They had always been cautious about
bringing unbroken slaves directly from Africa, and now they were also
afraid to import unruly slaves from South America.
In 1783 Maryland passed a law prohibiting the importation of
slaves, and in 1786 North Carolina drastically increased the duty on
the importation of slaves, thereby severely reducing the flow. The
Federal Government finally took action to terminate the slave trade in
1807, but a vigorous, illegal trade continued until the Civil War.
The first sectional conflict over slavery had taken place at the
Constitutional Convention. Those Northerners who had hoped to see
slavery abolished by this new constitution were quick to realize that
such a document would never be approved by the South. Most of the
antislavery forces concluded that it was necessary to put the Union
above abolition.
While the Constitution did not specifically mention slavery, it
did legally recognize the institution in three places. First, there
was a heated debate over the means of calculating representation to
the House. Southern spokesmen wanted as many delegates as possible
and preferred that slaves be counted.
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