The Constitution sunsetted the trade (importation) of slaves back in 1808.
Some think they would’ve smuggled them in, but to that extent to cover all the freed natives? No way. Would never have gotten away with that.
Plus, the "illegal immigrant" argument is just silly; unscrupulous contractors are able to get away with hiring illegal immigrants -- because the illegals want to be hired, and keep their mouths shut about the deal.
Unless a newly-imported slave wanted to be a slave (which kinda deflates much of the moral horror of slavery), it would be very difficult for a plantation owner to keep his illegal slave-holdings a secret.
yes, good point -— I thought about that right after I clicked “post” —— the biggest obstacle, even if the idea had been seriously explored before 1861, was that it would be a complete political non-starter to pay $2-3 billion to free slaves, especially when so many in the north were living at subsistence levels or just above.... but I think the idea was still utterly impractical because (1) the logistics just would not be in place, (2) the popular support for the idea would probably have been about 10%, (3) it is not possible to make the pre-1861 comparison with “600,000 dead” and “$6 billion” cost for the civil war, massive infrastructure damage etc. b/c virtually no one was imagining or expecting a cataclysm on such a scale (I believe it’s the case that almost anyone north or south who thought about predictions in 1861 expected the conflict to be resolved one way or another that year with limited loss of life)...... WHO in 1860-61 actually imagined $6 billion and 600,000 lives??? I’ve never seen or heard anything to indicate that such a comparison was being made before the civil war.......