Mann Act

Mann Act Early twentieth‐century Progressivism witnessed the passage of a spate of legislation designed to raise the moral tone of the United States. One such law was the 1910 Mann Act, also known as the “White Slave Traffic Act.” The act was passed in the wake of sensational—and largely exaggerated—stories of national vice rings.

The Mann Act made it a felony to transport or aid in the transportation of a woman in interstate or foreign commerce “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose, or with the intent and purpose to induce, entice, or compel such woman or girl” to immoral acts. One section of the law was indicative of the nativism that preoccupied the Progressives. It authorized immigration officials to gather and maintain information concerning the procuring of “alien women and girls” for immoral purposes. The proprietors of brothels who complied with the demands for information on foreign prostitutes were exempted from prosecution under the act.

The Mann Act was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court in Hoke v. U.S. (1913). The appellant had been convicted under the act for enticing two veteran New Orleans prostitutes to travel to Beaumont, Texas, to ply their trade. Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Joseph McKenna dismissed the argument that prostitution should be left to the states to regulate and agreed with the drafters of the Mann Act that the regulation of interstate prostitution fell under the federal commerce power.

See also Gender; Police Power.

John W. Johnson