University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 2013 "An ill-judged piece of business": The failure of slave trade suppression in a slaveholding republic Sarah A. Batterson University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Batterson, Sarah A., ""An ill-judged piece of business": The failure of slave trade suppression in a slaveholding republic" (2013). Doctoral Dissertations. 715. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/715 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “AN ILL-JUDGED PIECE OF BUSINESS”: THE FAILURE OF SLAVE TRADE SUPPRESSION IN A SLAVEHOLDING REPUBLIC BY SARAH A. BATTERSON Bachelor of Arts, Vassar College, 2001 Masters of Arts, Brandeis University, 2005 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History May, 2013 UMI Number: 3572932 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Di!ss0?t&iori Publishing UMI 3572932 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©2013 Sarah A. Batterson This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation Director, Eliga H. Gould, Professor of History W. Jeffrey^Bolswr, Associate I^Ufessorftf History (J < ~ J. V^yiiam Harris, Professor of History Kurkpatrick Dora»y\As50ciate Professor of History William Ross, Professor and Special Collections Librarian ?/.? ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation received support through two summer T.A. fellowships and several travel grants from the University of New Hampshire Graduate School. Without this funding, I would not have been able to complete my research. I also am indebted to the University of New Hampshire History department for funding five years of graduate study and teaching assistantships. I would also like to thank the staff at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. for their help in directing a confused and overwhelmed graduate student navigate the complex maze of documents housed in that leviathan of a building. Despite construction, rehousing, and renovations, the archivists were extremely helpful in retrieving most of the information I needed. Many thanks also to Paul Cora, curator at Historic Ships in Baltimore, for his responses to my queries about the African Squadron and the U.S.S. Constellation. Additionally, I must thank the staff at the Portsmouth Athenaeum, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the G.W. Blunt library at Mystic Seaport for all their help during the research process. This project germinated from a summer internship project at the Strawbery Banke Museum. My supervisors, Tara Vose Raiselis and Kimberly Alexander pulled out an old, miscataloged journal of a sailor from the U.S.S. Portsmouth who had jotted down his notes while sailing off the coast of Africa in 1859, and whose frustrations with the Squadron oozed from the pages. Later conversations with my advisor, Eliga Gould, whose own work examines the slave trade in a “new world empire,” eventually led to the development of this dissertation topic. His advice and suggestions helped to mold an amorphous idea into a structured piece of work. For this I am extremely grateful. I would also like to thank Jeff Bolster for encouraging me to “put flesh on the skeleton” of my research, for helping me to develop my voice, and for reminding me to vary my camera angles. Bill Harris’s careful editing and source suggestions also were invaluable. Kurk Dorsey and Bill Ross both offered helpful comments, questions, and a willingness to be available when needed. Finally, I could not have completed this dissertation without the unwavering support from my friends and family. I would like to thank all the graduate students who offered advice, friendship, game nights, laughter, and shoulders to cry on. You all have my utmost appreciation and respect. To Marla and Sam, my friends, my sounding boards, my editors: my gratitude knows no bounds. Julie, Sonic, Emily, and Tricia have my special thanks for all their support, pep-talks, humor, and for understanding “Sarahworld.” I am truly thankful for my family, whose ties of love are stronger than DNA, and whose acceptance, love, and support knows no bounds. To my sister, Chrissy: my best friend and my partner in crime; despite the fact that you stole my toys when we were little, I could not imagine life without you. You are the yin to my yang. Lastly, and above all, I want to thank my parents, whose love and support allowed me to follow my dreams, knowing that not all who wander are lost. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................vii ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1 I. THE ACT OF 1794: The Slave Trade and Federal Power in the Early National Period ......................................18 II. “A HORDE OF FOREIGN FREEBOOTERS ": The United States, the Slave Trade, and Border Control ..................................................... 56 III. “MAKING SLA VES OF OURSEL VES The United States, Great Britain, and the Right-of-search ................................................ 107 IV. “A DEAD FAILURE": The U.S. African Squadron and the Slave Trade ................................................................ 149 V. "PIMPS OF PIRACY": The Slave Trade and Challenges from Within .................................................................... 191 EPILOGUE............................................................................................................................239 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................. 244 APPENDIX A: ACT OF 1794............................................................................................. 261 APPENDIX B: ACT OF 1800............................................................................................. 262 APPENDIX C: ACT OF 1807............................................................................................. 264 APPENDIX D: SUPPLEMENTAL SLAVE TRADE ACTS...........................................270 APPENDIX E: LIST OF SLAVE SHIPS CAPTURED BY U.S. AFRICAN SQUADRON.........................................................................................................................274 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 Map of the Gulf of Mexico (1817) ..................................................................... 56 FIGURE 2: Luis-Michel Aury, Jean LaFitte, and Gregor McGregor ................................. 80 FIGURE 3: U.S.S. Chesapeake, 1807................................................................................. 117 FIGURE 4: Stratford Canning and John Quincy Adams ................................................... 129 FIGURE 5: The U.S.S. Portsmouth, circa 1896................................................................ 149 FIGURE 6: Capture of the Orion......................................................................................... 167 FIGURE 7: Cruising Ground of the U.S.S. Yorktown .......................................................180 FIGURE 8: Capture of the Orion by theH.M.S. Pluto.....................................................182 FIGURE 9: James Moore Wayne and Andrew Gordon Magrath ..................................... 212 FIGURE 10: The Wanderer................................................................................................. 228 vii ABSTRACT “AN ILL-JUDGED PIECE OF BUSINESS”: THE FAILURE OF SLAVE TRADE SUPPRESSION IN A SLAVEHOLDING REPUBLIC by Sarah A. Batterson University of New Hampshire, May, 2013 This dissertation examines the U.S. suppression of the slave trade from the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 to the onset of the Civil War in 1861. Instead of studying the slave trade in isolation, this dissertation evaluates U.S. slave trade policy within the context of the development of federal power during the early republic and antebellum period. This work assesses the disconnect between the harsh laws against the slave trade and the United States’ ineffectiveness at suppressing the trade, especially since, at its founding, U.S. involvement in the African slave trade seemed to have a looming expiration date. By separating