Men were continually changing their votes, and the
bill see-sawed backward and forward, in committee and out, until the
House was thoroughly worn out. On the whole, the strong anti-slavery
men, like Bidwell and Sloan, were outgeneraled by Southerners, like
Early and Williams; and, considering the immense moral backing of the
anti-slavery party from the Revolutionary fathers down, the bill of 1807
can hardly be regarded as a great anti-slavery victory.
60. ~Enforcement of the Act.~ The period so confidently looked forward
to by the constitutional fathers had at last arrived; the slave-trade
was prohibited, and much oratory and poetry were expended in celebration
of the event. In the face of this, let us see how the Act of 1807 was
enforced and what it really accomplished. It is noticeable, in the first
place, that there was no especial set of machinery provided for the
enforcement of this act. The work fell first to the Secretary of the
Treasury, as head of the customs collection. Then, through the activity
of cruisers, the Secretary of the Navy gradually came to have oversight,
and eventually the whole matter was lodged with him, although the
Departments of State and War were more or less active on different
occasions. Later, at the advent of the Lincoln government, the
Department of the Interior was charged with the enforcement of the
slave-trade laws.
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