CHAPTER I.

A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.

AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA IN 1620—CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE COLONIES AND ENGLAND IN 1699—GEORGIAN ABHORRENCE OF SLAVERY IN 1775—JEFFERSON AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—SLAVERY A SOURCE OF WEAKNESS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR—THE SESSION BY VIRGINIA OF THE GREAT NORTH-WEST—THEORDINANCE OF 1784 AND ITS FAILURE—THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 AND ITS ADOPTION—THE GERM OF SLAVERY AGITATION PLANTED—THE QUESTION IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION—SUBTERFUGES OF THE OLD CONSTITUTION—THE BULLDOZING OF THE FATHERS—THE FIRST FEDERAL CONGRESS, 1789—CONDITIONS OF TERRITORIAL CESSIONS FROM NORTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, 1789-1802—THE "COLONY OF LOUISIANA" (MISSISSIPPI VALLEY) PURCHASE OF 1803—THE TREATY—CONDITIONS TOUCHING SLAVERY—THE COTTON INDUSTRY REVOLUTIONIZED—RAPID POPULATING OF THE GREAT VALLEY, BY SLAVEHOLDERS AND SLAVES—JEFFERSON'S APPARENT INCONSISTENCY EXPLAINED—THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE—MULTIPLICATION OF SLAVES—LOUISIANA ADMITTED, 1812, AS A STATE—THE TERRITORY OF MISSOURI—THE MISSOURI STRUGGLE (1818-1820) IN A NUTSHELL— THE "MISSOURI COMPROMISE"