Читать книгу Benjamin Drew. The Refugee. Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada онлайн

21 страница из 90

As time went by, this new reality began to be met with apprehension. In 1835 magistrates of the Western District of Upper Canada began to protest because they were certain that Blacks were violating the law of property and “casual segregation patterns began to emerge” (Winks, Blacks in Canada 146). These reactions to fugitives have to be understood due to suspicions around an ambivalent anti-Americanism. Firstly, Canadians thought that to accept runaway slaves was one way to boast about the superiority of British North America over the United States. Also, Canadians were sure that Americans would be less interested in annexing more land because northern abolitionists were really focused on having refugees under British rule. Yet, since abolitionists were really longing to favor annexation of territories and Blacks were Americans, most Canadians feared that they could eventually turned into disloyal subjects to their adopted country in a possible time of conflict with the United States. Nevertheless, the fugitive slaves remained consistently loyal to the British government and supported it in local and provincial matters. An example of this fidelity can be demonstrated when