George Grey Quotes
The Slave Trade, though nominally abolished, is actively pursued here, eighty-three slaves having been landed just before my arrival, and another cargo during my stay.
Grey, George. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, During the Years 1837, 38, and 39. Vol. 1, T. and W. Boone, 1841, p. 24.
Most of us think the California was not a slave state, but in the early 1850s the California law (such as it was) allowed a slave owner to “sojourn” in California with his property that could include slaves. A number of Southern save owners took slaves to the California gold fields to do mining. There was a great deal of resentment on the part of the other miners and the free labor of the territory. In 1855, slavery in California was abolished.
Many people are surprised that such an anti-slavery could have passed given the Southern states’ position regarding slavery. However, this resolution did not end slavery—just American participation in the slave trade. This would have actually increased the value of the existing slaves in the colonies as “cheap imports” would no longer depress the value of American slaves. The Southern perception was there were enough slaves for their needs and they could breed more. The other states, generally opposing slavery took what they could get---a ban on the slave trade. A major economic fact of the time was the vast majority of the slave trade imports were going to the British Colonies in the Caribbean. Cutting off the American slave trade would do much more harm to the economic interests of Britain than the United States where the only people economically hurt would be the Yankee captains and slave traders who were not very popular of politically connected except in Rhode Island.
The British Consul was attempting to implement the British government’s new anti-slavery policy.
This treaty shows slaves were a major currency of the times and cultures. The Arab Armies of Egypt and the Nubians with this treaty declared an armistice. The extensive Arab use of Black slaves officially begun at this time, has plagued Africa since. Arab slave traders were the middle men who met the European and American demand for slaves until the 19th century. Even at the millennium the Sudanese civil war between the Arab North and Black South has reflected this resentment and hostility and has involved the Northerner’s enslaving tens of thousands of Black Southerners.
See the Vermont Constitution for another variant of how slavery was abolished: {616994}
Louisiana to this day has a different legal system from the rest of the United States as it was originally based on the French Napoleonic Code. Most people did not realize that Louisiana had strictures against breaking up families—even with slaves.
Sir George Grey, KCB was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony, and the 11th Premier of New Zealand.
