Final answer:
The delayed abolition of the slave trade was due to the complexities of economic, societal, and political interests, differences between African and New World slavery, and the various movements like colonization and reform versus resistance strategies adopted by abolitionists.
Step-by-step explanation:
The abolition of the slave trade was a complex process due to deeply entrenched societal, economic, and political interests. The institution of slavery that existed within African societies was different from the chattel slavery that developed in the New World, affecting resistance to its abolition. In America, the 1830s and 1840s saw a shift from reform to resistance among abolitionists, characterized by establishing antislavery support networks and protecting runaway slaves. Despite some early measures against slavery, like the Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act in Pennsylvania and emancipation in Massachusetts, the opposition from the southern states, where the economy relied heavily on enslaved labor, delayed decisions at the federal level, as reflected in the contentious debates during the Constitutional Convention and resistance to the expansion of slavery into new territories.
The violent and long-standing practice was eventually challenged by a variety of proposals and movements that emerged throughout the 1800s, which included colonization as a solution to racial tensions and logistical proposals, such as selling international slave trade being outlawed in 1807, which ironically led to the rise of the domestic slave trade.