Negro Adam
(b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51748
Petitioned for Freedom, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, 1789
Biography:
Adam was a slave in Queen Anne's County, Maryland who unsuccessfully petitioned for his freedom from Andrew Foster Leverton in the General Court for the Eastern Shore. The circumstances of Adam's bondage and his claim for freedom illustrate the legal framework of slave ownership across state lines.
Adam's original owner John Costin held four properties in the Tuckahoe District. In 1783, one year before his death, Costin owned 364 acres and 10 slaves; he owned two males between the ages of 14 and 45, two females between 14 and 36, two males and females between 8 and 14, one male over 45, and three males and females under age 8.1 Adam is likely one these unnamed male slaves. A 1778 land record between Costin, his wife Elizabeth, and his mother-in-law suggests ones of these females slaves was named "Nann."2 Altogether the slaves had an assessed value of £395.
Costin's 1784 will bequeathed the plantation called "Kendal" to his wife Elizabeth; it granted the remaining properties to his two unmarried adult daughters Susannah, Hannah, and his underage daughters Ann and Sarah.3 In 1785, the recently widowed Elizabeth Costin removed herself and Adam to Wilmington, Delaware. She promptly remarried to Joseph Tomlinson but remained the executor of her late husband's estate, which was not yet settled by 1789.4 After 21 months in Wilmington, Adam returned to Elizabeth's Maryland plantation, variously called "Kandal" or "Kendale," to work under Andrew Foster Leverton.5 Although the petition does not specify why Adam believed he was entitled to freedom, the timing of his return to Maryland suggests he and Elizabeth were aware of recent Delaware laws that could have freed him.
In 1787 the Delaware General Assembly, claiming that slave exportation from Delaware was "contrary to the principles of humanity and justice, and derogatory to the honour of this state," effectively banned slave trade to the Carolina's, Georgia, and the West Indies; sellers were required to obtain a license approved by three Justices of the Peace or face a £100 fine.6 A 1789 law penalized Delaware ports, craftsmen, and merchants who would willfully participate or support overseas slave trading and expanded the interstate ban to include Maryland and Virginia; the required number of justices to obtain a license also increased to five.7 Adam was returned to Maryland around 1786 and 1787, where he worked for Leverton from 1788 onward while Elizabeth, his owner, remained in Delaware.
The facts of the case were that the estate of John Costin was not yet settled, that all Maryland taxes were paid for Adam during his residency in Delaware, and that the remaining personal estate of Costin was not sufficient to settle his remaining debts.8
In September 1789 the General Court for the Eastern Shore dismissed Adam's petition and ordered him to "return to the service of Andrew Foster Leverton his master again."9 The petition was brought to the Court of Appeals by June, 1792 and the high court affirmed the judgment.10
Sources:
2. QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY COURT (Land Records) 1776-1781, RT L p. 168 [MSA CD143-15]
4. Ibid., p. 35. Ibid., p. 4
7. Ibid., p. 942-944
9. GENERAL COURT OF THE EASTERN SHORE (Docket) 09/1789, p. 354, 01/20/04/02 [MSA S479-21]
GENERAL COURT OF THE EASTERN SHORE (Vide Minutes) 09/1789, 01/20/04/02 [MSA S479-21]
10. COURT OF APPEALS (Docket) 06/1791-11/1798, p. 88, 01/66/14/17 [MSA S412-2]
Return to Negro Adam's Introductory Page
Researched and written by Alex Champion, 2013
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