U.S., Southeast Coastwise Inward and Outward Slave Manifests, 1790-1860

This is a database of manifests for slaves arriving in Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama from 1790-1860. The manifests are on standard forms, but the forms changed because of what was required to be on the forms over the 70-year period.

The Act of 1807, signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson, made the international slave trade illegal. The domestic slave trade was still legal and because of this distinction the slave manifest records became more detailed. Before 1808, the information on slaves on board these ships was less informational and sometimes was solely the number of slaves onboard. Post-1808, personal information for each slave was included and the owner had to affirm the slave had been imported prior to 1808.

The manifests include:

• Name of ship
• Master
• Port of departure
• Port of destination
• List of slaves on board

The slave information includes:

• First name
• Sex
• Age
• Stature
• Name of shipper/owner
• Shipper/owner’s place of residence

Updates:
15 Oct 2020: Changes were made to improve the performance of this collection. No new records were added.