Slavery in the eyes of Polish travelers

By Mateusz Będkowski -16 April 2019 Share theftbooktwitterpinterest Slavery was inseparably connected with the development of European settlement in the Americas. Many eyewitnesses wrote about him, which also included Polish travelers. What was their opinion on this subject? How did they think the comparison of the fate of slaves with the situation of Polish peasants? At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, the colonies of Spain and Portugal in America began to gradually replace the already decimated Indians with Africans imported in an increasing number for forced work on plantations, in mines and with various types of public buildings. It was the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade lasting several centuries. From the 17th century, the property of other European powers began to participate in this phenomenon, including Great Britain and France. Slavery in Nowy Świat also lasted in those countries that gained independence over time. Cotton plantation near the Mississippi River, 1884 (from the collections of the US Congress Library, ID PGA.00675) At least from the period of enlightenment, incl. Thanks to the concepts proclaimed by the then philosophers and thinkers, Europeans were visible more and more condemnation of slavery and human trafficking, despite the fact that many of them still had racist views. Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz in 1796, portrait by Giovanni Battista Lampi (from the collections of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg) American slaves and Polish peasants Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (1758-1841) - a traveler, literary, MP of the Four -Year Sejm, as well as an adjutant and secretary of the Kościuszko Insurrection leader (1794) wrote about alleged reasons for bringing slaves to North America. He stayed in the United States in 1797–1799 and 1804–1807. The real reason, I think, the presence and needs of negroes in the United States is too much area of ​​private estates and too little white in relation to the size of the country. The owners, not being able to grow the land themselves or find white farmers to lease it to them, must maintain a large number of blacks. It was the greed of Liverpool merchants before the [American] revolution of this black and, despite all the reminders of the contemporary assembly, is still developing this shameful trade. Growing tobacco and cotton is another of the reasons why the southern states keep slaves, while the eastern, where ownership is more crushed and where these products are not grown, they do not have them. Interestingly, in June 1798 Niemcewicz visited the former US president George Washington (1732–1799) with Mount Vernon in Virginia, where he had the opportunity to look at the situation of enslaved Africans. We joined one of the Negro muds, because you can't call them houses. They are miserable than the most prominent huts of our peasants. The husband and wife sleep on poor ships, children on earth, have a poor hearth and some kitchen dishes, but among all this misery there are cups and a tea kettle. [...] There were 5 or 6 chickens in a tiny vegetable garden, each of which led 10 to 15 chickens. This is the only grace that blacks can use; They are not allowed to hide either ducks, nor geese nor pigs. They sell poultry in Alexandria [nearby town] and buy the necessary things for it. They receive One Peck a week, this is a porrel of corn, which makes a quarter for the day, half as much for children, and 20 tracks per month for everyone. During the harvest, those who work in the field get salted meat, moreover one jacket and one pants made of thick working wool. Not counting women and children, the general has 300 blacks, of whom a large part belongs to Mrs. Washington [at the time of the death of the former president, there were 317 slaves of both sexes on his property]. P. Anderson [property manager] says that only a hundred of them go into the field. They work all week, having not a single day off, except for Christmas. From this you can see that the location of our peasants is infinitely better. Mulates are usually chosen on the servants. According to laws in Virginia, the child always shares the fate of the mother: the sons or daughters of the mulatto and white are slaves, and the descendants of their daughters, although whites, are still slaves. General Washington treats his slaves much more humanly than his co -forests from Virginia. Most of these men only give their black bread, water and flogging. George Washington in his Mount Vernon estate. Image of Junius Brutus Stearns on the graphics of Auguste Jacques Régnier (from the collections of the US Congress Library, ID PGA 02419) When comparing Niemcewicz, it is worth noting that the situation of Polish peasants at that time, i.e. before the abolition of serfdom and enfranchisement, was generally very hard.