s Light
itself, that Negroes are as essentially necessary to the Cultivation of
_Georgia_, as Axes, Hoes, or any other Utensil of Agriculture."[4]
Meantime, evasions and infractions of the laws became frequent and
notorious. Negroes were brought across from Carolina and "hired" for
life.[5] "Finally, purchases were openly made in Savannah from African
traders: some seizures were made by those who opposed the principle, but
as a majority of the magistrates were favorable to the introduction of
slaves into the province, legal decisions were suspended from time to
time, and a strong disposition evidenced by the courts to evade the
operation of the law."[6] At last, in 1749, the colonists prevailed on
the trustees and the government, and the trade was thrown open under
careful restrictions, which limited importation, required a registry and
quarantine on all slaves brought in, and laid a duty.[7] It is probable,
however, that these restrictions were never enforced, and that the trade
thus established continued unchecked until the Revolution.

5. ~Restrictions in South Carolina.~[8] South Carolina had the largest
and most widely developed slave-trade of any of the continental
colonies. This was owing to the character of her settlers, her nearness
to the West Indian slave marts, and the early development of certain
staple crops, such as rice, which were adapted to slave labor.[9]
Moreover, this colony suffered much less interference from the home
government than many other colonies; thus it is possible here to trace
the untrammeled development of slave-trade restrictions in a typical
planting community.

As early as 1698 the slave-trade to South Carolina had reached such
proportions that it was thought that "the great number of negroes which
of late have been imported into this Collony may endanger the safety
thereof." The immigration of white servants was therefore encouraged by
a special law.[10] Increase of immigration reduced this disproportion,
but Negroes continued to be imported in such numbers as to afford
considerable revenue from a moderate duty on them. About the time when
the Assiento was signed, the slave-trade so increased that, scarcely a
year after the consummation of that momentous agreement, two heavy duty
acts were passed, because "the number of Negroes do extremely increase
in this Province, and through the afflicting providence of God, the
white persons do not proportionately multiply, by reason whereo