The Upshur inquiry: Lost lessons of the great experiment

Abstract

Lost for almost 160 years, a misplaced American consular report recently discovered among private manuscripts held by the College of William and Mary's Earl Gregg Swem Library sheds valuable light on a chapter of Atlantic history long dimly lit. Here excerpted at length, the report comprises a meticulous analysis of the West Indian free-labor experiment implemented by Britain's Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Compiled at the instruction of a high-ranking American officeholder with influential ties in the slaveholding American South, the report was meant to pinpoint economic rationale of British antislavery policies at the precise moment Americans moved to annex the Republic of Texas. Not by coincidence, the report spoke also to the future of American slavery.

Notes

[1]  Harrison to Upshur, 11 Oct. 1843, Tucker-Coleman Collection, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary (hereafter wm), 19, 20, 21, 23 (reprinted below). Harrison to John C. Calhoun, 4 May 1844, Wilson et al., The Papers of John C. Calhoun, 28 vols, vol. 18: 429–35, repeats the questions with slight variation. Emphases, as well as peculiarities of form and spelling, in this and following quotations are in the original document.

[2]  All quotes, Fox to Upshur, 7 Aug. 1843, U.S. National Archives, rg59, m50 (Notes From the British Legation in the United States to the Department of State, 1791–1906), roll 21.

[3]  ‘bestowed upon it much reflection’, Upshur to Fox, 12 Aug. 1843, U.S. National Archives, rg59, m99 (Notes to Foreign Legations in the United States From the Department of State, 1834–1906), roll 35. Drescher, The Mighty Experiment, especially 19–33 and 121–43, demonstrates that few in Britain embraced the loftiest expectations of the free-labor experiment. Americans of the day, however, hardly so attuned to nuances of parliamentary coalitions, were far more taken by bold pronouncements of ideologues – a crucial point for understanding American perceptions of the Great Experiment related in following paragraphs.

[4]  Wilkins, “Window on Freedom,” 107–65, demonstrates the merit of Harrison's location yet overstates his influence before August 1843, as does (for Green), Merk, Slavery and the Annexation of Texas, 12–19, and Hietala, Manifest Design, 15–23.

[5]  ‘five grand points’ and the points themselves, Gurney, A Journey in North America, 388–9; ‘who can doubt …’, Gurney, Familiar Letters to Henry Clay of Kentucky; reprint with a prefatory letter to Thomas Fowell Buxton and retitled A Winter in the West Indies, Described in Familiar Letters to Henry Clay, of Kentucky (London: John Murray, 1840), 195.

[6]  ‘confess, without reserve …’, Calhoun remarks, May 9, 1840, in Gurney, Journey in North America, 389. This and the following paragraph draw largely from the author's recent dissertation, “The Free World Confronted.”

[7]  Calhoun led Senate support for the agreement, known also as the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which southern senators favored by an 18–4 vote.

[8]  ‘It is well known …’, Tappan remarks, London, 20 June 1843, in Proceedings of the General Anti-Slavery Convention, 303. ‘It cannot be supposed …’ and ‘We might probably consider …’, Upshur to Murphy, 8 Aug. 1843, U.S. National Archives,rg59, m77 (Diplomatic Instructions of the Department of State, 1801–1906), Texas, roll 161.

[9]  ‘What has England to gain …’, Upshur to Green, Upshur to Green, 20 May 1843, Duff Green Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, roll 4. ‘in the great staples …’, Upshur to Murphy, 8 Aug. 1843, U.S. National Archives, rg59, m77 (Diplomatic Instructions of the Department of State, 1801–1906), Texas, roll 161. Merk, Slavery and the Annexation of Texas, 16–17, Hietala, Manifest Design, 11–29, 261, and Freehling, The Road to Disunion, 351–401, 603–8, respectively portray Upshur as duplicitous, paranoid and ideologically predisposed, with Haynes, “Anglophobia and the Annexation of Texas,” 118–19, 135–6, making the case for Upshur as a predisposed paranoid. Despite the well-established merit of these studies, only the latter two note Upshur's awareness of problems in the West Indies. None draws attention to Fox's proposal.

[10] Upshur to Harrison, 8 Aug. 1843, U.S. National Archives, rg84, Records of Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State, Consular Posts, Kingston, Jamaica, British West Indies, 1843. Although the U.S. State Department kept no central file of consular instructions at the time, it did keep a register of instructions that reveals the State Department issued instructions to the Kingston consulate on 18 March, 8 July and 8 August 1843. Neither those instructions, which have been found among the records of the Kingston consulate, nor any other records reveal evidence of Upshur's inquiry. Although rare for consular instructions, it was a common practice of the day to enclose personal correspondence with diplomatic instructions.

[11] ‘As for the future prosperity …’, Harrison to Upshur, 11 Oct. 1843, wm, 5. ‘Even, therefore, if this Government …’, Upshur to Fox, 12 Aug. 1843, U.S. National Archives, rg59, m99 (Notes to Foreign Legations in the United States From the Department of States), Great Britain, roll 35.

[12] Both quotes, Harrison to Upshur, Oct. 11, 1843, wm, 6, 1. Respondents D and E repeated Upshur's questions. The nearly unfailing practice of the Kingston consulate's recording the date of receipt of instructions from Washington and the State Department's noting the date of receipt of despatches from Kingston provides means for assessing the Kingston–Washington transit.

[13] ‘Much pains have been taken …’, ‘All parties are gentlemen …’, ‘on many accounts …’, ‘planting Attorney’, ‘a first rate practical Planter’, ‘best informed’, ‘H.R.M. Consul for this Island’, and ‘their opinions …’, Harrison to Upshur, 11 Oct. 1843, ibid., 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 6, 1. ‘formerly possessed of …’ and ‘the management of …’, Harrison to Upshur, 30 Oct. 1843, t31, roll 8.

[14] ‘As the persons to whom I allude …’, Harrison to Upshur, 30 Oct. 1843, t31, roll 8. ‘I can make the question …’, Harrison to Tucker, 10 Oct. 1843, wm. ‘The Texas question is …’, McDuffie to Calhoun, 5 Mar. 1844, The Papers of John C. Calhoun, 17: 815–16. Niles National Register, 13 Apr. 1844, analyzed the expected vote. Fifteen Whigs numbered among the twenty-six senators from slaveholding states.

[15] ‘It is not yet certain …’, Upshur to Tucker, 4 Dec. 1843, Tucker-Coleman Collection, wm.

[16] ‘two reports in answer … ‘, Harrison to Upshur, 30 Oct. 1843, U.S. National Archives, rg59, t31 (Despatches From U.S. Consuls in Kingston, Jamaica, British West Indies, 1796-1906), roll 8. ‘to certain Interrogatories …’, Harrison to Calhoun, 4 May 1844, The Papers of John C. Calhoun, 18: 429. The original of Harrison's third report is collected in the John C. Calhoun Papers, Clemson University. Whether Calhoun knew the author's identity remains unclear. The editors of The Papers of John C. Calhoun note: ‘the author of the interrogatories to which Harrison replied has not been identified’; ibid., 18: 435. Wilkins, “Window on Freedom,” 143-44, unique among existing scholarship in noticing Upshur's inquiry, reflects the limited evidence of Harrison's report of 30 October 1843.

[17] Southern Whigs in the Senate voted 14–1 against the treaty and 12–3 against the resolution; southern Whigs in the House voted 18–9 against the resolution. Senate Executive Journal, 28 Cong., 1 sess. (vol. 6), 312; Congressional Globe ( cg ), 28 Cong., 1 sess. 362; and cg , 28 Cong., 1 sess., 134.

[18] All quotes, remarks of respondents B and E , Harrison to Upshur, 11 Oct. 1843, wm, 12, 47, 13.

[*] [Harrison's remark] This is not true, as hundreds of proprietors charged no rent, and were treated as had those who did; as the negro has not the least idea of gratitude and is the most selfish animal in existence.

[+] [Harrison's remark] Nothing can be farther from the truth.

[†] [Harrison's remark] This also is incorrect as neither the man or woman is received but at Public Balls where the Gentry has something to say. None of the persons who have replied to the Interrogatories allow that emancipation has produced the great decrease in the staple commodities of the Island, and this is the language of the Antislavery clique, but as the falling off was never known in slavery what else can it be attributed to[?]–and twist and turn as they please, no one will ever believe, but the freeing of the slaves was the first great cause, and has led to the ruinous situation of the colonies, which sooner or later must be abandoned by the whites who are leaving as fast as possible. H.

[**] [Harrison's remark] There is not the smallest doubt of the matter – shirk the question as you will. H.

[‡] [Harrison's remark] But never to till the ground or perform any mechanical labour, the parents say they must be Clerks, Lawyers, Clergymen, Legislators, Doctors, etc.!!! H.