OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES.
In the North American provinces, now the United States, negro slavery
existed from a very early period, but on a very limited scale, as the
demand for slaves was mainly supplied from England. The exports of the
colonies were bulky, and the whites could be imported as return cargo;
whereas the blacks would have required a voyage to the coast of
Africa, with which little trade was maintained. The export from
England ceased after the revolution of 1688, and thenceforward negro
slaves were somewhat more freely imported; yet the trade appears to
have been so small as scarcely to have attracted notice. The only
information on the subject furnished by Macpherson in his Annals of
Commerce is that, in the eight months ending July 12, 1753, the
negroes imported into Charleston, S. C., were 511 in number; and that
in the year 1765-66, the value of negroes imported from Africa into
Georgia was £14,820--and this, if they be valued at only £10 each,
would give only 1482. From 1783 to 1787, the number exported from all
the West India Islands to this country was 1392 [9] --being an average
of less than 300 per annum; and there is little reason for believing
that this number was increased by any import direct from Africa. The
British West Indies were then the entrepôt of the trade,[10] and
thence they were supplied to the other islands and the settlements on
the Main; and had the demand for this country been considerable, it
cannot be doubted that a larger portion of the thousands then annually
exported would have been sent in this direction.
Under these circumstances, the only mode of arriving at the history of
slavery prior to the first census, in 1790, appears to be to commence
at that date and go forward, and afterwards employ the information so
obtained in endeavouring to elucidate the operations of the previous
period.
The number of negroes, free and enslaved, at
that date, was.................................... 757,263
And at the second census, in 1801, it was......... 1,001,436
showing an increase of almost thirty-three per cent.
How much of this, however, was due to importation,
we have now to inquire. The only two States that
then tolerated the import of slaves were South
Carolina and Georgia, the joint black population
of which, in 1790, was............................. 136,358
whereas, in 1800, it had risen to.................. 205,555
-------
Increase.......... 69,197
=======
In the same period the white population increased
104,762, requiring an immigration from the Northern
slave States to the extent of not less than 45,000,
even allowing more than thirty per cent. for the
natural increase by births. Admitting, now, that for
every family of five free persons there came one
slave, this, would account for....................... 9,000
And if we take the natural increase of the slave
population at only twenty-five per cent., we have
further.............................................. 34,000
------
Making a total from domestic sources of............ 43,000
And leaving, for the import from abroad............ 26,197
Deducting these from the total number added, we obtain, for the
natural increase, about 29-1/2 per cent.
Macpherson, treating of this period, says--
"That importation is not necessary for keeping up the stock is proved
by the example of North America--a country less congenial to the
constitution of the negro than the West Indies--where,
notwithstanding the destruction and desertion of the slaves
occasioned by the war, the number of negroes, though perhaps not of
slaves, has greatly increased--because, _since the war they have
imported very few_, and of late years none at all, except in the
Southern States."--_Annals_, vol. iv. 150.
The number of vessels employed in the slave trade, in 1795, is stated
to have been twenty, all of them small; and the number of slaves to be
carried was limited to one for each ton of their capacity.
From 1800 to 1810, the increase was 378,374, of which nearly 30,000
were found in Louisiana at her incorporation into the Union, leaving
about 350,000 to come from other sources; being an increase of 35 per
cent. In this period the increase of Georgia and South Carolina, the
two importing States, was only 96,000, while that, of the white
population was 129,073, carrying with them perhaps 25,000. If to this
be added the natural increase at the rate of 25 per cent., we obtain
about 75,000, leaving only 21,000 for importation. It is probable,
however, that it was somewhat larger, and that it might be safe to
estimate it at the same amount as in the previous period, making a
total of about 52,000 in the twenty years. Deducting 26,000 from the
350,000, we obtain 324,000 as the addition from domestic sources,
which would be about 32 per cent. on the population of 1800. This may
be too high; and yet the growth of the following decennial period--one
of war and great commercial and agricultural distress--was almost
thirty per cent. In 1810, the number had been 1,379,800.
In 1820 it was 1,779,885; increase 30 per cent.
" 1830 " 2,328,642; " 30.8 " "
" 1840 " 2,873,703; " 24 " "
" 1850 " 3,591,000; " 25 " " [11]
Having thus ascertained, as far as possible, the ratio of increase
subsequent to the first census, we may now proceed to an examination
of the course of affairs in the period which had preceded it.
In 1714, the number of blacks was 58,850, and they were dispersed
throughout the provinces from New Hampshire to Carolina, engaged, to a
large extent, in labours similar to those in which were engaged the
whites by whom they were owned. One-half of them may have been
imported. Starting from this point, and taking the natural increase of
each decennial period at 25 per cent., as shown to have since been the
case, we should obtain, for 1750, about 130,000. The actual quantity
was 220,000; and the difference, 90,000, may be set down to
importation. Adding, now, 25 percent, to 220,000, we obtain, for 1760,
275,000; whereas the actual number was 310,000, which Would give
35,000 for importation. Pursuing the same course with the following
periods, we obtain the following results:--
Actual Natural Actual
Years Number. Increase. Increase. Importation.
----- ------- --------- --------- ------------
1760..... 310,000..... 77,500..... 152,000..... 74,500
1770..... 462,000..... 115,500..... 120,000..... }
1780..... 582,000..... 140,500..... 170,000..... } 34,000
1790..... 752,000, number given by first census.
For a large portion of the period from 1770 to 1790, there must have
been a very small importation; for during nearly half the time the
trade with foreign countries was almost altogether suspended by the
war of the revolution.
If we add together the quantities thus obtained, we shall obtain a
tolerable approximation to the number of slaves imported into the
territory now constituting the Union, as follows:--
Prior to 1714..................................... 30,000
1715 to 1750...................................... 90,000
1751 to 1760...................................... 35,000
1761 to 1770...................................... 74,500
1771 to 1790...................................... 34,000
And if we now estimate the import
subsequent to 1790 at even........................ 70,000
-------
We obtain as the total number................... 333,500
=======
The number now in the Union exceeds 3,800,000; and even if we estimate
the import as high as 380,000, we then have more than ten for one;
whereas in the British Islands we can find not more than two for five,
and perhaps even not more than one for three. Had the slaves of the
latter been as well fed, clothed, lodged, and otherwise cared for, as
were those of these provinces and States, their numbers would have
reached seventeen or twenty millions. Had the blacks among the people
of these States experienced the same treatment as did their fellows of
the islands, we should now have among us less than one hundred and
fifty thousand slaves.
The prices paid by the British Government averaged
£25 per head. Had the number in the colonies been
allowed to increase as they increased here, it
would have required, even at that price, the
enormous sum of................................ £500,000,000
Had the numbers in this country been reduced
by the same process there practised, emancipation
could now be carried out at cost of less than.. £4,000,000
To emancipate them now, paying for them at the
same rate, would require nearly................ £100,000,000
or almost five hundred millions of dollars. The same course, however,
that has increased their numbers, has largely increased their value to
the owners and to themselves. Men, when well fed, well clothed, well
lodged, and otherwise well cared for, always increase rapidly in
numbers, and in such cases labour always increases rapidly in value;
and hence it is that the average price of the negro slave of this
country is probably four times greater than that which the planters of
the West Indies were compelled to receive. Such being the case, it
would follow that to pay for their full value would require probably
four hundred millions of pounds sterling, or nearly two thousand
millions of dollars.
It will now be seen that the course of things in the two countries has
been entirely different. In the islands the slave trade had been
cherished as a source of profit. Here, it had been made the subject of
repeated protests on the part of several of the provinces, and had
been by all but two prohibited at the earliest moment at which they
possessed the power so to do. In the islands it was held to be cheaper
to buy slaves than to raise them, and the sexes were out of all
proportion to each other. Here, importation was small, and almost the
whole increase, large as it has been, has resulted from the excess of
births over deaths. In the islands, the slave was generally a
barbarian, speaking an unknown tongue, and working with men like
himself, in gangs, with scarcely a chance for improvement. Here, he
was generally a being born on the soil, speaking the same language
with his owner; and often working in the field with him, with many
advantages for the development of his faculties. In the islands, the
land-owners clung to slavery as the sheet-anchor of their hopes. Here,
on the contrary, slavery had gradually been abolished in all the
States north of Mason & Dixon's line, and Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, and Kentucky were all, at the date of emancipation in the
islands, preparing for the early adoption of measures looking to its
entire abolition. In the islands, the connection with Africa had been
cherished as a means of obtaining cheap labour, to be obtained by
fomenting discord among the natives. Here, on the contrary, had
originated a grand scheme for carrying civilization into the heart of
Africa by means of the gradual transplantation of some of the already
civilized blacks. In the islands, it has been deemed desirable to
carry out "the European policy," of preventing the Africans "from
arriving at perfection" in the art of preparing their cotton, sugar,
indigo, or other articles, "from a fear of interfering with
established branches of commerce elsewhere."[12] Here, on the
contrary, efforts had been made for disseminating among them the
knowledge required for perfecting themselves in the modes of
preparation and manufacture. In the islands, every thing looked toward
the permanency of slavery. Here, every thing looked toward the gradual
and gentle civilization and emancipation of the negro throughout the
world. In the islands, however, by a prompt measure forced on the
people by a distant government, slavery was abolished, and the
planters, or their representatives in England, received twenty
millions of pounds sterling as compensation in full for the services
of the few who remained in existence out of the large number that had
been imported. Here, the planters are now urged to adopt for
themselves measures of a similar kind. The whole course of proceeding
in the two countries in reference to the negro having been so widely
different, there are, however, difficulties in the way that seem to be
almost insuperable. The power to purchase the slaves of the British
colonies was a consequence of the fact that their numbers had not been
permitted to increase. The difficulty of purchasing them here is
great, because of their having been well fed, well clothed, and
otherwise well provided for, and having therefore increased so
rapidly. If, nevertheless, it can be shown that by abandoning the
system under which the negro race has steadily increased in numbers
and advanced towards civilization, and adopting that of a nation under
whose rule there has been a steady decline of numbers, and but little,
if any, tendency toward civilization, we shall benefit the race, it
will become our duty to make the effort, however great may be the
cost. With a view to ascertain how far duty may be regarded as calling
upon us now to follow in the footsteps of that nation, it is proposed
to examine into the working of the act by which the whole negro
population of the British colonies was, almost at once and without
preparation, invested with the right to determine for whom they would
work and what should be their wages--or were, in other words, declared
to be free.