Editing Atlantic slave trade (section)

===Last slave ship to the United States===
{{See also|Post-1808 importation of slaves to the United States}}

Even though it was prohibited, in response to the North's reluctance or refusal to enforce the [[Fugitive Slave Act of 1850]], the Atlantic slave trade was "re-open[ed] ... by way of retaliation".<ref name=bugle>{{cite news |title=How to Oppose Slavery with Effect |newspaper=[[Anti-Slavery Bugle]] ([[Lisbon, Ohio]]) |date=29 October 1859 |page=1 |via=[[newspapers.com]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63975588/chattel-slavery-is-the-root-of-the/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727151420/https://www.newspapers.com/article/anti-slavery-bugle-chattel-slavery-is-th/63975588/ |archive-date=27 July 2024}}</ref> In 1859, "the trade in slaves from Africa to the Southern coast of the United States is now carried on in defiance of Federal law and of the Federal Government."<ref name=bugle/>

The last ''known'' slave ship to land on U.S. soil was the [[Clotilda (slave ship)|''Clotilda'']], which in 1859 illegally smuggled a number of Africans into the town of [[Mobile, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/july05/ |title=Cudjo Lewis: Last African Slave in the U.S.? |access-date=12 October 2007 |archive-date=25 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525130501/http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/july05/ |website=Jim Crow Museum |publisher=[[Ferris State University]]}}</ref> The Africans on board were sold as slaves; however, slavery in the U.S. was [[abolitionism in the United States|abolished]] five years later following the end of the [[American Civil War]] in 1865. [[Cudjoe Lewis]], who died in 1935, was long believed to be the last survivor of ''Clotilda'' and the last surviving slave brought from Africa to the United States,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dreamsofafricain0000diou |title=Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America |isbn=978-0-19-531104-4 |first=Sylvianne |last=Diouf |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2007 |url-access=registration}}</ref> but recent research has found that two other survivors from ''Clotilda'' outlived him, [[Redoshi]] (who died in 1937) and [[Matilda McCrear]] (who died in 1940).<ref name="Durkin-2019">{{cite journal |last=Durkin |first=Hannah |s2cid=150975893 |title=Finding last middle passage survivor Sally 'Redoshi' Smith on the page and screen |journal=Slavery & Abolition |date=2019 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=631–658 u|doi=10.1080/0144039X.2019.1596397}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Durkin |first=Hannah |date=19 March 2020 |title=Uncovering The Hidden Lives of Last Clotilda Survivor Matilda McCrear and Her Family |journal=Slavery & Abolition |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=431–457 |doi=10.1080/0144039X.2020.1741833 |s2cid=216497607 |issn=0144-039X}}</ref>

However, according to Senator [[Stephen Douglas]], Lincoln's opponent in the [[Lincoln–Douglas debates]]:

{{blockquote|In regard to the slave trade, Mr. Douglas stated that there was not the shadow of doubt but that it had been carried on quite extensively for a long time back, and that there had been more slaves imported into the Southern States during the last year [1858] than had ever been imported before in any one year, even when the slave trade was legal. It was his confident belief that over 15,000 slaves had been brought into this country during the past year. He had seen, with his own eyes, three hundred of these recently-imported, miserable beings, in a slave-pen in [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]], and also large numbers at [[Memphis, Tennessee]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr. Douglas' position |newspaper=[[Richmond Enquirer]] |location=[[Richmond, Virginia]] |date=30 August 1859 |page=4 |via=[[newspapers.com]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93416794/stephen-douglas-slavery-presidential/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728110322/https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-enquirer-stephen-douglas-slave/93416794/ |archive-date=28 July 2024}}</ref>}}

[[File:Union and Liberty! Union and Slavery!.jpg|thumb|The image contrasts two scenes: [[Abraham Lincoln]] advocating equality with a worker, while [[George B. McClellan|McClellan]] shakes hands with Jefferson Davis, representing the Southern slave system.]]

Abraham Lincoln faced significant constitutional challenges in his fight to abolish slavery, as the U.S. Constitution had provided protections for slavery. Despite these challenges, Lincoln's leadership and the creation of a strong federal government allowed for the eventual abolition of slavery through the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] and the passage of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|13th Amendment]].<ref>Eric Foner, "Lincoln's Evolving Thoughts On Slavery, And Freedom," National Public Radio, October 11, 2010, https://www.npr.org/2010/10/11/130489804/lincolns-evolving-thoughts-on-slavery-and-freedom. Accessed September 19, 2024.</ref>