In his 1819, State of the Union Address, President Monroe told Congress that Captain Oliver Perry died in the duty of suppressing the slave trade. It's a confusing statement, since the United States had not officially taken action to suppress the slave trade until 1821, but there does seem to be some truth to the words of President Monroe.
In 1819, Congress passed an anti-piracy act that strengthened the nation's ability to protect it's commerce on th high seas. The act provided that any persons committing the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, could be convicted and punished by death. The act authorized the President of the United States to employ as many armed vehicles as he judged proper to protect the merchant vessels from piracy on the high seas. In addition, the act allowed the naval commanders to "subdue, seize, take, and send into any port of the United States" any vessel that was caught in the act of piracy. This act, was in part a response to the petitions from American shippers for their protection from pirates. President Monroe supported such action as expressed in his state of the Union, when he said it was necessary to maintain a strong naval force in the Mediterranean. If the force were to be withdraw from the Mediterannean it would destroy American commerce there, or as Monroe put it, "not to protect our commerce there would be to abandon it has a prey to their rapacity".
"For the protection of our commerce in the Mediterranean, along the southern Atlantic coast, in the Pacific and Indian oceans, it has been found necessary to maintain a strong naval force, which it seems proper for the present to continue. There is much reason to believe that if any portion of the squadron heretofore stationed in the Mediterranean should be withdrawn our intercourse with the powers bordering on that sea would be much interrupted, if not altogether destroyed. Such, too, has been the growth of a spirit of piracy in the other quarters mentioned, by adventurers from every country, in abuse of the friendly flags which they have assumed, that not to protect our commerce there would be to abandon it has a prey to their rapacity."
The 1819 law did not explicitly identify the slave trade as a piracy act punishable by death, but the laws were amended as such in 1820. Nevertheless, President Monroe spoke of the current law as if it applied to the slave trade, when he wrote in his 1819 State of the Union address that , "Orders have been given to the commanders of all our public ships to seize all vessels navigated under our flag engaged in that trade, and to bring them in to be proceeded against in the manner prescribed by the law". By "that trade", he was clearly referring to "suppression of the slave trade, in compliance with a law of the last session".
"Due attention has likewise been paid to the suppression of the slave trade, in compliance with a law of the last session. Orders have been given to the commanders of all our public ships to seize all vessels navigated under our flag engaged in that trade, and to bring them in to be proceeded against in the manner prescribed by the law. It is hoped that these vigorous measures, supported by like acts by other nations, will soon terminate a commerce so disgraceful to the civilized world."With this law in hand, Monroe had met with his cabinet to discuss the anti-piracy act and sending a special representative to South America to meet with Simón Bolívar the liberator and reformer of South America. Bolívar was also a leader in the fight against the slave trade. The slave trade was abolished in Venezuela in 1811, but slavery continued. Bolívar first freed his slaves on condition that they fight in military service in 1814, and then unconditionally in 1821 after Venezuela was liberated. In August of 1819 Simón Bolívar led his men to a decisive victory at the Boyacá Bridge in a campaign for independence against the reconquest of South America by Ferdinand, King of Spain and his military forces. The victory led to the independence Columbia.
President Monroe assigned Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of Lake Erie and of the War of 1812 to Venezuela to meet with Simon Bolívar to establish a treaty. No official diplomatic title was given Perry, but it was expected that he could speak authoritatively for both the administration and for naval affairs. Perry's official mission was to deliver the administration's policy to keep European powers from interfering in South America, while showing some favoritism to the patriots and recognizing their full belligerent rights. Perry's mission set sail in June and arrived a the Orinoco River the following month. The entire crew was welcomed in Angostura by the Venezuelan acting vice president Francisco Zea because Simon Bolívar was at the front lines with his army in the fight to liberate New Grenada (the battle prior to the decisive victory at the Boyacá Bridge). The discussions were friendly, but inconclusive. The Venezuelan officials recognized some responsibility for illegal seizures of American ships, but made no promises to change. As for any progress on the abolition of the slave trade, I could find no reference to this in Perry's trip other that in President Monroe's state of the union address where he linked the mission to the greater effort to abolish the slave trade. Though, I do give credence to Monroe's words, as I will explain later. Perhaps it was Perry's untimely death that had the greater impact on these talks. Three weeks after arriving in the low-lying tropical town of Angostura, Captain Oliver Perry caught yellow fever. His men raced him to a hospital in Jamaica, but Perry died at sea. The talks were never officially written up, and the remainder of the trip was cancelled.
President Monroe closed out his 1819 State of the Union Address with the words of deep regret over the loss of Commodore Perry, who died "In the execution of the duty imposed by these acts". It was "These acts" that Monroe had just defined in his previous paragraph to be the "suppression of the slave trade, in compliance with a law of the last session". Thus it seems clear, that he is linking Perry's mission with a duty to suppress the illegal slave trade.
"In the execution of the duty imposed by these acts, and of a high trust connected with it, it is with deep regret I have to state the loss which has been sustained by the death of Commodore Perry. His gallantry in a brilliant exploit in the late war added to the renown of his country. His death is deplored as a national misfortune."Perhaps, it was the death of Captain Perry that spurred Congress into action when they explicitly wrote into the new law that anyone participating in the illegal slave trade could be punished by death. Nevertheless, the story of the Perry family continues. It was his younger brother Captain Matthew C. Perry who carried on the fight against the slave trade. In 1821, President Monroe authorized a small flotilla of naval ships to the African coast. One of the vessels was schooner named Shark manned by Captain Matthew Perry. This was the first official military action the United States took as an international power against the slave trade, two years after the death of Oliver Perry. Perry found no American slaving vessels, but did stop and search a French Schooner Segond. He could not prove that it was a slaving vessel, though it was later found that the Segond did pick up 400 slaves. Another ship was found by Perry with 133 slaves, but France intervened and Perry had to let the ship go. All total, the Americans captured 11 ships and 573 Africans. Unfortunately, not much of a dent in the slave trade, but this story gives some credence to President Monroe's words two years earlier, that Captain Oliver Perry died in the duty of suppressing the slave trade.
Of course, there is also another story about the Venezuela mission. That is, Monroe sent Perry on the 1819 mission to suppress a controversy with Captain Jesse Elliot who challenged Perry to a duel. The story is that this diplomatic mission was offered to Perry in exchange for dropping the charges. Perhaps both are true.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29461
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_to_Protect_the_Commerce_of_the_United_States_and_Punish_the_Crime_of_Piracy
http://legisworks.org/sal/3/stats/STATUTE-3-Pg510a.pdf
http://www.historytoday.com/john-lynch/simon-bolivar-and-spanish-revolutions
http://abolition.nypl.org/content/docs/text/Act_of_1820.pdf
Latin American Rebels and the United States, 1806–1822 by Gordon S. Brown (2015) pgs. 160-162
The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870 by Hugh Thomas (2013) pgs. 617-618
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hazard_Perry
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Captain_Oliver_Hazard_Perry%2C_Portrait_in_oils_by_Edward_L._Mooney.jpg
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