[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 272 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 272

      Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the 
                       transatlantic slave trade.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2007

     Ms. Lee (for herself, Mr. Payne, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. 
    McDermott, Mr. Rangel, Ms. Linda T. Sanchez of California, Mr. 
Butterfield, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, 
 Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Engel, Mr. Davis of Illinois, and Ms. 
 Kilpatrick) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
      Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the 
                       transatlantic slave trade.

Whereas the United Kingdom outlawed slavery in 1807, recognizing that ``the 
        African Slave Trade, and all manner of dealing and trading in the 
        Purchase, Sale, Barter, or Transfer of Slaves, or of Persons intended to 
        be sold, transferred, used, or dealt with as Slaves, practiced or 
        carried on, in, at, to or from any Part of the Coast or Countries of 
        Africa, shall be, and the same is hereby utterly abolished, prohibited, 
        and declared to be unlawful'';
Whereas the transatlantic slave trade was the capture and procurement of 
        Africans, mostly from West Africa, to the United States and the colonies 
        that became the United States for the purpose of enslavement between the 
        fifteenth and late nineteenth centuries;
Whereas the Middle Passage was the forced migration through overseas transport 
        of millions of Africans to the Americas, many of whom suffered abuses of 
        rape and perished as a result of torture, malnutrition, disease and 
        resistance in transit and those who survived were sold into slavery;
Whereas during the transatlantic slave trade more than 12,000,000 Africans were 
        transported in bondage from their African homelands to the Americas, and 
        those born in the Americas estimating 1,200,000 men, women, and children 
        who were displaced in the forced migration that was the domestic slave 
        trade;
Whereas it is important to acknowledge that as a result of the slave trade, 
        approximately 80,000,000 to 150,000,000 persons of African descent live 
        in Latin America and the Caribbean, making them the largest population 
        of persons of African descent outside of Africa;
Whereas the transatlantic slave trade is characterized as the largest forced 
        migration in world history;
Whereas Africans' resistance to the transatlantic slave trade culminated in 
        revolts--collective acts of rebellion--against slave ships and their 
        crews during the Middle Passage and on the colonial plantations;
Whereas the institution of slavery which enslaved Africans, their progeny and 
        later generations for life was constitutionally and statutorily 
        sanctioned by the Government of the United States from 1789 through 
        1865;
Whereas slavery in the United States during and after British colonial rule 
        included the sale and acquisition of Africans as chattel property in 
        interstate and intrastate commerce;
Whereas the General Assembly of Virginia passed in 1619 ``an act declaring the 
        Negro, Mulatto, . . . slaves within this dominion, to be real estate and 
        shall descend unto the heirs and widows of persons departing this life, 
        according to the manner and custom of land of inheritance'';
Whereas the Great Compromise of 1787, a compromise under which representation in 
        the House of Representatives would be based on the population of each 
        State, prompted the Three-Fifths Compromise, a compromise between the 
        Northern and Southern States under which only three-fifths of the 
        population of enslaved Africans would be counted for purposes of 
        enumerating a State's representation in the House of Representatives;
Whereas the slavery that flourished in the United States constituted an immoral 
        and inhumane dispossession of Africans' life, liberty, and citizenship 
        rights and denied them the fruits of their own labor;
Whereas the treatment of enslaved Africans in the colonies and the United States 
        included the deprivation of their freedom, exploitation of their labor, 
        psychological and physical abuse, and destruction of their culture, 
        language, religion, and families;
Whereas the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, 
        Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa, 
        declared the slave trade and slavery a crime against humanity;
Whereas the slave trade and the legacy of slavery continue to have a profound 
        impact on social and economic disparity, hatred, bias, racism, and 
        discrimination, and continue to affect people of African descent today; 
        and
Whereas March 25, 2007, marks the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Abolition 
        Act enacted by the British Parliament: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the historical significance of the 200th 
        anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade 
        to the world;
            (2) respects the memory of those who died as a result of 
        slavery, including through exposure to the horrors of the 
        Middle Passage and in revolt against and resistance to 
        enslavement; and
            (3) should educate current and future generations about 
        this crime against humanity by honoring its significance in 
        United States history with appropriate programs and activities.
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