The earliest negro slaves were introduced into Eu- rope b}' the Portuguese, though Spanish historians claim the unenviai)le distinction for their own nation; and these nations likewise introduced them into Amer- ica. The first slaves found in an En;:lish colony were obtained by Virginia from a Dutch vessel in 1(520. The Puritans in the Northern colonies enslaved the native Indians at (irst, and displayed no repugnance to the idea of negro slavery, though the nature of their soil and the conditions of their life prevented any con- siderable employment of such bon<lmen. In the South, .James Oglethorjie, tlic lounder of the colony of (Jeorgia, interdicted the holding of slaves; but when, in 1752, (Jeorgia became a royal colony, its inhabitants were freed from all restrictions of this kind, and slave-hold- ing became generaL After the Revolutionary War, in 1790, the census reported (557,527 slaves in the United States, of whom 40,.370 were in the Nortli; but in the latter section interest combined with a growing moral sentiment to excite hostility against any increase in the number f>f slaves or the ix'rmanent retention of slavery as an institution. The situation of the South- ern States, on the other hand, was entirely favorable to the development of .slavery. The cultivation of tobac- co and cotton, the great staples of that section, afforded (((iportunity for the proLital)le employment of the slaves. Gradually the dislike of slavery felt by the more intel-
ligent of the early Southern statesmen and clergymen died out, and a sentiment favorable to its existence arose; and the reaction was carried so far that the pul- pits devoted their powers to the demonstration of a divine origin and a divine character for slavery. The slave-trade hail, however, come to a close by act of Congress on Jan. 1, 1808 — the passing of the measure preceding that of the IJritish Parliament by seven days. I5ut the inter -state trade in slaves continued. The breeding of negroes for the slave -market became a regular business, whose proportions enlarged with the extension of the slave-using territory. The political measures of the Southern States were wholly designed to promote the interests and the extension of slavery, culminating in the F'ugitive- slave Law of 1850, by which any slave-owner was authorized to follow an es- caped slave into any part of the Linion, and compel the assistance of citizens for the recoverj' of the bondman. The operation of this law outraged the moral sense of the world, and led to the initiation of antislavery efforts by which the sentiment of the free states was thor- oughly revolutionized. In these agitations the names of (Jarrison, Wendell Phillips, and others became prom- inent as the leaders of the abolition movement, which realized its object when, on Jan. 1, 18G3, the eman- cipation of slaves went into effect wherever the author- ity of the United States was recognised. The success of the Northern arms soon made that proclamation uni- versally prevalent.
The relation of the churches to the question of slav- ery involved grave inconsistencies of practice, among Evangelicals, at least. The Roman Catholic and Prot- estant Episcopal churches never expressed an authori- tative condemnation of slavery, and in the war for the Union the influence of the Papal Church was emphati- cally favorable to the South ; but other churches were opposed in principle to slavery, while thej' tolerated it in practice, and tried hard to persuade themselves that slavery is right. The Methodist Episcopal Church was set right by the separation of 1844 ; the Presbyterian Church by the New-school Assembly's declaration of 1857, and by the separation, consequent on the w-ar, in 1861. In each denomination of Protestants, except the Protestant Episcopalian, the remarkable fact came to pass that the churches in slave -holding communities became the defenders, while those in free territory' be- came the determined opponents, of slavery. The prog- ress of events has, however, wrought a great change of opinion among the more influential classes of the South. The extinction of slavery in the United States is, at any rate, a fact whose influence over the ideas of the people cannot be resisted. For the attitude of each jiarticular Church towards this subject, see the articles devoted to the several denominations.
The latest aspect of the relation of slavery to Chris- tianity appears in connection with the planting of Christian missions in the interior of Africa, as one of the consequences of the recent explorations of Living- stone, Stanley, and others. The Christian communities of Liberia and Sierra Leone afford opportimity for an invasion of African heathendom from the west, which is expected to be made sooner or later. The day is ev- idently near when the superior might of Cliristian prin- ciples shall control the world, to the exclusion of all trade in human flesh, when it shall be inij^ressed ou the entire human family that to every individual man belongs the right " to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
See IlUne, Vollsf. Darstellung oiler Verander. d. Ne- (/erskliirenhdiuh'h (Giitt. 1820); Wadstriim, Ohserrn- lions (if the Sliire-trtide ; Clarkson, ///.</. if the Ahiili- tionoft/ie Slare-tnide ; IJnrkhardt, Er<iiif/i'/. Atissioii un- ter </. Net/erii in W'est-Afrika (Bielefeld, 1859) ; Wilson, Rise and Fidl if the Slave Power in A merica ; Greeley, The American Coiijlict (Hartford, 18(;(;').
Slaves IN riiK Eaiu.v Ciiimstian (Jiihrch labored under several disabilities as regarded their Church re-