America’s Breeding Farms: What History Books Never Told You

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In 1808, America banned the import of slaves from Africa and the West Indies. The impact on actual slavery in America was almost non-existent. There was still some limited smuggling of slaves, but the majority of new slaves in America came from what Professor Eric Foner called “natural increase.” One could reasonably ask, “Why ban slave imports and not slavery itself?” The answer is that, for many of the proponents of the prohibition, including Thomas Jefferson, the reason was not based on humanitarian concerns but on economics. The South was producing and selling enough slaves internally that the slave trade was reducing prices for slaves and cutting into profits.

In 1819, another act was passed allowing US ships to patrol not only its shores but also the coast of Afri…