ized be recommended
by Reverend Charles B. Ray, Reverend Theodore S. Wright and Dr. J. McCune
Smith, three Negroes of New York City, known to be representative of the
best of the race. Upon their recommendations he deeded unconditionally to
black men in 1846 three hundred small farms in Franklin, Essex, Hamilton,
Fulton, Oneida, Delaware, Madison and Ulster counties, giving to each
settler beside $10.00 to enable him to visit his farm.[11] With these
holdings the blacks would not only have a basis for economic independence
but would have sufficient property to meet the special qualifications
which New York by the law of 1823 required of Negroes offering to vote.

This experiment, however, was a failure. It was not successful because of
the intractability of the land, the harshness of the climate, and, in a
great measure, the inefficiency of the settlers. They had none of the
qualities of farmers. Furthermore, having been disabled by infirmities and
vices they could not as beneficiaries answer the call of the benefactor.
Peterboro, the town opened to Negroes in this section, did maintain a
school and served as a station of the Underground Railroad but the
agricultural results expected of the enterprise never materialized. The
main difficulty in this case was the impossibility of substituting
something foreign for individual enterprise.[12]

Progressive Negroes did appear, however, in other parts of the State. In
Penyan, Western New York, William Platt and Joseph C. Cassey were
successful lumber merchants.[13] Mr. W.H. Topp of Albany was for several
years one of the leading merchant tailors of that city.[14] Henry Scott,
of New York City, developed a successful pickling business, supplying most
of the vessels entering that port.[15] Thomas Downing for thirty years ran
a creditable restaurant in the midst of the Wall Street banks, where he
made a fortune.[16] Edward V. Clark conducted a thriving business,
handling jewelry and silverware.[17] The Negroes as a whole, moreover, had
shown progress. Aided by the Government and philanthropic white people,
they had before the Civil War a school system with primary, intermediate
and grammar schools and a normal department. They then had considerable
property, several churches and some benevolent institutions.

In Southern Pennsylvania, nearer to the border between the slave and free
States, the effects of the achievements of these Negroes were more
apparent for the reason that in