Knickerbocker Backlash: New York's Most Conservative Slave Owners of Dutch Descent and Their Opposition to Abolition

Even though the history of slavery in the United States has been tremendously researched, many of us today do not realize the impact of human bondage in northern states. Nevertheless, slavery, both before and after the American Revolution, remained a staple in many rural northern communities. And for the particular state of New York, one specific ethnic group upheld a major connection with the institution of slavery. Rural New Yorkers of Dutch descent owned disproportionate amounts of slaves since colonial times, and remained tremendously persistent in their ownership of humans even throughout the later stages of the institution's legality. By the late eighteenth century, most urban New Yorkers wanted to get rid of unfree labor. The Dutch slaveholding countryside, however, fought a desperate political, public, and legal battle in order to protect their form of human bondage for as long as humanly possible. And repeatedly, these rural conservatives were actually quite fortunate in...Show moreEven though the history of slavery in the United States has been tremendously researched, many of us today do not realize the impact of human bondage in northern states. Nevertheless, slavery, both before and after the American Revolution, remained a staple in many rural northern communities. And for the particular state of New York, one specific ethnic group upheld a major connection with the institution of slavery. Rural New Yorkers of Dutch descent owned disproportionate amounts of slaves since colonial times, and remained tremendously persistent in their ownership of humans even throughout the later stages of the institution's legality. By the late eighteenth century, most urban New Yorkers wanted to get rid of unfree labor. The Dutch slaveholding countryside, however, fought a desperate political, public, and legal battle in order to protect their form of human bondage for as long as humanly possible. And repeatedly, these rural conservatives were actually quite fortunate in their reactionary endeavors. But why and how did these Dutch New Yorkers contribute in delaying state abolition? In short, three major factors have resulted in rural Dutch New Yorkers helping and succeeding in keeping slavery afloat. First, the deep-rooted colonial and early American background of domesticated slavery caused a tremendously conservative slave-owning constituency. Second, this rural anti-abolitionist Dutch voting bloc gridlocked oncoming emancipatory laws by utilizing their political and economic influence. And third, as they realized that the continuation of legal slavery had become too unrealistic, Dutch New Yorkers enforced every rule in the book in order to keep taking advantage of it. As a result, African Americans in New York that were enslaved in Dutch-American households were kept in bondage for much longer than was expected in New York society, politics, and law.Show less

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Knickerbocker Backlash: New York's Most Conservative Slave Owners of Dutch Descent and Their Opposition to Abolition