January 1st, 1808: Slave Importation Banned In US

[The Straight Story]

January 1st, 1808: Slave Importation Banned In US

con_calendarjan1st.jpg Considering we spend a good deal of time focusing on legislation that protects consumers and/or (usually or) businesses, we thought it appropriate to point out one of the big historical moments of trade law, not to mention human rights—tomorrow marks the "200th anniversary of Jan. 1, 1808, when the importation of slaves into the United States was prohibited." Hey, it didn't stop the madness, but at least it was a start.

Eric Foner, a professor of history at Columbia University, argues in an Op-Ed piece that it was in fact this early shaping of the US slave-based economy that helped prevent an even more disastrous human rights scenario by the time the Civil War erupted:

it is plausible to assume that hundreds of thousands if not millions of Africans would have been brought into the country.

This most likely would have resulted in the "democratization" of slavery as prices fell and more and more whites could afford to purchase slaves, along with a further increase in Southern political power thanks to the Constitution's three-fifths clause. These were the very reasons advanced by South Carolina's political leaders when they tried, unsuccessfully, to reopen the African slave trade in the 1850s.

More slaves would also have meant heightened fear of revolt and ever more stringent controls on the slave population. It would have reinforced Southerners' demands to annex to the United States areas suitable for plantation slavery in the Caribbean and Central America. Had the importation of slaves continued unchecked, the United States could well have become the hemispheric slave-based empire of which many Southerners dreamed.

http://consumerist.com/339310/january-1st-1808-slave-importation-banned-in-us

[Catshrink]

1. Very important anniversary!

Thanks for posting.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. excellent. (more info)

:hi: Happy New Year SS! :)

Although the Constitution prohibited Congress from abolishing the slave trade before 1808, individual states were free to take that initiative whenever they pleased. New Jersey and Rhode Island led the way in 1787, with Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York soon following. By 1806, South Carolina was the only state that had not restricted the slave trade.4 Congress also took steps to restrict the trade in ways not forbidden by the Constitution. In 1790, a law prohibited US citizens from engaging in the slave trade to foreign ports,5 and in 1794 it became illegal to manufacture, equip, or otherwise assist any vessels destined for the slave trade.6

Legislating the Abolition of the Slave Trade:

As 1808 approached, the issue of the slave trade once again appeared in Congress for consideration. In December 1805, a bill was introduced to the Senate prohibiting the importation of slaves to take effect in 1808, however, in April it was decided to postpone discussion of the issue until a later date.7 Events in the House of Representatives took a somewhat different course, and because the proceedings are better documented, they will form the bulk of my argument.

Representative Sloan from the state of New Jersey submitted a bill to the House floor in December 1805 that called for the imposition of a $10 duty per slave imported into the United States -- the maximum amount allowed under the Constitution.8 The debates surrounding this bill, which later evolved into a bill to prohibit the actual importation of slaves highlights important issues in US economic policy.

The opposing sides of the debate can be placed into two categories: the "moralists" and the "pragmatists." Neither side advocated the perpetuation of the slave trade, they differed merely in their approach to the legislation. Moralists not only found the importation of slaves to be abhorrent, but believed that Congress should do everything in its power to stop it forthwith. The pragmatists, on the other hand, although they also opposed the importation of slaves, took a very rational and calculated position, taking into the broader legal and commercial interpretations of the problem. These two unofficial camps did not form right away, nor did they exhibit the traditional division between North and South as one might expect.

lots more... http://www.american.edu/TED/slave.htm