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King Charles II issues runaway slave liberty decree
Source: Something from Landers #280
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“Advisors of King Charles II of Spain took almost six years to reach a decision. When they did, it was momentous. In 1693, still angry that the English had settled Carolina, the King told Florida’s governor to pay for the slaves and set them free. Then he issued a proclamation that any future slaves who escaped from an English colony and reached Florida could win their freedom by converting to Catholicism. They would not be sent back to their masters and Spain would not pay any compensation.” (Source lost) “This proclamation immediately caused trouble with the English settlers in Carolina. But is also started an “underground railroad” as more slaves tried to escape to Florida.” (Same source) On November 7, 1693, King Charles II issued runaway slave liberty decree (Source lost) “Slaves of Spanish masters in Florida became free through a variety of mechanism, including manumission by their owners, coartacion, or gradual self-purchase, and judicial process. Other enslaved people adeptly exploite Anglo-Spanish rivalry in the Southeast to achieve freedom. In 1670, English planters challenged Spanish territorial claims to the entire Atlantic seaboard and established a settlement at Charles Town. Shortly thereafter, their slaves began escaping to St. Augustine, claiming they desired baptism in the “True Faith.” Rather than return the runaways as English owners demanded, the Spaniards offered them religious sanctuary. A royal decree of 1693 granted “liberty to all… the men as well as the women… so that by their example and my liberality… others will do the same.” (22). [...as fugitives continued to filter into the province, the Governors and treasury officials repeatedly solicited the king’s guidance. Eventually, the council of the Indies reviewed the matter and recommended approving the sanctuary policy shaped by the Governors. On November 7, 1693, Charles II issue the first official position on the runaways, “giving liberty to all… the men as well as the women… so that by their example and by my liberality others will do the same.” The provocation inherent in this order increasingly threatened the white Carolinians. At least four other groups of runaways reached St. Augustine in the following decade, and despite an early ambiguity about their legal status, the refugees were returned to their British masters only in one known example. (Landers)]
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