Between 1400 and 1860, upwards of 15 million Africans arrived in the Americas as slaves. Experts estimate that around 1 million of them were brought to North America. Captive Africans were marched great distances overland to the west coast of Africa where they would wait for weeks or months before carried off in a ship to plantations in the Americas. The trip itself was a horrific ordeal, packed together below decks where standing was impossible and even rolling over was difficult. Without proper ventilation, basic sanitation and proper food, outbreaks of disease spread quickly among both the captives and the crew. Men, women and children were treated worse then we treat stray dogs, and today we would scream out if even a lab mouse was treated with such cruelty. As such, even slave holders and proponents of slave labor often spoke out against the African slave trade. But the economies of slave labor, and the profit of the slave trade continued to rule the day. By the middle of the 18th century, slavery could be found in all 13 colonies and had become the core of the agricultural economy in the south.
After the war, as the northern states turned to a more industrial economy, the opponents of slavery were able to pass legislation to abolish slavery in most Northern states. Meanwhile in the South, profit from the cotton industry sharply increased the demand for slave labor. Yet, by 1807 there was then a self-sustaining population of almost 1 million slaves in the South eliminating the reliance on African slave trade (It grew to 4 million by 1860). This helped to open the door for the abolitionist congressmen from the North. While they could not win over the South and completely abolish slavery, they could at least get enough Southern congressmen to join them in abolishing the African slave Trade.
But the door was opening for another reason. In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson also spoke out against the African Slave Trade in his address to Congress when he congratulated his fellow citizens on the potential end of "those violations of human rights" on January 1st, 1808.
"I congratulate you, fellow citizens, on the approach of the period at which you may interpose your authority constitutionally to withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation, and the best of our country have long been eager to proscribe."Jefferson was not psychic, but rather he was referring to the opportunity Congress had when the constitutionality of Slave trade would end on January 1, 1808 as spelled out in Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution regarding the Limits of Congress.
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
The door to abolition was slowly opening. Ending the slave trade would not be automatic, it would require an act of Congress, and Thomas Jefferson took this opportunity to urge congress to begin preparing now.
"Although no law you may pass can take prohibitory effect Ă”til the 1st day of the year 1808, yet the intervening period is not too long to prevent by timely notice expeditions which can not be completed before that day."Thus, on March 2nd 1807 the U.S. Congress passed an act to “The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.". The act became effective on January 1, 1808. This did not abolish widespread trade of slaves within the states, and by this time there were already over 4 million slaves in the South guaranteeing a self-sustaining population.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29448
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-abolishes-the-african-slave-trade
http://abolition.nypl.org/content/docs/text/article1_section9.pdf
http://abolition.nypl.org/essays/us_constitution/3/
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/1_4.html
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Slaveshipposter-contrast.jpg
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