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Primary sourceNewspaper article1804

Stop the Runaway Reward Notice

Andrew Jackson · 1804

An 1804 newspaper notice placed by Andrew Jackson offering a reward for the capture of an enslaved man who had escaped from his plantation.

Jackson's own advertisement documents his activity as a slaveholder and his willingness to pay for violent punishment of an enslaved man.

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Scanned newspaper runaway slave notice headed 'Stop the Runaway,' offering fifty dollars reward for a mulatto man slave who eloped from the subscriber near Nashville in June, signed Andrew Jackson, Near Nashville, State of Tennessee. The notice describes him and offers extra payment for lashes given him.
Andrew Jackson, runaway slave reward notice, 1804.

About this source

What it is

This is a newspaper advertisement placed by Andrew Jackson in 1804, offering fifty dollars for the return of an enslaved man who had escaped from near Nashville. The notice describes the man's appearance and clothing and offers extra payment for each hundred lashes given to him.

Why it matters

This document is direct evidence of Jackson's role as a slaveholder decades before he became president. The offer of extra payment for lashes was unusual even for the time and shows the extreme violence built into the system of slavery that Jackson both participated in and profited from.

Look closer

  • What does this notice tell us about how enslaved people were treated as property?
  • Why do you think Jackson offered extra money for lashes specifically?
  • What does this document reveal that is often left out of accounts of Jackson's later political career?

This newspaper article is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Jackson on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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