THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE

One of the considerations which induced all sections to ratify the Constitution was that under it the slave trade would cease in 1808. The trade continued, however, though men caught at it were subject to the penalties for piracy. In 1858 the crew of a vessel which, when captured, had more than 300 Africans aboard, were indicted but acquitted. The laws of the United States could not be enforced against the slave power in South Carolina. In Georgia the captain and crew of a vessel which had landed and distributed 300 Africans, were indicted, prosecuted and acquitted. Again the laws of the United States were powerless. Tiring of the inconvenience of evading the law, lax as its enforcement was, the South at last demanded the reopening of the slave trade, although it imported more slaves during each year that the trade was illegal than during any year when it was allowed. The Federal Government could enforce the Fugitive Slave Law against the sentiment of the North, because in the North Federal officers were loyal to the United States. It could not force its law in any particular upon the South, because there its agents were loyal to their States, first, last and always.

The daguerreotype shows a portion of a captured slaver's cargo, emaciate d by hunger and dysentery, and beneath the toil for which they were required.

For a discussion of this subject, see the articles entitled "African Slave Trade" and "Slavery," in the index (volume eleven), and turn to the pages thereafter indicated in which occur presidential references to the matter.