[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1159 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1159

 Recognizing the historical significance of the United States sloop-of-
    war Constellation as a surviving witness to the horrors of the 
Transatlantic Slave Trade and a leading participant in America's effort 
                          to end the practice.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 29, 2008

   Mr. Cummings (for himself, Mr. Meeks of New York, Mr. Berman, Mr. 
Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, Mr. Burton of Indiana, 
 Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Carson, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Faleomavaega, 
Mr. Fattah, Mr. Filner, Mr. Fortuno, Ms. Lee, Mr. Markey, Mr. McGovern, 
 Mr. Payne, Mr. Rothman, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Rush, Mr. Smith of New 
Jersey, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Snyder, Mr. Stark, Mr. Towns, Ms. Watson, Mr. 
  Wynn, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, and Mrs. Christensen) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing the historical significance of the United States sloop-of-
    war Constellation as a surviving witness to the horrors of the 
Transatlantic Slave Trade and a leading participant in America's effort 
                          to end the practice.

Whereas on September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was adopted and 
        article I, section 9 of the document declared that Congress could 
        prohibit the importation of slaves into the United States in the year 
        1808;
Whereas on March 22, 1794, the United States Congress passed ``An Act to 
        prohibit the carrying on the Slave Trade from the United States to any 
        foreign place or country'', thus beginning American efforts to halt the 
        slave trade;
Whereas on May 10, 1800, Congress enacted legislation that outlawed all American 
        participation in the international trafficking of slaves and authorized 
        the United States Navy to seize American vessels engaged in the slave 
        trade;
Whereas on March 2, 1807, President Thomas Jefferson signed a bill that declared 
        the importation of slaves into the United States illegal;
Whereas on January 1, 1808, the act ``to prohibit the importation of slaves into 
        any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States'' took 
        effect;
Whereas on March 3, 1819, Congress authorized the Navy to cruise the African 
        coast to suppress the slave trade. The Act declared that Africans on 
        captured ships be placed under Federal jurisdiction and authorized the 
        President to appoint an agent in Africa to facilitate their return to 
        the continent;
Whereas in 1819, the Royal Navy of Great Britain established the West Coast of 
        Africa as a separate naval station and actively plied the waters in 
        pursuit of slave ships. Great Britain negotiated with many other nations 
        to obtain the right to search their vessels if suspected of engaging in 
        the slave trade;
Whereas on May 15, 1820, Congress declared the trading of slaves to be an act of 
        piracy and those convicted subject to the death penalty;
Whereas in 1842, the Webster-Ashburton Treaty between Great Britain and the 
        United States provided that both nations would maintain separate naval 
        squadrons on the coast of Africa to enforce their respective laws 
        against the slave trade. The newly formed United States African Squadron 
        sailed for Africa in 1843 and remained in operation until the Civil War 
        erupted in 1861;
Whereas in 1859, USS Constellation, the last all-sail vessel designed and built 
        by the U.S. Navy, sailed to West Africa as the flagship of the United 
        States African Squadron, consisting of eight ships, including four 
        steam-powered vessels suitable for chasing down and capturing slavers;
Whereas on December 21, 1859, USS Constellation captured the brig Delicia after 
        a 10-hour chase. Although Delicia had no human cargo on board upon 
        capture, her crew was preparing the ship to take on slaves;
Whereas on the night of September 25, 1860, USS Constellation sighted the barque 
        Cora near the mouth of the Congo River and, after a dramatic moonlit 
        chase, captured the slave ship with 705 Africans crammed into her 
        ``slave deck''. A detachment of the Constellation's crew sailed the 
        surviving Africans to Monrovia, Liberia, a colony founded for the 
        settlement of free African-Americans that became the destination for all 
        Africans freed on slave ships captured by the Navy;
Whereas on May 21, 1861, USS Constellation captured the brig Triton. Though the 
        ship did not have Africans captured for slavery on board when 
        intercepted by the Constellation, a search confirmed its preparation to 
        take on slaves. Triton, registered in Charleston, South Carolina, was 
        one of the first Union naval captures of the American Civil War;
Whereas from 1859 to 1861, USS Constellation and the African Squadron captured 
        14 slave ships and liberated nearly 4,000 Africans destined for a life 
        of servitude in the Americas, a record unsurpassed by the United States 
        African squadron under previous commanders; and
Whereas on September 25, 2008, the USS Constellation Museum will hold a ceremony 
        to commemorate the bicentennial of the abolition of the Transatlantic 
        Slave Trade aboard the same ship that, 149 years before, forced the 
        capitulation of the slave ship Cora and freed the 705 Africans confined 
        within: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the historical and educational significance 
        of USS Constellation, a 153-year-old American warship, berthed 
        in Baltimore, Maryland, as a reminder of both American 
        participation in the slave trade and the efforts of the United 
        States Government to suppress this inhumane practice;
            (2) applauds the preservation of this historic vessel and 
        the efforts of the USS Constellation Museum to engage people 
        from all over the world with this vital part of our history; 
        and
            (3) supports USS Constellation as an appropriate site for 
        the Nation to commemorate the bicentennial of the abolition of 
        the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
                                 <all>