Mar 31, 2016 - Sale 2408

Sale 2408 - Lot 19

Price Realized: $ 344
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) NEW JERSEY. Jacob Blackwell of Hopewell, County of Hunterdon, New Jersey sells his slave 'Ace' to Ralph Johnson for the sum of $325.00. Long folio sheet 13-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches, written on one side; the iron gall ink toned to brown; stain to the left margin with punch holes in the margin, apparently removed from a ledger book. Hopewell, NJ, 1815

Additional Details

In 1804, New Jersey became the last Northern state to pass its gradual abolition law. The statute and subsequent laws freed children born after the law was passed. African Americans born to slave mothers after July 4, 1804 had to serve lengthy apprenticeships to the owners of their mothers. Women were freed at the age of 21 and men at 25. Slaves who had been born before these laws were passed were considered to be "apprenticed for life." The slave Ace's age is conspicuously absent on this document, which would hint that his owner was hiding something.