Figure 1.--Here is a depition of a slae ship being loaded off West Africa. We are not sure who the illustraor was or where it was first publised. |
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The United States banned the importation of slaves (1808). There was, however, only minimal enforcement by the U.S. Navy. It was the Royal Navy that eventually ended the slave trade. The slave trade had been a lynch pin in thr triangular trade that has been a key element of the British economy and helped bring great wealth to Britain. It had in part helped to finance the growth of the Royal Navy. The expansion of the British merchant fleet under the protection of the Royal Navy resulted in Britain dominating the slave trade by the 18th century. British ships beginning about 1650 are believed to have transported as many as 4 million Africans to the New World and slavery. The British Parliament during the Napoleonic Wars banned the slave trade (1807). This was a decession made on moral grounds after a long campaign in Britain against slavery at considerable cost at a time of War. After Trafalgur (1805) the powerful British Royal Navy could intercept suspected slave ships under belligerent rights. After the cesation of hostilities this became more complicated. The only internationally recognized reason for boarding foreign ships was suspected piracy. Thus Britain had to persue a major diplomatic effort to convince other countries to sign anti-slavery treaties which permitted the Royal Navy to board their vessels if suspected of transporting slaves. Nearly 30 countries eventually signed these treaties. The anti-slavery effort required a substantial effort on the part of the Royal Navy. The major effort was carried out by the West Coast of Africa Station which the Admiralty referred to as the ‘preventive squadron’. The Royal Navy from this station for 50 years conducted operations to intercept slavers. At the peak of these operartions abour 25 ships and 2,000 officers and men were deployed. There were about 1,000 Kroomen, African sailors, operating West African Station. The Royal Navy deployed smaller, shallow draft vessels so that slavers could be persued in shallow waters. Britain also targeted African leaders who engaged in the slave trade. A British forced in one operation deposed the King of Lagos (1851). The climate and exposure to filthy diseased laden slave ships made the West African station dangerous. The officers and men were rewarded with Prize money for both freeing slaves and capturing the ships. The Royal Navy's task in East Africa and the Indian Ocean was even more difficult. This was in part because of the support for slavery among Islamic powers (both Arabian and Persian). The slave trade persisted into the 1860s, in part because of the continued existence of slavery in the United states. Eventhough thecslave trade was outlawed in America, the American Navy was not used to aggresively inters=dict the slave trade. This did not change until President Lincoln signed the Right of Search Treaty in 1862, a year before the Emancipation Proclamation. Spain abolished slavery in Cuba (1886). Brazil abolished slavery (1888).
The African slave trade is generlly viewed as a European undertaking. In fact both African chiefs and Arabs played major roles. The Arabs were the first to enter the African slave trade. Arabs after their emergence from the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century not only moved into Mesopotamia and North Africa, but also dominated the eastern Indin Ocean, Arabs traders gradually established trading posts along the African Indian Ocean ports. Slaves could be sold to the Arab traders operating from Indian Ocean ports. As the powers of the Arabs increased they began raids on villages to seizes blacks that could be sold in Middle Eastern slave markets. A new outlet appeared in the 15th century. Portuguese explorers began voyages south along the Atlantic coast of Africa. The Portuguese were looking for a route to Asia, but as they moved south they began setting up trading posts. First the Portuguese established trading posts along the coast of West Africa, but gradually moved further south along the coast. Other European maritime powers followed suit. This was the beginning of the African slave trade. The Europeans differed from the Arabs in that they did not normally conduct raids themselves, but usually bougth slaves from Arab slave brokers and African chiefs. As the demand for slaves expanded, whole areas of Africa were depopulated.
It was the Royal Navy that eventually ended the slave trade. The slave trade had been a lynch pin in thr triangular trade that has been a key element of the British economy and helped bring great wealth to Britain. It had in part helped to finance the growth of the Royal Navy. The expansion of the British merchant fleet under the protection of the Royal Navy resulted in Britain dominating the slave trade by the 18th century. British ships beginning about 1650 are believed to have transported as many as 4 million Africans to the New World and slavery.
African slavery became well established in European colonies, including French colonies, during the 17th century. African slavery was an important economic institition by the 18th century, especially important for the Caribbean sugar islands which were a major element in Western European economies. France lost most of its empire to the British, but retained imporant Caribbean islands. Liberty was a byword of the French Revolution as it had been in the American Revolution. But like the Americans, the leaders of the French Revolution did not move toward abolition. In America any step toward abolition during the Revolution or the frameing of the Constitution would have meant disunion as it would have been unacceptable to the southern colonies. In France it appears to redlect the bouergoise character of the Revolution and the economic importance of Caribbean slavery to the French economy--especially Haiti. While France did not move toward abolition, the Revolution did have substantial reverberations, both in the Caribbean and in England which affected slavery. Neither the Revolutionaries or Napoleon moved yoward abolition. Neither did the restored French momarchy after the Naoleonic Wars. This in fact posed a problen for Britain which after abolishing slavery gave the Royal Navy the task of ending the Atalantic slave trade.
The first major step toward ending slavery occurred in Haiti, at the time a French colony. Haiti was by far the most valuable Caribbean island because of the sugar plantations. Conditions for slves on this plantations were exctrodinarily brutal. Developments in France helped to spark the slave revolt. It developed into a lengthy and bloody struggle ending in the end of slavery and independence for Haiti. It would prove to be the only successful slave rebellion. Southerners in the new independent United States were horified by the prospect of a slave rebellion. Haiti was ostersized by America depite the fact that the Haitians destroyed a French army that was preparing to restblish aFrench North American Empire in Louisiana. The Europeans and new Latin American republics also ostersized Haiti.
A key role in ending the African slave trade was the development of an abolition movement in Britain. Here Christians (Wilberforce and Clarkson) played a major role. The movement founded the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade (1787). Debates in Parliament commenced shortly afterwards (1789). The abolitionists managed to get a bill committing Britain to ending the slave trade (1792). The insertion of the world "gradual" and the lack of a time table meant that little was done. Opponents claimed thst it would put Britain at a disadvantage to other countries. Another bill failed narowly (1796) and Britain's attention turned increasingly to Revolutionary France. Several parlimentarians played an important role. The Whig Party played an important role. Several parlimentarians played important roles. One was
Henry Peter Brougham. The abolitionists after several years of work suceeding in passing a bill in ablolishing the slave trade in conquered territories (1805). This was finally followed with the passage of the bill outlawing the slave trade in the British Empire (1807). [Pollock] This was a major step because Britain with its powerful Royal Navy after Trafalgur (1805) dominated the world's oceans. Britain was the only country with the capability of ending the slave trade. The abolitionist movement in America was much weaker than in Britain. And as it developed it was highly sectional. The Abolitionist movement in America was built around Protestant churches in the northern states. At first Quakers were the most prominent voice, but other religious groups in the North also began to question slavery. Southern churches, however, saw no relligious problem with slavery. Southern slaves, owever, saw considerable paralells with the bondage of the people of Isreael in Egypt and their plight.
Slavery was an issue that could not be resonved at the Constitution Convention (1787). There was agreement on a provision to end the slave trade. The new Constitution declared a provision to end the slave trade after a 20-year period. Congress after an extensive debate did 20 years later passed the Slave Importation Act (1807). The Act became effective in 1808 and prohibited the further importation of slaves. I am not entirely sure of the politics involved. Southern Congressmen could have blocked the bill had they chosen to do so. President Jefferson's support was critical. There were several provisions to the bill, each hotly debated. There was, however, only minimal enforcement by the U.S. Navy which in 1808 was very small. At the time the U,S. Navy was miniscule and President Jefferson opposed naval shipbuilding. Thus the Federal government did not have a substabntial naval force to slave trading. But it was not only the Navy's ability, but the continued support for slavery in the southern states that impaired any effective American action. The Act only affected the slave trade, not slavery itself. Slavery itself was a matter that was the esponsibility of each individual state.
Ending the slave trade is normally seen in moral terms. As important if not more important in the struggle over the slave trade is European power politics. British support for Wilberforce was initially because abolitiin was seen as weakening the French in the Caribbean. And French reluctance to end the slave trade was in part because it was seem as a British attempt to use the power of the Royal Navt. weaken the French evonomy. The failure of America to cooperate effectively with the Royal Navy was American reluctanceto allow any interference with American commerce.
The British Parliament during the Napoleonic Wars banned the slave trade (1807).
The ban was even more restrictive than the American ban. And the British with the poweful Royal Navy had the means to act. At the time tens of thousands of slaves were being transported annually, many on British ships. This was a decession made on moral grounds after a long campaign in Britain against slavery led by religious reformers like Wilbur Wilberforce. It was a action taken at considerable cost and at at a time of War. There was some support for the slave trade by sugar merchants, cotton mill ownwrs, Liverpool slavers, and some politicians, but the British public strongly supported the effort. [Vogel]
Cooperation between Britain and America would have played a major role in ending the slave trade. Both Britain and America passed laws ending the slave trade, however, several factors prevented cooperation. The most incediary issues was impressment.
The Napoleonic Wars resulted in the significant expansion of the Royal Navy. As a result the British badly needed men to man the new ships. One way to find the men as there was no conscription was the notorious press gangs. Another was the impressment of American sailors. This was actually preferable to the Royal Navy because the men impressed were actual sailors with nautical skills. Britain approved the Orders in Council (1806). Thid barred neutral trade with France and countries allied with France. This was the British reaction to Napoleon's Continental System. The Orders in Council required neutral ships desiring to trade with France to enter British ports and pay a tax. This of course significatly increased shipping costs and threatened the U.S. maritime industry. The Royal Navy stopped American-flag merchantment to prevent trade with France. Officers obstensibly looking for Royal Navy deserters indiscriminately seized British and American sailors from those U.S. merchant ships. Nationality somewhat complicated this issue. Some Americans were in fact British born and there wre quite a number of Royal Navy deserters working on merican ships. The British were not overly descriminating about who they seized. The need for men was often a more important matter. This practice despite the complications obviously was a violation of the the sovereignty of the United States. An incident off the U.S. coast brouht these simmering issues to public attention (1807). The HMS Leopard engaged the USS Chesapeake off the Virginia Capes. After forcing the Chesapeake to surrender, the British impressed some of the crew. This was an especially notable incident because the Chesapeak wa a U.S. naval vessel and not a merchant vessel. President Jefferson resisted the cries for war with Britain. Jefferson responded with the Embargo Act (December 1807). The act prohibited U.S. ships from trading with all foreign country. The prohibition had little impact on Britain, but severely affected the U.S. economy. The act crippled the American maritime industry--especially important to the New England economy. [Labaree] While the practice did obtain some sailors for the Royal Navy, there were obvious diplomatic consequences. This impressment of Americans so poisoned relations that cooperation on the slave trade was impossible. The impressment of sailors would eventually lead to the War of 1812. And it would impair the proscepts for cooperation on efforts to end the slave trade for decades after the War. With this background, it was difficult for the United States to accept any form of search or seizure by British forces, even in the effort to halt the slave trade.
The War of 1812 is the war between America and Britain during 1812-15. The War of 1812 to most Europeans meant the invasion of Russia by Napoleon's Grand Army. To Americans it means the war with Britain, a kind of second revolutionary war. The War was indeed influenced by the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The War of 1812, however, was primarily the outgrowth of domestic issues. The primary international issue was the impressment of American sailors by the Royal Navy.
The Chesapeake Affair result in cries for war with Britain. President Jefferson was opposed to war. War fever gradually grew as the British continued to impress American seamen. The War Hawks in Congress were also still intent on seizing Canada from the British. The Americans had tried to seize Canada during the American Revolutionsry War, but failed. President James Madison finally sent a war message to Congress which was approved (1812). Ironically this occured after the British had agreed to stop impressing American sailors, but word had not yet reached America. President James Madison's stress the free trade issue, claiming "Free Trade and Rights of Sailors". There was, however, more ethusiasm for the War in the West. New England was dubious about the War, perhaps better understanding the power of the Royal Navy. Western frotiersmen were primarily interested in land.
While impressment was important, it was probably British actions on the frontier, especially the North west Territory that was the major cause of the War. Americans moving west wamted land. This could only be obtained from the Indians. And the British were suppirting Indian tribes as part of a policy to hold Americans in check. Westerners also saw land in Ontario. Southern proponents looked covetously at Florida, at the time held by Britain's Spanish ally. The resultng war was arguably the most mis-guided in American history. The War Hawks were not the professional military. In fact, America did not rally have a professional military at the time. Most of the fighting since the Revolutinary War had been done by state militias against Native Americans on the western frontier. America entere the War with virtuasly no preparation against one of the gret military powers of the day.
After Trafalgur (1805) the powerful British Royal Navy had no real rival at sea. In fact Britain would not be chllenged a sea agsin until the Germany Navy in World War I. The Royal Navy could thus intercept suspected slave ships under belligerent rights. This was possible until the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815). After the cesation of hostilities this became more complicated because international law did not permit the Royal Navy to stop foreign-flag ships. The only internationally recognized reason for boarding foreign ships was suspected piracy.
Wilberforce launched an effort to pass a Registry Bill (1816). The bill would require colonies throughout the Empire to register all slaves. Abolitionists were convinced that plabtation operators in several Caribbean colonies were continuing to illegally participate in the African slave trade.
The diplomatic landscape changed during and after the Napoleonic Wars. One after another, the South American countries became independent republics. The Caribbean islands, except for Haiti, remained in European hands. The most important country here was Brazil with a substanti-slave based economy. This complicated the diplomatic effort creating many new jurisdictions thstv hd to be dealt with, The South American countries did not possess many vessels that prticipted in the slave trade, but they cooperated to vay degrees with the slavers--espeially Brazil. The large market for slaves in Brazil and the short run from Africa to Brazilin ports made interdiction difficult. Cuba was also important, but remained in Spanish hands.
Britain after the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) had to persue a major diplomatic effort to convince other countries to ban the slave trade and sign anti-slavery treaties which permitted the Royal Navy to board their vessels if suspected of transporting slaves. Nearly 30 countries eventually signed these treaties. Four countries were especially important if Britain was to end the slace trade. At the time, European countries had not colonized much of sub-Sahara Africa, although they did control several important ports. Several countries has colonies in the Americas (France, Portugal, and Spain) where slavey was important. And of course slavery was important in the souther section of the United States. The British persuaded an unethusiatic Portugal to abolish the slave trade north of the equator (1815). A mixed commission was established at Sierra Leone to adjudicate the slavers arested by the Royal Navy. Spain also agreed (1817). Bribes helped convinced the Portuguese and Spanish authorities. Getting officials to actually cooperate and take action against their nationals involved in slaving, however, proved much more difficult. And ths was only the beginning of the diplomatic program.
American policies on the slave trade were confused and often contradictory. The Federal Government had no authority to act on slavery. It did had the right to act on the slave trade. The U.S. Comgress passed the Slave Trade Act (1819). Congress in the Act gave President James Monroe the authority to use the U.S. Navy to end the slave trade. Congress also approved the creation of Liberia as a place where freed slaves could be returned to Africa. Congress next approved an amendment which equated slave trading with piracy, a stiff provision because piracy was punishable by death. The problem with these stiff-sounding measures was that the U.S. Navy was very small and did not have the ability to effectively patrol American waters, let alone African waters. And Ameeicans were strongly oppsed to giving the Royal Navy the right to inspect American vessels. The War of 1812 had been fought in part over the Royal Navy stopping American-flag vessels and impressing American sailors. Senator James DeWolfe of Rhode Island
sponsored an amendment prohibiting Royal Navy searches. (Rhode Island was a major maritime state and slaving had been an important maritime activity. Dewolfe was himself a former slasver.)
The abolition movement in America was not yet important in the North and slavery was a matter of law throughout the South. Nothing so exempified American attitudes than an exchange between the British Foreign Minister and American Secretary of State (and future president) John Quincy Adams in 1822. The Foreign Minister asked Secretary Adams if he could think of anything more atrocious than the slave trade. Adams, no friend of Adams, shot back, "Yes. Admitting the right of search by foreign officers of our vessels upon the seas in time of peace; for that would be making slaves of ourselves." [Booth, p. 81.]
The slave trade continued because of the continued demand for slaves in the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil and the high prices that could be obtained for slaves. One reason there was not more of a fight over slavery at the American Constitutional Convention was that many were convinced that it was inefficent and would gradually die out as it had in the North. It did not, in large measure because of the invention of the cotton gin ad the resulting spread of enormously profitable cotton plantation throughout the South. Sugar production expanded in the Caribbean, especially Cuba. Brazilian agriculture expanded, especially coffee. These and other developments meant that rather than withering away, slavery grew in importance and with it the demand for more slaves. British and American cooperation on ending the slave trade did not occur, even after the War of 1812. Many Americans believed that the British demand of the right of search was nothing more than a disguised effort to disrupt trade with Africa. This impaired cooperative efforts until the Civil War (1861-65). It was not much the cooperation of the fledgeling American Navy that was needed. It was the cooperation of port authorities in the United States, especially the souhern ports, that was needed. And support for slavery in the South was not declining, the profitability of cotton was creating an increased demand for slaves and political support for slavery.
The anti-slavery effort required a substantial effort on the part of the Royal Navy. The major effort was carried out by the West Coast of Africa Station which the Admiralty referred to as the ‘preventive squadron’. The British deployed ships to patrol the African coast (1811). The Royal Navy from this station for 50 years conducted operations to intercept slavers. At the peak of these operartions abour 25 ships and 2,000 officers and men were deployed. There were about 1,000 Kroomen, African sailors, operating West African Station. The Royal Navy deployed smaller, shallow draft vessels so that slavers could be persued in shallow waters. Britain also targeted African leaders who engaged in the slave trade. A British forced in one operation deposed the King of Lagos (1851). The climate and exposure to filthy diseased laden slave ships made the West African station dangerous. The officers and men were rewarded with Prize money for both freeing slaves and capturing the ships. The Royal Navy patrols affected the slavers operations. The Slavers picked up slaves along a 3,000-mile length of the Sub-Saharan African Atlantic coast. Slaves were brought to numerous sites from Gorée (Dakar) south to Benguela. Before the Royal Navy effort began
slavers collected their cargo gradually in barracoons. With Royal Navy cruisers patroling the coast, slavers speeding up their operations. Lieutenant Forbes on HMS Bonetta reported, "two hours suffice to place four hundred human beings on board". [Forbes, p. 94.] The Royal Navy adapted their strategy as well. The men of the African station wanted to take loade, not empty vessels so they got the bounty for liberating slaves.
The African political structure is difficult to describe over the very long period in which the Arab slave trade in Africa took place. The rrade was conducted over 12 centuries, roughly from 650-1900. It is important, however, to roughly sketch the political structure to understand the ebvironment in which both Europeans and Arabs conducted the slave trade. The Arabs conquered North Africa from a very early stage of the Islamic expansion. Arab traders penetrated into sub-Saharan Africa through desert caravans, the Nilr River, and by estanlish trading postas along the Indian coast of the continent. The black African kingdoms they encountered as they moved into the interior varied over time. Europeans had little access to Africa, blocked for centuries by Arab control of North Africa. This only began to change in the 15th cenntury with the European voyages of discovery with the Portuguese edgeing their way down the African coast. Like the Arabs along the Indian Ocean coast, European influence along the Atlantic coast was first limited to coastal regions.
Early British enforcement of the anti-slavery treaties with Portugal and Spain were complicated by the lack of details on enforcement in the treaty. The Royal Navy stopping suspected slavers and the British searched for slaves. Slavers with empty holds were not arrested. As a result, slavers persued by Royal Navy cruisrs would throw their slave cargo overboard. The British finally addressed this problem by proposing an equipment clause to the treaties. Theis allowed the Royal Navy to seize vessels that had equipment for fixtures making it clear that it was a slaver. This included: open gratings on hatches, spare planks, shackles, numerous water casks, boilers for cooking, and large quantities of rice and other inexpensive food stuffs. Many countries resisted these new stiffer enforcement provisions. Portugal onjected for years until being forced to accepot them (1842). France objected to granting the Royal Navy the right to search its vessels, in part for nationalistic reasons. France and Britain had for centuries been bitter enemies which made such cooperation difficult. The French finally agreed to permit searches (without the equipment clause) (1833), but withdrew permission (1841). [Ward, p. 121.] The British had difficulty obtaining American acqiesence to the equipment clause, but finally succeeded (1849).
Virginian James Monroe was elected president in 1816 and presided over the short-lived "Era of Good Feeling". The contentious struggle bettween Federalists and Republicans were over and the slavery issue was defused with the Missouri Compromise (1820). Monroe had been the U.S. Ambassador to Britain at the time of Chesapeake-Leopard affair. He had as a result become familiar with naval affairs. After Congress passed the Slave Trade Act (1819), Monroe ordered the small U,S. Navy "to seize all vessels navigated under our flag engaged in that trade." [Hagan, 93-94.] The Navy dispatched five ships to African waters (January 1820-August 1821). , beginning with the frigate Cyane. She was followed by the brig Hornet, frigate John Adams, and schooners Alligator and Shark, both fast 200-ton Baltimore clipper types, 86 feet long, mounting 12 guns, with crews of 70, which were well suited for running down slave ships. The numbers of Africans freed, however, were limited, primarily because of diplomatic reasons. Those freed from the slavers were transported to the American Colonization Society in what was to become Liberia. The Amercan squadron was recalled in 1824 and did not return to West Africa until 1843.
The greatest slave revolt was the Baptist War. Rainfall was below normal in 1831. Some plantations experenced drought conditions. This reduced the crop yields. Some planters to make up for falling revenue reduced rations. The slaves as axresult of the missions supported by the anti-slavery movement in Britain were aware of efforts to end slavery. It was here that ideas about emancipation and the white preachers at the missions were so different than the planters. Religious meetings also gave slaves the opportunity to plot abd exchange pans with slaves on other plantations. This provided an element that was never available to slaves in the United States. [Reckord, p. 108.] the white missionaries preached a message of patient obedience and resignation. There was also a native Baptist church with led by blacks which preached a more activist message. The revolt began during the Christmas holiday (1831). Samuel Sharp, a domestic slave and Baptist deacon, organized a peaceful general strike to achieve emancipation and a living wage. The signal to begin the strike was a fire on the Kensington Estate in St. James Parish. The strike, however, soon got out of hand. Here the actual course of events are not entirely known. It is clear that from the beginning that the plantrs saw the strike as rebellion pure and simple. Rebellion swept the western parishes. The Revolt becamne known as the Baptist War because of the role of the missions. The slaves destroyed 106 sugar plantations in St. James Parish alone. A militia force organized by the planters and the small British garrison supressed the strike after only 10 days. The authorities reported killing 201 slaves, the actual total was probably about 400. Missionaries were arrested. Hunting down escapee slaves continued for weeks after. Sharpe was hung. An estimated 20,000 slaves participated in the rebellion. They killed planters and ruined crops. The British and planters convinced them to lay down their revolt with promises of abolition. These romises were not met. The Britsh hung 3440 slaves were were identified as leaders. Large numbers were punished in various ways such as whippings. The British Parliament held two inquiries to assess the property damage and loss of life.
Parliament prohibited slavery in her colonies (1833). The act for abolition of slavery passed its third reading in the House of CommonsOn (July 26, 1833). Wilberforce died 3 days later, but by thus time it was clear that it would also be passed by the House of Lords. Wilberforce was buried in Westminster Abbey by request of members of both Houses of Parliament. Slavery was finally abolished throughout the British Empire (1834). [Copeland]
The Royal Navy intercepted slavers with large numbers of captive Africans. We do not know the number of Africans involved or indeed if any one has calculated the number involved. During the several decaded the Royal Navy worked to end slavery, the number must have been very substantial. The British abolition of slavery did not in actuality immediately end slavery and slave-like working conditions. Some British merchant vessels continued to carry goods useful in the slave trade. The Royal Navy did not return the captive Africans to the point of departure. This would have been costly and would probably have meabnt that they would just be reenslaved. Africans on slavers intercepted off Africa were often landed in Sierra Leone. Other Africans were landed at Britain's Caribbean colonies. Here their tratment and experience varied over time, but in general were treated differently than the existing slave population. [Adderly] And the British documented the experience of these inviduals in much more detail than the slaves. And because of their different treatment were in a positioin to retain more of their African culture. Many of thoe released captives were were treated as "emigrant laborers" to work on sugar plantations. America seamen questioned Britains commitment to ending the slave trade. American seamam Horatio Bridge, the purser of the USS Saratoga wrote in the 1840s, "English philanthropy cuts a very suspicious figure". He thought the British were using the Africans as pawns to strengthen their position in the Indies. [Bridge, 551.] A British naval officer, Lieutenant Forbes on HMS Bonetta argues with some difficulty that the African emigration was "voluntary" and waxed eloquently about a British emigrant ships with a urgeon and brass band. He conseded, howeber, that a salaried agent was rewarded with "a guinea a head for each emigrant!". [Forbes, p. 26.]
The British when the United States drew its African Squadron began boarding American ships suspected of carrying slaves. Without a treary, the Royal Navy used the pretext of "right of visit", This was a a limited version of "right of search" that Lord Palmerston wanted, but it provide an tenuously legal excuse to board American ships. The incidents were heavily criticised in the American press. The internment issue that led to the War of 1812 had not been forgotten.
As the American and Cananadian boundary was still not settled, both Maine and especially the Oregon Territory. The slogan "54º40' or fight" was widely supported. The possibility of a third war with Britain loomed. And by a 1840 American-British relations were approaching a crisis. The most celebrated incident was the action of the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Buzzard which intercepted two suspected American slavers off Africa--the brig Eagle and schooner Clara. As there were no American naval ships to turn the vesseks over to, the British escorted the suspected slavers to New York harbor. The arrival of the three ships created a furor in the American press which was indugniant that the British would seize American ships.
The long voyage was for naught. The U.S. attorney general ordered the Eagle and Clara released, accepting spurious Spanish papers produced by the owners. [Howard, p. 25.] The United States ordeeed a suadron back into African waters (1840). Passions were defused by the
Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842). The Treaty is best known for finally settling tghe United States-Canadian boundary. The Treaty also addressed the slave trade.
The Royal Navy woirked hard in the 1840s to stop the Atlantic slave trade by shutting down the the entrports from where slaves were shipped in West Africa, Here the Royal Navy persued a range of activities. One method was direct military action. Royal Navy ships landed raiding partes and destroyed several barracoons. Many of these baracoons were not right on the coast, but up river where many large sailing ships could not go. One of these rivers was the Gallinas River in modern Sierra Leone (near Liberia). Actually Galinas was an estuarine area fed by the Kerefe and Moa Rivers. This was the baracoons from which the Amistad captives had been originally shipped. These Royal Navy attacks proved effective, but they also exposed Royl Navy personnel to dangers. Not only was there dangers to small landing forces from attack, but landing and coastal operation exposed the men to tropical diseases. Another effective method was negotiating treaties with native chiefs. Here both force and bribes were used to considerable affect. The result was a significant reduction in the slave trade in West Africa (the bulge of Africa north of the Niger River). This was the area the Royal Navy focused its efforts. The response of the slavevers was to shift south to the Congo River. [Thomas, pp. 689-705.] These rivers are important because there were no real roads in Africa. Thus the rivers were the primary artieries of commerce. The Congo dominating much of central Africa.
The Royal Navy's task in East Africa and the Indian Ocean was even more difficult than in the Atlantic. This was in part because of the support for slavery among Islamic powers (both Arabian and Persian). The Indian Ocean from the early Islamic conquests (8th century) to the European voyages of discovery (15th century) was essentially an Arab lake dominatd by armed Arab traders, contested at times by the Persians. One of the important commodities transported over the Arab-controlled Indian Ocean was enslaved Africans. The principal port of embarcation for Afrians taken by Arab slavers was entrepôt Zanzibar. Not a lot is known about Zanzibar and the slave trade until the 19th century. By the time the Royal Navy moved against the Arab Indian Ocean slave trade, it wasargely in the hands of the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The Sultanate's expanding plantation operations in the early 19th century were worked mostly with slave labor. Theprofits fom the East African plantations induced the Sultan of Oman, Sayyid Said, to relocated his capital from Oman to the east African island of Zanzibar (1840). The Sultan's sovereignty at the time extended from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique. One source estimates that 1850 when the British Royal Navy was just beginning to turn its attention to the Indian Ocean slave trade that Arab traders were shipping about 20,000 Africans to slave markets annually. An even larger number of Africans would have been killed in the attacks taking slaves and on the the sad columns of Africans that winded their way from the interior to the Indian Ocean coast. The mortalities in the Eastern slave trade were especally high because the Arabs were primarily after women and children which meant the men had to be killed. This was not, however, a largely naval problem. The Arab slave trade had once been focused on bringing slaves to Middle Easten markets. Now with the growth of palm oil and spice plantations, there was a need for large number of slaves in East Africa itself.
The United States abolished the slave trade (1807). That did not mean that the slave trade ended. American Navy and especially the Royal Navy as accounted above did gradually reduce the Trans-Atlabntic Slave Trade. Slave ships we know did continue to arrive in America, both directlt from Africa and from the Caribbean, especiallt from Cuba after the British abolished first the slave trade (1807)and then slavery itself (1833-34). Most scholars believe that from the aboliton of the slave trade (1807) that American slavery was primarily conytinued through an internal slave trade. There were some illegal slaves brought in from overseas. We think that the numbers were relatively small. This was not because rthe Federal Government strictly enforced the laws, but because the mere existence of the laws and the covert sales made Trans-Atlantic operations expensive and thus unprofitable. And America's maritime fleet was largely operated by northeasterners and not southeners. The actual numbers are not, however, known with any certainty because of the covert nature of the enterprise. The last known Trans-Atlantic slave trip to the Inited Stsates occurred just before the Civil War--the Clotilda. It brought 110 childrenand young adults (5-23 years of age to Alabama (July 1860). [Diouf] The voyage is of special interest because detailed documentation exidsts on both the voyage and the subsequent lives of the Africans in America.
The Royal Navy did not obtain cooperation in its efforts from the United States until the outbreak of the Civil War. The slave trade persisted into the 1860s, in part because of the continued existence of slavery in the United States. Even though the slave trade was outlawed in America (1807), the American Navy did not have the capacity, nor was it used to aggresively interdict the slave trade. Even so the American importation of Africans had declined to very small numbers. The slave plantatuns of the Deep South were primarily supplied by a domestic slave trade. Slaves from border states and the Atlantic seaboard slaves states supplied the slaves needed by the cotton planters. This did not change until President Lincoln signed the Right of Search Treaty (1862), a year before the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freed large numbers of slaves as Federal armies occuoied increasingly large areas oif the Confederacy. The rapid expansion of the U.S. Navy and the naval embargo of the Confederacy put at end to what remained of the slave trade bringing slaves into the United States. The Emancipation Proiclamation was a war-time measure which skave owners could have been challenged in the the courts. Congress passed the The 13th Amendment which made abolition a part of the Constitution (1865).
The abolition of slavery in Spain's last Western Hemishphere colonies is a complicated matter. Spain signed a treaty with Britain to end the slave trade (1817). There was a grace period involved. Spain while agreeing to end the slave trade, in fact took no real actions to do so. Enforcement was largely left to the limited abilities of the British Royal Navy. After the treaty came into force, slavers continued to deliver slavers to Cuba and to a lesser extent Puerto Rico. One account estimates that between 1821 and 1831 more than 300 slave ships brought an estimated 60,000 slaves to Cuba. Spanish authorities on Cuba made no real effort to stop this. Spain abolished slavery south of the equator (1820). Spain at the time, however, had lost or was losing its South American colonies, leaving it only with Cuba and Puerto Rico which were well north of the Equator. Following the defeat of Spain in a series of wars in South America and Mexico, Cubans began to organize an independence movement (1820s). Spain declared martial law and suppressed Cuban newspapers. Newly indepebndent Mexico and Venezuela began to consider expeditions to support Cuba revolutionaries. The United States began to fear another slave rebellion like the one in Haiti with repercussions for the slave holding South. Secretary of State Henry Clay moveed to block such efforts.
The Spanish government issued new regultions designed to stop the slve trade (1826). The Spanish proclaimed that any slave who could prove he was illegally imported would be freed. They also issued new regulations requiring ship masters arriving from Africa to submit their logbooks to port authorities for evidence of slaving. British officials complain that the new regulations wre being ignored by autjorities on Cuba. The Minerva incident soon brought this to light. The master of the scooner Minerva landed six boat loads of Africans in Havana harbot at night to escape notice. Royal Navy officers attempted to use the Spanish courts in Cuba to prosecute the ship's master. General Francisco Dionisio, the captain-general of Cuba, blocked the effort. He refused to let the case be brought before the court of mixed commission set up under te terms of the treaty between Spain and Britain. Dionisio claimed that the incident occurred in Havana Harbor and not on the high seas. A spanish census on Cuva found a slave population of 287,000 (1827). Most of Cuba's slaves worked on 1,000 sugar plantations (ingenios).
Sugar planter Carlos Manuel de Céspesdes freed his slaves, issuing the Cry of Yara (Grito de Yara). A wave of slave liberations followed (1868). The wars of liberation against Spain were impaired by the slave question. Planters wee concerned that independence would lead to abolition.
The Spanish Government proclaimed the "Free Market Law" which freed slaves over age 60, those born after September 17, 1868, and all slaves who fight under the Spanish flag (1870). The last slaver landed Africans in Cuba (1873). Spain finally aboloishes slavery (1886). This meant the end of slavery on the two remaining Spanish colonies in the Western Hmishere--Cuban and Puerto Rico.
The last major country outsude of the Middle East to abolish slavery was Brazil. It was the last major action taken by the Braziklian royal family. The Brazilian royal dynasty stemmed from the Portugese royal family that was forced by Napoleon to flee from Lisbon. Dom Joao set up his court and temporary capital of the Portuguese Empire in Rio de Janeiro, Napoleon's defeat in Russia (1812) fatally weakened France and the French had to withdraw from Iberia (1814). Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo (1815). Dom Joao did not return to Portugal, however, until several years later (1821). Dom Joao left his son Dom Pedro in charge of Brazil when he returned to Portugal (1821). Dom Joao attempted to resume the traditional system of colonial rule. Dom Pedro decided to declare Brazil's independence from Portugal and his independence from his father as Pedro I (1822). Brazil's economy changed significantly in the 19th century as coffee became an increasingly important crop. There was considerable Europeam immigratiin in the 19th century, especially from Italy.
Pedro II was a ruler of conservative mindset. He came to see slavery, despite its ecoinomic importance to Brazil as inherently evil. Pedero began a series of measures liberating Brazilian slaves. He was posed to ebntirely abolish slavery. His measures against slavery met oposition from major landowners and the military, the leadership of which was drawn from the landed elite. The Emperor was on a trip to Europe when his daughter, Princess Isabel serving as regent, issued a decree abolishing slavery (May 13, 1888).
This essentially did away for the last bastion of slavery, although forced labor cotinued for some time, in the Western Hemishere and ended what remained of the the African slave trade. Princess Isabella's decree is known as the Golden Law. It was widely praised in Europe. Conservative forces in Brazil, however, were horrified. As this was the the monarchy's primary source of support, it mortally wounded the monarchy. The landowners organized to oppose the monarchy. Revolts broke out in the important cities. There was some support for the opposition by republican regimes in Uruguay and Argentina. Insurgents proclaimed a republic (November 16, 1889).
Adderley, Rossanne, Marion. New Negroes from Africa: Slave Trade Abolitionand Free African Settlement in the 19th Century Caribbean. This is an excellent study looking at the experiences of released captives on two Caribbean colonies, the Bahamas and Trinidad.
Booth, Alan R. "The United States African Squadron, 1843-1861," Boston University Papers in African History, vol. 1, Jeffrey Butler, ed. (Boston: Boston University Press, 1964).
Bridge, Horatio. Journal of an African Cruiser, Nathaniel Hawthorne, ed. (New York: G.R Putnam, 1853).
Copeland, Reginald. Wilberforce: A Narrative (1923).
Corwin, Arthur F. Spain and the Abolition of Slavery in Cuba, 1817-1886.
Diouf, Sylviane. Dreams of Africa in Alabama: Story of the Last Africans
Forbes, Lieutenant. Six Months Service in the African Blockade (London: Richard Bentley, 1849).
Hagan, Kenneth J. This People’s Navy: The Making of American Seapower (New York: Free Press, 1991).
Labaree, Benjamin W. et. al. America and the Sea: A Maritime History (Mystic: Mystic Seaport, 1998).
Lieutenant Forbes. Six Months Service in the African Blockade (London: Richard Bentley, 1849).
Howard, Warren S. American Slavers and the Federal Law, 1837-1862 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963).
Pollock, John. Wilberforce: God’s Statesman (1977, 2001).
____________. William Wilberforce: A Man Who Changed His Times (1996).
Reckord, Mary. "The Jamaica Slave Rebellion of 1831," Past and Present, No. 40 (July 1968), pp. 108-125
Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997).
Vogel, Robert. Without Consent or Contract (New York: W.W. Norton, 1989).
Ward, W.E.F. The Royal Navy and the Slavers (New York: Schoken Books, 1970).
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