Treaty for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade facts for kids
The Treaty for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade was an important agreement signed in London on December 20, 1841. It was the first time many countries worked together to try and stop the terrible slave trade.
Representatives from the Austrian Empire, Kingdom of France, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire all signed the treaty. Four of these countries – Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia – officially approved it later. However, Louis Philippe I, who was the king of France at the time, decided not to approve it for his country.
What the Treaty Did
This treaty made a big promise: all the countries involved agreed to work hard to stop the African slave trade. A key part of the agreement was in Article 2. This article allowed the navies (sea forces) of the signing countries to search merchant ships. If a ship was sailing under the flag of one of the treaty nations, and there was a good reason to think it was involved in the slave trade, it could be stopped and searched in the Atlantic or Indian Ocean.
Why Searching Ships Was Important
The treaty said that special warships with official papers could search any merchant ship. This was allowed if there was a strong suspicion that the ship was carrying enslaved people or had been prepared for that purpose. This rule was very important because it helped enforce an earlier declaration from 1815. That declaration, made at the Congress of Vienna, had condemned the slave trade, but it didn't have a strong way to stop it. The 1841 treaty provided that enforcement.
How Other Countries Reacted
The United States had some concerns about this treaty. Lewis Cass, who was the American ambassador to France, told the French Foreign Minister, François Guizot, that the treaty might limit a country's independence. He worried that allowing other nations to search ships would take away a country's right to control its own vessels.
Instead of joining the 1841 treaty, the United States made its own agreement with Britain in 1842. This was called the Webster–Ashburton Treaty. In this treaty, the U.S. and Britain agreed that their own naval squadrons (groups of warships) would work together to search ships. This was different from giving all treaty nations the right to search.
Later, in 1848, the Kingdom of Belgium also joined the treaty, showing its support for stopping the slave trade.
See also
