The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States

It was in the year 1501 that Isabella of Spain granted permission for the introduction of Negro slaves into Hispaniola; but such only as had been born in Spain, or in slavery among Christians; and in the following year a few had been sent into the New World.In 1508 the Spaniards opened a direct trade in slaves, and imported Negroes into Hispaniola from the Portuguese settlements on the Coast of Guinea. Ferdinand V., by royal ordinance, enjoined a direct traffic in slaves between Guinea and Hispaniola, in 1511, and Charles V., in 1512-13.In 1517 Charles V. granted a patent to one of his Flemish favorites, containing an exclusive right of importing slaves, four thousand annually, into Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. This favorite sold his patent to some Genoese merchants for 25,000 ducats, and they were the first who brought into regular form that commerce for slaves between Africa and America, which has since been carried on under such revolting circumstances and to such an amazing extent.(...)The first cargo of Negro slaves was brought into Boston in 1645, and though their introduction was denounced and the Negroes ordered to be "returned at public charge;" yet it was afterwards permitted, and people engaged in the trade.In Maryland acts were passed encouraging the importation of Negroes, in 1671; and in this same year they were first introduced into South Carolina. They were legally admitted into Georgia in 1747. The precise year of their admission into the remaining eight of the old thirteen Colonies is not accurately known.(...)Having brought distinctly to view this multitude of people introduced amongst us in the inscrutable providence of God, the original stock being in a state of absolute Heathenism, we may inquire into the efforts made for their Religious Instruction.- Taken from "The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States" written by Charles Colcock Jones