*On this date in 1800, the Slave Trade Act of 1800 was passed. It was signed into law by President John Adams and was among several acts of Congress that eventually outlawed the importation of enslaved people to the United States.
The United States Congress enacted this to build upon the Slave Trade Act of 1794, limiting American involvement in the trade of human cargo. The owning of enslaved people and domestic trade would later be made illegal throughout the U.S. by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865.
The 1794 Slave Trade Act outlawed the international slave trade on U.S. vessels and limited the trade of foreign ships in U.S. ports. The 1800 Act increased the fines and penalties and outlawed U.S. citizens' and residents' investment in the trade and the employment of U.S. citizens on foreign vessels involved in the trade.
