History of Slavery in Nebraska - Incidents

Incidents

Meanwhile, some migrant farmers from southern states brought a small number of slaves with them into the territory. "In Nebraska the people never voted for slavery, but people coming here from the South brought slaves with them. In 1855 there were thirteen slaves in Nebraska and in 1860 there were ten. Most of these were held at Nebraska City."

On November 25, 1858 two slaves owned by S.F. Nuckolls of Nebraska City escaped, and on June 30, 1860 six slaves owned by Alexander Majors of Nebraska City did the same thing. Two slaves were sold at public auction in Nebraska City on December 5, 1860.

In 1859, the Daily Nebraskian newspaper reported its favoring of slavery, writing,

The bill introduced in Council, for the abolition of slavery in this Territory, was called up yesterday, and its further consideration postponed for two weeks. A strong effort will be made among the Republicans to secure its passage; we think, however, it will fail. The farce certainly cannot be enacted if the Democrats do their duty.

During that period, several local newspapers openly editorialized against the presence of blacks in Omaha, for the Confederacy and against the election and re-election of Abraham Lincoln. Nebraska Territory Governor Samuel W. Black vetoed two antislavery bills during these years, arguing that popular sovereignty, as defined by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, made it the responsibility of the drafters of the state constitution to outlaw slavery, as opposed to the Territorial Legislature. There were many legislators who argued that Nebraska simply did not need a law because slavery did not exist "in any practical form" in the state.

The 1860 census showed that of the 81 Negroes in Nebraska, only 10 were enslaved.

Answering the criticism of legislators who opposed an anti-slavery law, Mr. Little, a legislator, remarked in session that,

The opponents of this measure have not a single reason to advance why this bill should not pass. They put forth, however, some excuses for opposing it. They come forth with the miserable plea that they are opposed to blotting our statute books with useless legislation. Sir, this is not so much a plea against this law as it is in favor of blotting our territory with slavery. They say that slavery does not exist here, and that this measure is useless. This excuse will not now hold good, for a president's message has just reached us, in which it is declared, and in this opinion he is backed by a powerful party, that men have the right to bring slaves here, and to hold them as such, and that this is slave territory... If the friends of slavery insist that they have the right to hold slaves here, shall we tamely submit to it? If they insist on making this a slave territory, which they do, shall we not insist that it shall be forever free?

In 1861 the territorial legislature passed a bill prohibiting slavery in Nebraska, but the governor vetoed it. A vote of ten to three in the Territory Council, and thirty-three to three in the Territorial House overrode his veto and slavery was forbidden. Thus the Territorial Legislature voted a future in which all men would be free.

Although the Territory prohibited slavery, at first the legislators limited suffrage to "free white males", as was typical of many states. Following the Civil War, having this clause in the proposed 1866 Nebraska State Constitution delayed Nebraska's entrance to the Union for nearly a year, until the legislature changed it.

Further information: Nebraska in the American Civil War