'The Indians of every denomination were free, and independent of us’: White Southern Explorations of Indigenous Slavery, Freedom, and Society, 1772-1830

Ray, Kristofer

Abstract

In arguing against Indian slavery, plaintiff’s attorneys in the 1772 Virginia General Court case Robin v Hardaway faced a dilemma: how could they condemn enslavement while mollifying public conviction that Indigenous “savagery” made them dangerous to community stability? Their solution, rooted in a nearly two-century discourse of slavery and freedom, was to insist that Indians derived from independent polities (unlike other enslaved communities). As such, they were both inherently free and outside the evolving Anglo-American body politic, and whites could legitimately deprive them of property, happiness, and safety. Subsequent Virginia freedom cases contributed to the discourse employed in Robin, as did early-nineteenth-century US Supreme Court decisions. It came to underpin civilization policies as well as removal, once older understandings of Anglo-American “civility” became untenable to Southern whites.

Citation

Ray, K. (2016). 'The Indians of every denomination were free, and independent of us’: White Southern Explorations of Indigenous Slavery, Freedom, and Society, 1772-1830. American Nineteenth Century History, 17(2), 139-159. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664658.2016.1215019

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Aug 19, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016
• Deposit Date: Sep 25, 2019
• Journal: American Nineteenth Century History
• Print ISSN: 1466-4658
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-7903
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 139-159
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14664658.2016.1215019
• Keywords: Slavery; Liberty; Indigenous sovereignty
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/2704905
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664658.2016.1215019