Account book of the slave ship Nancy, 1793.

Nancy account book C0199_no1226_v2_pp2_3

Although Rhode Island enacted a law in 1787 forbidding its citizens to participate in the slave trade, the ship Nancy, captained by James B. Cook, continued to sail from Providence to the Upper Guinea coast between 1791 and 1803, trading rum and other goods for African slaves. This account book records the number and price of slaves and the South American plantation owners who purchased them. Gift of Capt. Edward Naumberg, Jr. General Manuscripts Bound, no. 1226, Manuscripts Division.

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“A Plan of the Boundary Lines…between the Provinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania,” 1768. Charles Mason (1728–1786) and Jeremiah Dixon (1733–1779),

Mason Dixon C1311_MS Map_23From 1763 to 1768, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed the boundary lines between Pennsylvania and Maryland, and between Maryland and Delaware. Drawn and signed by both men, this map shows the eastern section of the boundary. The first official use of the term “Mason’s and Dixon’s Line” appeared over fifty years later in the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which decreed that slavery would be prohibited above the line and allowed below it. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Doran, in memory of their son, Joseph I. Doran II, Class of 1935. Manuscript Maps Collection, Manuscripts Division.

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Thirteenth Amendment, 1865.

13th Amendment cropThe Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution formally abolished slavery in the United States. It was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865. The next day, President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) and the members of Congress who voted for its passage signed this souvenir copy, one of at least fourteen such copies. The amend-ment was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, eight months after the end of the Civil War. Gift of William G. Mennen, Jr., Class of 1936. Abraham Lincoln Collection, Manuscripts Division.

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Letter to William Sprague, May 1, 1861. Frederick Douglass (1818–1895),

C1210_Bx1_F7_Douglass_ltr_p1Two weeks after war had been declared, the orator, writer, and former slave Frederick Douglass wrote to clergyman William Sprague (1795–1876), “I find life no burden but rather a precious privilege. . . Once the cause of the country has become the cause of the slave, the difficulty of separating the one from the other, is a ground of hope that in the almost certain triumph of the country the cause of justice and freedom to the bondman will triumph.” Miscellaneous Slavery Collection, Manuscripts Division.

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Journal, 1773. Philip Vickers Fithian (1747–1776),

C0199_no349_Fithian_p33The diary kept by Philip Vickers Fithian (Class of 1772) while working as a tutor to the family of Robert Carter III (1728–1804) is a rich source of information about early Virginia plantation life. His diary is open to the conclusion of an entry dated December 21 describing the sounds of a harmonica being played after dinner, and to the beginning of an entry dated December 23 criticizing the treatment of slaves at Carter’s Nomini Hall and neighboring plantations. After the American Revolution, Carter came to believe that slavery was immoral and implemented a program of gradual manumission that freed his nearly 500 slaves. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Hitchcock. General Manuscripts Bound, no. 349, Manuscripts Division.

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Farm Book, 1816–1824. Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826),

Jefferson Farm Book C0190_Bx1_F30_p152Thomas Jefferson popularized the idea of the independent farmer as the linchpin of American government, economy, and society. From 1774 until his death in 1826, he kept careful records of his own building, planting, and livestock, as well as a census of the slaves on his estates. Among the names listed on these leaves from his Farm Book are those of Sally Hemings and her children Madison and Eston. Gift of Roger W. Barrett, Class of 1937. Thomas Jefferson Collection, Manuscripts Division.

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Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (London, 1773). Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753–1784),

Wheatley-frontispiecePhillis Wheatley was named for the slave ship Phillis that brought her from Gambia, West Africa, to Boston in 1761, and the Wheatley family who purchased her. At 12 years old, educated by her mistress, she began publishing poems and elegies in newspapers. She was freed after the publication of her book. Her depiction in this frontispiece is the only surviving work by the African-American slave artist Scipio Moorhead (b. ca. 1750). Gift of Sidney Lapidus, Class of 1959. Rare Book Division.

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List of slaves, 1752. George Washington (1732–1799),

C0063_Bx38a_F10_GWslave_list_rectoThis document records the slaves that George Washington and his younger brothers inherited after the death of their brother, Lawrence (1718–1752). By the time George Washington died, several hundred slaves lived on his estate. However, he evidently came to believe that slavery contradicted the principles of the new nation. In his will, he arranged for his slaves to be freed after the death of his wife Martha (1731–1802), and provided pensions for their care and education. Gift of André de Coppet, Class of 1915. André de Coppet Collection, Manuscripts Division.

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Confederate paper currency, 1863.

C0055_Bx8_F11_Confederate_frontThe Confederate treasury issued over a billion dollars in paper currency to finance the Civil War. Because it lacked gold and silver reserves, almost all bills, like the $100 bill displayed here, promised to pay the bearer only after war’s end. This bill presents an idealized vision of slavery, at top, and former U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun (1782–1850), at bottom. Gift of Mrs. George W. Martin. Throop and Martin Family Papers, Manuscripts Division.

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Am I Not a Man? And a Brother? (Cambridge, 1788). Peter Peckard (ca. 1718–1797),

One of the most widely circulated images of the 18th-century abolitionist movement first appeared in print in this pamphlet addressed to the British Parliament. It had been designed in 1787 as a seal for the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Gift of Sidney Lapidus, Class of 1959. Rare Book Division.

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Description of a Slave Ship (London, 1789).

This broadside is an icon of the antislavery moment in England and the United States. It appeared after Parliament passed an act in 1788 that limited the number of slaves that could be transported on a ship and made visually striking the inhumanity of the statistics in the explanatory text. By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 copies had been issued. The support it generated helped to end the slave trade (but not slavery) in the British Empire in 1807. Acquired with support from Sidney Lapidus, Class of 1959. Rare Book Division.

FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION: See this item’s catalog record, with a larger image of the broadside.