March 2: Slave trade prohibited

On March 2, 1807, the international slave trade was abolished by the American government.

Up till that time, an estimated 550,000 African slaves had been shipped in and sold in American slave markets. Most of these slaves were kidnapped from African villages or bought from African war lords. The journey was brutal and deadly. The picture above is a plan that shows how these men, women, and children were packed into the slave ships for transportstion. Disease and malnourishment were rampant; approximately 1 in every 6 never made it across the Atlantic.

Ever since the founding of America, the international slave trade had been widely considered immoral. By that time, Americans were not permitted to take part in the slave trade. They were not allowed to manufacture ships or equipment that would be used in the industry, and even foreign ships could only sell slaves in South Carolina and Georgia.

Thomas Jefferson was a strong proponent for the bill. He believed the slave trade to be inconsistent with the American principle of inalienable human rights. When the law was passed, he congratulated his country-men for withdrawing “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.”

While the abolition of slavery wasn’t achieved until 1866, this act demanded that Americans only enslave those born into slavery. This was a major step in eradicating a practice that was an unacceptable inconsistency in the American assumption that all are created equal.

Verse of the day: Galatians 4:7
You are no longer a slave, but God’s child.