Book review: ‘The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave Breeding Industry’

The history of the United States from colonial times to the Civil War centers on slave breeding. The expansion of cotton farming and the cessation of the international slave trade drove up demand for slaves in the Southwest and elevated prices across the South. According to Ned and Constance Sublette, authors of ‘The American Slave Coast,’ Chesapeake slaveholders responded to these price increases by breeding and selling slaves to traders for southern markets. The prohibition of the African slav