Pre-Revolution, several states/colonies tried to ban the importation of slaves, the British Privy Council overruled them. Post-Revolution, all states except Georgia banned importation by 1786, Georgia (which didn't allow slavery from 1735-1750) banned it in 1798.
And watch them either starve in the wilderness or turn to crime to survive? And watch the newly birthed nation dissolve in economic ruin?
And the States/British North America were not the main buyers in the slave trade. The colonies in Central/South America and the Caribbean bought way more slaves in the Atlantic trade. Climate, disease, and conditions for those plantations and mines chewed through laborers very quickly. The US South catches (rightly so) a lot of grief because they kept slavery legal longer than most, but if we are talking sheer volume (and body count), look no further than the Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English colonies south of the border.
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