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

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

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Title: The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States
of America 1638-1870
Author: W. E. B. Du Bois
Release Date: February 7, 2006 [EBook #17700]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE TO THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1638-1870
Volume I Harvard Historical Studies
1896
Longmans, Green, and Co. New York
* * * * *

Preface
This monograph was begun during my residence as Rogers Memorial
Fellow at Harvard University, and is based mainly upon a study of the
sources, i.e., national, State, and colonial statutes, Congressional
documents, reports of societies, personal narratives, etc. The collection
of laws available for this research was, I think, nearly complete; on the
other hand, facts and statistics bearing on the economic side of the
study have been difficult to find, and my conclusions are consequently
liable to modification from this source.
The question of the suppression of the slave-trade is so intimately
connected with the questions as to its rise, the system of American
slavery, and the whole colonial policy of the eighteenth century, that it
is difficult to isolate it, and at the same time to avoid superficiality on
the one hand, and unscientific narrowness of view on the other. While I
could not hope entirely to overcome such a difficulty, I nevertheless
trust that I have succeeded in rendering this monograph a small
contribution to the scientific study of slavery and the American Negro.
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.
* * * * *

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.