The slavery question in the new territory was a critical one.  It was on account of it that the Federalists had opposed the acquisition; the American Convention endeavored to secure a provision like that of the Northwest Ordinance; and the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in Philadelphia in 1805 prayed “that effectual measures may be adopted by Congress to prevent the introduction of slavery into any of the territories of the United States.”  Nevertheless the whole territory without regard to latitude was thrown open to the system March 2, 1805.

In spite of this victory for slavery, however, the general force of the events in Hayti was such as to make more certain the formal closing of the slave-trade at the end of the twenty-year period for which the Constitution had permitted it to run.  The conscience of the North had been profoundly stirred, and in the far South was the ever-present fear of a reproduction of the events in Hayti.  The agitation in England moreover was at last about to bear fruit in the act of 1807 forbidding the slave-trade.  In America it seems from the first to have been an understood thing, especially by the Southern representatives, that even if such an act passed it would be only irregularly enforced, and the debates were concerned rather with the disposal of illegally imported Africans and with the punishment of those concerned in the importation than with the proper limitation of the traffic by water.[1] On March 2, 1807, the act was passed forbidding the slave-trade after the close of the year.  In course of time it came very near to being a dead letter, as may be seen from presidential messages, reports of cabinet officers, letters of collectors of revenue, letters of district attorneys, reports of committees of Congress, reports of naval commanders, statements on the floor of Congress, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and the complaints of home and foreign anti-slavery societies.  Fernandina and Galveston were only two of the most notorious ports for smuggling.  A regular chain of posts was established from the head of St. Mary’s River to the upper country, and through the Indian nation, by means of which the Negroes were transferred to every part of the country.[2] If dealers wished to form a caravan they would give an Indian alarm, so that the woods might be less frequented, and if pursued in Georgia they would escape into Florida.  One small schooner contained one hundred and thirty souls.  “They were almost packed into a small space, between a floor laid over the water-casks and the deck—­not near three feet—­insufficient for them to sit upright—­and so close that chafing against each other their bones pierced the skin and became galled and ulcerated by the motion of the vessel.”  Many American vessels were engaged in the trade under Spanish colors, and the traffic to Africa was pursued with uncommon vigor at Havana, the crews of vessels being made up of men of all nations, who were tempted by the high wages