Transatlantic slave trade

“ The African opens the volume of the law of nations, and shows, that the foundations of that code are laid in justice and humanity, and that no legitimate right can grow out of a violation of these principles. If he is answered, that the trade had its origin in humane motives, he may well upbraid us for such a vindication. Nor does the existence of slavery in the United States form any excuse or palliation, for perpetuating, and extending the guilt and misery of the slave trade. ”

“ The enhanced price of slaves throughout the American slave market, brought about by the new industrial development and the laws against the slave-trade, was the irresistible temptation that drew American capital and enterprise into that traffic. In the United States, in spite of the large interstate traffic, the average price of slaves rose from about $325 in 1840, to $360 in 1850, and to $500 in 1860.43 Brazil and Cuba offered similar inducements to smugglers, and the American flag was ready to protect such pirates. ”

“ It is the policy of the English ship-masters on the coast to represent the Americans as engaged in the slave-trade; for if, by such accusations, they can induce British or American men-of-war to detain and examine the fair trader, they thus rid themselves of troublesome rivals.
The natives are generally favorable to the slave-trade. It brings them many comforts and luxuries, which the legitimate trade does not supply. Their argument is, that "if a man goes into the Bush and buys camwood, he must pay another to bring it to the beach. ”

“ It is not to be denied," continues the message, "that this trade is still, in part, carried on by means of vessels built in the United States, and owned or navigated by some of our citizens."48 Governor Buchanan of Liberia reported in 1839: "The chief obstacle to the success of the very active measures pursued by the British government for the suppression of the slave-trade on the coast, is the American flag. ”

“ Other States were said to be even more involved than Connecticut.69 The African Society of London estimated that, down to 1816, fifteen of the sixty thousand slaves annually taken from Africa were shipped by Americans. "Notwithstanding the prohibitory act of America, which was passed in 1807, ships bearing the American flag continued to trade for slaves until 1809, when, in consequence of a decision in the English prize appeal courts, which rendered American slave ships liable to capture and condemnation, that flag suddenly disappeared from the coast. ”

“ The moral sentiment of New England put some check upon the trade. Although in earlier times the most respectable people took ventures in slave-trading voyages, yet there gradually arose a moral sentiment which tended to make the business somewhat disreputable.12 In the line, however, of definite legal enactments to stop New England citizens from carrying slaves from Africa to any place in the world, there were, before the Revolution, none. Indeed, not until the years 1787–1788 was slave-trading in itself an indictable offence in any New England State. ”

“ To state the case of the slave-owners, we may quote the words of Henry Clay when he said that the Creole was carried to Nassau by "an act of mutiny and murder." and if the British authorities sanctioned "the enormity," "Americans would be virtually denied the benefits of the coastwise trade of their own country, because their vessels could not proceed in safety from one port to another with slaves on board." ”

“ There is no need of extended argument to show that the importation of Africans into this country would directly and fearfully augment that evil which already to so great an extent is paralyzing industry, blighting commerce, and destroying the best interests of society. The disastrous influence of American slavery upon agriculture, the mechanical arts, education, public virtue, religion, has been fully set forth by others. ”

“ When the colonists united to oppose British oppression, the talk about slavery and slaves, which had reference to their own condition, turned their thoughts to the unfortunate negro slaves, and on Thursday, October 20, 1774, they signed an agreement that they would "not purchase any slave imported after the first day of December next; after which time we will wholly discontinue the slave-trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it." ”

“ It is noteworthy that both Great Britain and the United States recognized the horrors of the slave trade as regards the seizing and transportation from Africa of the unhappy negroes, long before they could bring themselves to deal with the problem of slavery as a domestic institution. ”

“ At first thought it may seem a story to make an American ashamed of his country. Certainly the power of the slave-ship owner in national politics before the civil war was something that makes us marvel now. From the enactment of the law that made the slave-trade piracy until Abraham Lincoln became President the policy of pretence that prevailed in connection with the slave-trade was infinitely disgraceful to the nation. But when all the facts are fairly considered, it is found that we were steadily developing, under adverse circumstances, a love of exact Justice. ”

“ The planting colonies are those Southern settlements whose climate and character destined them to be the chief theatre of North American slavery. The early attitude of these communities toward the slave-trade is therefore of peculiar interest; for their action was of necessity largely decisive for the future of the trade and for the institution in North America. Theirs was the only soil, climate, and society suited to slavery; in the other colonies, with few exceptions, the institution was by these same factors doomed from the beginning. ”

“ It is a melancholy and startling fact, that the slave trade is not abolished, but continues, with all its attendant barbarities and unmitigated horrors. Cuba, Brazil, Porto Rico, and the United States, still furnish markets for men whose trade has been pronounced piracy, and whose crimes render them deserving of death. ”

“ Great Britain was entirely willing that every British slaver should be treated so, but even John Quincy Adams was constrained to declare to the British authorities, at the behest of the slaver power, that the slave-trade was "statutory piracy" — something different from high-sea robbery. It could never be allowed by the people of the United States that an American slaver should be treated as a high-sea robber by any other power than an American court! ”

“ Had the African source been kept freely open, the bringing of great numbers to meet the demand in prosperous times would quite possibly have so burdened the country with surplus slaves in subsequent periods of severe depression that slave prices would have fallen virtually to zero, and the slaveholding community would have been driven to emancipate them wholesale as a means of relieving the masters from the burden of the slaves' support. The foes of slavery had long reckoned that the abolition of the foreign trade would be a fatal blow to slavery itself. ”

“ But the internal traffic was still lawful, and the breeding States soon reconciled themselves to a prohibition which gave them the monopoly of the interdicted trade, and they joined the full chorus of reprobation, to punish with death the slave-trader from Africa, while they cherished and shielded and enjoyed the precious profits of the American slave-trade exclusively to themselves. ”

“ The distinctively Southern considerations against the trade were that its continuance would lower the prices of slaves already on hand, or at least prevent those prices from rising; that it would so increase the staple exports as to spoil the world's market for them; that it would drain out money and keep the community in debt; that it would retard the civilization of the negroes already on hand; and that by raising the proportion of blacks in the population it would intensify the danger of slave insurrections. ”

“ Had we not been blinded by interest and by prejudice, our reason might have taught us that as long as the republic of the U. S. is a mart where human flesh and souls of men are bought and sold, so long will European and American cupidity furnish human merchandise for this detestable commerce. Thousands of slaves have been introduced into the United States through the island of Cuba, since the slave trade was declared piracy by our national legislature. ”

“ The grand, the decisive advantage which recommends the abolition of the slave trade is, that by closing the supply of foreign negroes to which the planters have hitherto been accustomed to trust for all of their undertakings, we will compel them to promote the multiplication of the slaves on their estates ”

“ We must extend our plans and push our efforts far beyond American slavery, and even beyond the Atlantic slave-trade, — into the heart of Africa itself, — if we would strike at the root of the evil, and put an end to the sufferings of humanity that spring from this source. American slavery is but a drop in the bucket ”

“ It may be doubted if ever before such political mistakes as the slavery compromises of the Constitutional Convention had such serious results, and yet, by a succession of unexpected accidents, still left a nation in position to work out its destiny. No American can study the connection of slavery with United States history, and not devoutly pray that his country may never have a similar social problem to solve, until it shows more capacity for such work than it has shown in the past. ”

“ The rehabilitation of the African slave-trade is seriously proposed and will be furiously urged, and nothing can hinder its accomplishment but its interference with the domestic manufactures of the breeding Slave States. The pirate Walker is already mustering his forces for another incursion into Nicaragua, and rumors are rife that General Houston designs wresting yet another Texas from Mexico. Mighty events are at hand, even at the door ”

“ Yet even the slave trade has had its champions—of course among those who had money invested in it. Politicians have boldy said that it was a profitable branch of commerce, and ought not to be discontinued on account of the idle dreams of benevolent enthusiasts. They have argued before the House of Commons, that others would enslave the negroes, if the English gave it up—as if it were allowable for one man to commit a crime because another was likely to do it! They tell how merciful it is to bring the Africans away from the despotism and wars, which desolate their own continent ”