It should be remembered that while the US played a part in the slave  
trade, most of the slaves shipped out of Africa to the Americas went  
to Brazil and the Caribbean (often in ships out of Boston and  
Baltimore, but also Liverpool and lots of other places). But more  
importantly it was the British who outlawed slavery and enforced an  
embargo of the Atlantic trade. This was followed by the US. It was  
the British and US Navy that finally shut down the Atlantic slave  
trade. The East African (overseas) trade was not shut down until  
later, and it can be argued that portions of the trans-Sahara trade  
flourish today. Slavery in the US should be viewed in a world  
context, not just as a peculiar American problem. Because it was  
transnational and its solution was as well.

My primary area of study is the iron industry. Many, in some case  
most or even all, of the workers at blast furnaces, forges, and  
foundries in the South and in the North were slaves.

             Negroes were used in the ironworks from the early  
establishment of the Pennsylvania industry.  In 1727 the shortage of  
labor was so acute that the ironmasters in the colony petitioned the  
Assembly for permission to import Negroes free of duty to labor at  
their works... A bill permitting Negroes imported into the colony for  
the express purpose of laboring at ironworks to enter duty free  
failed by the deciding vote of the Speaker.  Two years later,  
however, the duty of £5 on each Negro brought into the Province was  
reduced to £2... While Negro slaves and freed Negroes usually worked  
at menial tasks, at many ironworks they were skilled workmen.   
[Bining 1938:99-102]

It was reported by Acrelius that the workers at PA ironworks were  
"generally negroes". the most interesting case is that of Monmouth  
County, NJ. It was the site of an early ironworks, Tinton Falls  
(circa 1677). The large number of slaves used there skewed this rural  
counties population well into the 19C. For years no one could figure  
out why a rural county in NJ had such a large Black population. The  
reason was the descendants of the Tinton Falls slaves.

James Brothers, RPA
[log in to unmask]



On Jun 12, 2007, at 22:48, John Philip Adams wrote:

> No, I am not saying that we were the victims of the sale of people.  
> In 1600,
> this was not unacceptable policy for any of the European countries  
> or the
> Arab countries or Arab people. Obviously, it was not unacceptable  
> to the
> Arab sellers or the African warlords who were selling their vanquished
> opponents as well. It did not pay to be the losers.
> This is the history of Virginia, the south and the USA. Sorry not  
> to be PC.
> But it is sometimes necessary to relate the facts as they occurred,  
> not what
> we wish had happened or are we trying to impose on our ancestors  
> what we
> know in 2107.
> No the Europeans were responsible for their actions. Make the arabs
> responsible for their actions. I was also saying that slavery has not
> stopped in the 1870's no matter what the books say. Maybe the  
> 'books' are
> wrong. Virginia had slaves, so did Mass, Rhode Island,  
> Pennsylvania. The
> Quakers were partially responsible for the antislavery movement.
> Slavery happened. It was wrong then it is wrong now. Whether it was in
> Virginia then or as it is in Africa today.
>
> John Philip Adams
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anita Wills
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 9:26 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Slavery and immoral stance, etc.
>
> Here we go again, talk about history, but only the history that is
> comfortable. We are discussing Virginia history on this list, and
> Washington, Jefferson, and most of the others you mentioned are  
> Virginia
> Historical figures. Yes, the Arabs buy and sale Africans, and  
> historically
> they bought and sold each other, and Europeans. We are discussing  
> Virginia
> and American History, and no one is out of bounds on this list.  
> What you
> appear to be stating is that Europeans were the victims of the  
> Arabs, who
> forced them to buy African Slaves. That argument just does not wash.
>
> Anita
>
>
>> From: John Philip Adams <[log in to unmask]>
>> Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
>
>>      <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Slavery and immoral stance, etc.
>> Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:30:28 -0500
>>
>> Arab Slavery may have been written on the books as stopping in the  
>> 1870's,
>> but that is crock. The Muslims still have slaves, sell slaves and  
>> enslave
>> people all over a lot of the African continent.
>> While everyone is blasting G. Washington, T. Jefferson and all of  
>> those
>> other nasty slave holders, let's not forget who was selling those  
>> prisoners
>> and Africans to John Hawkins, Francis Drake, the other English ships'
>> captains, the Dutch, the Spanish, the Italians and whoever else  
>> showed up
>> on
>> the western coast of Africa to transport to the 'new world'. The  
>> Arabs were
>> the sales agents and the others were the transporters. If you are  
>> going to
>> complain, complain about the ones who were the instigators, the  
>> sellers,
>> and
>> the precipitators' of the inequity that we all know occurred called
>> slavery.
>> The 1st purchasers of African slaves were the Spanish in the  
>> Caribbean and
>> Mexico.
>> Please condemn the ones, who are responsible for the sale of their  
>> fellow
>> Africans and their enemies to the shippers for these problems, but  
>> please
>> do
>> not try to impose 21st century mores' on 18th century people.
>>
>> John Philip Adams
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Heinegg
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 4:36 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Slavery and immoral stance, etc.
>>
>> Wasn't slavery also stopped by Islamists in Central Asia in
>> the 1870s?  What are the best sources for this particular topic?
>>
>> -----------
>> I lent someone my copy of "Islam's Black Slaves" by Ronald Segal,  
>> but I
>> believe all Islamic countries continued to practice slavery until  
>> pressured
>> by the West to stop. It was part of their culture which became  
>> tied to
>> their
>>
>> religion. Today, one-third the population of Mauretania are still  
>> slaves
>> and
>>
>> a good percentage of the population of the Sudan.
>> Paul
>
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