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Protection papers


Protection papers, also known as "Seamen Protection Papers," "Seamen Protection Certificates," or "Sailor's Protection Papers", were issued to American seamen during the last part of the 18th century through the first half of the 20th century. These papers provided a description of the sailor and showed American citizenship. They were issued to American sailors to prevent them from being impressed on British men-of-war, during the period leading to and after the War of 1812.

The certificates could be issued for a fee of 25 cents, and required proof of citizenship, although this was later changed to require only a notarized affidavit of citizenship.

Protection papers were also offered to those who remained loyal to the crown during the American Revolution. The day was captured, General William Howe had written a proclamation offering protection papers and a full and free pardon to those willing to remain in peaceable obedience to the king, George III. Although many took the pardon, Stockton never did and was marched to Perth Amboy, where he was put in irons, and treated as a common criminal.

In 1796, federal legislation regarding Seaman's Protection Certificates was enacted for merchant seamen.

Because these protection papers were used to define freemen and citizenship, many black sailors and other men also used them to show that they were freemen if they were stopped by officials or slave catchers. They also called them "free papers" because they certified their non-slave status.

Many of the problems of these protection papers were that the descriptions were often vague or could apply to almost anyone.

Frederick Douglass used a "protection paper" of a free black sailor to escape. He said:

"It was the custom in the State of Maryland to require of the free colored people to have what were called free papers. This instrument they were required to renew very often, and by charging a fee for this writing, considerable sums from time to time were collected by the State. In these papers the name, age, color, height and form of the free man were described, together with any scars or other marks upon his person which could assist in his identification. This device of slaveholding ingenuity, like other devices of wickedness, in some measure defeated itself—since more than one man could be found to answer the same general description. Hence many slaves could escape by impersonating the owner of one set of papers; and this was often done as follows: A slave nearly or sufficiently answering the description set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire them till he could by their means escape to a free state, and then, by mail or otherwise, return them to the owner. The operation was a hazardous one for the lender as well as for the borrower. A failure on the part of the fugitive to send back the papers would imperil his benefactor, and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man would imperil both the fugitive and his friend. It was therefore an act of supreme trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to put in jeopardy his own liberty that another might be free. It was, however, not infrequently bravely done, and was seldom discovered. I was not so fortunate as to sufficiently resemble any of my free acquaintances as to answer the description of their papers. But I had one friend—a sailor—who owned a sailor's protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers—describing his person and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor. The instrument had at its head the American eagle, which at once gave it the appearance of an authorized document. This protection did not, when in my hands, describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start."


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