And no one on the list has mentioned the slaves - red and black - the
French had in the Ohio and Mississippi Valley area - part of which
was considered Canada and part Louisiana during the French regime.


Mary Moyars-Johnson  (MMJ)




On Oct 31, 2006, at 3:04 PM, Anita L. Henderson wrote:

> Dear Joan:
>
> I would also like to expand on your observation that slavery
> involved the entire 13 colonies (anybody remember a slave graveyard
> in NYC)???  Slavery involved not just the 13 colonies but Canada as
> well.  All of North America was involved in the slave trade albeit,
> the Canadian provinces gave it up after England outlawed it and
> again because it wasn't as profitable in Canada  and also the
> northern colonies as it was in the American South.   This
> difference in profitability gets a huge boost with the invention of
> the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in the late 18th century.  Prior to
> that, there were quite a few prominent slaveholders who emancipated
> their slaves in the spirit of that  new national idea of "all men
> are created equal"  that created personal internal discord with the
> realities of a slave society and the hypocrisy therein.
>
> Anita L. Henderson
> Woodbine, MD
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 10:44 AM
> Subject: Re: Andrew Levy's FIRST EMANCIPATOR
>
>
> Since the discussion has once again turned to slavery and
> emancipation in the
> USA, I have a question for those resident scholars who are
> conversant with the
> published and unpublished documents on the subject:
>
> Has anyone read _Slave Nation  How Slavery United the Colonies &
> Sparked the
> American Revolution_?  What are your comments on this book by
> Alfred W.
> Blumrosen & Ruth G. Blumrosen?
>
> As to the "evil" at the core of Virginia--- I would respond that
> slavery was the
> entire nation's problem-burden-moral morass, not just Virginia's or
> the South's.
> Too little focus is given to the motivations and 'enabling'
> activities-behaviors
> of Northern colonies-states in maintaining the peculiar institution.
>
> Maybe I did not learn the names of large scale Southern
> emancipators in school,
> but I was taught that there was controversy over slavery in the
> discussion and
> writing and passing of the Declaration and the Constitution, that
> the country
> would most likely not have become 'united' without the legality of
> slavery in
> the Constitution, that there were emancipations by slave-owners
> through the
> years, that many non-slave owners because of their beliefs moved
> west or
> northwest to leave the slave-holding areas, and that a balance of
> power between
> regions was necessary to hold our government intact.
>
> I look forward to your comments.
>
> Joan Logan Brooks
> a Southside Virginian through 11 proven generations
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
> instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
> ______________________________________________________________________
> __
> Check out the new AOL.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and
> security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from
> across the web, free AOL Mail and more.
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
> instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html