Ulysses S. Grant 1872 - American Slaveholders in Cuba

When the thirteenth amendment was ratified on December 6th, 1865, it forever abolished slavery in the United States except as punishment for a duly convicted crime.  With the adoption of the 13th amendment, the United States had a final constitutional answer to the question of slavery, yet as late as 1872 American citizens continued to own slaves.  Just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, plantations in Cuba continued to rely heavily on slave labor in part or in whole owned by American businessmen. President Grant to denounced it with strong words and urged Congress to take action "to denounce, and, if not prevent, at least to discourage American citizens from holding or dealing in slaves."  President Grant continued to push Congress until finally in 1876, the House of Representatives instructed the Foreign Affairs Committee to investigate the matter. 

Prior to the U.S. Civil War, there was a lot of talk about annexing Cuba with the United States as a means of gaining political and economic freedom from Spain while preserving slavery. Southern politicians looked to Cuba as being the next slave State, but the movement made little headway and became impractical after the U.S. Civil War.  Despite, the prospects of annexation, there remained significant American investments in the sugar plantations of Cuba. Slavery continued to flourish in Cuba despite being under the rule of Spain who had abolished slavery in 1811. It was not until 1870, that Spain began to abolish slavery in Cuba.  In that year they, passed a form of gradual abolition known as the Moret Law. This law did not abolish all slavery but gave freedom to children born to enslaved mothers after September 18, 1868.  The Moret Law was approved for application in Cuba and Puerto Rico beginning July 4.  President Grant was critical of the law, calling it "a feeble step toward emancipation" in his 1872 State of the Union address. In his address, he called slavery a "terrible wrong" and the "natural cause of a terrible evil".  He suggested that slavery was one of the main causes of strife in Cuba and that peace and order would not be restored until it is abolished.  

"I can not doubt that the continued maintenance of slavery in Cuba is among the strongest inducements to the continuance of this strife. A terrible wrong is the natural cause of a terrible evil. The abolition of slavery and the introduction of other reforms in the administration of government in Cuba could not fail to advance the restoration of peace and order. It is greatly to be hoped that the present liberal Government of Spain will voluntarily adopt this view.

The law of emancipation, which was passed more than two years since, has remained unexecuted in the absence of regulations for its enforcement. It was but a feeble step toward emancipation, but it was the recognition of right, and was hailed as such, and exhibited Spain in harmony with sentiments of humanity and of justice and in sympathy with the other powers of the Christian and civilized world.

Within the past few weeks the regulations for carrying out the law of emancipation have been announced, giving evidence of the sincerity of intention of the present Government to carry into effect the law of 1870. I have not failed to urge the consideration of the wisdom, the policy, and the justice of a more effective system for the abolition of the great evil which oppresses a race and continues a bloody and destructive contest close to our border, as well as the expediency and the justice of conceding reforms of which the propriety is not questioned."

President Grant was disturbed by the existence of slavery in Cuba, but what bothered him the most was the possibility that citizens of the United States were large holders of "what is there claimed as property", meaning black slaves. It is quite likely that President Grant heard about this from abolitionists like Henry Highland Garnet and others who formed the Cuban Anti-slavery Committee. Beginning in 18687, Cuba had erupted in a civil war with Cuban insurgents pitted against Spanish colonial forces. They fought not only for independence but also the abolition of Cuban slavery.  During these years, many former slaves escaped Cuba into the United States. Their stories fueled the energy for the movement within the United States to end slavery in Cuba. Garnet, a former slave who obtained freedom as a child, served as the secretary. The leader of the committee was Samuel Raymon Scottron a prominent member of the African American community in New York City.  Scottron led an effort to collect more than 5,000 names on a petition seeking to overthrow Spain and abolish slavery in Cuba. After presenting the petition to President Grant, abolitionists collected upwards of a half-million signatures at events in major cities across the country. While President Grant remained resistant to intervention in Cuba, he did help raise alarm that American citizens were contributing to the continuation of slavery in Cuba and urged Congress to act. In his 1872, State of the Union address, he accused these citizens of being "in defiance of the spirit of our own laws, contributing to the continuance of this distressing and sickening contest".  

"Deeply impressed with the conviction that the continuance of slavery is one of the most active causes of the continuance of the unhappy condition in Cuba, I regret to believe that citizens of the United States, or those claiming to be such, are large holders in Cuba of what is there claimed as property, but which is forbidden and denounced by the laws of the United States. They are thus, in defiance of the spirit of our own laws, contributing to the continuance of this distressing and sickening contest. In my last annual message I referred to this subject, and I again recommend such legislation as may be proper to denounce, and, if not prevent, at least to discourage American citizens from holding or dealing in slaves."

A year later, the Cuban Anti-Slavery Committee published a pamphlet entitled "Slavery in Cuba".  The pamphlet included minutes and excerpts of speeches from their December 1872 meeting.  From there, newspapers began to pick up stories about Americans owning slaves in Cuba. The stories remained speculative until 1875, when American Citizens reached out to the U.S. government with claims that they suffered injuries to their property at the hand of the Spanish government.  The claims filed with the Department of State exposed to the public the extent of American investments in Cuba. Newspapers began to publish hat a great number of American citizens owned slaves.  In February of 1876, a resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives directing the Foreign Affairs Committee to investigate slave-holding by American citizens in Cuba.  The New York Herald even reported on the very words that Grant made in 1872 as one of many examples when the President used "strong language" calling attention of Congress to the matter.  

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. 2020. Fourth Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fourth-annual-message-10> [Accessed 2 July 2020].

Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1876. Slaves in Cuba. The Citizens of Our Own Country Who Own Fellow-Beings.

New York Herald, February 5, 1876. The Foreign Affairs Committee Looking After Slaveholding Amercan Citizens.

En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Cuban Anti-Slavery Committee. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Anti-Slavery_Committee> [Accessed 2 July 2020].

En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Moret Law. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moret_Law> [Accessed 2 July 2020].