How many thus escaped cannot be reckoned, but it is known that the
number of free negroes in the North increased so rapidly that laws
discriminating against them were passed in many States. Nowhere did
the negro enjoy all the rights that the white man had. In some States
the free negroes were so restricted in settling as to be virtually
prohibited; in others they were disfranchised; in others they were
denied the right of jury duty or of testifying in court. But in spite
of this discrimination on the part of the law, a great sympathy for
the runaway slave spread among the people, and the fugitive carried
into the heart of the North the venom of the institution of which he
was the unhappy victim.
Meanwhile the slave trade responded promptly to the lure of gain which
the increased demand for cotton held out. The law of 1807 prohibiting
the importation of slaves had, from the date of its enactment, been
virtually a dead letter. Messages of Presidents, complaints of
government attorneys, of collectors and agents called attention to the
continuous violation of the law; and its nullity was a matter of
common knowledge. When the market price of a slave rose to $325 in
1840 and to $500 after 1850, the increase in profits made slave piracy
a rather respectable business carried on by American citizens in
American built ships flying the American flag and paying high returns
on New York and New England capital.
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