US Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves (1807)

The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves was enacted on March 2, 1807, prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States. President Thomas Jefferson promoted the legislation, which was passed by Congress and signed into law. The act criminalized importation from abroad, including on foreign ships, but did not affect the domestic slave trade.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Congress first regulated against the trade in the Slave Trade Act of 1794, limiting American ships. The 1807 law criminalized all importation from abroad, even on foreign ships. The domestic slave trade within the United States was not affected by the 1807 law, which only impacted import or export.

Legislative Process. On March 3, 1805, Joseph Bradley Varnum submitted a Massachusetts Proposition to amend the Constitution and abolish the slave trade. Under Varnum's leadership, legislation moved through Congress and passed both houses on March 2, 1807. The House and Senate agreed on a bill called An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves.

Presidential Action. President Thomas Jefferson promoted the legislation, calling for its enactment in his 1806 State of the Union address. In his annual message to Congress on December 2, 1806, Jefferson denounced violations of human rights. He signed the bill into law on March 2, 1807.

People involved

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.