Slavery and the Commerce Power: How the Struggle Against the Interstate Slave Trade Led to the Civil WarDespite the United States' ban on slave importation in 1808, profitable interstate slave trading continued. The nineteenth century's great cotton boom required vast human labor to bring new lands under cultivation, and many thousands of slaves were torn from their families and sold across state lines in distant markets. Shocked by the cruelty and extent of this practice, abolitionists called upon the federal government to exercise its constitutional authority over interstate commerce and outlaw the interstate selling of slaves. This groundbreaking book is the first to tell the complex story of the decades-long debate and legal battle over federal regulation of the slave trade. |
Contents
| 1 | |
2 This Blind Mysterious Form of Words | 16 |
3 Are They Not the Lords Enemies? | 37 |
4 Different Opinions at Different Times | 65 |
5 The Door to the Slave Bastille | 90 |
6 Little Will Remain to Be Done Except to Sing Te Deum | 113 |
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Common terms and phrases
AA-SS abolish slavery abolition of slavery abolitionism abolitionists Abraham Lincoln African amendment American Anti-Slavery Society antislavery Berns Boston Charles Sumner Clay coffle commerce clause committee Cong congressional debate declared District of Columbia domestic slave trade Elizur Wright emancipation federal commerce power federal government Fugitive Slave Law Garrison Georgia Henry House ibid importation of slaves interfere interstate commerce interstate slave trade interstate trade James John John Quincy Adams Justice Kentucky legislature Liberty Louisiana lower South Madison Maryland Massachusetts Mississippi Missouri movement of slaves Negro North northern party Pennsylvania petitions Philadelphia planter political power of Congress power to prohibit power to regulate question quotation Republican resolutions secession Senate sess slave importations slave trade issue slaveholders South Carolina southern speech Sumner Supreme Court Taney territories tion traffic U.S. Constitution Uncle Tom's Cabin Union United University Press upper South Virginia white immigrants William Jay word migration