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Legislation

Signing of the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves

On March 2, 1807, President Thomas Jefferson signed into law the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, banning the international slave trade into the United States effective January 1, 1808.

Signing of the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves

The law ended legal U.S. participation in the transatlantic slave trade, marking a major federal restriction on slavery-related commerce while leaving domestic slavery intact and reshaping legal and diplomatic enforcement of the trade.

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