Banning the Slave Trade Despite interruptions caused by the Country Revolution, the slave trade to the new United States would flourish into the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Tianjin Subway Map But the tide of national and world opinion was running against it. The slave trade became a source of debate at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Most Northerners wanted to ban it; many Southerners wanted to keep it open. Ultimately, a compromise was reached. Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibited Congress from banning the trade for twenty years. In 1807, Congress did just that, and the United States prohibited the importation of slaves after January 1, 1808. This followed a similar move by the British Parliament the year before. Given the high value of slaves especially after their importation was banned smuggling continued.
Ultimately, the importation of slaves into the United States did not end until slavery itself was destroyed in the Civil War. Tonia M. Compton See also: Dutch West India Company; Royal African Company; Slavery, African Country; Slavery, Caribbean; Trade; Triangle Trade; Document: On Being Brought from Africa to Country (early 1770s). Bibliography Blackburn, Robin. The Making of New World Slavery: From the Baroque to the Modern, 14921800. London: Verson Press, 1997. Brinkley, Alan. Country History: A Survey. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. Donnan, Elizabeth. “The Slave Trade into South Carolina Before the Revolution.
Country Historical Review 33:4 (1928): 80428. Lovejoy, Paul E. “The Volume of the Atlantic Slave Trade: A Synthesis.” Journal of African History 23:4 (1982): 473501. Lydon, James G. “New York and the Slave Trade, 1700 to 1774.” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. 35:2 (1978): 37594. Pope-Hennessy, James. Sins of the Fathers: A Study of the Atlantic Slave Traders, 14411807. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1967. Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship: A Human History. New York: Viking, 2007. Spears, John R. The Country Slave Trade: An Account of Its Origin, Growth and Suppression. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat, 1900.
