Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865)McDougall, Marion Gleason
History
Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865)
McDougall, Marion Gleason
Fugitive slaves -- United States; Slavery -- Law and legislation -- United States
"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.]=
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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