The New England slave trade

The enemies of the South are all around. One of the most repugnant is Elizabeth “The Fake Indian” Warren. You also have Lloyd “The Wokester” Austin, who seems to have periodic battles with the English language; Mark “The Mannequin” Milley, who appears to have had brain surgery that went awry; and a gang of so-called historians who worship at the foot of Abe Lincoln and blame America’s “ills” on the South. As the Brits would say: bollocks!

The political football that leftists and “race hustlers” incessantly toss around is slavery. (Booker T. Washington warned about grifters who profit by stirring up racial animosities.) Historically, corporate welfare loving Whigs and Republicans also exploited the issue, especially during tariff disputes. History shows slavery has been around since humans have existed and all racial and ethnic groups have experienced it.

Regardless of this fact, blame for slavery is routinely dumped on the South, largely due to the dishonest way history is taught.

The trans-Saharan and trans-Atlantic slave trade moved over twenty million Africans from their homes to various locations throughout the world. Roughly five million died in transit. “The first wave, in the 800s A.D., was carried out in North Africa by Arabs and Berbers, both were non-European Muslims.” This lasted from the ninth to the fifteenth century. It resulted in the enslavement of over ten million Black Africans. It was likely the most brutal in history as relatively few survived and many who did were made into eunuchs.

“Around 1460, Portugal established posts along the coast of Western Africa to trade in African slaves.” This was the beginning of European involvement in the trade. Black African capturers, sellers, and profiteers were the constant in both scenarios—those sold or traded were slaves in Africa before they were placed on a slave ship. Northern Europeans could not survive in Sub-Saharan Africa, an area often dubbed “the White man’s grave.”

In 1562, the English became involved, under Sir John Hawkins. Although several European countries participated, “England became, on the whole, the leader in this trade, and was unrivaled by any save her daughter, New England.” Massive profits from the slave trade contributed mightily to the wealth of the British Empire and New England.

The Puritans settled in Massachusetts in 1620, about thirteen years after the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. They tried, largely unsuccessfully, to enslave the native Indians. The Puritans did manage to export some Indians (mostly Pequots) as slaves if they were considered hostile to the Massachusetts colony; they were sent to the Bermuda’s, Barbados, and other locations in exchange for Blacks and material goods. [Conversely, Virginia created laws against trespassing on Indian land, taking their land, killing them for trespassing, etc. Virginians saw Indians as worthy of learning Christianity.]

American slave trading began in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York. “The first ship from America, which embarked in the African slave trade, was the Desire, Captain Pierce, of Salem, Massachusetts.” The Desire, built in Marblehead, Massachusetts, first sailed in June of 1637 (see John Winthrop’s writings). It headed to the Bahamas “with a cargo of ‘dry fish and strong liquors’…obtained the Negroes from two British men-of-war, which had been captured from a Spanish slaver.” Massachusetts’ Dr. Jeremy Belknap declared New England rum as foundational to the African slave trade.

Virginia was not active in the slave trade, did not ask for it to be imposed on them, and tried to stop it. None opposed it more vehemently than Patrick Henry and John Tyler, Sr., who “wanted it handed down to posterity that he opposed that wicked clause [in the U.S Constitution] permitting the slave trade.” New England shipping companies were chiefly responsible for bringing slaves to the South and these companies had considerable political influence.

Rhode Islanders, Captain James DeWolf of Bristol and John Brown of Providence, (part of the family connected to Brown University) joined forces to protect the slave trade. Indeed, the slave trade “was one of the foundations of New England’s economic structure; it created a wealthy class of slave-trading merchants…Even after slavery was outlawed in the North, ships out of New England continued to carry thousands of Africans to the U.S. South.” Slave ships were typically owned and controlled by Northerners. No Southern flags flew from any ships; American slave ships did, however, fly the U.S. Flag, i.e., the Stars and Stripes. Virginia actually had no ships involved in foreign trade; colonial laws and subservience to England did not allow it.

Enemies of the South are everywhere but none more glaring than the politicians, “historians” and “educators” who refuse to admit any facts that fall outside of the government narrative. The worst of the bunch are the cowardly Southerners who dishonor their own ancestors.

Sources: “The Myth of Northern Innocence: Before Emancipation, The North Perpetuated and Profited from Slavery,” by Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank, from Hartford Courant, September 5, 2005; A Defense of Virginia, by Robert L. Dabney; The South Was Right, by Kennedy and Kennedy; Union At All Costs: From Confederation to Consolidation, by John M. Taylor; and War for What?, by Francis Springer. NOTE: Slavery actually ended in 1962 when it was outlawed on the Arab peninsula. Also, Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers has allegedly allowed “Pocahontas” Warren to move forward with the Soviet-inspired “Renaming Commission.” If true, one has to ask exactly who Rogers represents. In contrast, there are others who contend it is insulting to have your name associated with the present “woke” military.