*The Slave Trade Act of 1794 was passed on this date in 1794. This law passed by the United States Congress prohibited American ships from engaging in the international slave trade.
It was signed into law by President George Washington and was the first of several anti-slavery trade acts of Congress. In 1800, Congress strengthened it by sharply raising the fines and awarding informants the entire value of any ship seized and additional prohibitions on American investment and employment in the trade.
Federal outlawing of importation of enslaved people to the United States was enacted in 1807. The domestic trade and owning of enslaved people became illegal in the entire U.S. with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865.
