Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves

Definition

This was a federal law passed in 1807 that made it illegal to import slaves into the United States from foreign countries.

Related terms

Abolitionism: A movement to end slavery. Abolitionists believed that slaveholding was a sin and demanded immediate emancipation of all slaves.

Middle Passage: The sea journey undertaken by slave ships from West Africa to the West Indies. It was one part of a three-part economic cycle — the Triangular Trade and its Middle Passage — which involved the death of millions of African people.

Fugitive Slave Act: Laws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of enslaved people who escaped from one state into another state or territory.