Welcome back to Bad Things in History, where you’ve gotta fight for your right to…
well, sometimes for all your rights.
Few things in human history are as horrible as the institution of slavery.
And few places practiced it for as long or as brutally as the United States.
Another unfortunate fact is that most slave rebellions in North America failed miserably.
But not all of them.
Today we are going to explore the end of slavery in the British Empire, and how it helped the
most successful slave revolt in United States history succeed.
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James Somerset
Slaves began pouring into British Colonies around 1619.
The legal framework that governed overseas possessions mostly supported the institution
of slavery.
But the people of England were not eager to see the practice spread to their shores.
Around 1768 a customs officer named Charles Stewart lived and worked in Boston.
Charles decided that he wanted to use his hard-earned salary to purchase another human.
And his timing was excellent.
James Somerset had been recently kidnapped from Africa and brought to North America as
a slave.
He was quickly sold to Charles.
In 1769 Charles decided to return to England.
He brought his slave, James, with him.
Over the next two years James Somerset became educated in England.
He made friends, eventually became a Christian, and was even baptized.
He also decided he would no longer serve a master.
So, in October 1771 James escaped slavery.
Charles recaptured James in November.
As punishment, James was put on a ship which was traveling to Jamaica.
After arriving, he would be sold to a sugar plantation.
The three people who had helped James get baptized refused to accept what was happening.
They went to the court and claimed that James was being held against his will.
Most importantly, it was happening illegally.
The court freed James and scheduled a hearing for February 7th, 1722 to determine whether
he was legally a slave, or a free man.
The case attracted attention from all over England.
Members of the public donated to the defense fund.
Granville Sharp, one of the first abolitionists in England, also supported James in his legal
efforts.
Those who argued for James claimed that although the colonies might have laws which legalized
slavery, there were no such laws in England itself.
Additionally, English contract law did not allow a person to enslave himself.
Charles’ legal team claimed that this was simply a matter of property rights.
And if England freed James, then they might also have to worry about giving freedom to
at least 15,000 black people residing in the country.
Lord Mansfield, a prominent English judge, read the court’s opinion on June 22nd, 1722.
Part of his decision said:
The cause returned is, the slave absented himself, and departed from his master's service,
and refused to return and serve him during his stay in England; whereupon, by his master's
orders, he was put on board the ship by force, and there detained in secure custody, to be
carried out of the kingdom and sold.
So high an act of dominion must derive its authority, if any such it has, from the law
of the kingdom where executed.
A foreigner cannot be imprisoned here on the authority of any law existing in his own country:
the power of a master over his servant is different in all countries, more or less limited
or extensive; the exercise of it therefore must always be regulated by the laws of the
place where exercised.
James Somerset was freed.
However, the ruling did not end slavery in the British Empire, or even in England itself.
The international slave trade would end in the British Empire in 1807, although slavery
itself would remain legal.
The practice would not be completely outlawed until 1833.
An event in Canada would help accelerate the demise of slavery within the British colonies.
Slavery in Canada
When the Revolutionary War began in 1775, the population of the thirteen colonies was
not united.
Although most people supported independence, at least twenty percent of them remained loyal
to the crown.
When the war finally ended in 1783, the loyalists had a problem.
They were not welcome in the newly formed United States.
To help the loyalists, the British government granted many of them land in Canada.
Several of these loyalists also owned slaves.
Thanks to the Imperial Act Of 1790, they could bring their slaves into Canada and continue
to own them.
The loyalists flooded into their new northern home and brought nearly two thousand African
slaves with them.
One loyalist was named Adam Vrooman.
He was originally from New York and owned several slaves.
In 1793 he purchased a woman named Chloe Cooley from another loyalist that lived in Fort Erie,
Ontario.
As the year progressed, rumors began to circulate that the Canadian government was going to
free all the slaves.
Slaveholders, such as Adam, took the threat of freedom seriously.
Rather than endure a financial loss many of them took their slaves back to the United
States and sold them.
Adam decided the wisest financial decision for his future would be to sell Chloe Cooley.
He arranged to cross the Niagara River on March 14th, 1793 where she would be given
to a new master, against her will.
As Chloe wasn’t willing to go peacefully, Adam had to beat her.
With the help of two other men he tied her with rope, placed her in a small boat, then
traveled across the river to make the sale.
Several people on the bank of the river watched it happen.
They were disturbed and complained to authorities.
However, nothing was immediately done.
The fate of Chloe was also unknown.
Nobody ever saw her again after Adam took her across the river.
The governor of Canada was extremely angry when he learned about what happened.
Even though half of Canada’s legislative body owned slaves it was still able to pass
the Act Against Slavery on July 9th, 1793.
The act didn’t completely outlaw slavery.
It allowed slaves to be sold in Canada, and the United States.
But it prohibited importing new slaves into Canadian territory.
The act also said that any children born to slaves would be free at age twenty-five.
Any child born to a free black person would always remain free.
However, any existing slaves would remain enslaved unless freed by their master.
The last slave sale in Canada took place in 1824.
In 1799, parts of the United States also followed Canada in outlawing slavery.
This consisted mostly of the northern states.
By 1808, both the United States and Britain outlawed the international slave trade.
Domestically slavery still existed, but importing new slaves from Africa was no longer allowed.
However, Spain continued to kidnap people from Africa for several more decades.
A slave revolt that started on a Spanish ship would find its way to the United States and
cause an international incident.
La Amistad
By the middle of the nineteenth century, most of the remaining Spanish colonies were located
on islands in the Caribbean.
Plantations were the most profitable industry on these islands.
In North America, the slave population actually increased over time.
Despite being treated harshly, the Africans who were forcibly relocated were able to produce
children.
In the Caribbean, it was a different story.
The hard work and tropical climate killed slaves faster than they could create replacements.
To keep the plantations profitable, new slaves had to be captured in Africa and forced into
service.
La Amistad was a schooner owned by a Spanish merchant.
It wasn’t designed to function as a slave ship.
Instead of long ocean passages, the schooner usually traveled between islands in the Caribbean
carrying supplies such as sugar and tobacco.
On June 28th, 1839 the ship left the port of Havana.
It was making a short journey to Puerto Principe.
In addition to the usual cargo, La Amistad was carrying fifty-three slaves.
But the ship didn’t really have a place to keep the slaves.
So, they were haphazardly scattered above and below deck.
One of the enslaved passengers named Sengbe Pieh convinced the other slaves to revolt.
They armed themselves with weapons that resembled machetes, then poured onto the deck.
The captain and some of the crew were killed.
However, the slave owners were kept alive so that they could navigate the ship to Africa.
The slave owners didn’t take the ship to Africa.
Instead it arrived at Long Island, New York on August 21st, 1839.
Several boats tried to board La Amistad but were attacked and driven away.
The USS Washington finally came across the vessel and took it into custody.
The officers from USS Washington filed a Federal court case claiming they had salvage rights
to the cargo of La Amistad.
Meanwhile the state of Connecticut arrested the Spanish traders and charged them for illegally
enslaving free Africans.
The Spanish foreign minister demanded that La Amistad, its crew, and the slaves should
be released immediately.
President Martin Van Buren agreed and wanted to assist.
However, he could not interfere with the pending lawsuit nor could he force Connecticut to
drop charges.
As far as the slaves, their fate was left to the United States Supreme Court.
In 1841, the Supreme court ruled that Senbe Pieh and the other slaves were illegally enslaved
and transported.
The violence used to take control of the ship was justified.
The slaves were freed.
Thirty-five of them eventually returned to Africa.
La Amistad and its remaining cargo were auctioned to the highest bidder.
The Spanish government was furious.
As far as it was concerned, the United States stole La Amistad and its cargo.
Under Spanish law, enslaving Africans was perfectly legal.
A similar legal precedent would soon be used against slave traders from the United States.
The Creole Case
Although the United States outlawed importing slaves from abroad, the slave trade continued
to thrive within the southern states.
It was called the coastwise slave trade.
Ships would travel to the upper south where there were usually too many slaves.
Some were purchased and taken to the deep south where plantations always needed additional
labor.
In the fall of 1841, a sailing vessel called Creole stopped in Richmond, Virginia.
When it left, there were 160 passengers on board.
Of those, 135 were slaves.
The ship was headed to New Orleans.
After arriving, the human cargo would be sold.
Among the enslaved passengers was a black man named Madison Washington.
He was originally born into slavery, then escaped to Canada.
But he couldn’t stand the thought of living without his wife.
Madison returned to Virginia hoping to steal her.
Instead he was caught and sold back into slavery.
On November 7th, 1841 Madison Washington and eighteen other enslaved men poured onto the
boat’s deck.
The rebels used knives to kill and wound those who resisted.
After taking control of the ship, Madison and his army of rebels decided to take the
ship to the British West Indies.
They knew that the British had outlawed slavery completely.
Also, they knew that in 1840 a slave ship called Hermosa wrecked in the Bahamas.
The British freed all the slaves on that ship.
On November 9th, 1841 Creole arrived in Nassau.
The authorities told the slaves that they were all free and should travel to shore immediately.
But Madison and his band of rebels were told to remain on board while authorities investigated.
On April 16th, 1842 the British court decided that Madison and those who helped him did
not break any laws.
Since slavery was illegal, the rebels were within their rights to use violence against
their kidnappers.
A total of 128 slaves earned their freedom from the mutiny on the Creole.
They succeeded in keeping their freedom as well.
It was the most successful slave revolt in United States history.
Three enslaved women and two children refused to leave Creole when it was in Nassau.
When the ship finally left the Bahamas, they were still aboard.
Creole arrived in New Orleans on December 2nd, 1841.
The slave owners promptly sold their remaining human cargo.
The Creole would meet its end in 1842 during a storm in Portugal.
Relations between the United States and Britain became very tense after the incident.
President John Tyler supported southerners who wanted the British government to pay for
the stolen property.
This sentiment would be expressed during negotiations for the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842.
In the end, the treaty forced several compromises.
It established the final borders between Canada and the United States.
And the treaty also required the British government to pay compensation to the United States for
the escaped slaves.
Slavery would not be abolished in the United States until 1865.
It would remain legal for Spanish territories in the Caribbean until 1873.
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Were the British heroes for eliminating slavery?
Or was it their fault that the practice became so widespread in the first place?
More importantly, what do you think about the hundreds of enslaved men, women, and children
that fought and earned their freedom?
Leave a comment and let us know where you stand.
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