Slavery and Its Demise
"Slavery was a hot topic for both the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. But in 1780, while the revolution was underway, Pennsylvania adopted a Gradual Abolition Act. Effectively, the Act provided that black children born after 1780 would become free after they had attained age 28. Their parents would remain slaves for life. The statute was the first of its kind in America and by 1810 the only slaves left in the Commonwealth were 1,000 survivors of the pre-1780 slave system. Beginning in 1780 a registry of slave ownership was maintained. The largest slaveholder in Chester County was Judge William Moore, who owned ten in Schuylkill Township. There were 140 persons who owned a total of 470 slaves. They amounted to 1.7% of the population."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
The 1821 Trials of John Reed
It was on the night of December 14, 1820 when four men from Maryland knocked on the door of a fugitive slave in Kennett Square: John Reed. The slave owner, Samuel Griffith, requested Reed to return to him, but he refused to go back to Maryland. As a result, the four men attempted to break into Reed's home, making Reed shoot them, killing two.
"Reed was charged with two counts of murder. The case pivoted upon whether he was, in fact, a fugitive slave killing his owner and an overseer or whether he was a freeman defending his castle and family from forcible invasion. Legally, the two indictments pitted the federal 1793 Fugitive Slave Act against a succession of Pennsylvania laws intended to prevent kidnapping. The legal landscapes in Maryland and Pennsylvania could not have been more different. In Maryland, even free blacks were subject to re-enslavement and the idea that people of color had cognizable rights was viewed derisively. In Pennsylvania both the legislature and the Supreme Court had taken a far more enlightened approach, creating friction along the border as Marylanders often saw their 'property' slip across the state line to freedom.
Although both Griffith and his overseer Peter Shipley were killed on the same night in the same incident, the Chester County Court held two separate trials. The prosecution had three attorneys and the Court appointed four to represent the defendant in the Griffith trial. In that trial the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. In the second trial the defendant had three attorneys defending him, none of whom had participated in the first trial. Eleven months after the incident the jury in the Shipley murder case found John Reed guilty of manslaughter. The next day he was sentence to nine years in prison. One cannot help but wonder whether this was a political verdict rather than a judicial one. The acquittal of Reed in the Griffith murder had created enormous tension along the border and Maryland’s legislature would formally protest to its Pennsylvania counterpart what Maryland saw as a flaunting of property rights to slaves who had escaped."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
Other Incidents
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Henry Cooper of Pennsbury Township was captured at West Chester, but wealthy Quakers collected $300 to arrange his freedom.
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Bounty hunters brought Rachel Harris to Chester County Judge Thomas Bell.
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A few miles east two free black teenagers were kidnapped by an Elkton, Maryland slave catcher named Thomas McCreary and taken to Baltimore for sale “down south” to cotton plantations.
Hinsonville
"Lincoln is America’s earliest historically black college, having been founded in 1854 as the Ashmun Institute. On the Delaware –Chester County border in Thornbury sits another historically black college created with land donated by the Cheney Family and funded with an endowment by another Quaker, Richard Humphreys. Cheney was opened in 1837 but did not confer undergraduate degrees until 1914."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
Chaos at Christiana
Christiana, Pennsylvania was known as a community of free blacks who harbored runaways. They even prepared to fight back if bounty hunters take them away. One day, Marylander Edward Gorsuch became suspicious on where four of his 12 slaves went. He accused the abolitionists who enticed them to run away to Pennsylvania. Gorsuch traveled to Philadelphia to secure warrants for the arrest of any of his missing slaves found in Pennsylvania. Knowing the Northerners would oppose his request, he recruited U.S. Marshall Henry Kline and six friends and family members to assist him. As he and the others boarded a train to Christiana, the abolitionists notified the people. While heading towards Christiana, Gorsuch encountered one of his runaway slaves who entered into the home of free black William Parker. As Gorsuch tried to break into his home, the Parker family sounded the alarm, bringing in 75 neighbors of both races to defend the Parker household. As the violence escalated, Gorsuch and his son were shot after attempting to club one of his slaves. While his son survived the gunshot, Gorsuch died on the scene. In the end, 25 black and 3 white men were arrested.
"Ultimately, the US Attorney indicted 41 people in the shooting; five of whom were white and four of whom were Gorsuch’s slaves. The trial was held in Philadelphia over 17 days that Fall where the principle charge was treason; levying war against the United States. A Lancaster lawyer, Thaddeus Stevens, defended the case which was tried on the second floor of Independence Hall. White Quaker Castner Hanway was the first defendant tried. The jury acquitted him after 15 minutes of deliberation. As Hanway was the prosecution’s strongest case, the government then dropped the charges against the remaining defendants. The grand jury in Lancaster County refused to indict any of the participants for state crimes. The ink on the Fugitive Slave Act was still not dry and yet it appeared that a slaveholder accompanied by a federal marshal could be gunned down while enforcing a federal warrant. The South exploded in anger as it would eight years later when John Brown attempted to capture the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. The Raleigh {N.C.} Weekly Standard summed up its view: 'What a farce will this Fugitive Slave Law become if none of those who resisted the law at Christiana and murdered Mr. Gorsuch should be punished.' One of the people indelibly affected by this incident was a 13 year old friend of Edward Gorsuch’s son. His name was John Wilkes Booth."
- - Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
The Kidnapping of Elizabeth and Rachel Parker
The incident took place in rural Chester County in 1851 when two free black teenagers, Elizabeth and Rachel Parker were captured by slave catchers from Maryland. When the news broke out in the community, white Pennsylvanians left their farms to testify for the girls' freedoms. Unfortunately, Rachel's employer Joseph Miller was killed trying to secure her freedom in Baltimore. Even the people of Baltimore raised money to buy Elizabeth out of slavery and brought her back to Baltimore to await the trial of Rachel. This story garnered national coverage from the Richmond Enquirer, the Alabama Beacon and the Chicago Tribune. The girls were eventually released and returned to Pennsylvania where they lived their lives.
West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad Company v. Miles (1867)
Mary E. Miles was on her way to Oxford in Chester County while boarding the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad car. She sat near the middle of the car where white passengers sat. The conductor asked her to move to the end of the train car where blacks were assigned to sit. Miles politely refused. The conductor ended up removing her from the train. She sued and recovered $5 in damages from the a Philadelphia County Court. On appeal however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the award writing that when "when a Negro take[s] his seat beside a white man..., the law cannot repress the anger or conquer the aversion which some will feel. ... It is much wiser to avert the consequences of this repulsion of race by separation."
Bibliography
Freeman, A.C. The American Decisions: Cases of General Value and Authority Decided in the Courts of Several States, Volume 93. (San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney Company, 1911): 744-750.
Haas, Kimberly. "Imagining a Route to Freedom Aboard the Underground Railroad." Hidden City Philadelphia. February 25, 2021. https://hiddencityphila.org/2021/02/imagining-a-route-to-freedom-aboard-the-underground-railroad/.
"Kennett Square, PA Underground Railroad (8/2/2020)." Jax Stumpes (blog). August 2, 2020. https://jaxstumpes.blogspot.com/2020/08/kennett-square-pa-underground-railroad.html.
Mikulich, Leah. "Historic Cox House in Kennett Square Which Was Once Part of Underground Railroad Relocated." Vista TODAY. Update January 25, 2025. https://vista.today/2024/12/longwood-gardens-historic-cox-house/.