It's true a slave could work toward buying themselves - Stonewall Jackson had a man ask him to buy him so he could be hired out, keep his wage and buy himself from Jackson.
Sorry but that all made up. ( Jim lewis , see Stonewall Jackson the man the myth the legend, Bud Robertson for further details) was already being hired out to Jackson, Jackson payed 150 for the hire of Jim pre war, his owner as on the Va slave census, being W.C. Lewis of Lexington Virginia. Jackson account book shows he made irregular small payments to Jim the the reason are not given, the largest was for $30 to go home on furlough, so included traval cost) for , who was elderly, named uncle by those who knew him, he died shortly after the war from natural causes, could not have purchased his freedom as there was not enough time to aquire his value from gifts/bonus payementes etc for $10 every few months from his legal owner, who did not emancipate his property till compelled to by the 13th.
Runaways were considered thieves, having stolen valuable property - themselves.
Thats also made up by Northern abolitionist and was cultural claim, that it was the slave owner who was the thief, the law was very clear, they were fugatives from labour and it applied to all races, and the constitution
Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution (Article IV, Section 2), which dictated that any person held to service or labor in one state who escaped to another could not be discharged from that service, but had to be delivered up to the claimant
There were all sorts of exceptions to the rule but the main fact was most everybody born into slavery died in slavery.
Yes, baring exceptions to the rule, one being social mobility in the slave states free population was slightly more mobile than Free northern states, so did most born poor die poor, and those born wealthy died wealthy.
Forrest had a standing order with one slave market in Louisiana for 500 slaves a month. Indeed, the saying 'sold down the river' has a much darker meaning!
The term comes from an eye witness ( Aaron S. Fry )account of a slave killing himself in Loisville KY, 1835, one of the largest transfer hubs of slaves in the USA at the time, when he learned his fate of being sent to the cane fields, which was death sentence. "A negro man of Mr. Elies, having been sold to go down the river, attempted first to cut off both of his legs, failing to do that, cut his throat, did not entirely take his life, went a short distance and drowned himself.” The meaning of the term has evolved since then was different to slaves in upper south who were sold down a river to the deep south as it meant parting from family and a harsher climate, all round not just the weather, its different even now in how its used.
N B Forrest owned steam ships that carried slaves including those seized by the US Government as having been illegally imported to the USA, they were sold in NO, Forrest bought them cheap at auction and sold them down coast to Texas.
Forrest sold between 3800 and 4000 slaves, so where does the 500 a month come from?, as that 54,000 slaves so exported, and all the slaves that moved east to west amounted to 2500 a year, 84% of which were single males, 65 as a family unit.
And we must note the small but oh, so vital catches. Above mentioned Forrest is well-known to have offered his slaves freedom if they fought for him and he kept his word. He freed them. BUT...the offer did not extend to the families of the men.
Does you employer also pay your family members, for your contracted hours?. If not you are being treated the same way as Forrest treated his slaves that he took to war, for which he received a $ payment for their labour use, they recieved post war a loyal slave pension from Miss, and Forrest leased them land on his his slave Coahoma plantion that pre war produced a 1000 bales of cotton a year, worked by those who di not follow Forrest off to war, to support themselves while the men folk were away. Census list shows he owned 36, 21 of which are males, 2 are children, 13 female.
All but one or two did indeed return to Forrest. Of course, after the war he had to pay them but he didn't have to feed and clothe them! I'm pretty sure of who got the dirty end of the stick in all that.
One was killed in combat one deserted, several were wounded, one being crippled, the rest survived to return with Forrest and work on his land, unlike while being a slave with cradle to grave costs born by the owner, they now lived in a different world.https://rutherfordtnhistory.org/black-confederate-in-general-forrests-raid/
https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/reconaa/id/287/
