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 Manuscript receipt from “Allan Patrick” to “L. Calhoun” for the hire of a slave. 1/2 page; Mississippi; 1856.
Receipt acknowledging the hire of a “boy, Jim,” from January 7th to March 11th, at a rate of $26 per month. Inventory# 11608.02 $350 Historical Background
This receipt attests to a significant phenomenon in the antebellum South. Many people who did not buy slaves, for reasons such as the cost or a limited need for their labor, often depended on hiring them instead, usually for a few months to a year. In many areas farmers, industrialists, and others relied regularly on hired slaves. The impact on the slaves themselves ranged from poor treatment by temporary masters to being uprooted from family, to sometimes getting to keep a portion of the hiring fee. The practice of hiring slaves expanded Southern reliance on slavery well beyond those individuals listed in the census as slaveowners. Therefore, Southerners’ growing perception that Northerners planned to end slavery posed an economic threat to many people who never owned a slave themselves. This widespread concern helps explain slavery’s significant role in bringing on the Civil War.
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