Some of these people, while in Pennsylvania, sent petitions to Congress, praying protection against such barbarity; and great excitement was aroused among Southern members by the presentation of such petitions. The Quakers of that State, and of New Jersey, also sent petitions to Congress, praying that these people may be protected against such piratical persecution. The popular feeling of the nation was shocked at these things, and great indignation against the institution, generally, was aroused.
We have no record of further attempts on the part of the claimants to obtain a return of the Exiles, after the Treaty of Colerain, until the close of Mr. Adams’s administration. During that period, the fugitives remained quietly in their homes, undisturbed by their former masters. Their numbers were often increased by new arrivals, as well as by the natural laws of population, and they began to assume the appearance of an established community.
In 1801, Mr. Jefferson entered upon the duties of President. He had himself penned the Declaration of Independence, and manifested a deep devotion to its doctrines. Nor do we find that any attempt was made by him for the return of the Exiles; nor were there any measures adopted to obtain indemnity for the loss of the claimants during the eight years of his Administration.
In 1802, a new law regulating intercourse with the Indian tribes was enacted, by which the holders of slaves were secured for the price or value of any bondmen who should leave his master and take up his residence with any Indian tribe resident in the United States, or Territories thereof—at least such was the construction given to this statute.
The Creeks, Cherokees, and other Southern tribes, had gradually adopted the institution of Slavery, so long practiced by their more civilized neighbors, and thus became interested in every effort to extinguish the hope cherished among their own bondmen, of regaining freedom by fleeing from their masters. And many circumstances now appeared to favor the idea, that no more attempts would be made to compel a return of the Exiles to bondage.
CHAPTER III.
HOSTILITIES MAINTAINED BY GEORGIA.
Mr. Madison’s election—His character—Desire of people of Georgia to enslave Exiles—They demand annexation of Florida—Congress passes a law for taking possession of that Territory—General Mathews appointed Commissioner—Declares insurrection—Takes possession of Amelia Island—Spanish Government demands explanation—The President disavows acts of Mathews—Governor Mitchell succeeds Mathews—Georgia raises an Army—Florida Invaded—Troops surrounded by savage foes—Their danger—Their retreat—Stealing Slaves—Lower Creeks join Seminoles—Georgia demands their surrender—Chiefs refuse—Georgia complains—President refuses to Interfere—Another Invasion of Florida—Towns burned; Cattle stolen—Troops withdrawn from Amelia Island—Public attention directed toward our Northern frontier—Lord Cockrane enters Chesapeake Bay—Issues Proclamation to Slaves—Dismay of Slaveholders—Slaves go on board British ships—Several vessels enter Appalachicola Bay—Col. Nichols lands there with Troops—Gathers around him Exiles and Indians—Builds a Fort, arms it, and places Military Stores in Its Magazines—Treaty of Peace with England—Provision in regard to Slaves taken away during War—Claimants of the Exiles encouraged—Col Nichols delivers Fort to the Exiles—Their plantations, wealth, and social condition—Our Army—General Gaines represents Fort as in possession of Outlaws—Plans for its destruction—Correspondence—General Jackson’s order—Col. Clinch’s Expedition—Met by Sailing-Master Loomis and two gun-boats—Fort blown up—Destruction of human life—Negroes captured and enslaved—Property taken—Claimed by Governor of Florida—First Seminole War commenced.
When Mr. Madison assumed the duties of President (March 4, 1809), the Exiles were quietly enjoying their freedom; each sitting under his own vine and fig-tree, without molestation or fear. Many had been born in the Seminole country, and now saw around them children and grand-children, in the enjoyment of all the necessaries of life. Many, even of those who fled from Georgia after the formation of that colony, had departed to their final rest; but their children and friends had been comparatively free from persecutions since the Treaty of Colerain, in 1796. Discarding all connection with the Creeks, and living under protection of Spain, and feeling their right to liberty was “self-evident,” they believed the United States to have tacitly admitted their claims to freedom. With these impressions, they dwelt in conscious security, believing no further attempts would be made to reënslave them. Mr. Madison had penned the memorable Address of Congress to the people of the United States, published near the close of the old Confederation, in which was reiterated, in glowing language, the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence; and in the Convention that framed the Constitution, he had declared “it would be wrong to admit, in that instrument, that man can hold property in man.”
1810.
The people of Georgia were not satisfied with the existing state of things. They were greatly excited at seeing those who had once been slaves, in South Carolina and in Georgia, now live quietly and happily in the enjoyment of liberty, with their flocks and their herds, their wives and their little ones, around them; but they were on Spanish soil, protected by Spanish laws. The only mode of enslaving them was, firstly, to obtain jurisdiction of the Territory; and the annexation of Florida to the United States was, accordingly, urged upon the Federal Government.