A Study On The Interstate Slave Trade Of American Antebellum South

The interstate slave trade played an important role in the development of slavery in the American South.The ambiguous wording of the 1787 Constitution on the issue of the slave trade caused numerous debates between the North and South that continued until the outbreak of the Civil War.It is important to note that the 1787 Constitution gave special provisions for the trade in imported slaves,which stimulated the development of the interstate slave trade.There are few studies on the interstate slave trade in the United States in domestic academic circles,so this paper,drawing on the best academic achievements at home and abroad,examines the rise and development of the interstate slave trade,the people involved in the trade,and its impact,in order to examine the importance of the interstate slave trade in slavery in the American South and its place in the Southern conflict.The number of slaves traded in the interstate slave trade was as large and the distances traveled were as great as those of the Atlantic slave trade.This paper argues that the interstate slave trade drove slave production and became the backbone of the slave system.While the interstate slave trade promoted the development of the southern slave economy,it exacerbated the conflict between the North and South and had an erosive side to the southern slave system,a side attributed to the negative impact of the interstate slave trade on southern morality and the growing abolitionist movement.The first chapter of this paper reveals the reasons for the rise of the interstate slave trade through the changes that occurred in the political and economic situation of the North American continent during the time period from 1787 to 1807,while combing through the legislative process of the Slave Import Prohibition Act of 1807.Chapter 2 of this paper places the development and changes of the interstate slave trade in the time period from the effective date of the Slave Import Prohibition Act to the Civil War.The development of the interstate slave trade in this period took advantage of the first industrial revolution,which brought about a rapid development of the interstate slave trade under the innovation of production methods.The scale of trade in the slaveholding states of the South also changed gradually,reflecting the fact that the interstate slave trade had taken deep roots in the South and was closely linked to the southern plantation economy.Under the umbrella of slavery,the participants in the interstate slave trade formed a web of interests,buying and selling slaves for money in a frenzy.The South,under this development,united the Upper and Lower South into one economic whole,and New Orleans prospered as a result of the interstate slave trade.Chapter 3 of this paper analyzes the impact of the interstate slave trade from the perspective of slavery.The interstate slave trade promoted the development of the southern slave economy and brought change to the South.However,the interstate slave trade was a sinful trade that brought a bad name to those involved in the trade.A small number of slave traders tried to clear this bad reputation by improving their social status,and groups of southern slave owners gradually recognized the importance of the interstate slave trade and did their best to maintain the moral reputation of the South.Meanwhile,Northern abolitionists used the interstate slave trade to launch a moral attack on slavery.The conflict between abolitionist Benjamin Lundy and slave trader Austin Woolfolk epitomized the conflict between the North and the South over the interstate slave trade.The interstate slave trade exacerbated existing tensions between the North and South,and the differences and conflicts between the North and South over the issue intensified,especially after Lincoln took office.The North finally realized that to solve the problem of interstate slave trade,slavery had to be overthrown,and to overthrow slavery,the interstate slave trade had to be ended.Slavery was the cause of the intensification of the conflict between the North and the South and the trigger for the Civil War,and the interstate slave trade was the most important side of the fuse.