Nice Slave Ship Manifest

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/22/2011

Scarce partly-printed slave ship manifest, 1p. oblong folio, January 27, 1844, Port Pontchatrain, New Orleans, Louisiana, and reads "SLAVE MANIFEST on board the Steamer Fashi of N. York whereof SW Fullerton is at present Master bound from the Port of PORT PONTCHARTRAIN, to Mobile..." and lists one female slave "Sally" aged 14 who is to be shipped from "District of Mississippi...PORT OF PORT PONTCHARTRAIN, the 27 day of Jany. 1844 I J.P. Torry Shipper of the Slave named and particularly described in the above Manifest, do solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear, according to the best of my knowledge and belief, that the said slave was not imported into the UNITED STATES since the first day of January, 1808, and that I take him with me as a body servant, intending to bring him back into this State...SO HELP ME GOD..." VG.When the delegates met to establish a Constitution in 1787, they found that slavery was an issue that had to be discussed. Two compromises were made. The first was that in order to assuage the Northern concern over the growing representation in the slave states, it was agreed the 3/5 of the number of slaves would be counted for the purposes of representation and taxation. The second compromise was in section 9 of Article 1 of the Constitution which stated that Congress would not be able to deal with the importation of slaves before 1808, although it could tax them. This helped counter Southern fears that Congress' power to regulate commerce would be used to abolish the slave trade. Although second compromise prohibited Congress from abolishing the slave trade before 1808, individual states were free to take that initiative whenever they pleased. New Jersey and Rhode Island were first in 1787. Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York followed. By 1806, South Carolina was the only state that had not restricted the slave trade. Further, Congress acted where it could by prohibiting U.S. citizens from engaging in the slave trade to foreign ports in 1790 and in 1794 Congress made it illegal to manufacture, equip or otherwise assist any vessels destined for the slave trade. As 1808 approached, a bill was introduced in the Senate in 1805 that would prohibit the importation of slaves to take effect in 1808. A similar bill was submitted to the House floor in December 1805. After much debate through 1806, the House of Representatives and the Senate in January and February of 1807 worked on developing mutually acceptable bills. The final vote was 63 for and 49 against. President Thomas Jefferson signed the bill which is listed below into law on March 2, 1807.

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