Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 122.djvu/629

 12 2 STA T .60 6 PUBLIC LA W 110 – 1 83—FE B. 5, 2008 PublicLaw1 1 0– 1 83 110 thCongres s A n Act Toestabli s h the C o m missio n on the A bolition o f the T r ansatlanti cS la v e Tra d e .Beit e nac te dby t h e S enate and Hous eo fR e pr esentati v es of the U nited States of Am erica in C on g ress assemb l ed ,SECTION1. S H O R T TIT L E. ThisActmaybe cite d as the ‘ ‘ Co mmissio n on the Abo l ition o f the T r ansatlantic S la v e Trade Act ’ ’ . SEC. 2 . F IN D IN G S A ND PU RPOSE. ( a )FIND IN GS . — Con g ress finds the follo w ing

( 1 ) O n M arch 2, 1 807, P resident Thomas J efferson signed into law a bill a p proved by the Congress ‘‘An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the ju risdiction of the U nited States’’ (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘1808 Transatlantic Slave Trade Act’’) and made it unlawful ‘‘to import or bring into the United States or territories thereof from any foreign k ingdom, place or country, any negro, mulatto, or person of colour, with intent to hold, sell, or dispose of such. . .as a slave, or to be held to service or labour’’. (2) Article I , Section 9 of the United States Constitution clearly spelled out that the international slave trade could not be banned before 1808, and it is only on January 1, 1808, that the 1808 Transatlantic Slave Trade Act went into effect. ( 3 ) An Act entitled ‘‘An Act to continue in force ‘An act to protect the commerce of the United States, and punish the crime of piracy,’ and also to make further provisions for punishing the crime of piracy’’, enacted May 1 5, 1820, made it unlawful for any citi z en of the United States to engage ‘‘in the slave trade, or. . ., being of the crew or ship’s company of any foreign ship. . ., seize any negro or mulatto. . .with the intent to make. . .a slave. . .or forcibly bring. . .on board any such ship....’’. ( 4 ) The transatlantic slave trade entailed the kidnapping, purchase, and commercial e x port of Africans, mostly from W est and Central Africa, to the E uropean colonies and new nations in the Americas, including the United States, where they were enslaved in forced labor between the 15th and mid - 19th cen- turies. (5) The term ‘‘Middle Passage’’ refers to the horrific part of the transatlantic slave trade when millions of Africans were chained together and stowed by the hundreds in overcrowded ships where they were forced into small spaces for months Com m is sio n on theAb o l ition o f the Tra nsatlanti cS la v e Tra d e Act .F eb. 5,20 0 8[H . R. 34 32 ]

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