Although it is impossible to measure the results of their early efforts, various records of the eighteenth century prove that there was lessening objection to the instruction of slaves and practically none to the enlightenment of freedmen.

Negroes in considerable numbers were becoming well grounded in the rudiments of education.

They had reached the point of constituting the majority of the mechanics in slaveholding communities; they were qualified to be tradesmen, trustworthy helpers, and attendants of distinguished men, and a few were serving as clerks, overseers, and managers.[1] Many who were favorably circumstanced learned more than mere reading and writing.

In exceptional cases, some were employed not only as teachers and preachers to their people, but as instructors of the white race.[2] [Footnote 1: Georgia and South Carolina had to pass laws to prevent Negroes from following these occupations for fear that they might thereby become too well informed.

See Brevard, _Digest of Public Statute Laws of S.C._, vol.ii., p.