The following monograph was written while the author was a student in the "Harvard Annex" as a study in the Seminary course given by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart. The work has continued during parts of the four years since 1887. The effort has been to trace in some measure the development of public sentiment upon the subject, to prepare an outline of Colonial legislation and of the work of Congress during the entire period, and to give accounts of typical cases illustrative of conditions and opinions. Only a few of the more important cases are described minutely, but a critical list of the authorities may be found in the bibliographical appendix.
The thanks of the author are due first to Professor Hart, under whose direction and with whose assistance and encouragement the monograph has been prepared; then to Miss Anna B. Thompson, without whose careful training in the Thayer Academy and continued sympathy, the work could not have been undertaken. Many thanks are due also to the authorities of the Library of Harvard College for the use, in the alcoves, of their large and conveniently arranged collection of books and pamphlets on United States History, and to the assistants in the Boston Public and Massachusetts State Libraries for courteous aid. Colonel T. W. Higginson has kindly examined the chapter on the cases from 1850 to 1860, suggesting some interesting details; and Mr. Arthur Gilman has read the whole in proof, and made many valuable suggestions.
MARION GLEASON McDOUGALL.
Rockland, Mass., April 2, 1891.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
[LEGISLATION AND CASES BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION.]
§ 1. [Elements of colonial slavery]
§ 2. [Regulations as to fugitives (1640-1700)]
§ 3. [Treatment of fugitives]
§ 4. [Regulations in New England colonies]
§ 5. [Escapes in New England: Attucks case]
§ 6. [Dutch regulations in New Netherlands]
§ 7. [Escapes from New Amsterdam]
§ 8. [Intercolonial regulations]
§ 9. [Intercolonial cases ]
§ 10. [International relations]
§ 11. [International cases]
§ 12. [Relations with the mother country ]
§ 13. [Regulation under the Articles of Confederation (1781-1788) ]
§ 14. [Ordinance for the Northwest Territory (1787) ]
§ 15. [The Fugitive question in the Constitutional Conventions ]
CHAPTER II.
[LEGISLATION FROM 1789 TO 1850.]
§ 16. [Effect of the fugitive slave clause in the Constitution]
§ 17. [The first Fugitive Slave Act (1793)]
§ 18. [Discussion of the first act]
§ 19. [Propositions of 1797 and 1802]
§ 20. [Propositions from 1817 to 1822]
§ 21. [Period of the Missouri Compromise (1819-1822)]
§ 22. [Status of the question from 1823 to 1847]
§ 23. [Canada and Mexico places of refuge]
§ 24. [Status of fugitives on the high seas]
§ 25. [Kidnapping from 1793 to 1850: Prigg case]
§ 26. [Necessity of more stringent fugitive slave provisions]
§ 27. [Action of Congress from 1847 to 1850]
§ 28. [Slavery in the District of Columbia]
§ 29. [The second Fugitive Slave Act (1850)]
§ 30. [Provisions of the second Fugitive Slave Act]
§ 31. [Arguments for the bill]
§ 32. [Arguments against the bill]
CHAPTER III.
[PRINCIPAL CASES FROM 1789 TO 1860.]
§ 33. [Change in character of cases]
§ 34. [The first case of rescue (1793)]
§ 35. [President Washington's demand for a fugitive (1796)]
§ 36. [Kidnapping cases]
§ 37. [Jones case (1836)]
§ 38. [Solomon Northup case (about 1830)]
§ 39. [Washington case (between 1840 and 1850)]
§ 40. [Oberlin case (1841)]
§ 41. [Interference and rescues]
§ 42. [Chickasaw rescue (1836)]
§ 43. [Philadelphia case (1838)]
§ 44. [Latimer case (1842)]
§ 45. [Ottoman case (1846)]
§ 46. [Interstate relations]
§ 47. [Boston and Isaac cases (1837, 1839)]
§ 48. [Ohio and Kentucky case (1848)]
§ 49. [Prosecutions]
§ 50. [Van Zandt, Pearl, and Walker cases (1840, 1844)]
§ 51. [Unpopularity of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850]
§ 52. [Principle of the selection of cases]
§ 53. [Hamlet case (1850)]
§ 54. [Sims case (1851)]
§ 55. [Burns case (1854)]
§ 56. [Garner case (1856)]
§ 57. [Shadrach case (1851)]
§ 58. [Jerry McHenry case (1851)]
§ 59. [Oberlin-Wellington case (1858)]
§ 60. [Christiana case (1851)]
§ 61. [Miller case (1851)]
§ 62. [John Brown in Kansas (1858)]
CHAPTER IV.
[FUGITIVES AND THEIR FRIENDS.]
§ 63. [Methods of escape]
§ 64. [Reasons for escape]
§ 65. [Conditions of slave life]
§ 66. [Escapes to the woods]
§ 67. [Escapes to the North]
§ 68. [Use of protection papers]
§ 69. [Fugitives disguised as whites: Craft case]
§ 70. [Underground Railroad]
§ 71. [Rise and growth of the system]
§ 72. [Methods pursued]
§ 73. [Colored agents of the Underground Railroad]
§ 74. [Prosecutions of agents]
§ 75. [Formal organization]
§ 76. [General effect of escapes]
CHAPTER V.
[PERSONAL LIBERTY LAWS.]
§ 77. [Character of the personal liberty laws]
§ 78. [Acts passed before the Prigg decision (1793-1842)]
§ 79. [Acts passed between the Prigg decision and the second Fugitive Slave Law (1842-1850)]
§ 80. [Acts occasioned by the law of 1850 (1850-1860)]
§ 81. [Massachusetts acts]
§ 82. [Review of the acts by States]
§ 83. [Effect of the personal liberty laws]