Harriet Robinson Scott: From the Frontier to Freedom
CHAPTER ONE 6
SLAVERY ON THE FRONTIER it was 1835 and 14 year old Harriet Robinson was traveling north along the Mississippi River by steamboat Harriet was on the lower deck of the boat with five other black people They were traveling with Lawrence Taliaferro their slaveholder Taliaferro was a federal Indian agent He interacted with Native American tribes on behalf of the US government It was his job to control the trade with tribes and keep the peace Taliaferro and his household were moving from Bedford Pennsylvania to Fort Snelling Harriet Robinson Scott lived for a time in Fort Snelling located in present day Saint Paul Minnesota
Fort Snelling was a military fort and fur trading outpost located in present day Minnesota Native Americans traded furs with settlers at the fort Taliaferro had been FEDERAL INDIAN AGENTS The US federal government created Indian agencies in the early 1800s The agencies controlled the trade between the United States and Native American tribes Agents reported traders who broke trade laws Agents were also responsible for settling disputes Sometimes the disputes were between settlers and Native Americans Other times they were between different Native American tribes But Indian agents often did not look out for the interests of Native Americans Many agents tried to influence Native Americans They encouraged Native Americans to give up their traditional religions and practice Christianity instead Some agents sold tribal lands to ranchers and other nonnative people assigned to work at Fort Snelling in 1820 He traveled to the fort every year This time his wife Elizabeth was going with him Harriet was going to work as her house servant Because Harriet was enslaved she had no choice about moving 8
Native Americans traded fur with settlers in exchange for other goods Harriet had been enslaved her whole life She was born in about 1820 on a plan on in Virginia She had been sold to Taliaferro as a servant when she was a 9
