ln 1808, as specified by the Constitution, the foreign slave trade was officially ended. It continued, however, on a lesser scale, as an "outlawed occupation" until 1861. The closing of the Atlantic slave trade in 1808 came at the same time that the need for slaves in the lower South was on the rise. In the 1800s, cotton beca1ne king in the lower South. Just as tobacco, rice, and indigo had fueled colonial slavery in the upper South, cotton fueled antebellum slavery in the lower South. Developing what became known as the Cotton Kingdom, the lower South grew and prospered. 

The upper South did not share in this prosperity since it was unable to grow large quantities of cotton because of the soil. It could not compete with the lower South agriculturally. As a result, many southerners left the upper South for the economic prosperity of the lower South. This exodus caused a major population and financial drain on the upper South. This drain together with the closing of the Atlantic slave trade led to the birth of the domestic slave trade. With the close of the Allan tic slave trade, the deep South found it more difficult to secure the slaves they needed for cotton production. In response to the lower South's need, the upper South began the sale of surplus slaves and the notorious practice of slave breeding. The practice used female slaves, sometimes as young as thirteen, to breed. over a lifetime, as many as fourteen children. These children were sold into slavery in the deep South. The domestic slave trade would last from I 808 until the end of the Civil War in 1865