~ In the North, with all the
hesitation in many matters, there existed unanimity in regard to the
slave-trade; and the new Lincoln government ushered in the new policy of
uncompromising suppression by hanging the first American slave-trader
who ever suffered the extreme penalty of the law.[90] One of the
earliest acts of President Lincoln was a step which had been necessary
since 1808, but had never been taken, viz., the unification of the whole
work of suppression into the hands of one responsible department. By an
order, dated May 2, 1861, Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior, was
charged with the execution of the slave-trade laws,[91] and he
immediately began energetic work. Early in 1861, as soon as the
withdrawal of the Southern members untied the hands of Congress, two
appropriations of $900,000 each were made to suppress the slave trade,
the first appropriations commensurate with the vastness of the task.
These were followed by four appropriations of $17,000 each in the years
1863 to 1867, and two of $12,500 each in 1868 and 1869.[92] The first
work of the new secretary was to obtain a corps of efficient assistants.
To this end, he assembled all the marshals of the loyal seaboard States
at New York, and gave them instruction and opportunity to inspect
actual slavers. Congress also, for the first time, offered them proper
compensation.
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