A Troublesome Property by Kenneth Stammp

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A Troublesome Property by Kenneth Stammp

Kenneth Stammp writes of "A Troublesome Property", that is bondsman in a peculiar institution. Stammp makes all the right assertions as to why the plantation owners and overseers were not wise to the tricks that slaves would use to get out of work, or to even escape.

Most slaves would use " yes man" tactics in order to fool their masters into believing they were content in their current situation. "Most masters believed they understood their slaves, and most slaves apparently made no attempt to discourage this belief. Instead, they said things they thought their masters wanted to hear, and they conformed with the rituals that signified their subservience." (Stammp, 266)

Also when northern visitors would ask a slave how he or she felt about being a slave, they would respond with something along the lines of, "No massa, me no want to be free, have good massa, take care of me when I sick, never 'buse nigger; no, me no want to be free" (Stammp, 266). These ideals set forth by the slaves were not always looked at as something to be suspicious of; in fact most masters believed their slaves were content in the current situation.

For the plantation owners to think that a slave would have no concept of what it means to be free was a gross misconception, says Stammp. Stammp uses the example that simply the slaves were not blind, they could see the advantages of be a freeman. And with the knowledge that some slaves had been freed, this was all the assurance they needed to know they wanted to be free too. This case on the other hand was something whites were smart to. " They ' continually have before their eyes, persons of the same color, many of whom they have known in slavery…freed from the control of masters, working where they please, going whither they please, and expending their own money how they please.' So declared a group of Charleston whites who petitioned the legislature to expel all free persons of color from South Carolina."(Stammp, 267)

Many slaves would cease any chance at loosening the chains on their feet. Many would try to get work in tobacco factories, or in the Tredegar Iron Company, explains Stammp. This was because they were under less restraint than if they were working inn the fields.

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