The Southern Commercial Convention is meeting in Vicksburg, Mississippi with slavery high on the agenda

Following on from a convention in Knoxville in 1857, and another in 1858 in Montgomery, the Vicksburg Convention assembled delegates from all over the South to discuss commercial matters.  With a preponderance of radicals in attendance, the topic of slavery became prominent and James De Bow of South Carolina famously advocated the resumption of the African slave trade.  After a long debate in which economist De Bow laid out arguments of supply and demand, the Convention voted 44 to 19 to urge southern states to repeal all laws preventing the importation of slaves from Africa.  (By John Osborne)