It is from this work, however, that we shall obtain a nearer and clearer view of the African planted upon our shores.  Negro slavery began at an early day in the North American Colonies; but up until the Revolution of 1688 the demand for slaves was mainly supplied from England, the slaves being white.[1] “It is probable,” says Professor DuBois, “that about 25,000 slaves were brought to America each year between 1698 and 1707, and after 1713 it rose to perhaps 30,000 annually.  “Before the Revolution the total exportation to America is variously estimated as between 40,000 and 100,000 each year.”  Something of the horrors of the “Middle Passage” may be shown by the records that out of 60,783 slaves shipped from Africa during the years 1680-88, 14,387, or nearly one-fourth of the entire number, perished at sea.  In 1790 there were in the country nearly seven hundred thousand Africans, these having been introduced by installments from various heathen tribes.  The importation of slaves continued with more or less success up until 1858, when the “Wanderer” landed her cargo of 500 in Georgia.

During the period from 1790 to the breaking out of the Civil War, shortly after the landing of the last cargo of slaves, the colored population, both slave and free, had arisen to about four million, and had undergone great modifications.  The cargo of the “Wanderer” found themselves among strangers, even when trying to associate with those who in color and hair were like themselves.  The slaves of 1860 differed greatly from the slaves of a hundred years earlier.  They had lost the relics of that stern warlike spirit which prompted the Stono insurrection, the Denmark Vesey insurrection, and the Nat Turner insurrection, and had accepted their lot as slaves, hoping that through God, freedom would come to them some time in the happy future.  Large numbers of them had become Christians through the teaching of godly white women, and at length through the evangelistic efforts of men and women of their own race.  Independent religious organizations had been formed in the North, and large local churches with Negro pastors were in existence in the South when the “Wanderer” landed her cargo.  There had been a steady increase in numbers, indicating that the physical well-being of the slave was not overlooked, and the slaves had greatly improved in character.  Sales made in South Carolina between 1850 and 1860 show “boys,” from 16 to 25 years of age, bringing from $900 to $1000; and “large sales” are reported showing an “average of $620 each,” “Negro men bringing from $800 to $1000,” and a “blacksmith” bringing $1425.  The averages generally obtained were above $600.  A sale of 109 Negroes in families is reported in the “Charleston Courier” in which the writer says:  “Two or three families averaged from $1000 to $1100 for each individual.”  The same item states also that “C.G.  Whitney sold two likely female house servants, one for $1000, the other for $1190.”  These cases are presented