“Principally Children”: Kidnapping, Child Trafficking, and the Mission of Early National Antislavery Activism

Abstract

One evening in June 1825, somewhere near Independence Hall in Philadelphia, a man calling himself John Smith approached an African American boy named Peter Hook and offered him a drink. The child accepted the offer and followed Smith a few blocks “down to a schooner near Arch-street wharf to get a dram.” Once they climbed aboard, a wiry accomplice drew a long knife and pushed young Hook to the floor. “If you holloo g—d d—n you, I'll kill you,” he hissed as he ran the blade slowly across the boy's throat. Hook swallowed his screams as the two men grabbed him, tied his hands, and forced him belowdecks to lock him to a pump.1 Hours passed, each second marked by Hook's terror and uncertainty. The hatch opened again, and the men shoved two more boys down into the hold. Evening turned slowly to night and then to morning. The...