Ending the Trade: 1807 and the Atlantic Patrols

The first major legal victory against slavery targeted the trade rather than slavery itself. Denmark-Norway decreed in 1792 that its transatlantic slave trade would end in 1803. In 1807 Britain passed the Slave Trade Act, making it illegal for British subjects to take part in the trade, and the United States banned the import of enslaved people from 1 January 1808, the earliest date the Constitution allowed.

Ending the trade was easier to win than ending slavery, because politicians could present it as stopping new cruelty without seizing planters' existing 'property'. Britain then used its navy's West Africa Squadron and diplomatic treaties to pressure other nations, freeing many thousands of captives from intercepted ships. Critics then and now note mixed motives, including economic and strategic interests.

The trade continued illegally for decades, and within the United States a large internal slave trade grew, showing that banning imports did not end slavery.