Slave Sale Contract, 1804, New York City

Edité par New York, 1804

A late slave sale contract for New York City, where slavery did go on for several more decades but was already in decline and not widespread, and where a manumission law was on the books for over a decade. The contract involved the sale of a "Negro boy" who was "about" 17 named Isaac, with no surname, for 80 pounds. The seller was Catherine Brinckly, who the contract repeatedly identifies as a widow, to Robert Weir. As Robert Weir was married to a Mary Katherine Brinckly, we would assume that Robert was Catherine's son-in-law, but in any case, someone related by marriage. We can't equate the purchasing value of 80 pounds then to current dollars -- for one thing, we don't know whether the pound referred to has any relation in value to the British pound of the day. But there can be no doubt that the sum was a very substantial amount, surely amounting to many thousands in today's money. The parties were people of substance, clearly. Weir was a merchant and shipper, which was one of the most common of pursuits in New York at the time among its more comfortable citizens. Catherine Brinckly was the composer of a song, "The Lord of the Castle", according to Wikipedia, which we presume was a well-known and popular song at the time. The couple were also the progenitors of an artistic dynasty of sorts, with a son, Robert Walter Weir, being one of the founders of the Hudson River School movement, and a grandson, the prominent American Impressionist, Julian Alden Weir, and John Ferguson Weir, who was the first director of the Yale School of Art. One of the interesting aspects of the contract is the fluidity of spelling it reflects. As a simple example, Brinckly would soon become spelled, Brinkley, and in fact, the name here would appear to be spelled Brinckly. The document exposed under glass measures 32 by 18.5 cm. With matting and its frame, 48.5 by 36 cm. The contract is 24 lines of mostly legible, fluid cursive handwriting using ink. Following this are three lines for the signatures. The document is at times opaque in its meaning as a result of obsolete legalese and awkward legal phrasing. N° de réf. du vendeur 007604

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Slave Sale Contract, 1804, New York City
Éditeur : New York
Date d'édition : 1804
Reliure : Framed and matted
Etat : Very Good