United States Bans Slave Imports
On 1 January 1808—the earliest date permitted by the US Constitution (Article I, Section 9)—the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves came into force in the United States, banning the importation of enslaved Africans into American territory. The Act had been passed by Congress in March 1807, simultaneous with the British Abolition Act, though enforcement proved inconsistent. Illegal slave smuggling into the US continued until the Civil War, and the existing enslaved population continued to grow through natural increase, sustaining the domestic slave trade within the southern states for another five decades.
- Year: 1808 CE
- Category: Political
