The new slave importation law passed by the South Carolina General Assembly on 17 Dec. 1803 lifted the ban on the importation of slaves from Africa. From the reopening of the slave trade in 1804 until its prohibition by Congress in 1808, Charleston imported more than 75,000 African slaves. By 1807, up to $390 was paid for an imported slave. TJ probably asked the attorney general for an opinion on the question posed by Gallatin, for according to SJL, Levi Lincoln wrote to the president on 6 Feb. on the subject “whether negroes merchandize.” TJ referred Lincoln’s letter, which has not been found, to the Treasury Department. The South Carolina act spurred a debate in Congress, where on 14 Feb., Representative David Bard of Pennsylvania introduced a resolution calling for a $10 tax to be “imposed on every slave imported into any part of the United States.” This was the sum allowed under the ninth section of the first article of the Constitution. Thomas Lowndes of South Carolina led the opposition to the resolution. After two days of debate and an unsuccessful attempt to postpone action, the House ordered the Committee of Ways and Means to bring in a bill. On 16 Feb., John Randolph presented a bill “laying a duty on slaves imported into the United States.” After another day of debate, the House defeated Lowndes’s motion to postpone consideration until the next session of Congress. They, however, agreed, by a 56 to 50 vote, to William Findley’s motion to postpone action until the second Monday in March. The House did not consider the bill again during the session (Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South-Carolina. Passed in December, 1803 [Columbia, S.C., 1804], 48-53; James A. McMillin, The Final Victims: Foreign Slave Trade to North America, 1783-1819 [Columbia, S.C., 2004], 86-7, 94-5, 105-6; Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834-56, 42 vols. All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. The first two volumes of the set cited here have “Compiled … by Joseph Gales, Senior” on the title page and bear the caption “Gales & Seatons History” on verso and “of Debates in Congress” on recto pages. The remaining volumes bear the caption “History of Congress” on both recto and verso pages. Those using the first two volumes with the latter caption will need to employ the date of the debate or the indexes of debates and speakers. description ends , 13:991-1010, 1012-20, 1024-36; JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1826, 9 vols. description ends , 4:582).

mr h.: Lewis Harvie.

directed to the american consul’s care: on 8 Feb., after it was determined that an American officer would most likely carry the stock and dispatches to Bordeaux, Gallatin wrote instructions to William Lee, the U.S. consul there. He requested that Lee assist the carrier in the safe delivery of the stock and noted that the “usual mode of travelling must be preferred.” If the local French prefect wanted to alter or “accelerate the transmission, any extra-expense of that kind must be defrayed by the French Government.” If the carrier arrived at any other French or Dutch port, Gallatin ordered that the local U.S. consul “lend him the assistance required” (Gallatin, Papers description begins Carl E. Prince and Helene E. Fineman, eds., The Papers of Albert Gallatin, microfilm edition in 46 reels, Philadelphia, 1969, and Supplement, Barbara B. Oberg, ed., reels 47-51, Wilmington, Del., 1985 description ends , 9:419).

sinking fund report: on Saturday, 4 Feb., the commissioners—John Brown of Kentucky, president pro tempore of the Senate, Madison, Lincoln, and Gallatin—signed the letter transmitting the detailed report prepared by the Treasury Department to Congress. The Senate and House received it on Monday, the 6th. The documents were read in the Senate and ordered to lie for consideration. In the House the report was read and referred to the Committee of Ways and Means (ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832-61, 38 vols. description ends , Finance, 2:84-101; JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1820-21, 5 vols. description ends , 3:343, 350-1; JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1826, 9 vols. description ends , 4:567).