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The Slave Trade Act of 1794 was a law passed by the United States Congress that prohibited the building or outfitting of ships in U.S. ports for the international slave trade. It was signed into law by President George Washington on March 22, 1794. This was the first of several anti-slave-trade acts of Congress.
Discover more about George Washington and Mount Vernon with this collection of primary source documents from the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association and others.
Washington also signed into law the Slave Trade Act of 1794 that banned the involvement of American ships and American exporters in the international slave trade. Moreover, according to Washington biographer James Thomas Flexner , Washington as President weakened slavery by favoring Hamilton's economic plans over Jefferson's agrarian economics .
Washington signed just two pieces of slavery related legislation: the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law, which guaranteed the right of slaveholders to recover escaped slaves across state lines, and the 1794 Slave Trade Act, which restricted U.S. participation in the trafficking of human cargo.
Signed by George Washington in 1794, the Slave Trade Act of 1794 prohibited exporting slaves from the United States to any foreign place or country. Prohibiting the importation of slaves into the country was not Federally mandated until 1807, and slavery itself was not abolished in the United States until after the ratification of the ...
President Washington signs the Slave Trade Act of 1794, an early step toward ending the international slave trade that prohibited the transporting of enslaved persons from the United States to any foreign place or country, and made it illegal for American citizens to prepare a ship for purpose of importing enslaved people.
Nov 21, 2016 · Fugitive Slave Act, February 12, 1793. (General Records of the United States Government, National Archives) However, a year later, he approved the Slave Trade Act of 1794, an early step toward ending the international slave trade. Both of these documents are in the holdings of the National Archives.
