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N0KFQ > TODAY 19.04.15 19:15l 47 Lines 2048 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 19
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Sent: 150419/1815Z 53309@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1809
Jefferson sells servant to Madison
On this day in 1809, former President Thomas Jefferson writes up
a contract for the sale of an indentured servant named John
Freeman to newly sworn-in President James Madison.
Slavery and indentured servitude were major components of the
early American economy. Slaves performed most of the manual and
domestic labor on the large plantations owned by several
presidents and their colonial ancestors, including George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Andrew Jackson.
While slaves were primarily African and Native Americans,
indentured servants in the late 1600s to early 1700s were
frequently impoverished white men of English descent who resorted
to selling themselves into servitude in exchange for room and
board, and sometimes wages. Relatively few African Americans in
late 18th-century America became indentured servants. By the time
of the American Revolution, the practice of indentured servitude
had declined in favor of using "cheaper" African slaves.
It is believed that Freeman was an African-American craftsman who
had sold himself to Jefferson as an indentured servant with an
agreement to serve a total of 132 months; he may have been a
carpenter or ironworker. After Freeman completed 76.5 months of
work, Jefferson "sold" Freeman to Madison who, at the time, was
looking for skilled artisans to help build an extension on his
plantation house. Madison paid Jefferson an unknown amount, which
would have been calculated to equal Freeman's remaining time in
service. (Jefferson had originally bought Freeman's services for
$400.)
The original hand-written contract for John Freeman's sale is now
housed at the Library of Congress. In the exhibit, it is noted
with irony that America's preeminent revolutionary, Thomas
Jefferson, wrote the agreement on the anniversary of the Battle
of Lexington, the event that launched the war to end America's
servitude to England.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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