increased
30.36 per cent to a total of 165,213. During the same period there was
a great increase in the white population but it was always from 20 per
cent to 40 per cent below that of the slaves. It appears that the law
prohibiting importation was not as effective as it should have been.
While none of the statesmen appear to have figured from the
statistical viewpoint there was no end of discussion regarding the
necessity of extending the law to include more than the question of
intent at the time of importation.

The avowed resolution of Kentucky to deal with the slavery question in
the most humane manner and to stop any unscrupulous dealing in slaves
for the mere sake of profit is nowhere more clearly shown than in the
firm action which was taken not only in the court room but in the
legislative halls when it was found that advantage had been taken of
the letter of the law at the expense of its spirit. On February 2,
1833, the legislature passed a law prohibiting all importation of
slaves even for personal use. The only exception provided in this case
was that emigrants were allowed to bring in slaves, if they took the
oath that had been provided in the law of 1815. The evil mentioned
above brought about by hiring slaves for excessively long terms was
prohibited by declaring illegal any contract which extended beyond one
year and exacting a penalty of $600 for each offense. This law of 1833
was destined to be the crux of many a heated argument for the
remainder of the slavery period. Many a candidate for office during
the next thirty years rose to victory or fell in defeat because of
his position with regard to this one statute of the State. It was the
briefest of all the enactments on the slavery question but it was by
far the most important and far-reaching provision that the legislature
ever enacted in connection with the institution.[313]

It is noticeable that this measure was not brought about in any sense
by the activities of the abolitionists, for they had not at that time
made their appearance in the State. It was an honest endeavor on
the part of the native population, slaveholding as well as
non-slaveholding, to carry out the spirit of their State constitution
which had been adopted back in 1792. Thomas F. Marshall, who later was
the leader of the Lexington group which removed Cassius M. Clay's
_True American_ to Cincinnati, has borne testimony to the fact that
the slaveholding element voted for the law