  The Foreign Slave Trade Virginia's Efforts to Abolish it Despite Virginia's failure to secure the immediate suppression of the foreign slave trade, her sons were active in their efforts to restrict its growth and at the earliest possible moment to drive the slave ships from the seas. In the first Congress under the constitution, April, 1789, Josiah Parker of Virginia sought to amend the Tariff Bill under discussion by inserting a clause levying an import tax of ten dollars upon every slave brought into the country. "He was sorry the constitution prevented Congress from prohibiting the importation altogether. It was contrary to Revolution principles and ought not to be permitted.... He hoped Congress would do all in their power to restore to human nature its inherent privileges; to wipe off, if possible, the stigma under which America labored; to do away with the inconsistence in our principles justly charged upon us; and to show by our actions, the pure beneficence of the doctrine held out to the world in our Declaration of Independence." Mr. Parker was supported by two other Virginians, Theodoric Bland and James Madison, the latter declaring: "The clause in the constitution allowing a tax to be imposed though the traffic could not be prohibited for twenty years, was inserted, he believed, for the very purpose of enabling Congress to give some testimony of the sense of America with respect to the African trade. By But notwithstanding these appeals the movement was defeated, though the discussion was evidently fruitful in bringing to the attention of the country that under the constitution, Congress had authority not only to levy a tax of ten dollars per capita on slaves imported, but to prohibit citizens of the United States from engaging in the traffic with foreign countries. These latter conclusions were formally embodied in a report made to Congress on the 23rd of March, 1790, by a committee of which Josiah Parker of Virginia was one of the leading members. The adoption of this report stirred the opponents of the slave trade to greater activity and numerous petitions were presented at the next session of Congress from Maryland and Virginia and almost every one of the Northern States. In the Virginia petition, the slave trade was denounced as "an outrageous violation of one of the most essential rights of human nature." In his message to Congress, at its session, 1806-7, Mr. Jefferson, then President, brought to the attention of that body the fact that under the constitution the time was at hand when the African slave trade could be abolished, and urged the speedy enactment of such a law. He said: "I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach of a 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 An act was accordingly passed prohibiting the slave trade and imposing forfeitures and fines upon ships and ships' crews engaged in the traffic. The law also forfeited slaves so illegally imported and provided that the disposition of such slaves should be left to the states wherein they were found. The African slave trade had flourished so long under the patronage and support of the leading nations of Christendom and with the acquiescence, at least, of the United States during the previous twenty years, that it was difficult by simple statutory enactment to put an end to the nefarious traffic. It will be seen, therefore, that the trade continued from time to time between the coast of Africa, the United States, West Indies and Brazil, despite the efforts of the Federal authorities to enforce the laws made for its suppression. In all these efforts Virginians, holding official places, were most earnest and energetic in their warfare against the trade. In his message to Congress, December 5, 1810, President Madison declares: "Among the commercial abuses still committed under the American flag ... it appears that American citizens are instrumental in carrying on the traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in violation of the laws of humanity and in defiance of those of their own country," and urges Congress to devise further means for suppressing the evil. Again, in his message to Congress of December 3, 1816, President Madison brings the subject to the attention of In the progress of time, certain slaves brought into the country in violation of the act were captured and sold, thus in effect defeating one of the prime objects of the law, which was to prevent any increase in the slave population. Thereupon, at the session of Congress, 1819, under the leadership of Charles Fenton Mercer and John Floyd of Virginia a bill was passed amending the existing statute, requiring the President to use armed cruisers off the coasts of Africa and America to suppress the trade, providing for the immediate return to Africa of any imported slaves, directing the President to appoint agents to receive and care for them on their return and appropriating One Hundred Thousand Dollars to carry out the general purposes of the law. In the House, on motion of Hugh Nelson, of Virginia, the death penalty was fixed as the punishment for violating the law, but this provision was stricken out by the Senate. In February, 1823, Charles Fenton Mercer, a representative from Virginia, in the House, secured the adoption of the following joint resolution: "RESOLVED, That the President of the United States be requested to enter upon and to prosecute from time to time such negotiations with the maritime powers of Europe and America as he may deem expedient for the effectual abolition of the African slave trade and its ultimate denunciation as Piracy under the laws of Nations by the consent of the civilized world." Mr. Mercer, in urging the adoption of this resolution, Mr. Mercer supplemented his congressional action by visits made at his own expense to the Governments of the Old World to urge upon them the adoption of the policy set forth in his resolution.' It was early appreciated that unless at least a qualified "right of search" was accorded the war vessels of the leading nations engaged in the effort to suppress the slave trade, these efforts would be seriously hindered. Accordingly the lower house of Congress, in May, 1821, under the leadership of Charles Fenton Mercer, from whose committee the resolution was reported, adopted the recommendation that a "right of search" be accorded the British Government in return for a like privilege accorded the United States. Subsequently President Monroe submitted to Congress the draft of a treaty with England embodying this provision. In a special message, under date of May 21, 1824, he gave at length his reasons for approving the treaty—saying: "Should this convention be adopted there is every reason to believe that it will be the commencement of a system destined to accomplish the entire abolition of the slave trade." In his message to Congress June 1, 1841, President Tyler writes: "I shall also at the proper season invite your attention to the statutory enactments for the suppression of the slave trade which may require to be rendered more effective in their provisions. There is reason to believe that the traffic is on the increase.... The highest consideration of public honor as well as the strongest promptings of humanity require a resort to the most vigorous efforts to suppress the trade." Again, in his message of December 7, 1841, President Tyler writes: "I invite your attention to existing laws for the suppression of the African slave trade, and recommend all such alterations as may give to them greater force and efficiency. That the American flag is grossly abused by the abandoned and profligate of other nations is but too probable." In 1842, in the preparation of the Ashburton Treaty President Tyler secured the insertion of a clause providing for the maintenance and co-operation of squadrons of the United States and Great Britain off the coast of Africa for the suppression of the trade. The ratification of this treaty was urged upon the Senate by the President in his message of August 11, 1842, as conducive to the abolition of what he termed the "unlawful and inhuman traffic." Though Brazil, by statute, prohibited the African slave trade in 1831, yet the traffic continued and in this trade "I beseech, I implore the President of the United States to take a decided stand on this subject. You have no conception of the bold effrontery and the flagrant outrages of the African slave trade, and of the shameless manner in which its worst crimes are licensed here, and every patriot in our land would blush for our country did he know and see, as I do, how our citizens sail and sell our flag to the uses and abuses of that accursed practice." In his message to Congress, under date of December 4th, 1849, President Taylor writes: "Your attention is earnestly invited to an amendment of our existing laws relating to the African slave trade with a view to the effectual suppression of that barbarous traffic. It is not to be denied that this trade is still in part carried on by means of vessels built in the United States and owned or navigated by some of our citizens." "The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those colonies, where it was unhappily introduced in their infant state. But, previous to the enfranchisement of the slaves we have, it is necessary to exclude all further importations from Africa." This was the philosophy of the situation as defined by the great statesmen of the Revolutionary period and to their views their ablest successors in Virginia adhered down to the outbreak of the Civil War.
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