ppi,' respectfully submit the following report: ...

"Nor has this question less importance as to its influence on the slave
trade. Should slavery be further permitted, an immense new market for
slaves would be opened. It is well known that notwithstanding the
strictness of our laws, and the vigilance of the government, thousands
are now annually imported from Africa," etc. _Massachusetts Resolves_,
May, 1819, to February, 1824, pp. 147-51.

~1820, May 12. Congress (House): Resolution for Negotiation.~

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the
United States be requested to negociate with all the governments where
ministers of the United States are or shall be accredited, on the means
of effecting an entire and immediate abolition of the slave trade."
Passed House, May 12, 1820; lost in Senate, May 15, 1820. _House
Journal_, 16 Cong. 1 sess. pp. 497, 518, 520-21, 526; _Annals of Cong._,
16 Cong. 1 sess. pp. 697-700.

~1820, May 15. United States Statute: Slave-Trade made Piracy.~

"An act to continue in force 'An act to protect the commerce of the
United States, and punish the crime of piracy,' and also to make further
provisions for punishing the crime of piracy." Continued by several
statutes until passage of the Act of 1823, _q.v. Statutes at Large_,
III. 600. For proceedings in Congress, see _Senate Journal_, 16 Cong. 1
sess. pp. 238, 241, 268, 286-7, 314, 331, 346, 350, 409, 412, 417, 422,
424, 425; _House Journal_, 16 Cong. 1 sess. pp. 453, 454, 494, 518, 520,
522, 537, 539, 540, 542. There was also a House bill, which was dropped:
cf. _House Journal_, 16 Cong. 1 sess. pp. 21, 113, 280, 453, 494.

~1820, Nov. 14. President Monroe's Message.~

"In execution of the law of the last session, for the suppression of the
slave trade, some of our public ships have also been employed on the
coast of Africa, where several captures have already been made of
vessels engaged in that disgraceful traffic." _Senate Journal_, 16 Cong.
2 sess. pp. 16-7.

~1821, Feb. 15. Congress (House): Meigs's Resolution.~

Mr. Meigs offered in modified form the resolutions submitted at the last
session:--

"Whereas slavery, in the United States, is an evil, acknowledged to be
of great and increasing magnitude, ... therefore,

"Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency
of devoting five hundred million acres