VIRGINIA'S STATUTE ABOLISHING THE AFRICAN SLAVE
TRADE AND HER PART IN ENACTING THE
ORDINANCE OF 1787
Foremost among the laws enacted by her General Assembly after
Virginia's declaration of independence from British rule was her
celebrated statute prohibiting the slave trade. This act was passed in
1778—thus antedating by thirty years the like action of Great
Britain. By this law, it was provided, "that from and after the
passing of this act no slaves shall hereafter be imported into this
commonwealth by sea or land, nor shall any slaves so imported be sold
or bought by any person whatsoever." The statute imposed a fine of one
thousand pounds upon the person importing them for each slave
imported, and also a fine of five hundred pounds upon any person
buying or selling any such slave for each slave so bought or sold. The
crime of bringing in slaves is still further guarded against by a
provision which declares that every slave "shall upon such importation
become free."[23] Of this act, Mr. Ballagh, in his _History of Slavery
in Virginia_, says, "Virginia thus had the honor of being the first
political community in the civilized modern world to prohibit the
pernicious traffic."[24]