Slavery in America: Part Four

For African slaves, there were, in fact, two ‘middle passages’. The first, the transport from Africa,
  the second, the transport from one part of America to another.

As America expanded so did the cultivation of cotton and the institution of slavery.

It is estimated about one million slaves were moved from the Old South between 1790 and 1860. Most came
from Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. 

The original destinations were Kentucky and Tennessee. After 1810 the Deep South; Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Slave trading became the largest and most lucrative business outside of the plantations themselves.

Raising slaves to be sold was another business. As the demand increased, so did the price of slaves.

Rarely were families transported, although to maintain a self perpetuating labour force usually equal numbers
of men and women were moved.

The ending of the Atlantic slave trade did not effect slavery in the United States, as the internal trade
was bustling.

The reason is rather simple; locally grown slaves knew the language and the drill. Fresh from Africa
slaves did not.

Rebellion, escape were first choices, and in places like Brasil or Suriname or Jamaica, getting the slaves
from the boat into the pen, from the pen to the new owner was not easy, and if one even did get the slave
from point A to point B, running off was immediate.

Having to recapture the slave, lock him up, beat him, did prevent him performing the labour he was purchased
for, so it was far more economical to buy an already enslaved person.

As the United States expanded south and west, and was put to cultivation of cash crops, the first choice was
’seasoned’ slaves.  

Even before abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade, most slaves were locally born and ’sold south’.

The reason this was called the second middle passage was that many slaves died during transit. The harsh
conditions, the attempts to escape caused losses almost equivalent to those during the Atlantic
transportation.

Once arrived, many died, whether through the torments suffered on the travel or new diseases in the region.

Many of the new planters would rent slaves from others and this created another lucrative business.

To abolish slavery would not just effect the plantations, but effect the business of slave trading, which created
extremely wealthy companies, the business of slave transportation, which gave a large number of whites
jobs, the early river travel, where many boat owners made their living carrying slaves down stream, and those
who owned slaves and rented them to others.

Although the number of slave owners, (those who owned ten slaves or more) might be no more than 4% of the
population, the number of whites employed in associated businesses is why there was such a resistance to abolition.