1769 – Slavery

 The Sally brought slaves to Charlestown. Henry Laurens wrote:

A third poor pining creature hanged herself with a piece of small vine which shows her carcass was not very weighty … who that views the above Picture can love the African trade?

Laurens rationalized his role as a slave trader using what was to become a tried and true Charleston excuse – tradition.

These Negroes were first enslaved by the English … I was born in a Country where Slavery had been established  by the British Kings & Parliaments … I found the Christian Religion & Slavery growing under the same authority … I am not the Man who enslaved them, they are indebted to English men for that …