The first settlement in the Carolinas was within the limits of what became South Carolina, and was made in the latter half of the 16th century by French Huguenots, but that settlement proved a failure. An attempt to make a settlement in North Carolina under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh also proved abortive. The first permanent settlement in North Carolina was by Virginia emigrants to the northern part of it, some years previous to the charter, which was granted to some English noblemen and others for both of the Carolinas. In 1665, North Carolina was taken possession of under this charter, and a government was established therefor. In 1670, South Carolina was permanently settled. Though embraced in the same charter, North and South Carolina now became separate provinces with distinct governments. Slavery was introduced into both provinces and was recognized by law; the number of slaves continuing to increase as the population increased and the capacities of the soil became known, which proved to be very suitable for slave labor. There was nothing special in the history of slavery in these provinces during the colonial state. The people did not engage in the slave trade, but were merely purchasers from English and New England traders; nor did they make slaves of the Indians by whom they were surrounded.
The first settlers within the limits of New Jersey were Swedes, who came over prior to 1630. New Jersey, or East and West Jersey as it was called then, was settled in 1665 by English emigrants, and two governments were organized therefor under grants from the Duke of York, which were subsequently consolidated into one. Slavery was introduced into that province as it had been in all of the others, but the number of slaves did not become as numerous as in the more Southern colonies, because the soil and climate were not as suitable for slave labor.
Pennsylvania was settled in 1682 under the proprietorship of William Penn, and the government was organized by him, including within its jurisdiction Delaware also. Slavery was introduced into this colony, and slaves were held without scruple by the Quaker followers of Penn. In 1692, George Keith, a Scotch Quaker who had been the champion of the Quakers against their persecutors—the Reverend Cotton Mather of witch notoriety, and the other Massachusetts divines—attacked negro slavery as inconsistent with Quaker principles. For this he was "disavowed" by the yearly meeting of the Quakers of Pennsylvania, as a schismatic, and he instituted a meeting of his own called "Christian Quakers." For publishing a reply to a publication against him, he was fined by the Quaker magistrates of Philadelphia and he subsequently became disgusted with the whole sect, turned Episcopalian, went to England and took orders there, and was one of the first missionaries sent to the American colonies by the "Society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts."
In 1699, Penn proposed to provide by law for the marriage, religious instruction and kind treatment of slaves, but he met with no response from the Quaker legislature of Pennsylvania. The "spirit" had not then moved the Quakers to "bear their testimony" against slavery and consequently they did not "testify." In 1712, the legislature imposed a duty of £20 on all negroes and Indians brought into the province by land or water, a drawback to be allowed in case of re-exportation within twenty days, and slaves brought in and concealed were to be sold. This act did not owe its origin to abhorrence of slavery itself, but was passed in a fright at some alleged plots for insurrections, which were apprehended in consequence of one which had been discovered in New York. The act was disallowed by Queen Anne, and the same legislature replied to a petition in favor of emancipating the negroes, "That it was neither just nor expedient to set them at liberty." This was the only "testimony" borne by the Quakers of Pennsylvania against slavery prior to the war of the Revolution.
Delaware was originally settled by Swedes at the same time the settlement was made in New Jersey, and it had been embraced under the same government with Pennsylvania at the time of Penn's settlement, but it was made a separate province, by his consent, in the year 1691. Delaware is entitled to the credit of being not only the first of the provinces but the first country in the world to adopt an express enactment prohibiting the introduction of slaves within its limits. This it did in the year 1771, but the act was vetoed by Governor Penn, the grandson of Wm. Penn, and the representative of the crown. The prohibition was incorporated into the first State Constitution adopted in the year 1776. Delaware was, however, a slave colony and remained a slave State.
The first permanent settlement within the limits of the territory of Louisiana, which embraced a very large tract of country, was made under the auspices of D'Ibberville, a French Canadian, at Mobile, within the limits of the present State of Alabama in the year 1702. Bienville, governor of Louisiana, located New Orleans, the first permanent settlement within the limits of the State of Louisiana, in the year 1718. Slavery was introduced into the province of Louisiana under the direction of the French government, a contract being made for that purpose with Anthony Crozat, a French merchant, to whom the province and a monopoly of its trade were granted. Crozat resigned his patent in 1717, and a monopoly of the trade for twenty-five years was granted to "the company of the West," commonly called "The Mississippi Company," with which the famous Law was connected. By its contract, the company undertook to introduce 6,000 whites and half as many negro slaves into the province. Slavery thus became established in Louisiana under the express stipulation of the French government, and continued to exist under its authority. In 1763, by the treaty made between England, France and Spain, at the close of the war in which all three nations had been engaged, France ceded to England, Canada and all of the territory east of the Mississippi river, except the island of Orleans, and to Spain all of Louisiana which had not been ceded to England, while Spain ceded Florida to England. In 1783, England re-ceded Florida to Spain, and at the same time ceded to the same power that part of Louisiana north of the 31st degree of latitude which had been acquired from France. The parts of the original province of Louisiana thus re-united, remained a Spanish province until the year 1801, when it was re-ceded to France, and in 1803 it was ceded to the United States. Slavery had continued to exist in the province, and the different parts of it, and to be recognized as legal, during all of these changes.