Long title | An Act to prevent the introduction of contagions or infections diseases into the United States. |
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Nicknames | Quarantine Act of 1878 |
Enacted by | the 45th United States Congress |
Effective | April 29, 1878 |
Citations | |
Public law | Pub. L. 45–66 |
Statutes at Large | 20 Stat. 37 |
Legislative history | |
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National Quarantine Act of 1878 established quarantine regulations for foreign nautical vessels pursuing entrance into United States maritime ports. The United States statute declared it to be an unlawful pursuit for international vessels departing harbors termed as infected maritime ports to enter United States seaports and territorial waters. The Act of Congress authorized the prevention of communicable and transmissible diseases from entering or being introduced by any vehicle beyond the borders of the United States.
The Marine Hospital Service was commissioned for governing the defined regulations of the public law cooperatively formulating a national quarantine service. United States consular officers were certified to report vessels departing harmful foreign ports with an inclusion of providing Public Health Reports encompassing public health surveillance of potentially tainted foreign harbors, maritime ports, and their surrounding administrative divisions.
The United States public law was passed by the 45th congressional session and enacted into law by the 19th President of the United States Rutherford Hayes on April 29, 1878. [1]
The 1878 National Quarantine Act was drafted as six sections establishing regulations for contagious or infections diseases, transmissible maritime vessels, transitioning quarantine authority from the States to the federal government, and the development of a national quarantine system.
Infectious diseases of 19th century
Cholera | Tuberculosis |
Scarlet fever | Typhoid fever |
Smallpox | Yellow fever |
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been exposed to a communicable disease, yet do not have a confirmed medical diagnosis. It is distinct from medical isolation, in which those confirmed to be infected with a communicable disease are isolated from the healthy population.
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The Marine Hospital Service was an organization of Marine Hospitals dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen in the United States Merchant Marine, the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal beneficiaries. The Marine Hospital Service evolved into the U.S. Public Health Service.
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Swinburne Island is a 4-acre (1.6 ha) artificial island in Lower New York Bay, east of Staten Island in New York City. It was used for quarantine of immigrants. Swinburne Island is the smaller of two nearby islands, the other being Hoffman Island to the north.
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Compagnie Francaise de Navigation a Vapeur v. Louisiana Board of Health, 186 U.S. 380 (1902), was a United States Supreme Court case which held constitutional state laws requiring the involuntary quarantine of individuals to prevent the spread of disease. Louisiana's quarantine laws, Justice Edward White said, were a reasonable exercise of the state's police power that conflicted with neither the Dormant Commerce Clause nor the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In dissent, Justice Henry Billings Brown, joined by John Marshall Harlan, agreed that while quarantine laws were constitutional, Louisiana's went beyond the scope of the state's authority over interstate commerce, even violating several treaties between the United States and other nations.
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The Carriage of Passengers Act of 1855 was an act passed by the United States federal government on March 3, 1855, replacing the previous Steerage Act of 1819 and a number of acts passed between 1847 and 1849 with new regulations on the conditions of sea transportation used by passenger ships landing in the United States. The law was passed by the 33rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Franklin Pierce.
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