The war made a great change in the situation.  It has been computed by good judges that, between the years 1775 and 1783, the State of South Carolina lost twenty-five thousand Negroes, by actual hostilities, plunder of the British, runaways, etc.  After the war the trade quickly revived, and considerable revenue was raised from duty acts until 1787, when by act and ordinance the slave-trade was totally prohibited.[21] This prohibition, by renewals from time to time, lasted until 1803.

6. Restrictions in North Carolina. In early times there were few slaves in North Carolina;[22] this fact, together with the troubled and turbulent state of affairs during the early colonial period, did not necessitate the adoption of any settled policy toward slavery or the slave-trade.  Later the slave-trade to the colony increased; but there is no evidence of any effort to restrict or in any way regulate it before 1786, when it was declared that “the importation of slaves into this State is productive of evil consequences and highly impolitic,"[23] and a prohibitive duty was laid on them.

7. Restrictions in Virginia.[24] Next to South Carolina, Virginia had probably the largest slave-trade.  Her situation, however, differed considerably from that of her Southern neighbor.  The climate, the staple tobacco crop, and the society of Virginia were favorable to a system of domestic slavery, but one which tended to develop into a patriarchal serfdom rather than into a slave-consuming industrial hierarchy.  The labor required by the tobacco crop was less unhealthy than that connected with the rice crop, and the Virginians were, perhaps, on a somewhat higher moral plane than the Carolinians.  There was consequently no such insatiable demand for slaves in the larger colony.  On the other hand, the power of the Virginia executive was peculiarly strong, and it was not possible here to thwart the slave-trade policy of the home government as easily as elsewhere.

Considering all these circumstances, it is somewhat difficult to determine just what was the attitude of the early Virginians toward the slave-trade.  There is evidence, however, to show that although they desired the slave-trade, the rate at which the Negroes were brought in soon alarmed them.  In 1710 a duty of L5 was laid on Negroes, but Governor Spotswood “soon perceived that the laying so high a Duty on Negros was intended to discourage the importation,” and vetoed the measure.[25] No further restrictive legislation was attempted for some years, but whether on account of the attitude of the governor or the desire of the inhabitants, is not clear.  With 1723 begins a series of acts extending down to the Revolution, which, so far as their contents can be ascertained, seem to have been designed effectually to check the slave-trade.  Some of these acts, like those of 1723 and 1727, were almost immediately disallowed.[26] The Act of 1732 laid a duty of 5%, which was continued until 1769,[27] and all other duties