Coastwise slave trade

The coastwise slave trade existed along the southern and eastern coastal areas of the United States in the antebellum years prior to 1861.

The United States and Great Britain patrolled to create an international Blockade of Africa, trying to suppress the slave trade.

In addition, American and British ships patrolled the Caribbean, where illegal slaves were generally brought for sale to the sugar plantations and smuggling into the United States.

Complications developed between the United States and Great Britain from their differing interpretations of the application of laws against the slave trade in the Caribbean colonies.

The following are generally considered the most important United States statutory laws and case laws on slavery, in the order of their enactment:[citation needed] The act of sailing along a coast and using landmarks for guidance is called cabotage, from the French word caboter ("to coast," "go from cape to cape").