THE PRICE THEY PAID

A look at how four wrecks of U.S. slaving vessels affected international relations.

Forret, whose previous books examined various aspects of American slavery, here focuses on the emancipation by British authorities of enslaved people after the ships carrying them—the Comet,Encomium,Enterprise, andHermosa—were wrecked off the Bahamas in the 1830s. The incidents occurred after the international slave trade was outlawed, but the ships were transporting their human cargo between two American states and thus in theory operating lawfully. British sentiment favored abolition, and the colonial governors gave the enslaved people the choice of returning to their masters or becoming free residents of the islands. Not surprisingly, almost all chose freedom. The southern states’ reaction was predictable, leading to fiery debate in the halls of Congress and strenuous diplomatic efforts to get recompense for the enslavers’ lost human “property.” John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, Martin Van Buren, and Thomas Hart Benton were among the prominent figures caught up in the debate, which was not just about Britain’s willingness to pay for those who were freed, but also about the potential for extending slavery to still-unsettled western territory. Forret reproduces numerous official documents and transcripts of congressional speeches and explores the biography of some of the affected parties. Little is known of the lives of the formerly enslaved people after they were freed, so that potentially interesting perspective on the story remains undocumented. The author’s style is a bit dry, but this is a story that students of antebellum history will want to know—especially for the light it shines on some of the historical figures who figured in the debate.

A detailed and worthy study of the clash of abolitionist and pro-slavery forces in early America.