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Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.

Legislation Designed to Control Slavery in Wilmington and Fayetteville

Record #:
20517
Abstract:
This article looks at a laxity and indifference toward the enforcement of slave controls in the towns of Wilmington and Fayetteville in the colonial and antebellum periods. Geographic and economic factors are deemed to be largely responsible for the different views of legislators on slave controls, as the industrial and commercial concerns of both towns lead to high slave populations where slave owners allowed slaves certain freedoms like owning their own homes in town apart from their masters and no supervision or controls on the leisure activities of slaves. Legislators feared the potential outcomes of this behavior and attempted to pass laws to pass tougher slave codes with little to no success.
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