Direct evidence of enslaved labor inside an operating American whiskey enterprise, anchored to a specific date and account. The payment was for holiday labor and should not be generalized into ordinary wage status.
A December 25, 1799 cash-account entry records $1.16 paid to enslaved workers at the distillery for labor during the holidays. The annual distillery account on ledger p. 45 repeats the charge.
Paid the Negroes at the Distillery for working in Holydays
same entry
manuscript ledger p. 42; scan PDF p. 47; transcription PDF p. 48
Cash ledger, December 25, 1799
Checked against the original manuscript image and the official complete transcription. The manuscript reads clearly at ledger p. 42; the same amount and description recur in the annual account at ledger p. 45.
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