Mar 30, 2023 - Sale 2631

Sale 2631 - Lot 38

Price Realized: $ 4,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) Group of 5 bills proposed to the Maryland legislature to restrict the movement of free Blacks. 18 printed pages, each about 13 x 8 1/2 inches, unbound, stitch holes in left margins; generally minimal wear except as noted. Maryland, 8-10 February 1860 and undated.
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Additional Details

These 5 bills were proposed to the Maryland House of Delegates in early February 1860. They are "slip bills," printed up only for the use of delegates, with widely spaced lines to allow for note-taking and revisions. Similar bills were proposed in Virginia, Florida, and elsewhere in the slaveholding states during this period, as the South veered toward secession. Included are:

Bill no. 41, "A Bill . . . prohibiting and punishing the circulation of incendiary publications." It prohibits receiving "through the post office or elsewhere any newspaper or periodical publication . . . having a tendency to create discontent or stir up to insurrection, the negroes of this State . . . or inciting slaves to abscond," proposed by Mr. Dennis of Somerset. 2 pages, 8 February 1860.

Bill no. 44, "A Bill . . . prohibiting manumission of negro slaves; prohibiting and punishing the immigration of free negroes, providing a board of police commissioners and authorizing them to sell and bind out free negroes, and authorising free negroes to renounce their freedom and become slaves," proposed by Mr. Dennis of Somerset. 10 pages, 8 February 1860.

Bill no. 52, "A Bill . . . to repeal . . . the appointment of managers for the removal of free negroes," proposed by Mr. Holland. 1 page, moderate foxing and wear, short tape repair in margin, 10 February 1860.

Bill A, "to repeal . . . the appointment of a Board of Managers to remove from this State free people of color," proposed by Mr. Jacobs of the Committee on Colored Population. 2 pages, undated.

Bill H, "to amend . . . the code of public general laws, which punishes negroes calling for, or receiving incendiary papers, by changing the punishment for each offence, and . . . punishing post masters for distributing incendiary papers," proposed by Mr. Jacobs of the Committee on Colored Population. 3 pages, undated but to take effect on 1 March 1860.