evidence that they are slaves; and then to crown all, a large posse of constables and other officers, some of them in the pay of government, are "charged" with the execution of the laws, and "forfeit and pay for every neglect or failure a fine not exceeding twenty dollars." City Laws. p. 198.

The result is that free citizens are often arrested, plunged into prison and then sold for their jail fees as slaves for life. In 1829, Mr. Miner, of Penn. declared in Congress, that in 1826-7, no less than five persons were thus sold. In July, 1834, in a Washington paper was the following

NOTICE.

"Was committed to the prison of Washington Co. D. C., on the 19th day of May 1834, as a run-away, a Negro man who calls himself David Peck. He is 5 feet 8 inches high. Had on, when committed, a check shirt, linen pantaloons, and straw hat. He says he is free and belongs to Baltimore.** The owner or owners, are hereby requested to come forward, prove him, and take him away, or he will be sold for his prison and other expenses, as the law directs.
JAMES WILLIAMS,
Keeper of the Prison of Washington County, District of Columbia
For ALEXANDER HUNTER, M. D. C."

The above is but a specimen. Four other persons, at least, who said they were free, have been advertised in a similar way within the last year. One keeper of the jail in Washington stated that in five years upwards of four hundred and fifty colored persons had been lodged there for safe keeping, i. e. until they could be disposed of in the course of the slave trade;—besides nearly three hundred, who had been taken up and lodged there as runaways.

The above gives some idea of the interior of the prison in Washington. Rev. A. A. Phelps, of Boston, visited it in April 1834, and makes the following statement.

"There are in the prison 16 solitary cells on the lower floor, the debtor's and criminal's rooms being above. These cells are mostly used for the confinement of slaves lodged there by the master as a punishment for some fault; of slaves "suing for their freedom" as they termed it, and of colored persons, bond or free, arrested as runaways, or lodged there by the slave dealers. We found not less than thirteen individuals in them at this time, every one of whom claimed that, on one ground or another, they were entitled to their freedom. In one cell we found a Fanny Jackson, with three little children, one of them an infant at her breast. Her husband, also in the prison, was in a separate cell. They were claimed by one Asa Buckner, of Loudon co., Va., but having been in Washington several years, unclaimed by the master, they were suing for their freedom under some act which entitled them to it. They had lain in prison awaiting their trial nine months. We spoke to the mother about her little ones, and we found she had indeed a mother's heart. The scene cannot be described.

"Rachel Turner was the occupant of another cell. She was young—had been owned for a limited time by Lewis Bromley, of Baltimore, and was to have been free in a year. Mrs. Bromley, (her husband being dead) sold her for that time, to a man, who either changed his name to that of Angt. de Nanteuil, or sold her a slave for life to another person of that name. He took her to Washington, and lodged her in the jail for 'safe keeping' till he should call for her. Nothing had been heard from him. Meanwhile the girl had been in the prison more than six months, and the keeper assured me that she would soon be sold, for her jail fees, as a slave for life. The whole affair was doubtless a mere trick, to evade the law, and make her a slave for life.

"On returning from the prison, the lady who had accompanied me, and who had often aided the poor outcasts, said that her attention was first called to the subject by the following incident. Some seven years before, a poor colored man came to her door, walking on his knees—having lost his legs to the knee, and his arms also to the elbow. She asked him how it happened. He said he had been put in prison, as a runaway, though he was free, and the winter was so cold, and his covering so scanty, (having scarce a blanket to throw over him,) that his limbs were frozen, and it became necessary to take them off to save his life! Thus was a free American, made a cripple for life, for the crime of having a colored skin, and to pay the United States for the expense of having suspected him to be a slave!

PRIVATE PRISONS IN THE DISTRICT, LICENSED AS SOURCES OF PUBLIC REVENUE.

"For a license to trade or traffic in slaves for profit, whether as agent or otherwise, four hundred dollars;"—the Register to "deposit all monies received from taxes imposed by this act to the credit of the Canal Fund." Act to provide a revenue for the Canal Fund, approved July 28, 1831. City Laws, p.249.

[illustration] Slave house of J. W. Neal & Co.

[illustration] View of a section of Alexandria, with a slave ship receiving her cargo of slaves.

[illustration] Franklin & Armfield's slave prison.

This establishment was owned by W. Robey, who is also engaged in the trade. In May 1834, a gentleman visited it and fell into conversation with the overseer of the pen. he heard the clanking of chains within the pen. "O," said the Overseer—himself a Slave, "I have seen fifty or seventy Slaves taken out of the pen, and the males chained together in pairs, and drove off to the South—and how they would cry, and groan, and take on, and wring their hands but the driver would put on the whip and tell them to shut up—so they would go off and bear it as well as they could.'

The standing advertisement of this house is as follows:

"CASH FOR 200 NEGROES."

"We will give cash for two hundred likely young negroes, of both sexes, families included. Persons wishing to dispose of their slaves, will do well to give us a call, as we will give higher prices in cash than any other purchasers who are now, or may hereafter come into this market. All communications will meet attention. We can at all times be found at our residence on 7th street, immediately South of the Centre Market House, Washington, D. C."

"JOSEPH W. NEAL & CO."

Franklin and Armfield alone shipped to New-Orleans in the year 1834, according to their own statement, not less than 100 Slaves. They own brigs of about 160 to 200 tons burthen, running regularly every thirty days, during the trading season to New-Orleans, and carrying about one Slave to the ton. Armfield thus advertises in 1836.

"ALEXANDRIA AND NEW-ORLEANS PACKETS."

"Brig TRIBUNE Samuel C. Brush, master, will sail as above on the first of January; brig ISAAC FRANKLIN, Wm. Smith, master on the 15th of January; brig UNCAS, Nath. Boush, master, on the 1st of February. They will continue to leave this port on the 1st and 15th of each month throughout the shipping season. They are all vessels of the first class, commanded by experienced and accommodating officers, will at all times go up the Mississippi by steam, and every exertion used to promote the interest of shippers and comfort of passengers. Shippers may prevent disappointment by having their bills of lading ready the day previous to sailing, as they will go promptly at the time.

Servants, that are intended to be shipped, will at any time be received for safe keeping at 25 cents per day.

29th Dec. tf.
JOHN ARMFIELD, Alexandria."

In January, 1834, J. Leavitt, Editor of the New-York Evangelist, visited the "Tribune," then in port and preparing to sail with a cargo of human beings the next week. He thus describes it: "The hold is appropriated to the Slaves and is divided into two apartments. The after hold will carry about 80 women, and the other about 100 men. On eitherside were two platforms running the whole length, one raised a few inches, and the other about half way up to the deck. They were about 5 1-2 or 6 feet deep. On them they lie, as close as they can stow away.'

This establishment is in Alexandria. It is a handsome three story brick house, neatly painted, with green blinds, and the sign, Franklin & Armfield over the door. It has attached to it a large yard, perhaps 300 feet square, enclosed by a high close board fence neatly whitewashed, and filled with various small buildings. Mr. Leavitt visited it in 1834. One of the partners lives in New-Orleans, and the other in Alexandria. The latter, says Mr. L. "politely invited us to go and see the Slaves. We were first taken out into a paved yard, 40 or 50 feet square, with a very high brick wall and about half of it covered with a roof. This yard is appropriated to the men. He ordered the men to be called out from the cellar where they sleep, and they soon came up, to the number of 50 or 60, and ranged themselves irregularly before us. While they were standing, he ordered the girls to be called out, when the door opened, and about 50 women and small children came in. They were all clothed decently in coarse but apparently comfortable garments. Some three or four had children, so young that they brought them in their arms; and I thought I saw in the faces of these mothers some indications of irrepressible feeling. It seemed to me that they hugged their little ones more closely, and that a cold perspiration stood on their foreheads, and I thought I saw tears too. There were in all about 28 children under 10 years of age."

The standing advertisement of this house in the Washington papers is as follows:—

"CASH FOR 400 NEGROES."

"Including both sexes, from 12 to 25 years of age. Persons having likely servants to dispose of, will find it to their interest to give us a call, as we will give higher prices in cash than any other purchaser who is now, or may hereafter come into this market."

"FRANKLIN & ARMFIELD."

People of the United States, Congress alone possess the constitutional power to legislate for the District of Columbia; yet one hundred and sixty-three of your representatives are striving to perpetuate in the Capital of your Republic this system of robbery, cruelty and despotism. House of Representatives, 8th February 1836.—Certain petitions and resolutions respecting the Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia were referred to a Select Committee with instructions to report, "That in the opinion of this House Congress ought not in any way to interfere with Slavery in the District of Columbia." Yeas 163—Nays 47.

YEAS.

Maine.
Fairfield,
Hall,
Jarvis,
Mason,
Parks,
Smith.

New Hampshire.
Bean,
Burns,
Cushman,
Pierce,
Weeks.

Connecticut.
Haley,
Ingham,
Judson,
Phelps,
Toucey.

New York.
Barton,
Bockee,
Bovee,
Brown,
Cambreleng,
Chapin,
Cramer,
Doubleday,
Effner,
Farlin,
Fuller,
Gillet,
Huntington,
Lansing,
Lee,
Leonard,
McKeon,
Mann, Jr.,
Mason,
Moore,
Page,
Reynolds,
Seymour,
Sickles,
Taylor
Turrell,
Vanderpoel,
Wardwell.

New Jersey.
Dickerson,
Schenck,
Shinn.

Pennsylvania.
Anthony,
Ash,
Beaumont,
Fry, Jr.,
Galbraith,
Henderson,
Hubley,
Klingensmith,
Laporte,
Logan,
Mann,
Miller,
Muhlenberg,
Sutherland,
Wagener.

Maryland.
Howard,
Jenifer,
McKim,
Pearce,
Steele,
Thomas,
Washington.

Virginia.
Beale,
Bouldin,
Claiborne,
Coles,
Craig,
Dromgoole,
Garland,
Hopkins,
Johnson,
Loyall,
McComas,
Mason,
Mercer,
Morganv Patton,
Roane,
Robertson,
Taliaferro.

N. Carolina.
Bynum,
Connor,
Deberry,
Graham,
Hawkins,
McKay,
Montgomery,
Pettigrew,
Rencher,
Shepard,
Shepperd,
Williams.

S. Carolina.
Manning,
Pinckney,
Rogers.

Georgia.
Coffee,
Grantland,
Haynes,
Owens,
Towne,
Cleveland,
Holsey.

Alabama.
Chapman,
Lawler,
Lyon,
Martin.

Mississippi.
Claiborne.

Louisiana.
Garland,
Johnson,
Ripley.

Tennessee.
Bell,
Bunch,
Barter,
Dunlap,
Forrester,
Huntsman,
Johnson,
Lea,
Maury,
Shields,
Standifer.

Kentucky.
Allan,
Boyd,
Calhoon,
Chambers,
French,
Graves,
Hardin,
Harlan,
Hawes,
Johnson
Underwood,
White,
Williams.

Ohio.
Chaney,
Hamer,
Howell,
Jones,
Kennon,
Kilgore,
McLene,
Patterson.
Spangler,
Storer,
Thompson.

Indiana.
Boon,
Carr,
Davis,
Hannegan,
Kinnard,
Lane.

Illinois.
Casey,
May,
Reynolds.

Missouri.
Ashley,
Harrison.

NAYS.

Maine.
Bailey,
Evans.

Vermont.
Allen,
Everett,
Janes.

Massachusetts.
Adams,
Borden,
Briggs,
Calhoun,
Cushing,
Hoar,
Jackson,
Lawrence,
Lincoln,
Phillips,
Reed.

Rhode Island.
Pearce,
Sprague, Jr.

New York.
Childs,
Fuller,
Granger,
Hard,
Hazeltine,
Hunt,
Lay,
Love,
Russell.

New Jersey.
Parker.

Pennsylvania.
Banks,
Chambers,
Clark,
Darlington,
Denny,
Heister, Jr.
Ingersoll,
McKennan,
Morris,
Potts.

Ohio.
Bond,
Corwin,
Crane,
Mason,
Sloane,
Vinton,
Webster,
Whittlesey.

Indiana.
McCarty.

Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 144 Nassau-street, New-York, 1836.

William S. Door, Pr