:why-angel:

  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Jefferson blocking imports does nothing to reduce slavery as an institution

    Not when the prohibition is so comically ill-enforced that NYC is a national hub for human trafficking fifty years later. Certainly not with The Fugitive Slave Act permits an open season on Freedmen native to the states and territories.

    Had this strictly been a power play to consolidate control over the human chattel marketplace, it may have undermined slavery as a trade. But it seems that Jefferson only consolidated power within his office. He did comically little to deter actual slave traffic.