36

664 HISTORICAL ANNOTATION

state of two slaves or a slave and a freeman dwelling together. This union did not
preclude a slave owner's interference and could be broken without legal consequence
through sale of one of the slaves, adultery, or forced breeding of one of the partners.
William Wells Brown, Narrative of William W. Brown: An American Slave (London,
1849), 149-62; Goodell, American Slave Code, 105-21; Moore, "Slave Law and the
Social Structure," 171-202; John Roberts, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical
World (London, 2005), 180.
40.28 Edward] Ned Roberts.
41.14-15 One of. . .ran away] Jenny Bailey and her husband Noah ran away from
Aaron Anthony in 1825. Preston, Young Frederick Douglass, 21, 27, 37, 64-65,
205-06.
41.19-21 there were several. . .stolen from Africa] Douglass's claim is certainly
plausible, although African-born slaves on the Eastern Shore of Maryland would have
been rare by the time of his childhood in the 1820s. Even at its peak in the mid-
eighteenth century, the slave trade in that region was composed mostly of slaves
shipped from the English Caribbean colony of Barbados, not directly from Africa.
Maryland's importation of slaves dwindled in the late eighteenth century on account
of a stagnant agricultural economy and high duties passed by the legislature to discourage
black population growth. Federal legislation made further slave importation
illegal after 1 January 1808, although a small illicit trade may have continued thereafter.
Fields, Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground, 4-6, 14-15; Miller and
Smith, Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery, 382-84, 442-43; Preston, Young
Frederick Douglass, 11-12, 42.
41.31-32 savage mutilations] Penal code punishment for slaves in noncapital
cases precluded imposing fines, because they could own no property. Instead, branding,
castration, ear cropping, irons, and deportation were used to enforce obedience
from offending slaves who committed noncapital crimes such as rape and theft. In
capital cases, burning, breaking on the wheel, decapitation, and hanging were meted
out as punishment for crimes such as treason, murder, and poisoning of their masters.
Punishments inflicted on slaves by their owners were similar to those devised by
lawmakers in noncapital cases. Punishments administered by owners far exceeded the
number carried out by the state and were probably more severe in nature. In addition,
dismemberment and isolation were common forms of plantation punishment. By the
mid-1800s most of the most severe punishments such as bodily mutilation were not
publicly or privately practiced. Miller and Smith, Dictionary of Afro-American
Slavery, 603-05.
42.7 Mr. Lloyd 's sloop] The Sally Lloyd.
42.14 Nellie] Nelly Kellem (c. 1787-?) was the wife of Harry, a favored deck
hand aboard Colonel Lloyd 's sloop, the Sally Lloyd. Preston, Young Frederick
Douglass, 70, 222.
43.4 Rigby Hopkins] Rigby Hopkins was a Methodist minister who had long
lived and farmed in Talbot County. In 1830 he was between fifty and sixty years old