[Block 34B] Slave Quarters

Many residents of early St. Louis did not live in grand homes, but instead in small shacks or cabins. Most of the wealthy people of St. Louis owned African and Indian slaves. When a family owned a large number of slaves, the slaves often lived in small cabins at the rear of the enclosed property. Slaves under the Spanish system - Roman Law - had greater opportunities to work for wages and eventually purchase their freedom than they would under the English Law of the Americans. Many eventually became landowners themselves, and learned professional trades like blacksmithing and carpentry. However, slavery was never a good or "benevolent" institution. Slaves could be punished severely - beaten and whipped - and were often held against their will. To be held as a slave was to be kept from doing what you wanted to do, when you wanted to do it. You were not paid for the work you did, at least not by your owners. Most slaves received no schooling and all were considered to be on the bottom rung of the social scale. In 1799, 268 slaves lived in St. Louis.