The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America / 1638-1870

by W. E. B. Du Bois

I desire to express my obligation to Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart, of Harvard University, at whose suggestion I began this work and by whose kind aid and encouragement I have brought it to a close; also I have to thank the trustees of the John F. Slater Fund, whose appointment made it possible to test the conclusions of this study by the general principles laid down in German universities.

W.E. BURGHARDT Du BOIS.

Wilberforce University,
March, 1896.

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Contents

[CHAPTER I] Introductory
1.	Plan of the Monograph	9
2.	The Rise of the English Slave-Trade	9
[CHAPTER II] The Planting Colonies
3.	Character of these Colonies	15
4.	Restrictions in Georgia	15
5.	Restrictions in South Carolina	16
6.	Restrictions in North Carolina	19
7.	Restrictions in Virginia	19
8.	Restrictions in Maryland	22
9.	General Character of these Restrictions	23
[CHAPTER III] The Farming Colonies
10.	Character of these Colonies	24
11.	The Dutch Slave-Trade	24
12.	Restrictions in New York	25
13.	Restrictions in Pennsylvania and Delaware	28
14.	Restrictions in New Jersey	32
15.	General Character of these Restrictions	33
[CHAPTER IV] The Trading Colonies
16.	Character of these Colonies	34
17.	New England and the Slave-Trade	34
18.	Restrictions in New Hampshire	36
19.	Restrictions in Massachusetts	37
20.	Restrictions in Rhode Island	40
21.	Restrictions in Connecticut	43
22.	General Character of these Restrictions	44
[CHAPTER V] The Period of the Revolution, 1774–1787
23.	The Situation in 1774	45
24.	The Condition of the Slave-Trade	46
25.	The Slave-Trade and the "Association"	47
26.	The Action of the Colonies	48
27.	The Action of the Continental Congress	49
28.	Reception of the Slave-Trade Resolution	51
29.	Results of the Resolution	52
30.	The Slave-Trade and Public Opinion after the War	53
31.	The Action of the Confederation	56
[CHAPTER VI] The Federal Convention, 1787
32.	The First Proposition	58
33.	The General Debate	59
34.	The Special Committee and the "Bargain"	62
35.	The Appeal to the Convention	64
36.	Settlement by the Convention	66
37.	Reception of the Clause by the Nation	67
38.	Attitude of the State Conventions	70
39.	Acceptance of the Policy	72
[CHAPTER VII] Toussaint L'Ouverture and Anti-Slavery Effort, 1787–1807
40.	Influence of the Haytian Revolution	74
41.	Legislation of the Southern States	75
42.	Legislation of the Border States	76
43.	Legislation of the Eastern States	76
44.	First Debate in Congress, 1789	77
45.	Second Debate in Congress, 1790	79
46.	The Declaration of Powers, 1790	82
47.	The Act of 1794	83
48.	The Act of 1800	85
49.	The Act of 1803	87
50.	State of the Slave-Trade from 1789 to 1803	88
51.	The South Carolina Repeal of 1803	89
52.	The Louisiana Slave-Trade, 1803–1805	91
53.	Last Attempts at Taxation, 1805–1806	94
54.	Key-Note of the Period	96
[CHAPTER VIII] The Period of Attempted Suppression, 1807–1825
55.	The Act of 1807	97
56.	The First Question: How shall illegally imported Africans be disposed of?	99
57.	The Second Question: How shall Violations be punished?	104
58.	The Third Question: How shall the Interstate Coastwise Slave-Trade be protected?	106
59.	Legislative History of the Bill	107
60.	Enforcement of the Act	111
61.	Evidence of the Continuance of the Trade	112
62.	Apathy of the Federal Government	115
63.	Typical Cases	120
64.	The Supplementary Acts, 1818–1820	121
65.	Enforcement of the Supplementary Acts,1818–1825	126
[CHAPTER IX] The International Status of the Slave-Trade, 1783–1862
66.	The Rise of the Movement against the Slave-Trade,1788–1807	133
67.	Concerted Action of the Powers, 1783–1814	134
68.	Action of the Powers from 1814 to 1820	136
69.	The Struggle for an International Right of Search, 1820–1840	137
70.	Negotiations of 1823–1825	140
71.	The Attitude of the United States and the State of the Slave-Trade	142
72.	The Quintuple Treaty, 1839–1842	145
73.	Final Concerted Measures, 1842–1862	148
[CHAPTER X] The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom, 1820–1850
74.	The Economic Revolution	152
75.	The Attitude of the South	154
76.	The Attitude of the North and Congress	156
77.	Imperfect Application of the Laws	159
78.	Responsibility of the Government	161
79.	Activity of the Slave-Trade,1820–1850	163
[CHAPTER XI] The Final Crisis, 1850–1870
80.	The Movement against the Slave-Trade Laws	168
81.	Commercial Conventions of 1855–1856	169
82.	Commercial Conventions of 1857–1858	170
83.	Commercial Convention of 1859	172
84.	Public Opinion in the South	173
85.	The Question in Congress	174
86.	Southern Policy in 1860	176
87.	Increase of the Slave-Trade from 1850 to 1860	178
88.	Notorious Infractions of the Laws	179
89.	Apathy of the Federal Government	182
90.	Attitude of the Southern Confederacy	187
91.	Attitude of the United States	190
[CHAPTER XII] The Essentials in the Struggle
92.	How the Question Arose	193
93.	The Moral Movement	194
94.	The Political Movement	195
95.	The Economic Movement	195
96.	The Lesson for Americans	196
APPENDICES
A.	[A Chronological Conspectus of Colonial and State Legislationrestricting the African Slave-Trade, 1641–1787]	199
B.	[A Chronological Conspectus of State, National, and InternationalLegislation, 1788–1871]	234
C.	[Typical Cases of Vessels engaged in the American Slave-Trade, 1619–1864]	306
D.	[Bibliography]	316
	INDEX	347

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