Act to protect the commerce of the United States and punish the crime of piracy

An Act to protect the commerce of the United States and punish the crime of piracy is an 1819 United States federal statute against piracy, amended in 1820 to declare participating in the slave trade or robbing a ship to be piracy when those involved were Americans. The last execution for piracy in the United States was of slave trader Nathaniel Gordon in 1862 in New York, under the amended act.