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Punishing Our Own Rascals: Great Britain, the United States, and the Right to Search During the Era of Slave Trade Suppression

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Punishing Our Own Rascals: Great Britain, the United States, and the Right to Search During the Era of Slave Trade Suppression PUNISHING OUR OWN RASCALS: GREAT BRITAIN, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE RIGHT TO SEARCH DURING THE ERA OF SLAVE TRADE SUPPRESSION by Mark T. Haggard A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Boise State University December 2013 © 2013 Mark T. Haggard ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COLLEGE DEFENSE COMMITTEE AND FINAL READING APPROVALS of the thesis submitted by Mark T. Haggard Thesis Title: Punishing Our Own Rascals: Great Britain, the United States, and the Right to Search During the Era of Slave Trade Suppression Date of Final Oral Examination: 26 June 2013 The following individuals read and discussed the thesis submitted by student Mark T. Haggard, and they evaluated his presentation and response to questions during the final oral examination. They found that the student passed the final oral examination. David Walker, Ph.D. Chair, Supervisory Committee Joanne Klein, Ph.D. Member, Supervisory Committee Peter Buhler, Ph.D. Member, Supervisory Committee The final reading approval of the thesis was granted by David Walker, Ph.D., Chair of the Supervisory Committee. The thesis was approved for the Graduate College by John R. Pelton, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I want to thank God for giving me an inquisitive mind and a passion for writing. I want to thank my wife, Cheryl, who encouraged me to pursue my Master’s degree. She, along with my three children, Calvin, Caleb, and Molly, have encouraged me and managed themselves and their immune deficiencies well in the absence of their father during the past three years. I also want to thank to my supervisors at Emmett High School for allowing me grace during my afternoon hours. My experience with the history department at Boise State University has been fantastic. I appreciate their accepting me into the program after a twenty year absence from higher education; my first trip to the library was quite a shock as the card catalogues were removed. I particularly want to thank my classroom instructors: Dr. Jill Gill, Dr. Joanne Klein, Dr. Lynn Lubamersky, Dr. John Bieter, Dr. Nick Miller, and Dr. Michael Zirinsky. Thanks also to Dr. Klein and Dr. Peter Buhler for accepting positions on my advisory committee. Special thanks go to Dr. David Walker for the time that he committed to my thesis, his enthusiasm for the topic, his encouragement as well as his constructive criticism; he has taught me how to truly be a professional historian. Mark T. Haggard June 3, 2013 iv ABSTRACT This thesis examines the relationship between the United States and Great Britain during the era of slave trade suppression in the nineteenth century. Two ideals of international relations came into conflict when Great Britain’s humanitarian drive to rid the world of the international slave trade ran headlong into the United States’ claims to sovereignty under the Law of Nations. Under international maritime law a ship is the sovereign territory of the nation under whose flag it sails; the forcible boarding of a ship is tantamount to an invasion of the country itself. Britain sought to circumvent this rule in the pursuit of their humanitarian cause by negotiating bilateral treaties with all maritime powers, allowing the reciprocal right to search the vessels of every signatory, therefore nullifying that tenant of international maritime law. The United States remained a “persistent objector,” refusing to go along with the plan, despite its humanitarian purpose. British government sources and those of many historians charge that American intransigence was mainly driven by American slave interests, but records drawn from Congressional sources, the United States Department of State, and the United States Navy show that the U.S. was more interested in protecting the sovereignty of ships that flew the American flag from the aggressive actions of the British Navy. The British finally gave up trying to force the Americans to adopt the right to visit and search in 1858. Four years later, the United States negotiated a right to search agreement with Great Britain. When the Civil War ended, the African slave trade, for the most part, came to end. American sovereignty was never compromised, but the price of that v sovereignty was the hundreds of thousands of slaves who crossed the Atlantic, under the Stars and Stripes, to a life of forced labor. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION – AMERICAN AND BRITISH EFFORTS TO END THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE ................................................................... 1 CHAPTER TWO: 1808 – THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE SUPPRESSION ACTS ............................................................................................................. 9 The British Abolition Act of 1808 .............................................................................. 10 The American Abolition Act of 1808 ......................................................................... 11 CHAPTER THREE: IMPRESSMENT - SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME? ................... 17 The Development of Maritime International Law ...................................................... 17 Impressment and the Violation of American Neutral Rights ...................................... 19 The Chesapeake Incident ............................................................................................ 21 The War of 1812 ......................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER FOUR: SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT TO SEARCH .................................... 27 The Napoleonic Wars and the Right to Search ........................................................... 27 The Le Louis Case and the Right to Search ................................................................ 30 The United States and the Right to Search ................................................................. 32 CHAPTER FIVE: THE ATLANTIC SHELL GAME - ELUDING THE SUPPRESSION FLEET..................................................................................................................................... 37 The Technicalities of Slave Trade Suppression .......................................................... 38 Slaving Under the Stars and Stripes............................................................................ 40 vii CHAPTER SIX: NICHOLAS TRIST - CONSUL-GENERAL IN HAVANA ...................... 48 CHAPTER SEVEN: LEWIS CASS AND THE QUINTUPLE TREATY ............................ 56 The British Ramp-up Suppression .............................................................................. 56 Ambassador Cass Scuttles the Quintuple Treaty ........................................................ 62 CHAPTER EIGHT: WEBSTER-ASHBURTON - THE CREATION OF AN AMERICAN SUPPRESSION SQUADRON ......................................................................... 73 The Webster-Ashburton Treaty .................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER NINE: THE U.S. NAVY’S “AFRICA SQUADRON” ....................................... 78 The U.S. Navy “Africa Squadron” and Commodore Perry ........................................ 78 Limitations of the Squadron........................................................................................ 86 Captains Versus Courts ............................................................................................... 88 Andrew Hull Foote: “Praying Like a Saint; Fighting Like the Devil” ....................... 90 CHAPTER TEN: PARLIAMENT RECONSIDERS SUPPRESSION .................................. 96 Captain Denman fires the Barracoons ........................................................................ 96 The Felicidade Case .................................................................................................... 98 Lord Hutt’s Attack on the Fleet .................................................................................. 99 CHAPTER ELEVEN: CONCESSION: GREAT BRITAIN RENOUNCES THE RIGHT TO SEARCH; THE UNITED STATES ALLOWS THE RIGHT TO SEARCH ................ 105 The Return of Lewis Cass ......................................................................................... 105 The Civil War and the Slave Trade Suppression Treaty of 1862 ............................. 110 CHAPTER TWELVE: CONCLUSION - BEING “THE CONSTABLE OF THE WORLD” .............................................................................................................................. 112 Sovereignty and the Right to Search ......................................................................... 112 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 116 viii 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION – AMERICAN AND BRITISH EFFORTS TO END THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE In 1808 the United States and Great Britain declared war on the international slave trade by enacted legislation abolishing the trade in human chattel. Each approached suppression of the slave trade in different ways though. The British committed a large fleet to the effort, sacrificing its international reputation as well as vast sums of money and men. The United States had a naval presence off of the coast
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