Slave-related ads in this Baltimore newspaper...
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June 09, 1796
FEDERAL GAZETTE & BALTIMORE DAILY ADVERTISER, Maryland, June 9, 1796
* Rare 18th century American publication
The back page has ad ad: "For Sale, A Healthy Negro Girl..." with details.
Page 4 has other "reward" ads concerning slaves, with details.
Four pages, purple colored staining affects the middle section but causes no loss of readability, otherwise in very nice condition.
background: The significance of this 1796 issue lies in its role as a stark, unvarnished "balance sheet" of early American life, capturing the precise moment Baltimore transitioned from a colonial town into a major federalist commercial power. By placing "For Sale" ads for a "Healthy Negro Girl" alongside shipping manifests and merchant notices, the publication documents the total normalization of human commodification within the city's economic infrastructure. These advertisements serve as vital, albeit tragic, primary sources for social historians; the "Reward" ads, in particular, provide a rare form of "accidental biography," recording the physical descriptions, clothing, and defiant acts of resistance by enslaved individuals whose lives were otherwise excluded from the formal historical record. As a document printed on 18th-century rag paper during the final year of George Washington’s presidency, it survives as a tangible witness to the deep contradictions of a young republic—a nation rapidly expanding its banking and maritime wealth while simultaneously refining the brutal legal and commercial mechanisms of the domestic slave trade.
* Rare 18th century American publication
The back page has ad ad: "For Sale, A Healthy Negro Girl..." with details.
Page 4 has other "reward" ads concerning slaves, with details.
Four pages, purple colored staining affects the middle section but causes no loss of readability, otherwise in very nice condition.
background: The significance of this 1796 issue lies in its role as a stark, unvarnished "balance sheet" of early American life, capturing the precise moment Baltimore transitioned from a colonial town into a major federalist commercial power. By placing "For Sale" ads for a "Healthy Negro Girl" alongside shipping manifests and merchant notices, the publication documents the total normalization of human commodification within the city's economic infrastructure. These advertisements serve as vital, albeit tragic, primary sources for social historians; the "Reward" ads, in particular, provide a rare form of "accidental biography," recording the physical descriptions, clothing, and defiant acts of resistance by enslaved individuals whose lives were otherwise excluded from the formal historical record. As a document printed on 18th-century rag paper during the final year of George Washington’s presidency, it survives as a tangible witness to the deep contradictions of a young republic—a nation rapidly expanding its banking and maritime wealth while simultaneously refining the brutal legal and commercial mechanisms of the domestic slave trade.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
