"Eloped" or "enticed away": anxiety and paternalism among Maryland slaveholders before 1831. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Miller, Sydney
• Is Part Of: American nineteenth century history. Volume 21:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 39
• Page End: 56
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Maryland -- Chesapeake -- slavery -- claims -- petition -- Taney; United States -- History -- 19th century -- Periodicals; 973.5
• DOI: 10.1080/14664658.2020.1750817
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1466-4658

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study evaluates the attitudes of slaveholders towards slavery in Maryland's Tidewater region during the Early Republic, through the examination of their claims for slave property lost in the War of 1812. Of the minority of claimants who created a discourse about their slaves' escapes, about half refused to believe their slaves wanted to escape, suggesting that the paternalistic ideology of slave management had more appeal in the Upper South before Nat Turner's Rebellion than previously thought.