A. The Runaway.
The runaway was a great source of worry and expense to the master and somewhat of a terror to the community. The police system of slavery was never able to prevent runaways. If a runaway were caught outside the limits of a corporation, he was taken before a justice of the peace and asked for his master’s name. If he refused to give this information, he was placed in jail and advertised by a placard on the courthouse door and in the newspapers.[88] If the slave was not claimed within twelve months, the sheriff of the county, on thirty days’ notice, sold him at the courthouse to the highest bidder, the net proceeds of the sale going to the county. The county court gave title of the slave to the purchaser.
The county jailer, with the consent of the county court or two of the justices of the peace, could hire out a runaway to either a private individual or an incorporated town.[89] To release the county from obligation, he placed around the negro’s neck a collar, on which was stamped “P. G.”[90] The wages of the slave went into the county treasury to be disposed of by the county court.
If an incorporated town or city hired the runaway, it gave bond to the sheriff of the county for double the value of the slave. This was the bond of the corporation to the State of Tennessee for the safekeeping, good treatment, and delivery of the slave to the owner or jailer at the completion of the contract. The wages of the slave went to the county.[91] The corporation made a very careful description of the slave to use in case of escape.
A runaway arrested in an incorporated city was taken by a patrolman or policeman to the police-station. He was released to his owner on payment of one dollar. If he was not called for, he was hired to the city authorities, advertised and sold at public auction to the highest bidder. The proceeds of the sale went to the city and the city authorities made a deed of sale to the purchaser.
After 1819, the runaway could no longer be outlawed and killed by anyone who had the opportunity.[92] By act of 1825, a runaway was advertised one year before he was sold at public auction. If the owner, within two years from the date of sale, proved that the slave was his, he could recover the net proceeds of the sale or the slave himself by paying the purchaser the amount paid for the slave.[93] Any one who arrested a runaway and delivered him to the owner or jailer, was entitled to the sum of five dollars for his services.[94] After 1831, it was not required by law to make a proclamation concerning a runaway at church “on the Lord’s day.”[95] By act of 1844, sheriffs were given authority to hire out a runaway in their custody to municipal authorities, who, however, were required to execute bond twice the value of the slave for proper treatment of him.[96] It seems that sheriffs, constables, and patrolmen abused the power given them by act of 1831, relative to the arrest of runaways for which they received five dollars. Masters were subject to useless fees for the arrest of slaves who were not runaways. In 1852, the arrest and confinement of slaves in county jails in the towns and vicinities of their masters was forbidden.[97]
B. Importation of Slaves.
North Carolina, by act of 1786, placed a duty of fifty shillings on slaves under seven years of age and over forty; five pounds between the ages of seven and twelve, and thirty and forty; and ten pounds on ages between twelve and thirty.[98] This regulation became ineffective when North Carolina ratified the constitution in 1790. The importation of slaves into Tennessee as merchandise was prohibited in 1812.[99] This act did not prohibit people from moving to the state with their slaves, nor did it prevent citizens from bringing into the state slaves which they had acquired by descent, devise, marriage, or purchase. Persons, moving into the state with their slaves, were required within twenty days to take oath before a justice of the peace that they were not violating the spirit of the law.[100] Such persons were required to deliver to a justice of the peace an inventory of their slaves, giving their number, age and description. This inventory was filed in the office of the county court clerk. The slaves of any one violating this act were seized and sold to the highest bidder at public auction.[101] By act of 1815, such slaves were advertised twenty days before date of sale.[102]
The permanent law of importation was the act of 1826. It retained the features of the above acts and in addition forbade the importation into the state for any purpose convict slaves from territories or states whose laws transmuted the crimes of such slaves upon their removal.[103] Any one violating this act was ordered before a justice of the peace, who might require him to give bond with two good securities for his appearance with the slaves at the next term of the circuit court. If he were convicted of violating this act, his slaves were sold at public auction to the highest bidder.[104] It is to be noticed, however, that a professional slave-dealer could afford to lose a few slaves occasionally, because he paid only the transportation for convict slaves and received from five hundred to eight hundred dollars for each slave that he successfully smuggled through.
There was no change in the laws of importation until 1855. The act passed in that year permitted the importation of slaves other than convicts as articles of merchandise, and thus replaced the acts of 1815 and 1826 in this respect.[105] This indicates a revolution on this subject. West Tennessee, the black belt part of the state, began to be settled in 1819 and was being put into cultivation in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The abolition forces in the state were defeated in the constitutional convention of 1834.[106] The demand for slaves had increased as is shown by the increase in price from $584 in 1836 to $854.65 in 1859.[107] The old Whig areas had become Democratic by the early fifties, and Middle and West Tennessee were pro-slavery. The press and the churches had become more favorable in their attitude toward slavery.