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Primary sourceDocumentMarch 17, 1827

Proclamation Respecting Commerce with the British Colonial Ports

John Quincy Adams · March 17, 1827

A proclamation dated March 17, 1827, issued in President Adams's name. It sets out rules on trade with certain British colonial ports under an 1823 Act of Congress.

Adams signed this proclamation as President, showing the executive power he used in practice on trade with British colonial ports.

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Source: Wikisource

About this source

What it is

This is a proclamation dated March 17, 1827, issued in the name of President John Quincy Adams. It appears as item 8 under the heading 'Respecting Commerce with the British Colonial Ports'. The text quotes an Act of Congress approved on March 1, 1823, about commercial relations between the United States and certain British colonial ports. The text is printed in the United States Statutes at Large.

Why it matters

A proclamation shows a president using official authority in practice. This one depends on conditions set in the 1823 law, which tied continued trade to whether the British colonial ports stayed open to American vessels. It shows how presidential action and congressional law worked together on trade policy in the 1820s.

Look closer

  • Which conditions in the 1823 law decided whether American ships could keep trading?
  • Whose authority does the proclamation rely on, and where does that power come from?
  • What does this official text leave out about how merchants or other people reacted?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John Quincy Adams on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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