(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All
rights reserved. Contact us for information about using this
image. As the legal and illegal importation of African slaves
into Brazil and Cuba continued in the early 1860s, antislavery
advocates pressed the Buchanan administration to end the
participation of U.S.-based ships. They contrasted the U.S.
government's passive stance on this to the British government
which since the 1830s, had stationed a squadron of ships in
Africa dedicated to stopping and seizing vessels carrying
slaves. This vigorous effort has been estimated by one historian
to have cut the importation of slaves into Brazil and Cuba (the
only major places where it was still legal to import slaves from
Africa) by 30 to 50 percent in the 1850s. But despite the risks,
some U.S. shipowners continued to trade in slaves: the profits
often outweighed the risks.