Movement Against the Slave-Trade in the United States

The Rise of the Movement against the Slave-Trade (1788–1807) and the International Status of the Slave-Trade (1783–1863)

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: At the beginning of the nineteenth century England held 800,000 slaves in her colonies; France, 250,000; Denmark, 27,000; Spain and Portugal, 600,000; Holland, 50,000; Sweden, 600; there were also about 2,000,000 slaves in Brazil, and about 900,000 in the United States.1 This was the powerful basis of the demand for the slave-trade; and against the economic forces which these four and a half millions of enforced laborers represented, the battle for freedom had to be fought.

Denmark first responded to the denunciatory cries of the eighteenth century against slavery and the slave-trade. In 1792, by royal order, this traffic was prohibited in the Danish possessions after 1802. The principles of the French Revolution logically called for the extinction of the slave system by France. This was, however, accomplished more precipitately than the Convention anticipated; and in a whirl of enthusiasm engendered by the appearance of the Dominican deputies, slavery and the slave-trade were abolished in all French colonies February 4, 1794.2 This abolition was short-lived; for at the command of the First Consul slavery and the slave-trade was restored in An X (1799).3 The trade was finally abo134lished by Napoleon during the Hundred Days by a decree, March 29, 1815, which briefly declared: “À dater de la publication du présent Décret, la Traite des Noirs est abolie.”4 The Treaty of Paris eventually confirmed this law.5

In England, the united efforts of Sharpe, Clarkson, and Wilberforce early began to arouse public opinion by means of agitation and pamphlet literature. May 21, 1788, Sir William Dolben moved a bill regulating the trade, which passed in July and was the last English measure countenancing the traffic.6 The report of the Privy Council on the subject in 17897 precipitated the long struggle. On motion of Pitt, in 1788, the House had resolved to take up at the next session the question of the abolition of the trade.8 It was, accordingly, called up by Wilberforce, and a remarkable parliamentary battle ensued, which lasted continuously until 1805. The Grenville-Fox ministry now espoused the cause. This ministry first prohibited the trade with such colonies as England had acquired by conquest during the Napoleonic wars; then, in 1806, they prohibited the foreign slave-trade; and finally, March 25, 1807, enacted the total abolition of the traffic.9

Resources

Notes and References

1. W. E. B. Du Bois, “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America 1638-1870” (1893), Longmans, Green and Co., London, New York, Bombay and Calcuta.

See Also

Further Reading

• R.S. Baldwin. Argument before the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of the United States, Appellants, vs. Cinque, and Others, Africans of the Amistad. New York, 1841.
• William Jay . A View of the Action of the Federal Government, in Behalf of Slavery. New York, 1839.
• Jonathan Elliot. The Debates … on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, etc. 4 vols. Washington, 1827–30.
• Right of Search. Reply to an “American’s Examination” of the “Right of Search, etc.” By an Englishman. London, 1842.
• Michael W. Cluskey. The Political Text-Book, or Encyclopedia … for the Reference of Politicians and Statesmen. Fourteenth edition. Philadelphia, 1860.
• Samuel May, Jr. Catalogue of Anti-Slavery Publications in America, 1750–1863. (Contains bibliography of periodical literature.)
• Carl Garcis. Der Sklavenhandel, das Völkerrecht, und das deutsche Recht. (In Deutsche Zeit- und Streit-Fragen, No. 13.) Berlin, 1885.
• David Turnbull. Travels in the West. Cuba; with Notices of Porto Rico, and the Slave Trade. London, 1840.