A Letter from Charles Roberts to Tom

Dear Tom,

I recently read the advertisement for your capture in the newspaper and was struck by the similarities of our stories. I’ve seen many advertisements for my own capture that resemble yours. I too am a Mulatto man who has escaped a life of servitude using my skills to convince others of my freedom. This is a dangerous charade we play, but I’m sure you agree that this is our only option.

They call us confidence men only because we have the skills that free men have. It is these skills that earn us freedom through convincing others of our independence. I read that you can speak two languages and are quite skilled as a shoemaker. I have worked at the press owned by my master for many years. I know that our abilities are as good as any mans, and yet we existed as merely property for so long.

It amuses me that our masters paint us as villains and scoundrels now that we have escaped their grasp. My master himself is a drunk, a liar, and a cheat who would not have been nearly as successful it weren’t for my unpaid labor. He had the upmost confidence in me as a worker but exploited me and condemned me for offenses I did not commit. I knew that in running away I would be creating a new identity for myself that I would have to maintain for the rest of time. But I would rather live a life of pretense than live my life as a caged man.

As confidence men we are living a life of imitation and trickery. But I’ve realized, as I’m sure you have as well, that the only way I will ever be a free man is if I convince everyone around me that I am.

Sincerely,
Charles Roberts

1) In the case of Tom, the advertisement said that he might be trying to pass as a Native American. What was the legal status of Native Americans in this time period?
2) How connected is literacy to the emergence of black agency in the slavery era?