The Neutrality Act of 1818 was a United States law that repealed and replaced the

Neutrality Act of 1794 The Neutrality Act of 1794 was a United States law which made it illegal for a United States citizen to wage war against any country at peace with the United States. The Act declares in part: If any person shall within the territory or jurisdic ...

and Neutrality Act 1817. The Act largely amended the previous two acts by repealing and replacing such Acts instead of directly amending the two Acts.

Evolution

The Neutrality Act of 1818 was updated in 1838 during the 1837 Rebellions in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The Neutrality Act of 1818 was eventually codified as '' et seq.'', including , among other sections.

Recent applications

In 1981, nine men involved in

Operation Red Dog Operation Red Dog was the code name of an April 27, 1981 military filibustering plot by Canadian and American citizens, largely affiliated with white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan groups, to overthrow the government of Dominica, where they planne ...

were sentenced to three years in prison pursuant to the successor statute of the Neutrality Act of 1818; they had planned to overthrow the government of

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

. In the 2007 Laotian coup d'état conspiracy allegation, the United States government alleged after a

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role a ...

that a group of conspirators planned to violate the successor statute of the Neutrality Act of 1818 by overthrowing the government of Communist

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

. The United States Government has since dropped all charges against these defendants. In May 2016 four

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

residents were convicted of violating the successor statute of the Neutrality Act of 1818 for their role in the

2014 Gambian coup d'état attempt The 2014 Gambian coup d'état attempt broke out during the night of 30 December 2014, when gunfire erupted in the Gambian capital of Banjul. Background At the time of the coup attempt President Yahya Jammeh had run away and was out of the count ...

References

United States foreign relations legislation 1818 in American law {{US-Congress-stub