John Hope Franklin in *The Free Negro in North Carolina* does note that the
"meritorious service" standard was relaxed by many county courts in the
first decades after the Revolution, especially in the Quaker areas. North
Carolina's free black population doubled in the years from 1820 to 1860,
from about 15,000 to 30,000, mostly it appears from natural increase. In
the same period, Virginia's rose from almost 37,000 to 58,000 (a slower
rate of growth but more Virginia free blacks went to Liberia than did those
from NC).
Just an aside on how Southern History has changed. When I cited John Hope
Franklin's book in a graduate history class at Wake Forest University in
the late 1960s, the professor commented that I "was seeing history through
dark colored glasses."
Jim Hershman
On Wed, Dec 25, 2013 at 11:56 AM, Paul Heinegg <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> I don't find more than one or two former slaves out of the 86 "other free"
> heads of household in the 1810 census of North Carolina for Northampton and
> adjoining counties [http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/1810NCc.htm].
> The increase in Northampton County appears to have been natural increase
> of the population from 1790.
> 1790: 462 "other free"/ 5110 whites
> 1800: 539 "other free"/ 5605 whites
> 1810: 580 "other free"/ 5824 whites
>
> North Carolina laws of 1778 and 1796 allowed emancipation only in the
> case of "meritiorious services, adjudged and allowed by the county
> court"--though this was interpreted liberally in counties with large Quaker
> populations [See Byrd, In Full Force and Virtue: North Carolina
> Emancipation Records, 1713-1860].
> Paul
> http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/
>
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