National Quarantine Act of 1878

National Quarantine Act of 1878

Long title	An Act to prevent the introduction of contagions or infections diseases into the United States.
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
Signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes on April 29, 1878

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]

Clauses of the Act[]

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.

Contagious or infections diseases - 20 Stat. 37 § I

Vessels from infected ports entering the United States

Reports of Consular Officers - 20 Stat. 38 § II

Consulate to report vessels departing endangered ports

Public Health Reports by the consulate

Marine Hospital Service Surgeon General to fulfill provisions of the Act

Enforcement of Quarantine Laws - 20 Stat. 38 § III

Marine Hospital Service and customs officers provide enforcement of quarantine laws

Destination Notification of Maritime Port - 20 Stat. 38 § IV

Notifiable disease notification to be provided to threatened port of destination for a transmissible vessel

Port of destination to prepare and transmit to the medical officers of the Marine Hospital Service

State Quarantine System and National Quarantine System - 20 Stat. 38 § V

When officers of State quarantine system may act as officers of national quarantine system

When officers of Marine Hospital Service to act

Repeal of Inconsistent Acts - 20 Stat. 38 § VI

All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with National Quarantine Act are repealed.

See also[]

Infectious Diseases of 19th Century

References[]

External links[]

• "Public Health Reports Archive". U.S. National Library of Medicine ~ National Institutes of Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Woodworth, John Maynard (1875). "The Cholera Epidemic of 1873 in the United States". Internet Archive. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. OCLC 6035940.