I have killed 30 or 40 Negroes per year more

antarchi's picture

It was more the object of the overseers to work the slaves out, and trust for supplies from Africa ... I have heard many overseers say, ‘I have made my employer 20, 30 or 40 more hogsheads per year than any of my predecessors ever did; and although I have killed 30 or 40 Negroes per year more, yet the produce had been more than adequate to the loss'.

, 1791 (quoted in Anti-Slavery's briefing)