A selection of cases from the Records of the U.S. District Courts in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina

The United States government has had a complicated, and often troubling, relationship with the institution of slavery. Though allowed to survive and even thrive long after the nation was established, federal laws were enacted which prevented the importation of new slaves from Africa and inflicted stiff penalties on those who attempted to do so. Many federal statutes regarding slavery focused mainly on the issue of new slaves brought into the country.

In March of 1794, Congress passed an act prohibiting the transport of slaves from the U.S. to any foreign country as well as making it illegal for American citizens to outfit a ship for purposes of importing slaves. The act did not, however, affect foreign nations and their importation of slaves. In addition, the penalties for Americans convicted under this law were fines and did not include incarceration.

An act passed in 1800 built on the 1794 law by increasing the fines for importation of slaves, as well as making it illegal for American citizens to engage in the slave trade between any nations, regardless if the ship originated in the U.S. or was owned by a U.S. citizen. It also gave U.S. authorities the right to seize slave ships which were caught transporting slaves and confiscate their cargo. Laws like these were not unheard of, even in the Colonial period. The Continental Congress had, in fact, passed a resolution in 1774 to ban slave importation and prohibit Americans from engaging in the trade. It was not until after the turn of the century, however, that Congress began to increase the penalties for violating these laws.

An 1803 act established a penalty of one thousand dollars for each person brought to the U.S. on a ship with the intention of selling them as a slave. This act also placed responsibility on the captain of any vessel transporting slaves. It charged customs and revenue officials in the government with enforcing this law, an indirect warning to those who might be in the best position for aiding illegal slave traders.

The Constitution itself established a way which Congress could ban the importation of slaves, but not until 1808. Congress did exercise this power at its earliest opportunity and as of January 1, 1808 the importation of slaves into the U.S. or its territories was banned. Penalties now included a fine, ranging from five to twenty-thousand dollars, forfeiture of ship and equipment, and imprisonment from five to ten years. The act specifically excluded transportation of slaves within the U.S., since the interstate sale of slaves remained legal.

Over a decade later, Congress would pass legislation in 1819 which considered intercontinental slave trading as piracy, punishable by death. Previously, U.S. ships only held a mandate to patrol the eastern seaboard of North America. Now they would extend their activities as far as the West African coast in order to enforce the law. This enforcement was given an additional boost by the Webster-Asburton Treaty signed with Great Britain in 1842. The treaty established a permanent fleet on the West African coast in the hopes of completely suppressing slave trafficking. Ironically this coincides with the period in which the illegal slave trade reached its height, between 1840 and 1860.

In 1861 President Lincoln signed an executive order turning over all responsibility for enforcing slave trade laws to the Secretary of the Interior. By stringently enforcing existing laws, Lincoln’s order spelled the end for the slave trade. The Secretary’s office believed that by 1865 it had effectively ended any attempt to outfit a slave ship in any U.S. port. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 and the 13th amendment passed in 1865 effectively ended any reason for transporting slaves to the U.S. No longer could any ship use the defense of originating in the U.S. while bound for a U.S. port.
It is estimated that the total number of slaves brought into the U.S. illegally during the first half the 19th century is approximately 1.2 million.

Given this figure, it is hard to determine the effect of laws banning importation after 1808. As laws were strengthened and enforcement increased, so did attempts to subvert them.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration Southeast Region, Atlanta

image: from the internet

On March 20, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson notifies Alabama’s Governor George Wallace that he will use federal authority to call up the Alabama National Guard in order to supervise a planned civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

Intimidation and discrimination had earlier prevented Selma’s Black population—over half the city—from registering and voting. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, a group of 600 demonstrators marched on the capital city of Montgomery to protest this disenfranchisement and the earlier killing of a Black man, Jimmie Lee Jackson, by a state trooper.

In brutal scenes that were later broadcast on television, state and local police attacked the marchers with billy clubs and tear gas. TV viewers far and wide were outraged by the images, and a protest march was organized just two days after “Bloody Sunday” by Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). King turned the marchers around, however, rather than carry out the march without federal judicial approval.

READ MORE: Civil Rights Movement Timeline

Citation Information

Article Title

LBJ sends federal troops to Alabama to protect a civil rights march

AuthorHistory.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lbj-sends-federal-troops-to-alabama

Access Date

March 19, 2023

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

January 11, 2023

Original Published Date

On March 20, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson notifies Alabama’s Governor George Wallace that he will use federal authority to call up the Alabama National Guard in order to supervise a planned civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

Intimidation and discrimination had earlier prevented Selma’s Black population—over half the city—from registering and voting.

On Sunday, March 7, 1965, a group of 600 demonstrators marched on the capital city of Montgomery to protest this disenfranchisement and the earlier killing of a Black man, Jimmie Lee Jackson, by a state trooper.

For the complete article … history.com

0141 – The 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet took place.

1413 – Henry V took the throne of England upon the death of his father Henry IV.

1525 – Paris’ parliament began its pursuit of Protestants.

1602 – The United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) was formed.

1616 – Walter Raleigh was released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana.

1627 – France & Spain signed an accord for fighting Protestantism.

1739 – In India, Nadir Shah of Persia occupied Delhi and took possession of the Peacock throne.

1760 – The great fire of Boston destroyed 349 buildings.

1792 – In Paris, the Legislative Assembly approved the use of the guillotine.

1800 – French army defeated the Turks at Helipolis, Turkey, and advanced into Cairo.

1814 – Prince Willem Frederik became the monarch of Netherlands.

1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris after his escape from Elba and began his “Hundred Days” rule.

1816 – The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed its right to review state court decisions.

1833 – The U.S. and Siam signed a commercial treaty.

1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” subtitled “Life Among the Lowly,” was first published.

1854 – The Republican Party was organized in Ripon, WI. About 50 slavery opponents began the new political group.

1865 – A plan by John Wilkes Booth to abduct U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was ruined when Lincoln changed his plans and did not appear at the Soldier’s Home near Washington, DC.

1868 – Jesse James Gang robbed a bank in Russelville, KY, of $14,000.

1883 – The Unity treaty of Paris was signed to protect industrial property.

1885 – John Matzeliger of Suriname patented the shoe lacing machine.

1886 – The first AC power plant in the U.S. began commercial operation

888 – The Sherlock Holmes Adventure, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” began.

1890 – The General Federation of Womans’ Clubs was founded.

1891 – The first computing scale company was incorporated in Dayton, OH.

1896 – U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution.

1897 – The first U.S. orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary was incorporated in New York.

1897 – The first intercollegiate basketball game that used five players per team was held. The contest was Yale versus Pennsylvania. Yale won by a score of 32-10.

1899 – At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place became the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. She was put to death for the murder of her stepdaughter.

1900 – It was announced that European powers had agreed to keep China’s doors open to trade.

1902 – France and Russia acknowledged the Anglo-Japanese alliance. They also asserted their right to protect their interests in China and Korea.

1903 – In Paris, paintings by Henri Matisse were shown at the “Salon des Independants”.

1906 – In Russia, army officers mutiny at Sevastopol.

1911 – The National Squash Tennis Association was formed in New York City.

1914 – The first international figure skating championship was held in New Haven, CT.

1915 – The French called off the Champagne offensive on the Western Front.

1918 – The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union asked for American aid to rebuild their army.

1922 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding ordered U.S. troops back from the Rhineland.

1922 – The USS Langley was commissioned. It was the first aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy.

1932 – The German dirigible, Graf Zepplin, made the first flight to South America on regular schedule.

1933 – The first German concentration camp was completed at Dachau.

1934 – Rudolf Kuhnold gave a demonstration of radar in Kiel Germany.

1940 – The British Royal Air Force conducted an all-night air raid on the Nazi airbase at Sylt, Germany.

1943 – The Allies attacked Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa.

1947 – A blue whale weighing 180-metric tons was caught in the South Atlantic.

1952 – The U.S. Senate ratified a peace treaty with Japan.

1956 – Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) exploded.

1956 – Tunisia gained independence from France.

1963 – The first “Pop Art” exhibit began in New York City.

1964 – The ESRO (European Space Research Organization) was established.

1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers.

1967 – Twiggy arrived in the U.S. for a one-week stay.

1969 – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy called on the U.S. to close all bases in Taiwan.

1972 – 19 mountain climbers were killed on Japan’s Mount Fuji during an avalanche.

1976 – Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her role in the hold up of a San Francisco Bank.

1980 – The U.S. made an appeal to the International Court concerning the American Hostages in Iran.

1981 – Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron was sentenced to eight years in a convent.

1982 – U.S. scientists’ returned from Antarctica with the first land mammal fossils found there.

1984 – The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools.

1985 – For the first time in its 99-year history, Avon representatives received a salary. Up to that time they had been paid solely on commissions.

1985 – CBS-TV presented “The Romance of Betty Boop.”

1985 – Libby Riddles won the 1,135-mile Anchorage-to-Nome dog race becoming the first woman to win the Iditarod.

1986 – Fallon Carrington and Jeff Colby were wed on the TV drama “The Colby’s”. “The Colby’s” was an offshoot of “Dynasty”.

1987 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved AZT. The drug was proven to slow the progress of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

1989 – A Washington, DC, district court judge blocked a curfew imposed by Mayor Barry and the City Council.

1989 – In Belfast, two policemen were killed. The IRA claimed responsibility.

1989 – It was announced that Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was under investigation.

1990 – The Los Angeles Lakers retired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s #33.

1990 – Namibia became an independent nation ending 75 years of South African rule.

1990 – Imelda Marcos, widow of ex-Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, went on trial for racketeering, embezzlement and bribery.

1990 – In Rumania, tanks were sent to the town of Tirgu Mures to quell ethnic riots.

1991 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that employers could not exclude women from jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage a fetus.

1991 – The U.S. forgave $2 billion in loans to Poland.

1992 – Janice Pennington was awarded $1.3 million for accident on the set of the “Price is Right” TV show.

1993 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared emergency rule. He set a referendum on whether the people trusted him or the hard-line Congress to govern.

1993 – An Irish Republican Army bomb was detonated in Warrington, England. A 3-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy were killed.

1995 – About 35,000 Turkish troops crossed the northern border of Iraq in pursuit of the separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

1995 – In Tokyo, 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 others were sickened when packages containing the nerve gas Sarin was released on five separate subway trains. The terrorists belonged to a doomsday cult in Japan.

1996 – In Los Angeles, Erik and Lyle Menendez were found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of their parents.

1996 – The U.K. announced that humans could catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease).

1997 – Brian Grazer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1997 – Liggett Group, the maker of Chesterfield cigarettes, settled 22 state lawsuits by admitting the industry marketed cigarettes to teenagers and agreed to warn on every pack that smoking is addictive.

1998 – India’s new Hindu nationalist-led government pledges to “exercise the option to induct nuclear weapons.”

1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first men to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon. The non-stop trip began on March 3 and covered 26,500 miles.

1999 – Legoland California opened Carlsbad, California.

2000 – Former Black Panther Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known as H. Rap Brown, was captured following a shootout that left a sherriff’s deputy dead.

2002 – Actress Pamela Anderson disclosed that she had hepatitis C.

2002 – Arthur Andersen pled innocent to charges that it had shredded documents and deleted computer files related to the energy company Enron.

2003 – Cisco Systems Inc. announced it was buying The Linksys Group INc. for $500 million in stock.

2003 – U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq from Kuwait.

2019 – Europe’s antitrust regulators fined Google $1.7 billion for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business.

2019 – Disney acquired the rights to 21st Century Fox. Fox Corporation was formed with the remaining assets.

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