Henry Lewis
| Henry Lewis | |
|---|---|
| Known for | escaped slavery in Upper Canada |
Henry Lewis was a slave who escaped from William Jarvis, a provincial official in what was then Upper Canada.[1]
John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada enacted a law in the first year of his administration, restricting slavery, in Upper Canada - An Act to Prevent the further Introduction of Slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude.[1] While the law is often characterized as outlawing slavery, it didn't go that far.[2] It did prohibit the slavery of new arrivals. Individuals who already kept slaves were grandfathered, and many of Simcoe's closest aides and advisors, like Jarvis, did own slaves. Many of these men were United Empire Loyalists, Americans, who had sided with the central government, back in the United Kingdeom, not the rebels, during the American Revolution. Following the revolution, when the winners regarded them as traitors, they were encouraged to resettle in Canada, and those who held slaves in America brought those slaves with them.
Lewis arrived with his master, and, when Simcoe restricted bringing in new slaves, he fled to New York state.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Henry Lewis: Seeking Freedom, Archives of Ontario. Retrieved on 2022-05-19. mirror
- ↑ FREEDOM-SEEKERS. Retrieved on 2022-05-19. “Although the Act did not abolish slavery, it limited the reach of slavery as an institution, and set the tone for the development of civil rights in what would one day become Ontario.”