Denmark’s ban on its transatlantic slave trade takes effect

The constitution reorganized the French Republic after the fall of the Jacobin government. Its universal political language sat alongside unresolved questions about colonial citizenship and the status...

A planned revolt involving enslaved and free Black people was exposed after severe weather delayed the gathering. Authorities executed Gabriel and others and tightened controls. The plan drew on...

The constitution affirmed the end of slavery and made Louverture governor for life, while keeping the colony formally within the French empire. It reflected the political authority won by formerly...

Napoleon’s law maintained slavery in colonies returned to France under the Treaty of Amiens and reinstated the slave trade where it had been abolished. It sought to restore plantation wealth and...

A decree required Black, mixed-race, and other people of color to obtain authorization before entering continental France. The measure hardened racial exclusion in the metropole during the same period...

The treaty transferred France’s Louisiana territory to the United States, greatly expanding settler claims across Indigenous lands and the geographic space of slavery. The acquisition strengthened the...

Haiti declared independence, following a revolution in which formerly enslaved people defeated French efforts to restore colonial rule. It became the first independent state born from a successful...

Haiti’s constitution established a postrevolutionary state after independence and prohibited slavery. It asserted sovereignty in a world where slaveholding powers sought to isolate the new republic...

Congress passed legislation in advance of the constitutional deadline, setting penalties for importing enslaved people from abroad beginning in 1808. The law prohibited legal importation but did not...

Congress enacted a ban on importing enslaved people into the United States, effective 1 January 1808. The law did not abolish slavery, the domestic slave trade, or the forced movement of people within...