Congress outlawed the transatlantic/import slave trade to the United States effective January 1, 1808, under the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, which Congress passed in 1807.

Quick Scoop: Key Dates

  • 1787: At the Constitutional Convention, delegates agreed Congress could ban the importation of enslaved people starting in 1808, but not earlier.
  • 1800: Congress made it illegal for Americans to engage in the international slave trade between nations and allowed U.S. authorities to seize offending ships.
  • 1807: Congress passed a law to prohibit the importation of enslaved people; it took effect January 1, 1808, ending legal U.S. participation in the Atlantic slave trade (though smuggling continued).

So, if your question is strictly about “the slave trade” (bringing enslaved people into the U.S. from abroad), Congress finally abolished that trade as of January 1, 1808.

However, slavery itself continued inside the country until the Thirteenth Amendment, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified December 6, 1865, formally abolished slavery nationwide.

In everyday conversation, people sometimes mix up “ending the slave trade” (1808) with “ending slavery” (1865), but they are distinct legal milestones.

TL;DR:

  • Congress ended legal U.S. participation in the international slave trade: effective January 1, 1808.
  • Congress abolished slavery itself with the Thirteenth Amendment: passed January 31, 1865; ratified December 6, 1865.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.