THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ...

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THE SUPPRESSION OF
THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE
TO THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
1638-1870
By
W. E. B. Du Bois
An Electronic Classics Series Publication
The Suppression of the African Slave-Tradeto the United States of America 1638 - 1870 by W.E.B. Du Bois
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THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1638-1870
THE SUPPRESSION OF nial statutes, Congressional documents, reports of societies,
personal narratives, etc. The collection of laws available for
THE AFRICAN SLAVE-
this research was, I think, nearly complete; on the other hand,
TRADE TO THE UNITED facts and statistics bearing on the economic side of the study
have been difficult to find, and my conclusions are conse-
STATES OF AMERICA
quently liable to modification from this source.
The question of the suppression of the slave-trade is so
1638-1870
intimately connected with the questions as to its rise, the
system of American slavery, and the whole colonial policy of
Volume I
the eighteenth century, that it is difficult to isolate it, and at
Harvard Historical Studies
the same time to avoid superficiality on the one hand, and
unscientific narrowness of view on the other. While I could
1896
not hope entirely to overcome such a difficulty, I neverthe-
Longmans, Green, and Co. less trust that I have succeeded in rendering this monograph
New York a small contribution to the scientific study of slavery and the
American Negro.
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I desire to express my obligation to Dr. Albert Bushnell
Hart, of Harvard University, at whose suggestion I began
This monograph was begun during my residence as Rogers this work and by whose kind aid and encouragement I have
Memorial Fellow at Harvard University, and is based mainly brought it to a close; also I have to thank the trustees of the
upon a study of the sources, i.e., national, State, and colo- John F. Slater Fund, whose appointment made it possible to
4
W. E. B. Du Bois
test the conclusions of this study by the general principles CCCCChhhhhaaaaapppppttttteeeeerrrrr IIIII
laid down in German universities.
IIIIINNNNNTTTTTRRRRROOOOODDDDDUUUUUCCCCCTTTTTOOOOORRRRRYYYYY
W.E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS.
1. Plan of the Monograph.
WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY, 2. The Rise of the English Slave-Trade.
March, 1896.
1. PPPPPlllllaaaaannnnn ooooofffff ttttthhhhheeeee MMMMMooooonnnnnooooogggggrrrrraaaaappppphhhhh. This monograph proposes to
set forth the efforts made in the United States of America,
from early colonial times until the present, to limit and sup-
press the trade in slaves between Africa and these shores.
The study begins with the colonial period, setting forth in
brief the attitude of England and, more in detail, the atti-
tude of the planting, farming, and trading groups of colo-
nies toward the slave-trade. It deals next with the first con-
certed effort against the trade and with the further action of
the individual States. The important work of the Constitu-
tional Convention follows, together with the history of the
trade in that critical period which preceded the Act of 1807.
The attempt to suppress the trade from 1807 to 1830 is next
recounted. A chapter then deals with the slave-trade as an
5
THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1638-1870
international problem. Finally the development of the crises pany undertake to carry on the trade.3 This company was
up to the Civil War is studied, together with the steps lead- unsuccessful,4 and was eventually succeeded by the “Com-
ing to the final suppression; and a concluding chapter seeks pany of Royal Adventurers trading to Africa,” chartered by
to sum up the results of the investigation. Throughout the Charles II. in 1662, and including the Queen Dowager and
monograph the institution of slavery and the interstate slave- the Duke of York.5 The company contracted to supply the
trade are considered only incidentally. West Indies with three thousand slaves annually; but contra-
band trade, misconduct, and war so reduced it that in 1672 it
2. TTTTThhhhheeeee RRRRRiiiiissssseeeee ooooofffff ttttthhhhheeeee EEEEEnnnnngggggllllliiiiissssshhhhh SSSSSlllllaaaaavvvvveeeee-----TTTTTrrrrraaaaadddddeeeee..... Any attempt to surrendered its charter to another company for £34,000.6 This
consider the attitude of the English colonies toward the Af- new corporation, chartered by Charles II. as the “Royal Afri-
rican slave-trade must be prefaced by a word as to the atti- can Company,” proved more successful than its predecessors,
tude of England herself and the development of the trade in and carried on a growing trade for a quarter of a century.
her hands.1
33333 Chartered by Charles I. Cf. Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers,
Sir John Hawkins’s celebrated voyage took place in 1562,
but probably not until 16312 did a regular chartered com- Col. Ser., America and W. Indies, 1574-1660, p. 135.
44444 In 1651, during the Protectorate, the privileges of the Af-
11111 This account is based largely on the Report of the Lords of rican trade were granted anew to this same company for four-
the Committee of Council, etc. (London, 1789). teen years. Cf. Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America
22222 African trading-companies had previously been erected (e.g. and W. Indies, 1574-1660, pp. 342, 355.
by Elizabeth in 1585 and 1588, and by James I. in 1618); 55555 Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies,
but slaves are not specifically mentioned in their charters, 1661-1668, § 408.
and they probably did not trade in slaves. Cf. Bandinel, Ac- 66666 Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies,
count of the Slave Trade (1842), pp. 38-44. 1669-1674, §§ 934, 1095.
6
W. E. B. Du Bois
In 1698 Parliamentary interference with the trade began. Their object was finally accomplished by the signing of the
By the Statute 9 and 10 William and Mary, chapter 26, pri- Assiento in 1713.8
vate traders, on payment of a duty of 10% on English goods The Assiento was a treaty between England and Spain by
exported to Africa, were allowed to participate in the trade. which the latter granted the former a monopoly of the Span-
This was brought about by the clamor of the merchants, espe- ish colonial slave-trade for thirty years, and England engaged
cially the “American Merchants,” who “in their Petition sug- to supply the colonies within that time with at least 144,000
gest, that it would be a great Benefit to the Kingdom to secure slaves, at the rate of 4,800 per year. England was also to ad-
the Trade by maintaining Forts and Castles there, with an equal vance Spain 200,000 crowns, and to pay a duty of 33½
Duty upon all Goods exported.”7 This plan, being a compro- crowns for each slave imported. The kings of Spain and En-
mise between maintaining the monopoly intact and entirely gland were each to receive one-fourth of the profits of the
abolishing it, was adopted, and the statute declared the trade trade, and the Royal African Company were authorized to
“highly Beneficial and Advantageous to this Kingdom, and to import as many slaves as they wished above the specified
the Plantations and Colonies thereunto belonging.” number in the first twenty-five years, and to sell them, ex-
Having thus gained practically free admittance to the field, cept in three ports, at any price they could get.
English merchants sought to exclude other nations by secur- It is stated that, in the twenty years from 1713 to 1733,
ing a monopoly of the lucrative Spanish colonial slave-trade. fifteen thousand slaves were annually imported into America
by the English, of whom from one-third to one-half went to
77777 Quoted in the above Report, under “Most Material Proceed- the Spanish colonies.9 To the company itself the venture
ings in the House of Commons,” Vol. I. Part I. An import 88888 Cf. Appendix A.
duty of 10% on all goods, except Negroes, imported from 99999 Bandinel, Account of the Slave Trade, p. 59. Cf. Bryan
Africa to England and the colonies was also laid. The proceeds Edwards, History of the British Colonies in the W. Indies (Lon-
of these duties went to the Royal African Company. don, 1798), Book VI.
7
THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1638-1870
proved a financial failure; for during the years 1729-1750 in the slave-trade, and was the form under which the trade
Parliament assisted the Royal Company by annual grants was carried on until after the American Revolution.
which amounted to £90,000,10 and by 1739 Spain was a That the slave-trade was the very life of the colonies had,
creditor to the extent of £68,000, and threatened to suspend by 1700, become an almost unquestioned axiom in British
the treaty. The war interrupted the carrying out of the con- practical economics. The colonists themselves declared slaves
tract, but the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle extended the limit by “the strength and sinews of this western world,”12 and the
four years. Finally, October 5, 1750, this privilege was waived lack of them “the grand obstruction”13 here, as the settle-
for a money consideration paid to England; the Assiento was ments “cannot subsist without supplies of them.”14 Thus,
ended, and the Royal Company was bankrupt. with merchants clamoring at home and planters abroad, it
By the Statute 23 George II., chapter 31, the old company easily became the settled policy of England to encourage the
was dissolved and a new “Company of Merchants trading to slave-trade. Then, too, she readily argued that what was an
Africa” erected in its stead.11 Any merchant so desiring was economic necessity in Jamaica and the Barbadoes could
allowed to engage in the trade on payment of certain small scarcely be disadvantageous to Carolina, Virginia, or even
duties, and such merchants formed a company headed by New York. Consequently, the colonial governors were gen-
nine directors. This marked the total abolition of monopoly
1111122222 Renatus Enys from Surinam, in 1663: Sainsbury, Cal. State
1111100000 From 1729 to 1788, including compensation to the old Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies, 1661-68, § 577.
company, Parliament expended £705,255 on African com- 1111133333 Thomas Lynch from Jamaica, in 1665: Sainsbury, Cal. State
panies. Cf. Report, etc., as above. Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies, 1661-68, § 934.
1111111111 Various amendatory statutes were passed: e.g., 24 George 1111144444 Lieutenant-Governor Willoughby of Barbadoes, in 1666:
II. ch. 49, 25 George II. ch. 40, 4 George III. ch. 20, 5 Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies,
George III. ch. 44, 23 George III. ch. 65. 1661-68, § 1281.
8
W. E. B. Du Bois
erally instructed to “give all due encouragement and invita- rican Company sent 249 ships to Africa, shipped there 60,783
tion to merchants and others, … and in particular to the Negro slaves, and after losing 14,387 on the middle passage,
royal African company of England.”15 Duties laid on the delivered 46,396 in America. The trade increased early in
importer, and all acts in any way restricting the trade, were the eighteenth century, 104 ships clearing for Africa in 1701;
frowned upon and very often disallowed. “Whereas,” ran it then dwindled until the signing of the Assiento, standing
Governor Dobbs’s instructions, “Acts have been passed in at 74 clearances in 1724. The final dissolution of the mo-
some of our Plantations in America for laying duties on the nopoly in 1750 led—excepting in the years 1754-57, when
importation and exportation of Negroes to the great discour- the closing of Spanish marts sensibly affected the trade—to
agement of the Merchants trading thither from the coast of an extraordinary development, 192 clearances being made
Africa.... It is our Will and Pleasure that you do not give in 1771. The Revolutionary War nearly stopped the traffic;
your assent to or pass any Law imposing duties upon Ne- but by 1786 the clearances had risen again to 146.
groes imported into our Province of North Carolina.”16 To these figures must be added the unregistered trade of
The exact proportions of the slave-trade to America can be Americans and foreigners. It is probable that about 25,000
but approximately determined. From 1680 to 1688 the Af- slaves were brought to America each year between 1698 and
1707. The importation then dwindled, but rose after the
1111155555 Smith, History of New Jersey (1765), p. 254; Sainsbury,
Assiento to perhaps 30,000. The proportion, too, of these
Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W. Indies, 1669-74.,
slaves carried to the continent now began to increase. Of
§§ 367, 398, 812.
about 20,000 whom the English annually imported from
1111166666 N.C. Col. Rec., V. 1118. For similar instructions, cf. Penn.
1733 to 1766, South Carolina alone received some 3,000.
Archives, I. 306; Doc. rel. Col. Hist. New York, VI. 34; Gor-
Before the Revolution, the total exportation to America is
don, History of the American Revolution, I. letter 2; Mass.
variously estimated as between 40,000 and 100,000 each
Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th Ser. X. 642.
9
THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1638-1870
year. Bancroft places the total slave population of the conti- the imported Negroes. The docility to which long years of
nental colonies at 59,000 in 1714, 78,000 in 1727, and bondage and strict discipline gave rise was absent, and insur-
293,000 in 1754. The census of 1790 showed 697,897 slaves rections and acts of violence were of frequent occurrence.19
in the United States.17 Again and again the danger of planters being “cut off by
In colonies like those in the West Indies and in South Caro- their own negroes”20 is mentioned, both in the islands and
lina and Georgia, the rapid importation into America of a on the continent. This condition of vague dread and unrest
multitude of savages gave rise to a system of slavery far dif- not only increased the severity of laws and strengthened the
ferent from that which the late Civil War abolished. The police system, but was the prime motive back of all the ear-
strikingly harsh and even inhuman slave codes in these colo- lier efforts to check the further importation of slaves.
nies show this. Crucifixion, burning, and starvation were legal On the other hand, in New England and New York the
modes of punishment.18 The rough and brutal character of Negroes were merely house servants or farm hands, and were
the time and place was partly responsible for this, but a more treated neither better nor worse than servants in general in
decisive reason lay in the fierce and turbulent character of those days. Between these two extremes, the system of slavery
1111177777 These figures are from the above-mentioned Report, Vol. 1111199999 Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W.
II. Part IV. Nos. 1, 5. See also Bancroft, History of the United Indies, 1574-1660, pp. 229, 271, 295; 1661-68, §§ 61, 412,
States (1883), II. 274 ff; Bandinel, Account of the Slave Trade, 826, 1270, 1274, 1788; 1669-74., §§ 508, 1244; Bolzius
p. 63; Benezet, Caution to Great Britain, etc., pp. 39-40, and and Von Reck, Journals (in Force, Tracts, Vol. IV. No. 5, pp.
Historical Account of Guinea, ch. xiii. 9, 18); Proceedings of Governor and Assembly of Jamaica in
1111188888 Compare earlier slave codes in South Carolina, Georgia, regard to the Maroon Negroes (London, 1796).
Jamaica, etc.; also cf. Benezet, Historical Account of Guinea, 2222200000 Sainsbury, Cal. State Papers, Col. Ser., America and W.
p. 75; Report, etc., as above. Indies, 1661-68, § 1679.
10