(Download) "William Henry Seward, The Virginia Controversy, And the Anti-Slavery Movement, 1839-1841." by Afro-Americans in New York Life and History # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: William Henry Seward, The Virginia Controversy, And the Anti-Slavery Movement, 1839-1841.
- Author : Afro-Americans in New York Life and History
- Release Date : January 01, 2007
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 223 KB
Description
In the summer of 1839 Isaac Gansey, Peter Johnson, and Edward Smith, three African-American sailors from New York who worked aboard the schooner Robert Center, found themselves at the center of a dispute that reflected the growing controversy over the institution of slavery that would spark the Civil War some two decades hence. The incident began innocently enough when the ship arrived in Virginia in need of some repairs before continuing on to New York City. A ship's carpenter, a slave by the name of Isaac, was brought on board to do the work. As Isaac undertook his tasks, he spoke with Gansey, Johnson and Smith, who were the only three African-Americans sailors on the ship. In the course of their discussions, one of the three told Isaac that he was "foolish to remain in Virginia as he could get good wages in the north." (1) After the Robert Center departed, Isaac was nowhere to be found and his owner John G. Colley suspected that his slave was on board the ship. Colley therefore sent two men north by express, hoping to beat the schooner to New York. They succeeded and when the Robert Center arrived, a search of the ship revealed that Isaac was hiding in the cargo of oak timber. The slave was sent back to his master. Colley also insisted that the African-American sailors be arrested and extradited, back to Virginia for having stolen the slave. The Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Henry L. Hopkins, complied with Colley's request to ask for extradition. The request for extradition subsequently made its way into the hands of New York's new Whig governor, William Henry Seward. Ultimately, Seward's refusal to cooperate in the matter touched off a "Virginia Controversy" that would not only run through the duration of his two terms as governor, but eventually allowed Seward to establish himself as one of the leading opponents of the peculiar institution.
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