The Slave-Trade and the Congress in the United States
The Attitude of the North and Congress and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom (1820–1851)
In the book “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America 1638-1870” (1), W. E. B. Du Bois explained the following: With the North as yet unawakened to the great changes taking place in the South, and with the attitude of the South thus in process of development, little or no constructive legislation could be expected on the subject of the slave-trade. As the divergence in sentiment became more and more pronounced, there were various attempts at legislation, all of which proved abortive. The pro-slavery party attempted, as early as 1826, and again in 1828, to abolish the African agency and leave the Africans practically at the mercy of the States;10 one or two attempts were made to relax the few provisions which restrained the coastwise trade;11 and, after the treaty of 1842, Benton proposed to stop appropriations for the African squadron until England defined her position on the Right of Search question.12The anti-slavery men presented several bills to amend and strengthen previous laws;13 they sought, for instance, in vain to regulate the Texan trade, through which numbers of slaves indirectly reached the United States.14 Presidents and consuls earnestly re157commended legislation to restrict the clearances of vessels bound on slave-trading voyages, and to hinder the facility with which slavers obtained fraudulent papers.15 Only one such bill succeeded in passing the Senate, and that was dropped in the House.16
The only legislation of this period was confined to a few appropriation bills. Only one of these acts, that of 1823, appropriating $50,000,17 was designed materially to aid in the suppression of the trade, all the others relating to expenses incurred after violations. After 1823 the appropriations dwindled, being made at intervals of one, two, and three years, down to 1834, when the amount was $5,000. No further appropriations were made until 1842, when a few thousands above an unexpended surplus were appropriated. In 1843 $5,000 were given, and finally, in 1846, $25,000 were secured; but this was the last sum obtainable until 1856.18 Nearly all of these meagre appropriations went toward reimbursing Southern plantation owners for the care and support of illegally imported Africans, and the rest to the maintenance of the African agency. Suspiciously large sums were paid for the first purpose, considering the fact that such Africans were always worked hard by those to whom they were farmed out, and often “disappeared” while in their hands. In the accounts we nevertheless find many items like that of $20,286.98 for the maintenance of Negroes imported on the “Ramirez;”19 in 1827, $5,442.22 for the “bounty, subsistence, clothing, medicine,” etc., of fifteen Africans;20 in 1835, $3,613 for the support of thirty-eight slaves for two months (including a bill of $1,038 158for medical attendance).21
The African agency suffered many vicissitudes. The first agent, Bacon, who set out early in 1820, was authorized by President Monroe “to form an establishment on the island of Sherbro, or elsewhere on the coast of Africa,” and to build barracks for three hundred persons. He was, however, warned “not to connect your agency with the views or plans of the Colonization Society, with which, under the law, the Government of the United States has no concern.” Bacon soon died, and was followed during the next four years by Winn and Ayres; they succeeded in establishing a government agency on Cape Mesurado, in conjunction with that of the Colonization Society. The agent of that Society, Jehudi Ashmun, became after 1822, the virtual head of the colony; he fortified and enlarged it, and laid the foundations of an independent community. The succeeding government agents came to be merely official representatives of the United States, and the distribution of free rations for liberated Africans ceased in 1827.
Between 1819 and 1830 two hundred and fifty-two recaptured Africans were sent to the agency, and $264,710 were expended. The property of the government at the agency was valued at $18,895. From 1830 to 1840, nearly $20,000 more were expended, chiefly for the agents’ salaries. About 1840 the appointment of an agent ceased, and the colony became gradually self-supporting and independent. It was proclaimed as the Republic of Liberia in 1847.22