Very early in the preparation of this work it became evident that no writer had systematically examined and compared the legislation of the Colonies and States, or searched the records of Congress, or looked for contemporary accounts of any considerable number of escapes. I was therefore obliged to search for such original material as was within my reach. Doubtless some important books and pamphlets have escaped me, and an examination of other collections would enlarge the bibliography; but the effort has been made to exhaust the literature of the subject, except in newspapers.
6. Slave autobiographies.
Out of the great variety of original sources containing descriptions of slave life and escapes, the autobiographies of the slaves themselves are the most interesting, and often the saddest. The Rev. James Freeman Clarke says, in his Antislavery Days: "Even now, when it is all over, the flesh creeps and the blood curdles in the veins at the accounts of the dreadful cruelties practised on slaves in many parts of the South. I would advise no one to read such histories to-day unless his nerves are very well strung." Frederick Douglass has given us two books, one written before slavery was abolished, and a fuller account afterward, when it was no longer imprudent to reveal the whole story of his escape. Many of these lives were published by antislavery people, who wished by such means to rouse the North. Such are the stories of Box Brown, Peter Still, Archy Moore, Solomon Northrup, Lunsford Lane, and others, most of which have been quoted above.
7. Records of trials.
Much descriptive detail can often be found in the published reports of trials. A volume is devoted to the Oberlin-Wellington case, and several volumes have been published on the Burns trial. For the Prigg and Hanway cases, and others of importance, the records of the Supreme Court and lower courts have been consulted. Most of the important cases were tried in State courts or before commissioners, and the only reports are fugitive pamphlets, of which many have been consulted and cited.
8. Speeches.
In the study of public sentiment and for the weighing of argument the speeches of Phillips, Sumner, Seward, Giddings, Webster, Mann, Rantoul, Loring, and others, are of the greatest value. They often throw light upon obscure cases, and the fugitive slave stories brought in as illustrations have sometimes led to the discovery of interesting and forgotten cases.
9. Reminiscences.
A valuable aid in reconstructing in the mind the conditions of the slavery struggle are the reminiscences of participants. Rev. James Freeman Clarke's Antislavery Days and Mr. Parker Pillsbury's book have been helpful in these chapters. A pamphlet by Mr. Austin Bearse describes the Fugitive Slave Laws in Boston, and relates the work of the Vigilance Committee in protecting escaped negroes. The books of Still, Smedley, and Coffin, on the workings of the Underground Railroad, are composed chiefly of reminiscences, and have furnished many essential facts.