How free were the Free Blacks in the North?

Author's Note: This essay is a research essay about freeing blacks in the North during slavery.

During the1700’s and 1800’s there was a problem between African American and White people. In some northern states, however there were some that were allowed to vote, marry whites, file lawsuits or sit in juries. For example in 1790 there was a census that counted 13,059 “free” blacks in New England. I believe that in the North blacks were not free enough.

During this time period blacks were allowed to pay taxes, some were allowed to vote, and were able to perform duties. All of these things that they could do could not involve whites. Some states didn’t allow them to dine with whites, drink, marry white person’s children, or nurse whites. I think that these laws were not good laws because it pretty much just excluded them from everyone else. Just because of the color of their skin. It doesn’t really matter because they were all human beings. I guess laws are laws so no one could really change them that easily. The states that were freeing blacks quickly were allowing blacks to sit in juries, file lawsuits, and vote just like the many white people.

Blacks had fewer rights when it came to jobs and property. For example in one of the documents, it said that blacks were not allowed to nurse in hospitals whites or dines with them. If a black was a nurse at a hospital, the only people they could help were the other blacks. I think that the white people believed that if a black person nursed a white person then they might hurt them or try to do something to them. If I was a white person back then I might think that too. The blacks were able to own property in most of the states as well. It wasn’t like they had to live in shacks either, but they just couldn’t be neighbors with whites. I assume there were communities for blacks.

Lastly social freedom that blacks had been not that good. Due to the fact that blacks weren’t able to socialize with whites was one thing. Another is that they weren’t really able to look at whites for that matter. People were very strict back then about how close blacks and whites were, socially. There is a quote in document B about blacks and whites and it says, “We shall not make the Black man a slave; we shall not buy him or sell him; but we shall not associate with him.” This pretty much means slavery is over but we still don’t trust any black person. Which is ridiculous because if they banned slavery, they also banned talking or socializing with them?

In conclusion, I believe that the blacks were not free enough. Although there were some states that were “freeing” blacks, on the other hand others did not. By the end I think that blacks were free and were able to do things whites were, but weren’t as free as they could have been.