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Chapter 5 - Sold South?

Emancipation by the Numbers in Dutch New York

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2024

Michael J. Douma
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

Chapter 5 addresses a major demographic puzzle concerning thousands of New York slaves who seem to have gone missing in the transition from slavery to freedom, and the chapter questions how and if slaves were sold South. The keys to solving this puzzle include estimates of common death rates, census undercounting, changing gender ratios in the New York black population, and, most importantly, a proper interpretation of the 1799 emancipation law and its effects on how the children of slaves were counted in the census. Given an extensive analysis of census data, with various demographic techniques for understanding how populations change over time, I conclude that a large number of New York slaves (between 1,000 and 5,000) were sold South, but not likely as many as some previous historians have suggested. A disproportionate number of these sold slaves came from Long Island and Manhattan.

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The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York
A Cultural, Economic, and Demographic History, 1700–1827
, pp. 140 - 173
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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  • Sold South?
  • Michael J. Douma, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York
  • Online publication: 20 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009441360.006
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  • Sold South?
  • Michael J. Douma, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York
  • Online publication: 20 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009441360.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Sold South?
  • Michael J. Douma, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York
  • Online publication: 20 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009441360.006
Available formats
×