Chapter I: Restriction and Extension

1800-1825.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--SLAVE POPULATION OF
1800.--MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO CONGRESS CALLING ATTENTION TO THE
SLAVE-TRADE TO THE COAST OF GUINEA.--GEORGIA CEDES THE TERRITORY
LYING WEST OF HER TO BECOME A STATE.--OHIO ADOPTS A STATE
CONSTITUTION.--WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF THE
TERRITORY OF INDIANA.--AN ACT OF CONGRESS PROHIBITING THE
IMPORTATION OF SLAVES INTO THE UNITED STATES OR
TERRITORIES.--SLAVE POPULATION OF 1810.--MISSISSIPPI APPLIES FOR
ADMISSION INTO THE UNION WITH A SLAVE CONSTITUTION.--CONGRESS
BESIEGED BY MEMORIALS URGING MORE SPECIFIC LEGISLATION AGAINST
THE SLAVE-TRADE.--PREMIUM OFFERED TO THE INFORMER OF EVERY
ILLEGALLY IMPORTED AFRICAN SEIZED WITHIN THE UNITED
STATES.--CIRCULAR LETTERS SENT TO THE NAVAL OFFICERS ON THE
SEACOAST OF THE SLAVE-HOLDING STATES.--PRESIDENT MONROE'S MESSAGE
TO CONGRESS ON THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY.--PETITION PRESENTED BY
THE MISSOURI DELEGATES FOR THE ADMISSION OF THAT STATE INTO THE
UNION.--THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ARKANSAS TERRITORY.--RESOLUTIONS
PASSED FOR THE RESTRICTION OF SLAVERY IN NEW STATES.--THE
MISSOURI CONTROVERSY.--THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY
SOCIETIES.--AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN NEW
JERSEY.--ITS PROVISIONS.--THE ATTITUDE OF THE NORTHERN PRESS ON
THE SLAVERY QUESTION.--SLAVE POPULATION OF 1820.--ANTI-SLAVERY
SENTIMENT AT THE NORTH.

The nineteenth century opened auspiciously for the cause of the Negro. Although slavery had ceased to exist in Massachusetts and Vermont, the census of 1800 showed that the slave population in the other States was steadily on the increase. In the total population of 5,305,925, there were 893,041 slaves. The subjoined table exhibits the number of slaves in each of the slave-holding States in the year 1800.

CENSUS OF 1800--SLAVE POPULATION.

District of Columbia 3,244
Connecticut 951
Delaware 6,153
Georgia 59,404
Indiana Territory 135
Kentucky 40,343
Maryland 105,635
Mississippi Territory 3,489
New Jersey 12,422
New Hampshire 8
New York 20,343
North Carolina 133,296
Pennsylvania 1,706
Rhode Island 381
South Carolina 146,151
Tennessee 13,584
Virginia 345,796
-------
Aggregate 893,041

On the 2d of January, 1800, a number of Colored citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia presented a memorial to Congress, through the delegate from that city, Mr. Waln, calling attention to the slave-trade to the coast of Guinea. The memorial charged that the slave-trade was clandestinely carried on from various ports of the United States contrary to law; that under this wicked practice free Colored men were often seized and sold as slaves; and that the fugitive-slave law of 1793 subjected them to great inconvenience and severe persecutions. The memorialists did not request Congress to transcend their authority respecting the slave-trade, nor to emancipate the slaves, but only to prepare the way, so that, at an early period, the oppressed might go free.

Upon a motion by Mr. Waln for the reference of the memorial to the Committee on the Slave-trade, Rutledge, Harper, Lee, Randolph, and other Southern members, made speeches against such a reference. They maintained that the petition requested Congress to take action on a question over which they had no control. Waln, Thacher, Smilie, Dana, and Gallatin contended that there were portions of the petition that came within the jurisdiction of the Constitution, and, therefore, ought to be received and acted upon. Mr. Rutledge demanded the yeas and nays; but in such a spirit as put Mr. Waln on his guard, so he withdrew his motion, and submitted another one by which such parts of the memorial as came within the jurisdiction of Congress should be referred. Mr. Rutledge raised a point of order on the motion of the gentleman from Pennsylvania that a "part" of the memorial could not be referred, but was promptly overruled. Mr. Gray, of Virginia, moved to amend by adding a declaratory clause that the portions of the memorial, not referred, inviting Congress to exercise authority not delegated, "have a tendency to create disquiet and jealousy, and ought, therefore, to receive the pointed disapprobation of this House." After some discussion, it was finally agreed to strike out the last clause and insert the following: "ought therefore to receive no encouragement or countenance from this House." The call of the roll resulted in the adoption of the amendment, with but one vote in the negative by Mr. Thacher, of Maine, an uncompromising enemy of slavery. The committee to whom the memorial was referred brought in a bill during the session prohibiting American ships from supplying slaves from the United States to foreign markets.

On the 2d of April, 1802, Georgia ceded the territory lying west of her present limits, now embracing the States of Alabama and Mississippi. Among the conditions she exacted was the following:

"That the territory thus ceded shall become a State, and be
admitted into the Union as soon as it shall contain sixty
thousand free inhabitants, or at an earlier period, if Congress
shall think it expedient, on the same conditions and
restrictions, with the same privileges, and in the same manner,
as provided in the ordinance of Congress of the 13th day of July,
1787, for the government of the western territory of the United
States: which ordinance shall, in all its parts, extend to the
territory contained in the present act of cession, the article
only excepted which forbids slavery."

The demand was acceded to, and, as the world knows, Alabama and Mississippi became the most cruel slave States in the United States.

Ohio adopted a State constitution in 1802-3, and the residue of the territory not included in the State as it is now, was designated as Indiana Territory. William Henry Harrison was appointed governor. One of the earliest moves of the government of the new territory was to secure a modification of the ordinance of 1787 by which slavery or involuntary servitude was prohibited in the territory northwest of the Ohio River. It was ordered by a convention presided over by Gen. Harrison in 1802-3, that a memorial be sent to Congress urging a restriction of the ordinance of 1787. It was referred to a select committee, with John Randolph as chairman. On the 2d of March, 1803, he made a report by the unanimous request of his committee, and the portion referring to slavery was as follows:

"The rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces,
in the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not
necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in
that region. That this labor--demonstrably the dearest of
any--can only be employed in the cultivation of products more
valuable than any known to that quarter of the United States;
that the committee deem it highly dangerous and inexpedient to
impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the happiness and
prosperity of the northwestern country, and to give strength and
security to that extensive frontier. In the salutary operations
of this sagacious and benevolent restraint, it is believed that
the inhabitants of Indiana will, at no very distant day, find
ample remuneration for a temporary privation of labor and of
emigration."

After discussing the subject-matter embodied in the memorial from the territory of Indiana, the committee presented eight resolves, one of which related to the subject of slavery, and was as follows:

"_Resolved_, That it is inexpedient to suspend, for a limited
time, the operation of the sixth article of the compact between
the original States and the people and the States west of the
river Ohio."

Congress was about to close its session, and, therefore, there was no action taken upon this report. At the next session it went into the hands of a new committee whose chairman was Cæsar Rodney, of Delaware, who had just been elected to Congress. On the 17th of February, 1804, Mr. Rodney made the following report:

"That taking into their consideration the facts stated in the
said memorial and petition, they are induced to believe that a
qualified suspension, for a limited time, of the sixth article of
compact between the original States and the people and States
west of the river Ohio, might be productive of benefit and
advantage to said territory."

After discussing other matters contained in the Indiana petition, the committee says, in reference to slavery:

"That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which
prohibited slavery within the said territory, be suspended in a
qualified manner for ten years, so as to permit the introduction
of slaves born within the United States, from any of the
individual States: _provided_, that such individual State does
not permit the importation of slaves from foreign countries;
_and_ provided _further_, that the descendants of all such slaves
shall, if males, be free at the age of twenty-five years, and, if
female, at the age of twenty-one years."

The House did not take up and act upon this report, and so the matter passed for the time being. But the original memorial, with several petitions of like import, came before Congress in 1805-6. They were referred to a select committee, and on the 14th of February, 1806, Mr. Garnett, of Virginia, the chairman, made the following favorable report:

"That, having attentively considered the facts stated in the said
petitions and memorials, they are of opinion that a qualified
suspension for a limited time, of the sixth article of compact
between the original States and the people and States west of the
river Ohio, would be beneficial to the people of the Indiana
Territory. The suspension of this article is an object almost
universally desired in that Territory.

"It appears to your committee to be a question entirely different
from that between Slavery and Freedom; inasmuch as it would
merely occasion the removal of persons, already slaves, from one
part of the country to another. The good effects of this
suspension, in the present instance, would be to accelerate the
population of that Territory, hitherto retarded by the operation
of that article of compact, as slave-holders emigrating into the
Western country might then indulge any preference which they
might feel for a settlement in the Indiana Territory, instead of
seeking, as they are now compelled to do, settlements in other
States or countries permitting the introduction of slaves. The
condition of the slaves themselves would be much ameliorated by
it, as it is evident, from experience, that the more they are
separated and diffused, the more care and attention are bestowed
on them by their masters--each proprietor having it in his power
to increase their comforts and conveniences, in proportion to the
smallness of their numbers. The dangers, too (if any are to be
apprehended), from too large a black population existing in any
one section of country, would certainly be very much diminished,
if not entirely removed. But whether dangers are to be feared
from this source or not, it is certainly an obvious dictate of
sound policy to guard against them, as far as possible. If this
danger does exist, or there is any cause to apprehend it, and our
Western brethren are not only willing but desirous to aid us in
taking precautions against it, would it not be wise to accept
their assistance?

"We should benefit ourselves, without injuring them, as their
population must always so far exceed any black population which
can ever exist in that country, as to render the idea of danger
from that source chimerical."

After a lengthy discussion of matters embodied in the Indiana memorial, the committee recommended the following resolve on the question of slavery:

"_Resolved_, That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787,
which prohibits slavery within the Indiana Territory, be
suspended for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of
slaves born within the United States, from any of the individual
States."

The report and resolves were made the special order for the following Monday, but were never called up.

At the opening of the next session, Gen. Harrison presented another letter, accompanied by several resolves passed by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives, urging the passage of a measure restricting the ordinance of 1787. The letter and enclosures were received on the 21st of January, 1807, and referred to the following select committee: Parke, of Indiana, chairman; Alston, North Carolina; Masters, New York; Morrow, Ohio; Rhea, Tennessee; Sandford, Kentucky; Trigg, Virginia.

On the 12th of February, 1807, the chairman, Mr. Parke, made the following report in favor of the request of the memorialists [the _third_]. It was unanimous.

"The resolutions of the Legislative Council and House of
Representatives of the Indiana Territory relate to a suspension,
for the term of ten years, of the sixth article of compact
between the United States and the Territories and States
northwest of the river Ohio, passed the 13th July, 1787. That
article declares that there shall be neither Slavery nor
involuntary servitude in the said Territory.

"The suspension of the said article would operate an immediate
and essential benefit to the Territory, as emigration to it will
be inconsiderable for many years, except from those States where
Slavery is tolerated.

"And although it is not considered expedient to force the
population of the Territory, yet it is desirable to connect its
scattered settlements, and, in admitted political rights, to
place it on an equal footing with the different States. From the
interior situation of the Territory, it is not believed that
slaves could ever become so numerous as to endanger the internal
peace or future prosperity of the country. The current of
emigration flowing to the Western country, the Territories should
all be opened to their introduction. The abstract question of
Liberty and Slavery is not involved in the proposed measure, as
Slavery now exists to a considerable extent in different parts of
the Union; it would not augment the number of slaves, but merely
authorize the removal to Indiana of such as are held in bondage
in the United States. If Slavery is an evil, means ought to be
devised to render it least dangerous to the community, and by
which the hapless situation of the slaves would be most
ameliorated; and to accomplish these objects, no measure would be
so effectual as the one proposed. The Committee, therefore,
respectfully submit to the House the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That it is expedient to suspend, from and after the
1st day of January, 1808, the sixth article of compact between
the United States and the Territories and States northwest of the
Ohio, passed the 13th day of July, 1787, for the term of ten
years."

Like its predecessor this report was made a special order, but was never taken up.

On the 7th of November, 1807, the President laid a letter from Gen. Harrison [probably the one already referred to], and the resolves of his Legislature, before Congress, and that body referred them to a select committee consisting of Franklin, of North Carolina; Ketchel, of New Jersey; and Tiffin, of Ohio.

On the 13th of November, Mr. Franklin made the following adverse report:

"The Legislative Council and House of Representatives, in their
resolutions, express their sense of the propriety of introducing
Slavery into their Territory, and solicit the Congress of the
United States to suspend, for a given number of years, the sixth
article of compact, in the ordinance for the government of the
Territory northwest of the Ohio, passed the 13th day of July,
1787. That article declares: 'There shall be neither Slavery nor
involuntary servitude within the said Territory.'

"The citizens of Clark County, in their remonstrance, express
their sense of the impropriety of the measure, and solicit the
Congress of the United States not to act on the subject, so as to
permit the introduction of slaves into the Territory; at least,
until their population shall entitle them to form a constitution
and State government.

"Your Committee, after duly considering the matter, respectfully
submit the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That it is not expedient at this time to suspend the
sixth article of compact for the government of the Territory of
the United States northwest of the river Ohio."

Thus ended in defeat the stubborn effort to secure a restriction of the ordinance of 1787, and the admission of slavery into the Territory lying west of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, now comprising the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

In his message to Congress at the commencement of the session of 1806-7, President Jefferson suggested to that body the wisdom of abolishing the African slave-trade. He said in this connection:

"I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach of the
period at which you may interpose your authority,
constitutionally, to withdraw the citizens of the United States
from all further participation in those violations of human
rights which have so long been continued on the unoffending
inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation,
and the best interest of our country have long been eager to
proscribe."

This portion of the message was referred to a select committee; and in due time they reported a bill "to prohibit the importation or bringing of slaves into the United States or the territories thereof after the 31st day of December, 1807."

Mr. Early, of Georgia, the chairman of the committee, inserted a clause into the bill requiring that all slaves illegally imported "should be forfeited and sold for life for the benefit of the United States." A long debate ensued and was conducted with fiery earnestness from beginning to end. It was urged in support of the above regulation, that nothing else could be done but to sell them; that it would never do to release them in the States where they might be captured, poor, ignorant, and dangerous. It was said by the opponents of the measure, that Congress could not regulate the matter, as the States had the reserved authority to have slavery, and were, therefore, competent to say who should be free and who bond. It was suggested, farther along in the debate, that Congress might order such slaves into such States as prohibited slavery, where they could be bound out for a term of years. After a great many able speeches the House refused to strike out the forfeiture clause by a vote of sixty-three to thirty-six. When the act was called up for final passage, it was amended by inserting a clause imposing a fine of $20,000, upon all persons concerned in fitting out a vessel for the slave-trade; and likewise a fine of $5,000, and forfeiture of the vessel for taking on board any Negro or Mulatto, or any person of color, in any foreign port with the intention of selling them in the United States.

During these efforts at restriction the slave population was growing daily. The census of 1810 showed that within a decade the slave population had sprung from 893,041, in 1800, to 1,191,364,--an increase of 33 per cent. The following table exhibits this remarkable fact:

CENSUS OF 1810.--SLAVE POPULATION.

District of Columbia 5,395
Rhode Island 108
Connecticut 310
Pennsylvania 795
Delaware 4,177
New Jersey 10,851
New York 15,017
Louisiana 34,660
Tennessee 44,535
Kentucky 80,561
Georgia 105,218
Maryland 111,502
North Carolina 168,824
South Carolina 196,365
Virginia 392,518
Mississippi Territory 17,088
Indiana Territory 237
Louisiana Territory 3,011
Illinois Territory 168
Michigan Territory 24

On the 10th of December, 1817, Mississippi applied for admission into the Union with a slave constitution. The provisions relating to slavery dispensed with grand juries in the indictment of slaves, and trial by jury was allowed only in trial of capital cases.

During the session of 1817-8, Congress was besieged by a large number of memorials praying for more specific legislation against the slave-trade. During the session the old fugitive-slave act was amended so as to make it more effective, and passed by a vote of eighty-four to sixty-nine. In the Senate, with several amendments, and heated debate, it passed by a vote of seventeen to thirteen; but upon being returned to the House for concurrence, the Northern members had heard from their constituents, and the bill was tabled, and its friends were powerless to get it up.

In 1818-9, Congress passed an act offering a premium of fifty dollars to the informer of every illegally imported African seized within the United States, and twenty-five dollars for those taken at sea. The President was authorized to have such slaves removed beyond the limits of the United States, and to appoint agents on the West Coast of Africa to superintend their reception. An effort was made to punish slave-trading with death. It passed the House, but was struck out in the Senate.

On the 12th of January, 1819, the Secretary of the Navy transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives copies of circular letters that had been sent to the naval officers on the various stations along the sea-coast of the slave-holding States. The following letter is a fair sample of the remainder:[1]

"NAVY DEPARTMENT, January 22, 1811.

"SIR:--I hear, not without great concern, that the law
prohibiting the importation of slaves has been violated in
frequent instances, near St. Mary's, since the gun-boats have
been withdrawn from that station.

"We are bound by law, by the obligations of humanity and sound
policy, to use our most strenuous efforts to restrain this
disgraceful traffic, and to bring those who shall be found
engaged in it to those forfeitures and punishments which are by
law prescribed for such offences.

"Hasten the equipment of the gun-boats which, by my letter of the
24th ultimo, you were directed to equip, and as soon as they
shall be ready, despatch them to St. Mary's with orders to their
commanders to use all practicable diligence in enforcing the law
prohibiting the importation of slaves, passed March 2, 1807,
entitled 'An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves into any
port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States from
and after the 1st day of January, 1808.' The whole of this law,
but especially the 7th section, requires your particular
attention; that section declares, that _any_ ship or vessel which
shall be found in any river, port, bay, or harbor, or on the high
seas, within the jurisdictional limits of the United States, or
hovering on the coast thereof, having on board any negro,
mulatto, or person of color, for the purpose of selling them as
slaves, or with intent to land the same in any port or place
within the jurisdiction of the United States, contrary to the
prohibition of the act, shall, together with her tackle, apparel,
and furniture, and the goods and effects which shall be found on
board the same, be forfeited and may be seized, prosecuted, and
condemned in any court of the United States having jurisdiction
thereof.

"It further authorizes the President of the United States to
cause any of the armed vessels of the United States to be manned
and employed to cruise on any part of the coast of the United
States, or territories thereof, and to instruct and direct the
commanders to seize, take, and bring into any port of the United
States, all such ships or vessels; and, moreover, to seize, take,
and bring into any port of the United States, all ships or
vessels _of the United States, wherever found on the high seas_,
contravening the provisions of the act, to be proceeded against
according to law.

"You will, therefore, consider yourself hereby especially
instructed and required, and you will instruct and require all
officers placed under your command, to seize, take, and bring
into port, _any vessel of whatever nature_, found in any river,
port, bay, or harbor, or on the high seas, within the
jurisdictional limits of the United States, or hovering on the
coast thereof, having on board any negro, mulatto, or person of
color, for the purpose of selling them as slaves, or with intent
to land the same, contrary to law; and, moreover, to seize, take,
and bring into port, all ships or vessels _of the United States_,
wheresoever found on the high seas or elsewhere, contravening the
provisions of the law. Vessels thus to be seized, may be brought
into _any_ port of the United States; and when brought into port,
must, without delay, be reported to the district-attorney of the
United States residing in the district in which such port may be,
who will institute such further proceedings as law and justice
require.

"Every person found on board of such vessels must be taken
especial care of. The negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color,
are to be delivered to such persons as the respective States may
appoint to receive the same. The commanders and crews of such
vessels will be held under the prosecutions of the
district-attorneys, to answer the pains and penalties prescribed
by law for their respective offences. Whenever negroes,
mulattoes, or persons of color shall be delivered to the persons
appointed to receive the same, duplicate receipts must be taken
therefore, and if no person shall be appointed by the respective
States to receive them, they must be delivered 'to the overseers
of the poor of the port or place where such ship or vessel may be
brought or found,' and an account of your proceedings, together
with the number and descriptive list of such negroes, mulattoes,
or persons of color, must be immediately transmitted to the
governor or chief magistrate of the State. You will communicate
to me, minutely, all your proceedings.

"I am, sir, respectfully, etc.
PAUL HAMILTON.

"H. G. CAMPBELL, _Commanding Naval Officer_,
Charleston, S. C."

On the 17th of December, 1819, President Monroe sent the following message to Congress on the subject of the slave-trade:

"MESSAGE.

"_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:

"Some doubt being entertained respecting the true intent and
meaning of the act of the last session, entitled 'An Act in
addition to the Acts prohibiting the slave-trade,' as to the
duties of the agents, to be appointed on the coast of Africa, I
think it proper to state the interpretation which has been given
of the act, and the measures adopted to carry it into effect,
that Congress may, should it be deemed advisable, amend the same,
before further proceeding is had under it.

"The obligation to instruct the commanders of all our armed
vessels to seize and bring into port all ships or vessels of the
United States, wheresoever found, having on board any negro,
mulatto, or person of color, in violation of former acts for the
suppression of the slave-trade, being imperative, was executed
without delay. No seizures have yet been made, but, as they were
contemplated by the law, and might be presumed, it seemed proper
to make the necessary regulations applicable to such seizures for
carrying the several provisions of the act into effect.

"It is enjoined on the executive to cause all negroes, mulattoes,
or persons of color, who may be taken under the act, to be
removed to Africa. It is the obvious import of the law, that none
of the persons thus taken should remain within the United States;
and no place other than the coast of Africa being designated,
their removal or delivery, whether carried from the United States
or landed immediately from the vessels in which they were taken,
was supposed to be confined to that coast. No settlement or
station being specified, the whole coast was thought to be left
open for the selection of a proper place, at which the persons
thus taken should be delivered. The executive is authorized to
appoint one or more agents, residing there, to receive such
persons; and one hundred thousand dollars are appropriated for
the general purposes of the law.

"On due consideration of the several sections of the act, and of
its humane policy, it was supposed to be the intention of
Congress, that all the persons above described, who might be
taken under it, and landed in Africa, should be aided in their
return to their former homes, or in their establishment at or
near the place where landed. Some shelter and food would be
necessary for them there, as soon as landed, let their subsequent
disposition be what it might. Should they be landed without such
provision having been previously made, they might perish. It was
supposed, by the authority given to the executive to appoint
agents residing on that coast, that they should provide such
shelter and food, and perform the other beneficent and charitable
offices contemplated by the act. The coast of Africa having been
little explored, and no persons residing there who possessed the
requisite qualifications to entitle them to the trust being known
to the executive, to none such could it be committed. It was
believed that citizens only, who would go hence, well instructed
in the views of their government, and zealous to give them
effect, would be competent to these duties, and that it was not
the intention of the law to preclude their appointment. It was
obvious that the longer these persons should be detained in the
United States in the hands of the marshals, the greater would be
the expense, and that for the same term would the main purpose of
the law be suspended. It seemed, therefore, to be incumbent on me
to make the necessary arrangements for carrying this act into
effect in Africa, in time to meet the delivery of any persons who
might be taken by the public vessels, and landed there under it.

"On this view of the policy and sanctions of the law, it has been
decided to send a public ship to the coast of Africa with two
such agents, who will take with them tools and other implements
necessary for the purposes above mentioned. To each of these
agents a small salary has been allowed--fifteen hundred dollars
to the principal, and twelve hundred to the other. All our public
agents on the coast of Africa receive salaries for their
services, and it was understood that none of our citizens
possessing the requisite qualifications would accept these
trusts, by which they would be confined to parts the least
frequented and civilized, without a reasonable compensation. Such
allowance, therefore, seemed to be indispensable to the execution
of the act. It is intended, also, to subject a portion of the sum
appropriated, to the order of the principal agent, for the
special objects above stated, amounting in the whole, including
the salaries of the agents for one year, to rather less than one
third of the appropriation. Special instructions will be given to
these agents, defining, in precise terms, their duties in regard
to the persons thus delivered to them; the disbursement of the
money by the principal agent; and his accountability for the
same. They will also have power to select the most suitable place
on the coast of Africa, at which all persons who may be taken
under this act shall be delivered to them, with an express
injunction to exercise no power founded on the principle of
colonization, or other power than that of performing the
benevolent offices above recited, by the permission and sanction
of the existing government under which they may establish
themselves. Orders will be given to the commander of the public
ship in which they will sail, to cruise along the coast, to give
the more complete effect to the principal object of the act.

"JAMES MONROE.

"WASHINGTON, December, 17, 1819."

In March, 1818, the delegate from Missouri presented petitions from the inhabitants of that territory, praying to be admitted into the Union as a State. They were referred to a select committee, and a bill was reported for the admission of Missouri as a State on equal footing with the other States. The bill was read twice, when it was sent to the Committee of the Whole, where it was permitted to remain during the entire session. During the next session, on the 13th of February, 1819, the House went into the Committee of the Whole with Gen. Smith, of Maryland, in the chair. The committee had two sittings during which they discussed the bill. Gen. Tallmadge, of New York, offered the following amendment directed against the life of the clause admitting slavery:

"And provided that the introduction of slavery, or involuntary
servitude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes
whereof the party has been duly convicted, and that all children
born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the
Union, shall be declared free at the age of twenty-five years."

A long and an able discussion followed, in which the authority of the government to prohibit slavery under new State governments was affirmed and denied. On coming out of the Committee of the Whole, the yeas and nays were demanded on the amendment prohibiting the introduction of slavery into Missouri, and resulted as follows: yeas, 87,--only one vote from the South, Delaware; nays, 76,--ten votes from Northern States. Upon the latter clause of the amendment--"and that all children of slaves, born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared free at the age of twenty-five years": yeas, 82,--one vote from Maryland; nays, 78,--fourteen from Northern States. And thus the entire amendment of Gen. Tallmadge was sustained, and being reported to the House, passed by a vote 98 to 56.

The bill reached the Senate on the 17th of February, and after its second reading was referred to a select committee. On the 22d of February, the chairman, Mr. Tait, of Georgia, reported the bill back with amendments, striking out the Tallmadge restriction clauses. The House went into the Committee of the Whole on the 27th of February, to consider the bill, when Mr. Wilson, of New Jersey, moved to postpone the further consideration of the bill until the 5th of March. It was rejected. The committee then began to vote upon the recommendations of the select committee. Upon striking out the House amendment, providing that all the children of slaves born within said State should be free, etc., it was carried by a vote of 27 to 7, eleven Northern Senators voting to strike out. The seven votes against striking out were all from free States.

Upon the clause prohibiting servitude except for crimes, etc., 22 votes were cast for striking out,--five being from Northern States; against striking out, 16,--and they were all from Northern States.

Thus amended, the bill was ordered to be engrossed, and on the 2d of March--the last day but one of the session--was read a third time and passed. It was returned to the House, where the amendments were read, when Mr. Tallmadge moved that the bill be indefinitely postponed. His motion was rejected by a vote of: yeas, 69; nays, 74. But upon a motion to concur in the Senate amendments, the House refused to concur: yeas, 76; nays, 78. The Senate adhered to their amendments, and the House adhered to their disagreement by a vote of 76 to 66; and thus the bill fell between the two Houses and was lost.

The southern portion of the territory of Missouri, which was not included within the limits of the proposed State, was organized as a separate territory, under the designation of the Arkansas Territory. After considerable debate, and several attempts to insert an amendment for the restriction of slavery, the bill creating the territory of Arkansas passed without any reference to slavery, and thus the territory was left open to slavery, and also the State some years later.

The Congressional discussion of the slavery question aroused the anti-slavery sentiment of the North, which found expression in large and earnest meetings, in pungent editorials, and numerous memorials. At Trenton, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and other places, the indignation against slavery was great. On December 3, 1819, a large meeting was held in the State House at Boston, when a resolution was adopted to memorialize Congress on the subject of "restraining the increase of slavery in _new States_ to be admitted into the Union." The memorial was drawn by Daniel Webster, and signed by himself, George Blake, Josiah Quincy, James T. Austin, and others. The New York Legislature passed resolutions against the extension of slavery into the territories and new States; and requested the Congressmen and instructed the Senators from that State not to vote for the admission of any State into the Union, except such State should pledge itself to unqualified restriction in the letter and spirit of the ordinance of 1787. These resolutions were signed on January 17, 1820.

On the 24th of January the New Jersey Legislature followed in the same strain, with six pertinent resolves, a copy of which the governor was requested to forward "to each of the senators and representatives of this State, in the Congress of the United States."

Pennsylvania had taken action on the 11th of December, 1819; but the resolves were not signed by Gov. William Findlay until the 16th of the month. The Legislature was composed of fifty-four Democrats and twenty Whigs, and yet there was not a dissenting vote cast.

Two Southern States passed resolutions,--Delaware and Kentucky: the first in favor of restriction, the last opposed to restriction.

The effort to secure the admission of Missouri with a slave constitution was not dead, but only sleeping. The bill was called up as a special order on the 24th of January, 1820. It occupied most of the time of the House from the 25th of January till the 19th of February, when a bill came from the Senate providing for the admission of Maine into the Union, but containing a rider authorizing the people of Missouri to adopt a State constitution, etc., without restrictions respecting slavery. The bill providing for the admission of Maine had passed the House during the early days of the session, and now returned to the House for concurrence in the rider. The debate on the bill and amendments had occupied much of the time of the Senate. In the Judiciary Committee on the 16th of February, the question was taken on amendments to the Maine admission bill, authorizing Missouri to form a State constitution, making no mention of slavery: and twenty-three votes were cast against restriction,--three from Northern States; twenty-one in favor of restriction,--but only two from the South.

Mr. Thomas offered a resolution reaffirming the doctrine of the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, and declaring its applicability to all that territory ceded to the United States by France, under the general designation of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, etc. But on the following day he withdrew his original amendment, and submitted the following:

"_And be it further enacted_, That in all the territory ceded by
France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which
lies north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, north latitude,
excepting only such part thereof as is included within the limits
of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary
servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby
forever prohibited. Provided always, that any person escaping
into the same, from where labor or service is lawfully claimed in
any State or territory of the United States, such fugitive may be
lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her
labor or service as aforesaid."

Mr. Trimble, of Ohio, offered a substitute, but it was rejected. The question recurring upon the passage of the amendment of Mr. Thomas, excluding slavery from all the territory north and west of Missouri, it was carried by a vote of 34 to 20.

Thus amended, the bill was ordered to engrossment by a vote of 24 to 20. On the 18th of February the bill passed, and this was its condition when it came to the House. By a vote of 93 to 72 the House agreed not to leave the Missouri question on the Maine bill as a rider; but immediately thereafter struck out the Thomas Senate amendment by a vote of 159 to 18. The House disagreed to the remaining Senate amendments, striking out the clause restricting slavery in Missouri by a vote of 102 to 68.

Thus rejected, the bill was returned to the Senate shorn of its amendments. After four days of debate in the Senate it was decided not to recede from the attachment of the Missouri subject to the Maine bill; not to recede from the amendment prohibiting slavery west of Missouri, and north of 36° 30´ north latitude, and insisted upon the remaining amendments without division.

When the bill was returned to the House a motion was made to insist upon its disagreement to all but section nine of the Senate amendments, and was carried by a vote of 97 to 76.

The Senate asked for a committee of conference upon differences between the two Houses, which was cheerfully granted by the House. On the 2d of March, Mr. Holmes, of Massachusetts, as chairman, made the following report:

"1. The Senate should give up the combination of Missouri in the
same bill with Maine.

"2. The House should abandon the attempt to restrict Slavery in
Missouri.

"3. Both Houses should agree to pass the Senate's separate
Missouri bill, with Mr. Thomas's restriction or compromising
proviso, excluding Slavery from all territory north and west of
Missouri.

"The report having been read,

"The first and most important question was put, viz.:

"Will the House concur with the Senate in so much of the said
amendments as proposes to strike from the fourth section of the
[Missouri] bill the provision prohibiting Slavery or involuntary
servitude in the contemplated State, otherwise than in the
punishment of crimes?"

The vote resulted as follows: For giving up restriction on Missouri, yeas, 90; against giving up restriction of slavery in Missouri, 87.

Mr. Taylor, of New York, offered an amendment to include Arkansas Territory under the prohibition of slavery in the territory west and north of Missouri, but his amendment was cut off by a call for the previous question. Then the House concurred in the Senate amendment excluding forever slavery from the territory west and north of Missouri by a vote of 134 to 42! And on the following day the bill admitting Maine into the Union was passed without opposition.

Thus the Northern delegates in Congress were whipped into line, and thus did the South gain her point in the extension of slavery in violation of the sacred compact between the States contained in the ordinance of 1787.

But the struggle was opened afresh when Missouri presented herself for admission on the 16th of November, 1820. The constitution of this new State, adopted by her people on the 19th of July, 1820, contained the following resolutions which greatly angered the Northern members, who so keenly felt the defeat and humiliation they had Suffered so recently:

"The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws, first,
for the emancipation of Slaves without the consent of their
owners, or without paying them, before such emancipation, a full
equivalent for such slaves so emancipated; and second: to prevent
_bona-fide_ emigrants to this State, or actual settlers therein,
from bringing from any of the United States, or from any of their
Territories, such persons as may there be deemed to be Slaves, so
long as any persons of the same description are allowed to be
held as Slaves by the laws of this State.

... "It shall be their duty, as soon as may be, to pass such laws
as may be necessary,

"First, to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to, and
settling in, this State, under any pretext whatever."

Upon the motion to admit the State the vote stood: yeas, 79, nays, 93. Upon a second attempt to admit her, with the understanding that the resolution just quoted should be expunged the vote was worse than before, standing: yeas, 6; nays, 146!

The House now rested, until a joint resolve, admitting her with but a vague and ineffective qualification, came down from the Senate, where it was passed by a vote of 26 to 18--six Senators from Free States in the affirmative. Mr. Clay, who had resigned in the recess, and been succeeded, as Speaker, by John W. Taylor, of New York, now appeared as the leader of the Missouri admissionists, and proposed terms of compromise, which were twice voted down by the Northern members, aided by John Randolph and three others from the South, who would have Missouri admitted without condition or qualification. At last, Mr. Clay proposed a joint committee on this subject, to be chosen by ballot--which the House agreed to by a vote of 101 to 55; and Mr. Clay became its chairman. By this committee it was agreed, that a solemn pledge should be required of the Legislature of Missouri, that the constitution of that State should not be construed to authorize the passage of any act, and that no act should be passed "by which any of the citizens of either of the States should be excluded from the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the United States." The joint resolution, amended by the addition of this proviso, passed the House by 86 yeas to 82 nays; the Senate concurred (Feb. 27, 1821) by 26 yeas to 15 nays--(all Northern but Macon, of N. C.). Missouri complied with the condition, and became an accepted member of the Union. Thus closed the last stage of the fierce Missouri controversy, which for a time seemed to threaten--as so many other controversies have harmlessly threatened--the existence of the Union.

By this time there was scarcely a State in the North but that had organized anti-slavery, or abolition, societies. Pennsylvania boasted of a society that was accomplishing a great Work. Where it was impossible to secure freedom for the enslaved, religious training was imparted, and many excellent efforts made for the amelioration of the condition of the Negroes, bond and free. A society for promoting the "_Abolition of Slavery_" was formed at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 2d of March, 1786. It adopted an elaborate constitution, which was amended on the 26th of November, 1788. It did an effective work throughout the State; embraced in its membership some of the ablest men of the State; and changed public sentiment for the better by the methods it adopted and the literature it circulated. On the 15th of February, 1804, it secured the passage of the following Act for the gradual emancipation of the slaves in the State:

"AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

"SECTION 1. _Be it enacted by the Council and General Assembly of
this State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the
same_, That every child born of a slave within this State, after
the fourth day of July next, shall be free; but shall remain the
servant of the owner of his or her mother, and the executors,
administrators, or assigns of such owner, in the same manner as
if such child had been bound to service by the trustees or
overseers of the poor, and shall continue in such service, if a
male, until the age of twenty-five years, and if a female, until
the age of twenty-one years.

"2. _And be it enacted_, That every person being an inhabitant of
this State, who shall be entitled to the service of a child born
as aforesaid, after the said fourth day of July next, shall
within nine months after the birth of such child, cause to be
delivered to the clerk of the county whereof such person shall be
an inhabitant, a certificate in writing, containing the name and
station of such person, and the name, age, and sex of the child
so born; which certificate, whether the same be delivered before
or after the said nine months, shall be by the said clerk
recorded in a book to be by him provided for that purpose; and
such record thereof shall be good evidence of the age of such
child; and the clerk of such county shall receive from said
person twelve cents for every child so registered; and if any
person shall neglect to deliver such certificate to the said
clerk within said nine months, such person shall forfeit and pay
for every such offence, five dollars, and the further sum of one
dollar for every month such person shall neglect to deliver the
same, to be sued for and recovered by any person who will sue for
the same, the one half to the use of such prosecutor, and the
residue to the use of the poor of the township in which such
delinquent shall reside.

"3. _And be it enacted_, That the person entitled to the service
of any child born as aforesaid, may, nevertheless, within one
year after the birth of such child, elect to abandon such right;
in which case a notification of such abandonment, under the hand
of such person, shall be filed with the clerk of the township, or
where there may be a county poor-house established, then with the
clerk of the board of trustees of said poor-house of the county
in which such person shall reside; but every child so abandoned
shall be maintained by such person until such child arrives to
the age of one year, and thereafter shall be considered as a
pauper of such township or county, and liable to be bound out by
the trustees or overseers of the poor in the same manner as other
poor children are directed to be bound out, until, if a male, the
age of twenty-five, and if a female, the age of twenty-one; and
such child, while such pauper, until it shall be bound out, shall
be maintained by the trustees or overseers of the poor of such
county or township, as the case may be, at the expense of this
State; and for that purpose the director of the board of chosen
freeholders of the county is hereby required, from time to time,
to draw his warrant on the treasurer in favor of such trustees or
overseers for the amount of such expense, not exceeding the rate
of three dollars per month; provided the accounts for the same be
first certified and approved by such board of trustees, or the
town committee of such township; and every person who shall omit
to notify such abandonment as aforesaid, shall be considered as
having elected to retain the service of such child, and be liable
for its maintenance until the period to which its servitude is
limited as aforesaid.

"A. Passed at Trenton, Feb. 15, 1804."

The public journals of the larger Northern cities began to take a lively interest in the paramount question of the day, which, without doubt, was the slavery question. Gradual emancipation was doing an excellent work in nearly all the Northern States, as may be seen by the census of 1820. When the entire slave population was footed up it showed an increase of 30 per cent. during the previous ten years, but when examined by States it was found to be on the decrease in all the Northern or free States, except Illinois. The slave population of Virginia had increased only 8 per cent.; North Carolina 21 per cent.; South Carolina 31 per cent.; Tennessee 79 per cent.; Mississippi 92 per cent.; and Louisiana 99 per cent. The slave population by States was as follows:

CENSUS OF 1820--SLAVE POPULATION.

Alabama 41,879
District of Columbia 6,377
Connecticut 97
Delaware 4,509
Georgia 149,654
Illinois 917
Indiana 190
Kentucky 126,732
Louisiana 69,064
Maryland 107,397
Mississippi 32,814
Missouri 10,222
New Jersey 7,557
New York 10,088
North Carolina 205,017
Pennsylvania 211
Rhode Island 48
South Carolina 258,475
Tennessee 80,107
Virginia 425,153
Arkansas Territory 1,617
---------
Aggregate 1,538,125

The anti-slavery sentiment of the Northern States was growing, but no organization with a great leader at its head had yet announced its platform or unfurled its banner in a holy war for the emancipation of the Bondmen of the Free Republic of North America.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] I have in my possession large numbers of official orders and letters on the suppression of the slave-trade, but the space appropriated to this history precludes their publication. There are, however, some important documents in the appendix to this volume.