An opprobrious name applied by the abolitionists to overseers of slaves.
1818. A few evenings since, two men, in the character of soul drivers, lodged in the jail [at Martinsburg, Va.] for safe keeping, five negroes.—Mass. Spy, Nov. 4.
1849. [She was grateful] for the prospect that she would soon cease to tremble at the thought that the soul-driver would tear from her the object of her tenderest affections.—Mr. Giddings of Ohio in the House of Repr., Feb. 17: Cong. Globe, p. 127, App.
