...ountry that was not purchased till about 1803. In these French settlements negro slavery had existed for many years-perhaps more than a hundred if not as much as two hundred years--at Kaskaskia, in Illinois , and at St. Genevieve, or Cape Girardeau, perhaps, in Missouri. The number of slaves was not, very great, but there was about the same number in each place. They were there when we acquired the T...