CHAPTER VII
Abolition
There was throughout the period of slavery in Tennessee a determined minority that favored its abolition. This minority was not confined to the non-slaveholders, but as late as 1834 slaveholders hoped that some method of abolition would finally be devised. This abolition sentiment expressed itself in various ways.
I. Private Abolition.
A. METHODS.
(1) By Deed.
There were three steps in the process of emancipation by any method. Two of these were taken by the owner and one by the state. The owner renounced his right of property in the slave and then gave bond with good security for his conduct and maintenance. To complete the process of emancipation, the state’s consent was necessary. This was given exclusively by the county courts until 1829,[1] when the Legislature gave the chancery courts jurisdiction of cases involving wills.[2] After 1854, a petition for emancipation could be filed in any court of record.[3] Of course, the legislature by virtue of its plenary power could and did grant petitions for freedom throughout the period of slavery.[4] The county court could not consider a petition for emancipation unless nine or a majority of the court were present and the consent of two-thirds of those present was necessary to grant the petition.[5] The clerk of the court made a record of the emancipation and gave the slave a copy.[6]
One way by which the master could relinquish his property rights in the slave was by deed. A deed of freedom to a slave was valid only between him and the owner or his representatives. It did not operate against the claim of creditors. A deed of emancipation had to be witnessed and recorded before it was binding upon the master.[7] Judge Catron, speaking of a deed of manumission, in the case of Fisher’s Negroes v. Dabbs, said:
It is binding on the representatives of the divisor in the one case, and the grantor in the other, and communicates a right to the slave; but it is an imperfect right, until the state, the community of which such emancipated person is to become a member, assents to the contract between the master and the slave.[8]