Digital Commons @ Wofford

Title

Slave trade ledger of William James Smith, 1844-1854

Authors

William James Smith

Files

Description

This ledger meticulously details the prices paid and received for scores of human beings (as slaves; only first names are recorded), as well as the expenses incurred by Smith in undertaking this business venture, such as feeding, clothing, sheltering, and nursing the people he purchased and sold. The details of the book illustrate that Smith took several "trips" between 1844 and 1854 to buy and sell slaves: detailed records of purchases and sales of "Negroes" exist for all of the years between 1844 and 1854. The listing of expenses for the year of 1844 (the most complete account) indicate that that year Smith traveled from the Piedmont to Charleston, then to Richmond, Virginia and other towns and cities in central Virginia such as Charlottesville, Madison, Orange, Gordonsville, and Fredericksburg. The expense records indicate that Smith returned to the Piedmont via an overland route that passed through Lincolnton, North Carolina (between Charlotte and Hickory). That year he undertook business as far south as Hamburg, South Carolina (near Augusta, Georgia).

Personal Papers

MSS 190530-01

Publication Date

1-1-1844

Publisher

Wofford College

City

Spartanburg

Keywords

enslaved people, enslaved person, slavery, slaves, slave trader, slaver, ledger, slave trader ledger, slave trader's ledger, slave trade ledger, african-americans, enslaved african-americans, enslaved africans, africans, united states slave trade, domestic slave trade, business, ledger, spreadsheet, debits, credits, expenses, double-entry bookkeeping, balance sheet1844, 1854, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina

Disciplines

African American Studies | American Studies | Economic History | Ethnic Studies | Labor History | Political History | Social History | United States History

Comments

This item is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.

Special Collections

Personal Papers

MSS 190530-01

Sandor Teszler Library

Recommended Citation

Smith, William James, "Slave trade ledger of William James Smith, 1844-1854" (1844). Local History. 1.
https://digitalcommons.wofford.edu/localhist/1