ans, among whom were not a few Negroes.
Exactly how many persons of color were in this city during the first
decade of the nineteenth century is not yet known. It has been said that
there were no Negroes in Hamilton County in 1800.[1] It is evident, too,
that the real exodus of free Negroes and fugitives from the South to the
Northwest Territory did not begin prior to 1815, although their
attention had been earlier directed to this section as a more desirable
place for colonization than the shores of Africa.[2] As the reaction
following the era of good feeling toward the Negroes during the
revolutionary period had not reached its climax free persons of color
had been content to remain in the South.[3] The unexpected immigration
of these Negroes into this section and the last bold effort made to
drive them out marked epochs in their history in this city. The history
of these people prior to the Civil War, therefore, falls into three
periods, one of toleration from 1800 to 1826, one of persecution from
1826 to 1841, and one of amelioration from 1841 to 1861.

In the beginning the Negroes were not a live issue in Cincinnati. The
question of their settlement in that community was debated but resulted
in great diversity of opinion rather than a fixedness of judgment among
the citizens. The question came up in the Constitutional Convention of
1802 and provoked some discussion, but reaching no decision, the
convention simply left the Negroes out of the pale of the newly
organized body politic, discriminating against them together with
Indians and foreigners, by incorporating the word white into the
fundamental law.[4] The legislature to which the disposition of this
question was left, however, took it up in 1804 to calm the fears of
those who had more seriously considered the so-called menace of Negro
immigration. This body enacted a law, providing that no Negro or mulatto
should be allowed to remain permanently in that State, unless he could
furnish a certificate of freedom issued by some court in the United
States. Negroes then living there had to be registered before the
following June, giving the names of their children. No man could employ
a Negro who could not show such a certificate. Hiring a delinquent black
or harboring or hindering the capture of a runaway was punishable by a
fine of $50 and the owner of a fugitive thus illegally employed could
recover fifty cents a day for the services of his slave.[5]

As the fear