| amended.
Reported from House. 13. + PASSED.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
Reported to House. | 17. Reported back.
- - - - - - - - - - -
18. | House insists;
- - - - - - - - - - - asks conference.
\ /
- - _ __ - - - - - -
X
House asks conference. _ _ _/ \_ __
\ _
2|5 - - - -_ Conference report
_ _ _ _ _ _-|- - - - - adopted.
Conference report / 2|6
adopted. \_ _ _ |
Bill enrolled. - - - -2|8
March |2.
V
Signed by the President.

This bill received the approval of President Jefferson, March 2, 1807,
and became thus the "Act to prohibit the importation of Slaves into any
port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States, from and
after the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eight."[65] The debates in the Senate were not
reported. Those in the House were prolonged and bitter, and hinged
especially on the disposal of the slaves, the punishment of offenders,
and the coast-trade. Men were continually changing their votes, and the
bill see-sawed backward and forward, in committee and out, until the
House was thoroughly worn out. On the whole, the strong anti-slavery
men, like Bidwell and Sloan, were outgeneraled by Southerners, like
Early and Williams; and, considering the immense moral backing of the
anti-slavery party from the Revolutionary fathers down, the bill of 1807
can hardly be regarded as a great anti-slavery victory.

60. ~Enforcement of the Act.~ The period so confidently looked forward
to by the constitutional fathers had at last arrived; the slave-trade
was prohibited, and much oratory and poetry were expended in celebration
of the event. In the face of this, let us see how the Act of 1807 was
enforced and what it really accomplished. It is noticeable, in the first
place, that there was no especial set of machinery provided for the
enforcement of this act. The work fell first to the Secretary of the
Treasury, as