History books and classes speak of the Southern and Northern states’ divide even when they were colonies. Enslaved Africans became common in the south and not in the north, but what about border states such as Delaware? Before becoming a state, Delaware’s Enslaved African population was between 20 percent and 25 percent. This number is higher than any Northern colony but lower than any in the south. In 1767 the first slavery debate in Delaware was started by Ceaser Rodney.
Delaware imposed a ban on slave importation into the colony in 1776 but did not have any weight until Delaware entered the State of Union as the First State in 1787.
Then in 1789, Delaware barred ships with Enslaved Africans from their ports. A census in 1790 showed that slaves counted as 20% of the state’s population, and 70% of that population were Enslaved Africans. Abolition Societies formed in Dover and Wilmington, and the latter also became a central hub for The Underground Railroad.
Not having the ability to sell Enslaved Africans out of state and the change in the crops being grown in Delaware made selling slaves not profitable. By 1810 the free blacks made up 78 percent of the black population. Delaware had the highest population of free black men, but this “freedom” was short-lived, and laws began to be established to limit their freedom.
1807- A law prohibited intermarriage between Europeans and blacks.
1821- Blacks were barred from state-aided schools.
1825- A law forbids African Americans from being within a half-mile of polling places on election day.
1832- A law removed the right to bear from African Americans.
1845- Free blacks and Mulattoes who were not Delaware residents became prohibited from coming into the state. If they entered the state, a warrant would be issued for their arrest, and a fine would be issued. If the person could not pay the penalty, they would be sent to jail and then sold by the sheriff into slavery.
1849- A law was introduced that threatened to sell free blacks into servitude for a year if they were “idle and poor” and remained unemployed.
1861- Free blacks cannot hold a religious meeting after 9 pm nor after sunset unless three whites are present. Enslaved Africans were not allowed out after 9 pm.
These laws were put in place out of the white man’s fear as Freed Enslaved Africans’ population increased. As the rules became more stringent, the free population began to migrate northwest, out of Delaware.
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