Fugitive Slaves Part 23

=1787, Sept. 13.= Art. IV. -- 2. "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due."--_Revised Statutes of the United States, I. 18._

=8. Clauses for returning fugitives in Indian treaties.=

=1789, Jan. 7.= Treaty with the Wiandots, etc. Art. I. "The said nations agree to deliver up all the prisoners now in their hands (by what means soever they may have come into their possession)."--_Statutes at Large, VII. 28._

=1790-91. 1790, Apr. 7.= Treaty with the Creeks. Art. III. "The Creek Nation shall deliver ... all citizens of the United States, white inhabitants or negroes, who are now prisoners in any part of the said nation. And if any such prisoners or negroes should not be delivered on or before the first day of June next ensuing, the governor of Georgia may empower three persons to repair to the said nation, in order to claim and receive such prisoners and negroes."--_Statutes at Large, VII.

35._

=1791, July 2.= Treaty with the Cherokees. Art. III. All prisoners to be yielded up on both sides.--_Statutes at Large, VII. 36._

=9. First Fugitive Slave Act.=

=1793, Feb. 12.=

_An Act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters._

"SECTION 1._ Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled_, That whenever the executive authority of any state in the Union, or of either of the territories northwest or south of the river Ohio, shall demand any person as a fugitive from justice, of the executive authority of any such state or territory to which such person shall have fled, and shall moreover produce the copy of an indictment found, or an affidavit made before a magistrate of any state or territory as aforesaid, charging the person so demanded, with having committed treason, felony or other crime, certified as authentic by the governor or chief magistrate of the state or territory from whence the person so charged fled, it shall be the duty of the executive authority of the state or territory to which such person shall have fled, to cause him or her to be arrested and secured, and notice of the arrest to be given to the executive authority making such demand, or to the agent of such authority appointed to receive the fugitive, and to cause the fugitive to be delivered to such agent when he shall appear: But if no such agent shall appear within six months from the time of the arrest, the prisoner may be discharged. And all costs or expenses incurred in the apprehending, securing, and transmitting such fugitive to the state or territory making such demand, shall be paid by such state or territory.

"SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That any agent, appointed as aforesaid, who shall receive the fugitive into his custody, shall be empowered to transport him or her to the state or territory from which he or she shall have fled. And if any person or persons shall by force set at liberty, or rescue the fugitive from such agent while transporting, as aforesaid, the person or persons so offending shall, on conviction, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not exceeding one year.

"SEC. 3. _And be it also enacted_, That when a person held to labour in any of the United States, or in either of the territories on the northwest or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other of the said states or territory, the person to whom such labour or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labour, and to take him or her before any judge of the circuit or district courts of the United States, residing or being within the state, or before any magistrate of a county, city or town corporate, wherein such seizure or arrest shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken before and certified by a magistrate of any such state or territory, that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the state or territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labour to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from labour, to the state or territory from which he or she fled.

"SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct or hinder such claimant, his agent or attorney, in so seizing or arresting such fugitive from labour, or shall rescue such fugitive from such claimant, his agent or attorney when so arrested pursuant to the authority herein given or declared; or shall harbor or conceal such person after notice that he or she was a fugitive from labour, as aforesaid, shall, for either of the said offences, forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars. Which penalty may be recovered by and for the benefit of such claimant, by action of debt, in any court proper to try the same; saving moreover to the person claiming such labour or service, his right of action for or on account of the said injuries or either of them."--_Statutes at Large, I. 302-305._

[Sidenote: Bills and Propositions.]

=10. Abstract of amendatory bill on fugitives. [-- 19.]=

=1801, Dec. 18.= "The bill contemplates inflicting a penalty of five hundred dollars on any person harboring, concealing, or employing runaway slaves. Every person employing a black person, unless he had a certificate with a county seal to it, or signed by a justice of the peace, would be liable to the penalty."

=1802, Jan. 15.= A motion was made to strike out the second section of the bill, which would create therein and inflict the penalty for employing a person of color who has not a certificate of his freedom.

Motion not carried.--_7 Cong. 1 Sess., Annals of Congress, H. of R., 423._

=11. Restoration of slaves by Indian treaties. [-- 22.]=

=1814, Aug. 9.= Treaty with the Creeks. Art. III. "The United States demand that a surrender be immediately made of all the persons and property taken from the citizens of the United States ... to the respective owners."--_Treaties and Conventions._

=12. Fugitive slave clause in the Treaty of Ghent. [-- 22].=

=1814, Dec. 24.= Art. I. "All territory, etc. shall be restored without delay, and without causing any destruction or carrying away any artillery, ... or any slaves or other private property."--Treaties and Conventions.

=13. Amendments proposed to Pindall's bill. [-- 20]=

=1818, Jan. 29.= "Resolved, That the said bill be referred to the committee to whom was referred the memorial of the annual meeting of the Society of Friends, of Baltimore, with instructions to inquire into the expediency of so amending the said bill as to guard more effectually against infringement of the rights of free negroes and other persons of color." Introduced by Mr. Rich. Resolution not accepted.--_House Journal 15 Cong. 1 Sess., 193; Annals of Congress, 15 Cong. 1 Sess., 830._

To change the bill materially "by making judges of the State in which the apprentices, slaves, etc. are seized, the tribunal to decide the fact of slavery, instead of the judges of the States whence the fugitives have escaped." Introduced by Mr. Sergeant. Amendment not accepted.--_Annals of Congress, 15 Cong. 1 Sess., 830._

"Mr. Rich made several successive attempts to procure amendments to the bill, relaxing some of its provisions, which were successively negatived."--_Annals of Congress, 15 Cong. 1 Sess., 830._

=14. Provision for delivery on executive requisition. [-- 20.]=

=1818, March 11.= Mr. Daggett moved to strike out the following section of the bill: "Sec. 6. _And be it further enacted_, that whenever the Executive authority of any State in the Union, or of either of the Territories thereof, shall, for or in behalf of any citizen or inhabitant of such State or Territory, demand any fugitive slave of the Executive authority of any State or Territory, to which such slave shall have fled, and shall moreover produce a certificate, issued pursuant to the first section of this act, it shall be the duty of the Executive authority of the State or Territory to which such fugitive shall have fled to cause him or her to be arrested and secured, and notice of the arrest to be given to the Executive authority making such demand, or to the agent of such authority appointed to receive the fugitive, and to cause such fugitive to be delivered to the said agent, on the confine or boundary of the State or Territory in which said arrest shall be, and in the most usual and direct route to the place from whence the said fugitive shall have escaped; and the reasonable expense of such arrest, detention, and delivery of such fugitive shall be paid by the said agent." Amendment determined in the negative.--_Senate Journal, 15 Cong.

1 Sess., 227, 228; Annals of Congress, 15 Cong. 1 Sess., 259._

=15. Proposed limitation to four years. [-- 20.]=

=1818, May 10.= Mr. Lac.o.c.k moved to amend by adding the following: "Sec.--. _And be it further enacted_ that this law shall be and remain in force for the term of four years, and no longer." The Senate being equally divided, the President determined the question in the affirmative.--_Senate Journal, 15 Cong. 1 Sess., 228; Annals of Congress, 15 Cong. 1 Sess., 259._

=16. Fugitive Slave clause in the Missouri Compromise. [-- 21.]=

=1820, March 19.= The Missouri Compromise provided "that any persons escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any State or Territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, or service, as aforesaid."--_Annals of Congress, 16 Cong. 1 Sess., 1469, 1587._

=17. Investigation into the Pennsylvania Act. [-- 21.]=

=1820, April 3.= Mr. Pindall introduced the following resolution: "_Resolved_, That the Secretary of State be instructed to procure and transmit to this House, as soon as practicable, a copy of such late act or acts of the Pennsylvania Legislature as prohibit or restrain the justices, aldermen, or other magistrates or officers of that State from interposing in the apprehension or surrender of fugitive slaves."--_House Journal, 16 Cong. 1 Sess., 371; Annals of Congress, 16 Cong. 1 Sess., 1717._

Mr. Tarr moved to amend as follows: "Provided, any such act or acts shall have been pa.s.sed." Resolution and amendment agreed to.--_House Journal, 16 Cong. 1 Sess., 371; Annals of Congress, 16 Cong. 1 Sess., 1717._

=1820, April 18.= Ordered, That the letter from the Secretary of State with the Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature accompanying it, "be committed to the committee appointed 18th of March to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for reclaiming persons held to service or labor in one State, and escaping therefrom into another."--_House Journal, 16 Cong. 1 Sess., 427; Annals of Congress, 16 Cong. 1 Sess., 1863._

=18. Maryland resolutions protesting against Pennsylvanians. [-- 21.]=

=1821, Dec. 17.= "Mr. Wright laid before the House an attested copy of a resolution pa.s.sed by the General a.s.sembly of the State of Maryland, complaining of the protection offered by the citizens of Pennsylvania to the slaves of the citizens of Maryland, who abscond and go into that State, and declaring that it is the duty of Congress to enact such a law as will prevent a continuance of the evils complained of; which resolution was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary."--_House Journal, 17 Cong. 1 Sess., 62; Annals of Congress, 17 Cong. 1 Sess., 553._

=19. a.s.sumption of claims on Indians for fugitives. [-- 22.]=

=1832, May 9.= Treaty with the Seminoles, Art. VI. "The Seminoles being anxious to be relieved from repeated vexatious demands for slaves and other property alleged to have been stolen and destroyed by them, so that they may remove unembarra.s.sed to their new homes, the United States stipulate to have the same property investigated, and to liquidate such as may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does not exceed seven thousand (7,000) dollars."--_Statutes at Large, VII. 369._

=20. Calhoun's resolution on the status of slaves on the high seas. [-- 24.]=

=1840, April 15.= "_Resolved_, That a s.h.i.+p or vessel on the high seas, in time of peace, engaged in a lawful voyage, is, according to the laws of nations, under the exclusive jurisdiction of the State to which her flag belongs; as much so as if const.i.tuting a part of its own domain.

"_Resolved_, That if such s.h.i.+p or vessel should be forced by stress of weather, or other unavoidable cause, into the port, and under the jurisdiction of a friendly power, she and her cargo, and persons on board, with their property, and all the rights belonging to their personal relations, as established by the laws of the State to which they belong, would be placed under the protection which the laws of nations extend to the unfortunate under such circ.u.mstances.

"_Resolved_, That the brig Enterprise, which was forced unavoidably by stress of weather into Port Hamilton, Bermuda Island, while on a lawful voyage on the high seas from one port of the Union to another, comes within the principles embraced in the foregoing resolutions; and that the seizure and detention of the negroes on board by the local authority of the island, was an act in violation of the laws of nations, and highly unjust to our own citizens, to whom they belong."--_Cong. Globe, 26 Cong. 1 Sess., 327._