ry. To Miss Florence Dillard, of the
Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library, I am indebted for assistance
given throughout the period of my studies. To Prof. George H.
Blakeslee, of Clark University, I owe more than to any one else--for
his inspiration during my three years of study, for his most valuable
aid in the correction of the manuscript, his candid judgment and
judicial reasoning and the many suggestions which have helped to make
this study what it is.

IVAN E. MCDOUGLE

CLARK UNIVERSITY,
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER II

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SLAVERY

It is impossible to understand slavery in Kentucky without some
knowledge of the method by which the land was settled in the latter
part of the eighteenth century. Between 1782 and 1802 the seven States
which had interest in western lands ceded their rights to the United
States and all that territory with the exception of Kentucky and the
Connecticut Reserve in Ohio was made a part of the public domain.
Hence, one of the distinguishing features of the settlement of
Kentucky as compared with Ohio was that in the latter State the land
was sold by the Federal Government to settlers coming from all parts
of the country but particularly from the northeastern section. The
result of this was that few citizens of Ohio held more than 640 acres.

Kentucky had been reserved by Virginia and consequently the method of
settlement was purely a matter governed by that State and was separate
and apart from the system which was employed by the United States
Government. Furthermore, Kentucky lands were all given out by 1790,
just one year after the beginning of our national period. The federal
land policy was at that time just beginning. Virginia gave out the
lands in Kentucky by what is known as the patent system, and all the
settlers in Kentucky held their lands by one of three different kinds
of rights.

In the first place there were those who were given tracts in the new
territory as a reward for military services which had been rendered in
the Revolution. This had been provided for by the legislature of
Virginia as early as December, 1778.[234] No land north of the Ohio
River was to be granted out as a military bounty until all the "good
lands" in the Kentucky region had been exhausted. The size of these
tracts was to be governed by the official status of the recipient in
the late war, and the bounties finally granted