With dred scott, d. John sandford and you all read chief Justice Roger tawnys opinion in dred scotts case. And you have read that opinion, and its notorious in American History, right . For the blatant racism in it, for the sanction that tawny gives to the concept of human property under the constitution, and for denying black citizenship, not only denying black citizenship, but denying even blacks as free, as persons under the constitution. And so, dred scott was one type of freedom suit, right . It was based on his physical presence in a free state, illinois, and his physical presence in wisconsin, a free territory. And its often presented in American History textbooks as if it were the only freedom suit in American History. To go to the Supreme Court. The only, almost uniformly, presented as dred scott, one man bringing a freedom suit. But when we look into it a little more closely, there were thousands of freedom suits in american courts. All of them challenging the notion of slave
With dread scott, d. John sandford and you all read chief Justice Roger tawnys opinion in dred scotts case. And you have read that opinion, and its notorious in American History, right . For the blatant racism in it, for the sanction that tawny gives to the concept of human property under the constitution, and for denying black citizenship, not only denying black citizenship, but denying even blacks as free, as persons under the constitution. And so, dred scott was one type of freedom suit, right . It was based on his physical presence in a free state, illinois, and his physical presence in wisconsin, a free territory. And its often presented in American History textbooks as if it were the only freedom suit in American History. To go to the Supreme Court. The only, almost uniformly, presented as dred scott, one man bringing a freedom suit. But when we look into it a little more closely, there were thousands of freedom suits in american courts. All of them challenging the notion of slav
families, it was probably quite a substantial number. another indication he might have allowed dealing in his tavern is he held an enslaved man named moses for a mr. marshall who possibly duped moses into coming with him to alexandria. after his master died, moses was sold to a man from new orleans. mr. marshall managed to persuade him from the man and then traveled to new york and get his freedom, and then left him in the care of john gadsby. any records in the involvement in slave trading in 1808 end around 1880 when he leaves for baltimore. in baltimore, john gadsby continued to use enslaved labor at his indian queen hotel. however, for african-americans, the climate and slavery sorry, the climate of slavery and their conditions were somewhat better. the post-war depression inspired a switch to the less labor intensive wheat and corn as cash crops, limiting the need for enslaved people. while many owners sold the people they enslaved, many more manumitted people, so ma
small scale trading was rife among owners, particularly in taverns and hotels. most sales involved say five to 20 people at a time. even more common were brokers helping owners to sell off a few people to raise a little money as scholar mary beth corrigan notes. during the years circa 1822 to 1836, john gadsby advertised 81 to 93 people. his 1830 census record indicates he owned 39 people. again, john gadsby could take advantage of the flourishing slave trade. the national hotel was relatively close to other hotels in the city involved in the slave trade and a reasonable distance from slave jails and pens. one infamous hotel, the st. charles, advertised that you could come for the auction and house the people you bought in their basements. it was very convenient. one infamous hotel, the st. charles oh, sorry. during the first decades or so of the 19th century, slave trading appeared to be concentrated in georgetown, and later moves to what is now downtown washington near th