The Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trades
Updated: Dec 7, 2022
A new Federal legislation that went into effect on January 1st, 1808, made it unlawful to bring captives from Africa into the country. On this day, the transatlantic slave trade into our nation officially and permanently came to a stop. Naturally, enslaved persons continued to be purchased and traded inside the Southern states as long as slavery was permitted, but after January 1808, the legal immigration of new Africans to this country came to an end.
Former slaves would now be categorized as "labor," which would result in a significant increase in the work force, even on a per capita basis. In either case, the abolition of slavery increased American productivity and, consequently, its wealth.
