Question 1

What was the difference between indentured servants and economic slaves?

Accepted Answer

Indentured servants worked for the owner of their contract, which had a term limit. Once the term was up, the worker could continue with their life. An enslaved person was treated like property to be bought, sold, traded, or destroyed at the will of the owner.  Complicating this issue is that there were multiple cases of early indentured servants who were black with finite contracts.

Question 2

What was the legal status of privateering as the Southern states began to secede one by one and form a government—all while seizing federal property, particularly armories?"

Accepted Answer

The Treaty of Paris in 1815 declared the issuance of letters of marque and the practice of arming merchantmen to take commerce of belligerents at sea by force illegal. However, the devil is always in the details.

Question 3

How many black mariners were employed on the East Coast of the US in 1860?

Accepted Answer

Fully twenty-five percent of mariners and other members of seagoing trades were African Americans--some free, some enslaved. Their skill sets ranged from new hands taken on board for a voyage all the way to captain and owner of a seagoing vessel. There were many pilots—free and enslaved—working the sounds of the Carolinas, and the fluctuating local laws about where they could and could not sail, drove transiting captains to desparation.

Question 4

Who were the husband-and-wife team who left Georgia and traveled by foot, carriage, and boat to escape bondage in the Deep South and make their way into the North and ultimately to Great Britain in 1846?

Accepted Answer

Ellen and William Craft passed as the White “master” and the Black “slave,” respectively.

Question 5

What was the largest attempted slave escape from Washington, DC?

Accepted Answer

The Pearl Incident in 1848 was the most massive, attempted slave escape from Washington, DC, where slavery was still legal. The Pearl was a poorly maintained schooner from Philadelphia with two captains and one crewman on the manifest.

Question 6

How many African Americans became slave owners themselves and very wealthy individuals, siding with the Confederacy and contributing both money and slaves to the Sessionists Cause?

Accepted Answer

Look up John Carruthers Stanly, trained as a barber in New Bern, North Carolina. Or query Marie Therese Metoyer of Louisiana, who was trained in nursing and pharmacology and died a wealthy woman. Then, maybe Google William Ellison of South Carolina, who sided with the South, bought bonds and committed some of his slaves to the Confederacy as soldiers. He lost his wealth, but still held slaves when he passed.

Question 7

How may Black enslavers were there in 1840?

Accepted Answer

A History of World Societies documents  6,000 Black enslavers in the U.S. in 1840. Subsequent documentation of  the owner's race became ambiguous, for the most part, but the reality  had been established and recorded in that last complete census. In TheTide Waits for No Woman,  Ben Hill was a fugitive whose non-fictional master was one of these  6000. Before immigrating to Liberia, Ben’s master broke the law by  teaching Ben to be literate in both language and arithmetic. The details  of that are in the novel and are taken from a contemporary first-person account

Question 8

What US military effort led to establishing the Botanical Garden in Washington, DC, in 1848?

Accepted Answer

The  US Botanical Garden standup, created in 1848 in Washington, DC, was  enabled by naval officers who led a multi-year worldwide expedition that  brought home flora. They conducted a worldwide survey and delivered a  collection of plant life from all over the world.

Question 9

How many Abenakis served in the Civil War?

Accepted Answer

Though the specific number remains unknown due to a lack of detailed records,it is estimated that around 20,000Native Americans served in the Union and Confederate armies during the conflict, with many belonging to tribes like the Abenaki.

Frequently asked questions

What was the difference between indentured servants and economic slaves?

What was the legal status of privateering as the Southern states began to secede one by one and form a government—all while seizing federal property, particularly armories?"

How many black mariners were employed on the East Coast of the US in 1860?

Who were the husband-and-wife team who left Georgia and traveled by foot, carriage, and boat to escape bondage in the Deep South and make their way into the North and ultimately to Great Britain in 1846?

What was the largest attempted slave escape from Washington, DC?

How many African Americans became slave owners themselves and very wealthy individuals, siding with the Confederacy and contributing both money and slaves to the Sessionists Cause?

How may Black enslavers were there in 1840?

What US military effort led to establishing the Botanical Garden in Washington, DC, in 1848?

How many Abenakis served in the Civil War?

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and backstories

Frequently asked questions

What was the difference between indentured servants and economic slaves?

What was the legal status of privateering as the Southern states began to secede one by one and form a government—all while seizing federal property, particularly armories?"

How many black mariners were employed on the East Coast of the US in 1860?

Who were the husband-and-wife team who left Georgia and traveled by foot, carriage, and boat to escape bondage in the Deep South and make their way into the North and ultimately to Great Britain in 1846?

What was the largest attempted slave escape from Washington, DC?

How many African Americans became slave owners themselves and very wealthy individuals, siding with the Confederacy and contributing both money and slaves to the Sessionists Cause?

How may Black enslavers were there in 1840?

What US military effort led to establishing the Botanical Garden in Washington, DC, in 1848?

How many Abenakis served in the Civil War?

Contact the Author

Join the mailing list for bonus content and backstories

Join the mailing list for bonus content
and backstories