Impatient and pestilent

Abstract

In December 1803, the South Carolina General Assembly voted to reopen the African slave trade, which operated in full force until it was federally banned in 1808. Approximately 75,000 slaves––nearly one-fifth of all slaves imported to North America––were imported during this short four-year span. Immediately before the trade reopened, the Medical Society of South Carolina advised state officials to relax quarantine measures for yellow fever. This advice was issued at a precipitous moment during an ongoing national debate over the contagiousness of yellow fever and whether or not it was imported. This thesis examines the intersection between private interest and the state through the lens of public health. It argues that the Medical Society of South Carolina––under the direction of Dr. David Ramsay––placed public health at risk in order to facilitate the slave trade by relaxing quarantine measures for yellow fever prior to its reopening.