Slavery was an integral part of Dutch New York from the early 1600s to the late 1700s. New York was founded by the Dutch West India Company in 1624, which purchased the island of Manhattan from the native Lenape people. As the Dutch colony grew, so too did its reliance on forced labor. Slavery in Dutch New York was centered around the trading of enslaved Africans and Amerindians, with large amounts of people sold and transported to the colony.
In the beginning, slavery was a widely accepted practice, as it had been among the Dutch since the Middle Ages. There was a growing African population in the colony, but slaveholders did not have the same legal rights or privileges as they did in the American south. In 1712, the Dutch Governor of New York passed legislation that stated all slaves were chattel and completely owned by their owners. This made it much easier for Dutch colonialists to exploit enslaved people.
However, slavery in Dutch New York would not last forever. The institution itself started to fade as the British took over the colony. Still, the exact cause of slavery’s collapse in the colony remains unknown, although there were undoubtedly a variety of factors that contributed to its demise.
This article will explore the history of slavery in Dutch New York and investigate the factors that led to its slow death in the colony.
Slavery in Dutch New York
Slavery has been part of Dutch societies since the Middle Ages and was an integral part of New Netherland, as the Dutch colony of New York was once known. From the early 1600s to the late 1700s, Dutch colonialists relied heavily on slave labor to build their settlements and grow the economy.
The Dutch West India Company purchased the island of Manhattan from the Native Lenape people in 1624 and the colony soon became an important trading hub, due to its location on the Hudson River and its access to the Atlantic Ocean. As the colony grew, so too did the demand for enslaved labor. The majority of the enslaved population came from Africa and the Caribbean, although some Amerindians were also enslaved by the Dutch.
Slavery in Dutch New York was regulated by the Dutch West India Company, who had the power to buy and sell enslaved people without legal interference. Under the Code Noir, passed by the Company in 1687, slaves were considered chattel and their owners were granted extraordinary rights over their slaves. This allowed former owners in the Dutch west Indies to transfer their slaves to the New York colony without much difficulty.
The Rise of the Abolition Movement
Despite the legal structure in place to support and protect the institution of slavery, there was also a growing opposition to it in Dutch New York. Abolitionist sentiments began to spread among certain sectors of Dutch society, although it never gained much political traction.
In 1712, the Dutch Governor of New York, Petrus Schuylenburgh, passed a law that marked a turning point in the history of slavery in the colony. The law stated that all slaves were chattel and completely owned by their owners, meaning they could be bought and sold with no limitations. This edict made it much easier for Dutch colonialists to exploit enslaved people.
In the years that followed, Quakers and other religious groups started to speak out against slavery and the lack of rights it afforded to enslaved people. This opposition to slavery was further fueled by the Revolutionary War, during which the British took control of the colony and abolished slavery in 1799.
Reasons for the Slow Death of Slavery
The exact cause of slavery’s collapse in the colony remains unknown, although there were undoubtedly many contributing factors.
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The Revolution: When the Revolutionary War broke out, the British took control of the colony and after the treaty of Paris in 1783, slaves in Dutch New York were all declared free.
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The Abolition Movement: Over time, increasing numbers of Dutch people began to oppose slavery, which added to the pressure on slave owners to free their slaves.
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Laws and Statutes: The Dutch West India Company developed laws that tried to control and restrict the buying and selling of slaves, while the British repealed them.
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Economic Pressures: The economic pressures of the slave trade, especially in the post-war years, and the legal requirements, made slavery unsustainable.
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Social Pressures: The social pressure to free slaves grew over time as more and more of the population sympathized with the enslaved people.
Slavery was an important part of Dutch New York for centuries, with large numbers of people sold and transported to the colony. However, in the late 1700s, slavery started to fade from the colony. The exact cause of slavery’s collapse in the colony remains unknown, but there were undoubtedly many factors that contributed to its demise, including economic pressures, the rise of the abolition movement and the intervention of the British during the Revolution. In the end, slavery in Dutch New York would come to an end, leaving a legacy that is still felt to this day.
