Slavery in America

While the total number of Africans taken across theAtlantic to America in what became known as the Middle Passage is unknown, estimates range upward from five million. Before long, the American slave population grew so rapidly that more importations eventually became unnecessary. In fact, it was eighteenth-century Southerners, for a combination of practical and humanitarian reasons, who first attempted to control or abolish the African slave trade. Laws were passed throughout the U.S. prohibiting the importation of slaves: Delaware passed legislation in 1776, Virginia in 1778, South Carolina in 1787, North Carolina in 1794 and Georgia in 1798. South Carolina reopened its trade in 1803 but was forced to close it due to federal action in 1808. The Atlantic slave trade effectively ended from that point on in America, and slave holders were forced to rely on the indigenous slave population.

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