Final answer:
The demand for slave labor reached unprecedented levels due to the growth of cash crop economies, particularly cotton and sugar, in the antebellum United States. The banning of the transatlantic slave trade in 1808 led to a significant expansion of the domestic slave trade to meet these labor demands, resulting in higher prices for enslaved individuals and the devastating separation of enslaved families.
Step-by-step explanation:
The demands for slave labor skyrocketed as the development of cash crop economies, particularly those of cotton and sugar, grew in the United States. In the 1850s, an enslaved person's price could be double what it was in the 1820s due to this increased demand and the absence of international supply following the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in 1808. With the international supply cut off, the domestic slave trade within the United States expanded enormously, especially between the Upper South and Lower South, to maintain the labor-intensive agriculture in the South.
The cultivation of cash crops like cotton, which was responsible for 75% of the world's supply at the time, required a vast amount of labor. The termination of the Atlantic slave trade led to the reliance on domestic slave trade, where internal trading of enslaved people became commonplace to fulfill the labor requirements of the booming agricultural sector. This not only increased the value of enslaved individuals but also brought about severe social consequences as enslaved families were forcibly separated and sold off across states to meet labor demands in the Lower South.