How Free Were They?

Authors Note: This is a research essay about whether the free blacks in the North were really considered free.

            When the wealthy white men brought slaves over from Africa they never thought that they would try to become like the whites. Well in the 1800’s they did just that, they wanted to be able to do what the white man was able to do and not be treated like they were incompetent. So how free were the black slaves in the north? Although they were able to overcome slavery I still don’t think they were free.

            One reason why I don’t think they were free is they all had restrictions, they couldn’t go from town to town without a pass and they had to sit away from the whites during church. They had so much discrimination that most of them thought that it would be better to be a slave rather than have so many things they couldn’t do. Also the free slave weren’t even allowed to vote on who they thought would be a good choice to run the country to be president.  

            Another Reason why I don’t think they were free is they didn’t have any rights that that were held throughout all the northern states. In some states they were allowed to marry whites, vote, file lawsuits, and sit in on juries. Even when the law allowed them to do these things the white majorities outlawed them from happening. In 1795 when law in Massachusetts allowed black to vote, Judge James Winthrop and Thomas Pemberton wrote “that Negroes could neither elect nor be elected to office in that state.”

            Although the Blacks were not allowed to vote in some states they were allowed to represent the country in joining the army. This is just strange because if you are allowed to make a decision on who you want to represent in battle then I think you should be able to vote for who you would want to lead you in battle. Even when the slaved black became free because they helped their country win a war they were still not granted the right to vote.

            In conclusion even though they were granted the right the whites were and they were hardly free at all they still had a better life than the slave in the south. But if the right for them to vote was actually enforced in the states then they might, but probably not, have had a black president sooner than we did. Although the white men were able to vote the white women weren’t able to vote either, so in a way the white women had as much say in politics as a freed black man.

Sources:   "Northern Exclusion of Blacks." Slavery in the North. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.slavenorth.com/exclusion.htm>.