Enslaved people did not grow on trees, but they did reproduce. North Carolina slaveholders, large and small, took advantage of this fact to increase their profits from the slave trade. Once the price of the enslaved increased and the market of trading and selling stabilized, North Carolina slaveholders and slave trading companies sought to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Although North Carolina is often not considered a "breeding" state, some thought North Carolina was such a place. It was mentioned by those who witnessed the "breeding" in North Carolina that slaveholders would set the environment for greater reproduction—"no additional planning or plotting was necessary; the natural processes of reproduction went on without urging or promoting." This would make it seem that enslaved people were lustful people and did not consider the consequences of their sexual relations. Moreover, it should be noted that enforcing a law that forces a child to take the mother's status as a reproduction law. Therefore, it was a "breeding" law.

Moreover, enslaved people could be forced to do many things that were not coerced by physical violence, but threats such as the sale of family members were used to force enslaved people to perform some unspeakable acts. It was often the case that enslaved people would only go so far. In many cases, slaveholders' rape of enslaved women for reproduction did occur, and many of the offspring were sold. 

Planter migration and slave speculation created a net loss of slavery in North Carolina from 1820 to 1860. The major net loss occurred between 1830 and 1839. This period is critical to the domestic slave trade, as it correlates with the stagnation of the enslaved population in the census records of 1830 and 1840. The domestic slave trade and planter migration to the lower South seems to have become a lucrative and promising prospect. It looks like this helped to push slaveholders to think about reproduction growth as the North Carolina slave population increased in the 1850s, and once a notable increase was observed in 1860. 

Although there were few major slave-trading firms in North Carolina, and most of the agents that trekked to and from throughout North Carolina either worked for larger firms or were hopeful that new firms were looking to get their start. For instance, in 1836, Electius Conner, Elkanah S., and Abel H. Shuford established a slave-trading firm. They borrowed 9000 dollars from the Bank of the State of North Carolina at Morganton and purchased a number of slaves. Using other credit as well, "the whole of the purchases" amounted to "something over fifteen thousand dollars." They transported the slaves to Alabama, sold some of them for $8,152 on credit until January 1838, and divided the remainder. See examples HERE and HERE

The existence of this slave-trading firm indicates the importance of slave trading for North Carolina commerce; however, there is not much in literature that shows that the domestic slave trade was a commercial activity that reaped profits for white North Carolinians. Instead, it involved individuals seeking to gain from the sale of slaves that also took to the slave-trading business. 

It was estimated that no less than 100,000 enslaved individuals were transported from North Carolina to another slave state during the domestic slave trade. This includes trade and planter migration. Nevertheless, countless families suffered the anguish of lost families in the process.

Instances of enslaved people leaving the state and passing through the state were common in North Carolina. Several accounts discuss enslaved people marching through several towns in North Carolina. Formerly enslaved, Mary Anderson from the WPA narratives noted that slaves were carried off on two-horse wagons to be sold. "I have seen several lads leave." Another former slave of North Carolina, Cornelia Andrews, recalling the "big" slave market at Smithfield, noted, "I remember a man named Rough something or other, brought 40 or 50 slaves at the time and carried them to Richmond, Virginia to re-sell." She also recalled a day when 300 slaves were sold and slave traders from as far as New Orleans were present at the market. Adding to this list, Reverend J. W. Douglass of Fayetteville, North Carolina, noted that 60,000 slaves passed through North Carolina in 1835 alone. 

The potential profits of the slave trade placed free blacks in danger of being kidnapped and falsely sold. Although this was a rare occurrence, it did happen. For instance, "The North Carolina Gazette reported such a case in 1778. At Broad Creek on the Neuse River, two masked men broke into the home of Ann Driggus, a free negro woman, beat her with clubs, wounded her terribly, and carried away four of her children, three girls, and a boy." [The black experience in the revolution] See more HERE

Migration to the southwest became more attractive during economic panics [downturn], such as the case in 1837. Slaveholders, during the 1840s, took their slave property to the Southwest in droves in hopes of gaining profit from cheap land and labor. John Basset noted, "indeed, many migrating slaveholders and non-slaveholders owners were anxious to exchange their land for slaves before leaving the state. For example, one Haley Brown offered for dale 1000 to 1200 acres of land in the vicinity of High Point, stating that he wanted to remove to the South and would take slaves in payment for land." For another example, Basset noted, "Evelina Pender, being desirous of moving to the western country, offered for sale her lands in Halifax county, agreed to receive the whole purchase prices in Negroes at a fair valuation."