Jun 14 2011 06:49 pm
Posted by Magdalena under June 16 Assignment
New York City vs Charleston
I would like to compare New York City with Charleston, South Carolina because it was the only city which had higher number of slaves in proportion to urban population than New York at the end of 18th century. The great number of slaves in Charleston was caused by expansion of cotton production, during the Antebellum period, which relied heavily on slave labor.
Both cities were seaports, so in most cases that was the first stop for the enslaved people who arrived to the United States. Life of the busy Charleston seaport provide unique opportunists, which were not available to people who worked on plantations. In New York as well as Charleston, slaves could “enjoy” urban life mostly because they live away from their masters supervision. They had obligation only to bring certain amount of money they made.
While slavery in New York starts to decreasing in early 1800s due to Gradual Emancipation Law, Charleston kept people enslaved for much longer period. According to New York Historical Society in 1828 “most New York slaves had already been freed.” In contrary, in 1856, Charleston’s city ordinance prohibited the practice of public auctions of slaves which initiated opening of special sales room, yards and marts. One of them was called The Old Slave Mart and “when sales were held in the shed, slaves stood on auction tables, three feet high and ten feet long, placed lengthwise so slave owners could pass by them during the auction” (nps.gov.) Slaves auction at the Old Slave Marts ends in 1862. This huge time disproportion, shows how slavery institution were approached differently in different parts in the county.