Summary of John Harris's The Last Slave Ships

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The illegal slave trade was banned by every major power in the mid-1800s. But some countries, including the United States, had strong interests in permitting the trade to continue, despite its illegality.
#2 The United States and the traffickers who would come to operate from its ports were intimately connected to a much broader Atlantic story that would shape America’s engagement in the trade in years to come.
#3 The British were the first to permanently end their trade in 1807, and they were the main force behind a network of international slave trade courts known as Courts of Mixed Commission, which were established to adjudicate violations of slave trading treaties.
#4 The United States was also a young republic when it took action against the slave trade. In 1787, the U. S. Constitution permitted the importation of slaves for another twenty years, after which Congress would have the authority to end the traffic completely if it wished.

Sujets

• 19th century
• United States

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 22 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669357841
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on John Harris's The Last Slave Ships
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The illegal slave trade was banned by every major power in the mid-1800s. But some countries, including the United States, had strong interests in permitting the trade to continue, despite its illegality.

#2

The United States and the traffickers who would come to operate from its ports were intimately connected to a much broader Atlantic story that would shape America’s engagement in the trade in years to come.

#3

The British were the first to permanently end their trade in 1807, and they were the main force behind a network of international slave trade courts known as Courts of Mixed Commission, which were established to adjudicate violations of slave trading treaties.

#4

The United States was also a young republic when it took action against the slave trade. In 1787, the U. S. Constitution permitted the importation of slaves for another twenty years, after which Congress would have the authority to end the traffic completely if it wished.

#5

While the United States made progress on its suppression measures, other nations were much less willing to take action. In France, Portugal, Spain, and Brazil, abolitionism remained tepid both in elite policy circles and in the public sphere until at least the 1830s.

#6

The slave trade was abolished by many countries in the nineteenth century, but not without a fight from the powerful British.

#7

The slave trade continued on a massive scale after the bans went into effect, as many governments were reluctant to take definitive action against it. Around 3. 7 million captives were forced on board slave ships between 1800 and 1850, an average of more than seventy thousand per year.

#8

The South Atlantic was the main source of captives. Between 1837 and 1850, six of every ten captives departing African shores came from this region. The trade was organized and financed by connections between slave traders and their agents on the African coast.

#9

The American flag was also flown in the smaller slave trade to Cuba in the late 1830s and 1840s, as ships with Spanish and Portuguese flags came partly under the jurisdiction of the British.

#10

The American flag provided a layer of protection for slave traders, as many Americans were jealous of the right of their merchant marine to sail without interference from foreign powers. The United States prioritized commerce over slave trade suppression.

#11

The American flag and the sheer number of vessels were the main ways of measuring American involvement in the slave trade, but a final important factor was the indirect support provided by American commerce with slave trading regions.

#12

The Portuguese government began to take the slave trade seriously in the mid-1840s, and by the mid-1850s had begun to suppress it. They did this by attacking the traffic in and around Benguela, which was heavily influenced by Brazilian traffickers.

#13

The slave trade in southern Africa was reduced as Luanda and Benguela became minor ports, but some traffickers simply moved their operations north, beyond Portuguese control. In this region, a network of small decentralized states and many secluded creeks and thick brush gave slave traders added protection from outside interference.

#14

The Brazilian government cracked down on the slave trade, and in 1852, the largest branch of the illegal slave trade ended. The government expelled several prominent Portuguese traders who had acquired wealth through the traffic.

#15

The closure of the Brazilian trade reverberated throughout West Central Africa. British and Portuguese suppression efforts increased in the early 1850s, as they attempted to capitalize on the disruptions.

#16

The experience of Appleton Oaksmith shows how suppression efforts in the South Atlantic during this era combined with other factors to pressure slave traders. Oaksmith was a native of Maine who arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1852 after a long and seemingly legal trading journey that had taken him to the Pacific Ocean and back.