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(1772) Somerset Case

By

On November 9, 2022

In Baker, Barker, Finkelman, Sinha

Citation

Somerset v. Stewart, June 22, 1772, FULL TEXT via CommonLII

Excerpt

portrait man in wig, turned to side

Lord Mansfield ruled in freedom seeker James Somerset’s favor (National Portrait Gallery, UK)

…The power of a master over his slave has been extremely different, in different countries. The state of slavery is of such a nature, that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political; but only positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasion, and time itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory : it’s so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it, but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged.

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(1780) Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition

By

On November 7, 2022

In Baker, Finkelman, Oakes

Citation

1780 Gradual Abolition Act, March 1, 1780, FULL TEXT via Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

Excerpt

Be it enacted and it is hereby enacted by the Representatives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met and by the Authority of the same, That all Persons, as well Negroes, and Mulattos, as others, who shall be born within this State, from and after the Passing of this Act, shall not be deemed and considered as Servants for Life or Slaves; and that all Servitude for Life or Slavery of Children in Consequence of the Slavery of their Mothers, in the Case of all Children born within this State from and after the passing of this Act as aforesaid, shall be, an hereby is, utterly taken away, extinguished and for ever abolished.

Pennsylvania’s 1780 Gradual Abolition Act (Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission)

Provided always and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every Negroe and Mulatto Child born within this State after the passing of this Act as aforesaid, who would in Case this Act had not been made, have been born a Servant for Years or life or a Slave, shall be deemed to be and shall be, by Virtue of this Act the Servant of such person or his or her Assigns, who would in such Case have been entitled to the Service of such Child until such Child shall attain unto the Age of twenty eight Years, in the manner and on the Conditions whereon Servants bound by Indenture for four Years are or may be retained and holden; and shall be liable to like Correction and punishment, and intitled to like Relief in case he or she be evilly treated by his or her master or Mistress; and to like Freedom dues and other Privileges as Servants bound by Indenture for Four Years are or may be intitled unless the Person to whom the Service of any such Child Shall belong, shall abandon his or her Claim to the same, in which Case the Overseers of the Poor of the City Township or District, respectively where such Child shall be so abandoned, shall by Indenture bind out every Child so abandoned as an Apprentice for a Time not exceeding the Age herein before limited for the Service of such Children.

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(1783) Abolition in Massachusetts

By

On November 22, 2022

In Baker, Oakes

Citation

Legal Notes by Massachusetts Supreme Court justice William Cushing on the case of Quok Walker, [1783], FULL TEXT via Massachusetts Historical Society

Excerpt

Freeman portrait blue dress

Massachusetts freedom seeker Elizabeth Freeman (Massachusetts Historical Society)

As to ye. doctrine of Slavery & ye. right of Christians to holding Africans in perpetual servititude [servitude] , & selling & treating them as we do our horses & Cattle, that, (it is true) has been heretofore countenanced by the province Laws formerly, but no where is it expressly enacted or established. — It has been a usage — a usage which took its origin, from ye. practice of some of ye. European nations, & the regulations of british Govmt respecting the then Colonies, for ye. benefit of trade & Wealth. But whatever Sentiments have been formerly prevailed in this particular or slid in upon us by ye. Example of others, a different Idea has taken place with ye people of America more favorable to ye. natural rights of Mankind, & to that of and natural innate, desire of Liberty, with which Heaven (witht. regard to Colors, complexion or Shapes of noses features) has inspired all ye. human Race. And upon this Ground, our Constitution of Govmt, Sets out into by wch. ye people of this Commonwealth have solemnly bound themselves, Sets out with declaring that all men are born free & equal — & yt. Every subject is intitled to Liberty, & to have it guarded by ye. Laws, as well as Life & property — & in short is totally repugnant to ye. Idea of being born Slaves. This being ye. Case I think ye. Idea of Slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct & Constitution & there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational Creature, unless it his Liberty is forfeited by Some Criminal Conduct or giv given up by personal Consent or Contract.

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(1787) Fugitive Slave Clause

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On November 9, 2022

In Baker, Finkelman, Oakes, Pinsker

Citation

Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3, US Constitution, 1787, FULL TEXT via The Avalon Project, Yale Law School

Excerpt

Constitution front page image

US Constitution (National Archives)

No Person held to Service or Labour 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 Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.US C

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(1793) Fugitive Slave Act

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On November 5, 2022

In Baker, Finkelman, Oakes, Pinsker

Citation

1793 Fugitive Slave Act, February 12, 1793, FULL TEXT via A Century of Lawmaking, Library of Congress

Excerpt

engraving of room, lit by fireplace, kidnapping scene

Abolitionist illustration criticizing the activities of slave catchers under the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act (Jesse Torrey, A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery in the United States, 1817 )

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 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 mouths 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 elate or territory making such demand, shall be paid by such state or territory.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct or hinder 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 labor, 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 fur the benefit of such claimant, by action of debt, in any court proper to try the same; saving moreover to the person claiming such labor or service, his right of action for or on account of the said injuries or either of them.

Key Cases under the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act

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(1804) Ohio Black Laws

By

On November 9, 2022

In Baker, Barker, Johnson

Citation

An act to regulate black and mulatto persons, January 5, 1804, FULL TEXT via Stephen Middleton, The Black Laws in the Old Northwest: A Documentary History (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), 15-16

Excerpt

pamphlet front page

An 1886 pamphlet decrying Ohio’s lengthy history of Black Laws (Library of Congress)

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That from and after the first day of June next no black or mulatto person shall be permitted to settle or reside in this state, unless he or she shall first produce a fair certificate from some court within the United States, of his or her actual freedom, which certificate shall be attested by the clerk of said court, and the seal thereof annexed thereto, by said clerk.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That no person or persons residents of this state, shall be permitted to hire, or in any way employ any black or mulatto person, unless such black or mulatto person shall have one of the certificates as aforesaid, under pain of forfeiting and paying any sum not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars, at the discretion of the court….

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(1820) Pennsylvania Personal Liberty Law

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On November 9, 2022

In Baker, Oakes, Pinsker

Citation

Act to Prevent Kidnapping, March 27, 1820, FULL TEXT via Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, PA: C. Gleim, 1820), 104-106

Excerpt

cartoon men seizing freedom seeker

Abolitionist cartoon depicting the kidnapping of a free Black resident (Library Company of Philadelphia)

Sec. 1. BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre­sentatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That if any person or persons shall from and after the passing of this act, by force or violence take and. carry away, or shall by fraud or kidnapping false pretences seduce or cause to be seduced, or shall attempt so to take, carry away or seduce any negro or mulatto from any part or parts of this Commonwealth, to any other place or places whatsoever, out of this Commonwealth, with a design and intention of selling and disposing of, or of causing to be sold, or of keeping and detaining, or of causing to be kept and detained, such negro or mulatto as a slave or ser­vant for a year or years, every such person or persons, his or their aiders and abettors, shall on conviction thereof in any court of this Commonwealth having competent jurisdiction, be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall forfeit and pay at the discretion of the court passing the sentence, any sum not less than five hundred dollars, nor more than two thousand dollars, one half whereof shall be paid to the person or persons who shall prosecute for the same, and the other half to this Commonwealth, and moreover shall be sentenced to undergo a servitude for any term or time not less than seven years, nor exceeding twenty-one years, and shall be confined, kept to hard labor, fed and clothed in manner as is directed by the penal law of this Commonwealth for persons convicted of robbery.

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(1826) Levi and Catherine Coffin

By

On November 19, 2022

In Baker, Barker, Blackett, Bordewich, Churchill, Crew, Larson, Sinha

Quakers Levi and Catharine Coffin relocate from North Carolina to Indiana, and then to Cincinnati in 1847, assisting hundreds of freedom seekers. The couple’s prolific activism earns Levi the moniker “President of the Underground Railroad.”

[This post is still under construction, more forthcoming in 2023]

(1830) Kentucky Slave Stealing Statute

By

On November 9, 2022

In Baker

Citation

An act to amend the law concerning slaves, January 28, 1830, FULL TEXT via A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky (Frankfort, KY: Albert G. Hodges, 1834), 2:1302-1303

Excerpt

engraving man head

Kentucky authorities convicted abolitionist Calvin Fairbanks under the state’s strict slave stealing statute (House Divided Project)

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That if any person not having lawful, or color of claim thereto, shall be guilty of seducing or enticing any slave to leave his lawful owner or possessor; and to escape to parts without the limits of the state, to any of the other states, or a foreign county; or shall make, or finish, or aid and assist in making or furnishing a forged pass of freedom, or any other forged paper purporting to be a deed of emancipation, or will, or other instrument, liberating, or purporting to liberate, any slave, or shall in any manner aid or assist such slave in making his escape from such owner or possessor, to another state, or foreign country; every person so offending, shall, on conviction, be sentenced to confinement in the jail and penitentiary of this commonwealth, a period not less than two years, nor more than twenty years. 

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(1835) Jack v. Martin

By

On November 9, 2022

In Baker

Citation

Jack. v. Martin, December 1835, FULL TEXT via CaseLaw Access Project

Excerpt

portrait man chest and face

New York chancellor Reuben Walworth declared the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional in the landmark ruling Jack. v. Martin (Historical Society of the New York Courts)

The right of trial by jury is secured to every citizen by the constitution. The act of congress is clearly void so far as it interferes with that right. If congress could legislate at all upon the subject, they should have provided for a trial by jury. Parsons v. Bedford, 4 Peters’ U. S. R. 446. 4 Black. Comm. 350. If it be said that this article of the constitution relates to questions of property, it is answered, the defendant claims Jack as his property, and is estopped from saying that this is not a question of property. Besides, the law considers every case of damages as involving a question of property. The constitution has reference to the probable recovery or amount in controversy. Again: it is a question of property as well as of freedom. A freeman has a property in his own limbs as against him who claims to be the owner of them and to direct their use. They are property because they are capable of producing it. If it be said that the rights of the party claimed to be a slave are not finally settled by the summary proceeding had, and that it is like the case of fugitives from justice, it is answered that there is no analogy in the two cases. In the case of the fugitive from justice, the arrest is for trial where the offence was committed; here there is no provision for further proceedings—no security that the person arrested will be carried where he can have a trial….  This is the very question—slave or traitor to be tried by a jury here. A man sent away as a slave has no means of appealing to a jury of the country as a freeman….

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