Importation of Persons Clause
E666848
The Importation of Persons Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that temporarily protected the transatlantic slave trade by preventing Congress from banning the importation of enslaved people before 1808.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Importation of Persons Clause canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7475930 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Importation of Persons Clause Context triple: [Slave Trade Clause, isAlsoKnownAs, Importation of Persons Clause]
-
A.
Extradition Clause
The Extradition Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that requires states to return individuals charged with crimes who flee from one state to another.
-
B.
Admissions Clause
The Admissions Clause is the provision of the U.S. Constitution that empowers Congress to admit new states into the Union and regulate their terms of entry.
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C.
Title IV – Exclusion of Certain Aliens
Title IV – Exclusion of Certain Aliens is a provision of the Helms–Burton Act that authorizes denying entry into the United States to certain foreign nationals involved in trafficking in property confiscated by the Cuban government.
-
D.
Privileges and Immunities Clause
The Privileges and Immunities Clause is a constitutional provision that prevents states from discriminating against citizens of other states in fundamental rights such as access to courts, property, and employment.
-
E.
Immigration and Nationality Act
The Immigration and Nationality Act is the foundational U.S. federal law that governs immigration policy, including visas, admission, naturalization, and deportation of non-citizens.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Importation of Persons Clause Target entity description: The Importation of Persons Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that temporarily protected the transatlantic slave trade by preventing Congress from banning the importation of enslaved people before 1808.
-
A.
Extradition Clause
The Extradition Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that requires states to return individuals charged with crimes who flee from one state to another.
-
B.
Admissions Clause
The Admissions Clause is the provision of the U.S. Constitution that empowers Congress to admit new states into the Union and regulate their terms of entry.
-
C.
Title IV – Exclusion of Certain Aliens
Title IV – Exclusion of Certain Aliens is a provision of the Helms–Burton Act that authorizes denying entry into the United States to certain foreign nationals involved in trafficking in property confiscated by the Cuban government.
-
D.
Privileges and Immunities Clause
The Privileges and Immunities Clause is a constitutional provision that prevents states from discriminating against citizens of other states in fundamental rights such as access to courts, property, and employment.
-
E.
Immigration and Nationality Act
The Immigration and Nationality Act is the foundational U.S. federal law that governs immigration policy, including visas, admission, naturalization, and deportation of non-citizens.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
clause of the United States Constitution
ⓘ
constitutional provision ⓘ |
| affected |
enslaved Africans
ⓘ
slaveholding states in the American South ⓘ |
| allowedCongressTo | impose a tax or duty on the importation of persons ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Migration or Importation Clause
ⓘ
Slave Trade Clause ⓘ |
| appliesTo | states then existing in the United States ⓘ |
| compromiseBetween | delegates from slaveholding states and delegates from non-slaveholding states ⓘ |
| connectedTo |
Fugitive Slave Clause
ⓘ
Three-Fifths Compromise ⓘ |
| constitutionalCategory | limitations on congressional power ⓘ |
| contributedTo | entrenchment of slavery in the early United States ⓘ |
| dateAgreed | 1787 ⓘ |
| doesNotAddress | domestic slave trade within the United States ⓘ |
| enabled | continuation of legal importation of enslaved Africans into the United States until 1808 ⓘ |
| foundInText | Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution ⓘ |
| governs | international slave trade into the United States prior to 1808 ⓘ |
| hasPart | Article I, Section 9, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution ⓘ |
| historicalContext |
Constitutional Convention of 1787
ⓘ
linked to:
Constitutional Convention
|
| influenced | Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves effective January 1, 1808 ⓘ |
| inForceFromYear | 1789 ⓘ |
| inForceUntilYear | 1808 ⓘ |
| interpretedAs | constitutional protection of the slave trade for a limited period ⓘ |
| jurisdiction |
federal government of the United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States government
|
| languageIncludes |
"The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit"
ⓘ
"but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person" ⓘ "shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight" ⓘ |
| legalEffect |
limited Congress’s commerce power over the slave trade until 1808
ⓘ
prevented immediate national abolition of the transatlantic slave trade ⓘ |
| moralAssessmentInScholarship | example of constitutional compromise with slavery ⓘ |
| negotiatedBy | delegates to the Philadelphia Convention ⓘ |
| prohibitedCongressFrom |
banning the importation of persons prior to 1808
ⓘ
imposing a complete prohibition on the slave trade before 1808 ⓘ |
| purpose |
to limit federal power over the slave trade until 1808
ⓘ
to secure temporary protection for the transatlantic slave trade ⓘ |
| ratifiedWith | United States Constitution in 1788 ⓘ |
| relatedLaterLegislation | Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 ⓘ |
| relatesTo |
United States Congress
ⓘ
federal legislative power ⓘ importation of enslaved persons ⓘ transatlantic slave trade ⓘ |
| statusAfter1808 | no longer restricted Congress from prohibiting the importation of persons ⓘ |
| subjectOf | constitutional law scholarship on slavery and the founding ⓘ |
| taxLimit | not exceeding ten dollars for each person ⓘ |
| temporalRestrictionUntilYear | 1808 ⓘ |
| textualAmbiguity | uses the term "Persons" rather than explicitly saying "slaves" ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Importation of Persons Clause Description of subject: The Importation of Persons Clause is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that temporarily protected the transatlantic slave trade by preventing Congress from banning the importation of enslaved people before 1808.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.