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
After 1700 the process grows yet more elaborate; for example, take a
North Carolina law of 1741. The securer of a runaway was to have seven
shillings and sixpence proclamation money, and for every mile over ten
which he conducted the fugitive threepence extra. When seized, runaways
were to be whipped and placed in the county gaol. If the owner was known,
he was notified and went for his slave; if not, a notice describing the
runaway must be placed upon the door of the court-house, and sent to the
clerk or reader of each church or chapel within the county. They were
required to post all such notices every Lord's day for two months in some
convenient place near the church. At the end of this time, should no
claimant appear, the slave must be sent from constable to constable, till
the public gaol of the government was reached. There, upon consent of the
court or of two justices, he might be sold to hire by the gaoler.[11] The
Maryland Archives record that in 1669 ten thousand pounds of tobacco were
appropriated to build one of these log-house gaols wherein fugitive
servants might be lodged.[12]
=§ 4. Regulations in New England colonies.=--Let us turn now to the New
England colonies. Here we must expect to find but few provisions, since
the class of slaves and bound servants was so small that it could easily
be controlled. The first law in Massachusetts Bay was passed in 1630, and
was entitled, "An Act respecting Masters, Servants, and Laborers." In
accordance with the arbitrary methods of government then pursued, it
included not only runaway servants, but also any persons who should
"privily go away with suspicion of evil intention," and ordered the
magistrate "to press men, boats, or pinnaces," and "to bring them back by
force of arms." A humane provision, usually wanting in Southern laws,
though also found in New Netherlands, declared that, whenever servants
fled on account of the tyranny of their masters, they should be protected
until measures for their relief could be taken.[13]
In Connecticut and New Hampshire similar laws were passed, and in 1707
Massachusetts Bay, in regulating the free negro population, enacted that
every freeman or mulatto who should harbor a negro servant in his house
without his owner's consent should pay five shillings for the use of the
poor of the town.[14]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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