ists achieved prominence in the 1830's and 1840's. William Lloyd Garrison founded The Liberator in 1831 and sounded the call for greater militancy." [Y]ea, till every chain be broken, and every bonds- In the West, the students of Theodore Weld established a center of abolitionism at Oberlin College which became an important station on the Underground Railroad. Garrison was supported in his stand by the outstanding New England lawyer, Wendell Phillips." Free Negroes played a significant role in the abolition movement, and as the Underground Railroad developed, Negroes were prominent among the thousands of workers on the "road." 38 During this period anti-slavery literature appeared in increasing quantities. Easily the most famous work was Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ultimately translated into some 20 languages and distributed throughout the world, the novel vividly, if melodramatically, portrayed the costs of slavery in terms of brutality and human degradation. John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russell Lowell contrib 36 The (Boston) Liberator, Jan. 1, 1831, p. 1. 37 87 Franklin, op. cit. supra note 6, at 245 (1956). 38 Aptheker, The Negro in the Abolitionist Movement 14-15 (1941). "Among those who led in the movement were William Still in Philadelphia, David Ruggles in New York, Stephen Myers in Albany, Frederick Douglass in Rochester, Lewis Hayde in Boston, J. W. Loguen in Syracuse, Martin R. Delany in Pittsburgh, George De Baptist in Madison, Indiana, John Hatfield in Cincinnati, William Goodrich in York, Pennsylvania, Stephen Smith, Williams Whipper and Thomas Bessick in Columbia, Pennsylvania, David Ross and John Augusta in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Samuel Bond in Baltimore and Sam Nixon in Norfolk." Id. at 35. uted anti-slavery poems, while Benjamin Lundy, a New Jersey Quaker, sought to buttress emotional appeals with practical arguments. The fugitive slave provision of the Constitution had been implemented by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793," prescribing procedure for the recovery of slaves and punishment for persons aiding in their escape. This statute was continually abused by both pro- and anti-slavery interests. Northerners continued to help slaves escape, and southerners often "recaptured" free Negroes in Northern States and took them south as slaves.* 40 In an effort to help fugitives and prevent the capture of free Negroes, Pennsylvania in 1826 passed a statute requiring slave owners to present evidence of their legal claim to a magistrate before they could remove a fugitive from the State. The law was tested before the United States Supreme Court in 1842," and was invalidated as being in conflict with the Federal Fugitive Slave Act. The Court went on to declare that since the Constitution and the 1793 act had preempted the subject of fugitive slaves, the States were precluded from taking any legislative action whatsoever. The South was the nominal beneficiary of the decision, but in fact its position was temporarily weakened by a dictum expressed by Justice Joseph Story. He expressed doubt that State officers could be required to enforce the Federal law. This meant that until Federal enforcement provisions were strengthened, the law was virtually meaningless.** Northern States were not long in grasping the implications of the decision and passed "personal-liberty laws" denying the Federal Government access to State jails and other 39 Act of Feb. 12, 1793, I Stat. 302. 40 Swisher, op. cit. supra note 34, at 231-32. 41 Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539 (1842). 42 2 Warren, The Supreme Court in United States History, 87 (1926). ists achieved prominence in the 1830's and 1840's. William Lloyd Garrison founded The Liberator in 1831 and sounded the call for greater militancy.36 [Y]ea, till every chain be broken, and every bondsman set free! Let Southern oppressors tremble-let their secret abettors tremble-let their Northern apoligists tremble-let all the enemies of the perse cuted blacks tremble. In the West, the students of Theodore Weld established a center of abolitionism at Oberlin College which became an important station on the Underground Railroad. Garrison was supported in his stand by the outstanding New England lawyer, Wendell Phillips." Free Negroes played a significant role in the abolition movement, and as the Underground Railroad developed, Negroes were prominent among the thousands of workers on the "road." 38 During this period anti-slavery literature appeared in increasing quantities. Easily the most famous work was Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ultimately translated into some 20 languages and distributed throughout the world, the novel vividly, if melodramatically, portrayed the costs of slavery in terms of brutality and human degradation. John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russell Lowell contrib 36 The (Boston) Liberator, Jan. 1, 1831, p. 1. 38 Aptheker, The Negro in the Abolitionist Movement 14-15 (1941). "Among those who led in the movement were William Still in Philadelphia, David Ruggles in New York, Stephen Myers in Albany, Frederick Douglass in Rochester, Lewis Hayde in Boston, J. W. Loguen in Syracuse, Martin R. Delany in Pittsburgh, George De Baptist in Madison, Indiana, John Hatfield in Cincinnati, William Goodrich in York, Pennsylvania, Stephen Smith, Williams Whipper and Thomas Bessick in Columbia, Pennsylvania, David Ross and John Augusta in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Samuel Bond in Baltimore and Sam Nixon in Norfolk." Id. at 35. uted anti-slavery poems, while Benjamin Lundy, a New Jersey Quaker, sought to buttress emotional appeals with practical arguments. The fugitive slave provision of the Constitution had been implemented by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793," prescribing procedure for the recovery of slaves and punishment for persons aiding in their escape. This statute was continually abused by both pro- and anti-slavery interests. Northerners continued to help slaves escape, and southerners often “recaptured" free Negroes in Northern States and took them south as slaves.40 In an effort to help fugitives and prevent the capture of free Negroes, Pennsylvania in 1826 passed a statute requiring slave owners to present evidence of their legal claim to a magistrate before they could remove a fugitive from the State. The law was tested before the United States Supreme Court in 1842," and was invalidated as being in conflict with the Federal Fugitive Slave Act. The Court went on to declare that since the Constitution and the 1793 act had preempted the subject of fugitive slaves, the States were precluded from taking any legislative action whatsoever. The South was the nominal beneficiary of the decision, but in fact its position was temporarily weakened by a dictum expressed by Justice Joseph Story. He expressed doubt that State officers could be required to enforce the Federal law. This meant that until Federal enforcement provisions were strengthened, the law was virtually meaningless.** Northern States were not long in grasping the implications of the decision and passed "personal-liberty laws" denying the Federal Government access to State jails and other 39 Act of Feb. 12, 1793, I Stat. 302. 40 Swisher, op. cit. supra note 34, at 231-32. 41 Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 539 (1842). 42 2 Warren, The Supreme Court in United States History, 87 (1926). agencies of justice for the apprehension of slaves." Southerners immediately began to agitate for amendments to strengthen the 1793 act. This issue became entangled with the controversy over the status of the Territories recently acquired in the Mexican War. Texas had already been admitted as a slave State in 1845 and California was now ready to come into the Union. The Wilmot Proviso, to the effect that slavery would not be permitted in the Territories acquired from Mexico, was passed in the House of Representatives but rejected in the Senate and both issues were temporarily resolved in the Compromise of 1850-a substantial victory for the southern position. The Compromise provided for the immediate admission of California and the organization of the Mexican territories without the Proviso." The 1850 acts also provided that the slave trade could no longer be carried on in the District of Columbia.45 Slavery was still permitted, however. From the northern point of view the most offensive portion of the Compromise of 1850 was a new fugitive slave law which attempted to set up complete Federal machinery for the enforcement of the act, and even forbade testimony by the fugitive in hearings before Federal Commissioners." So strong was the reaction in some parts of the North that President Millard Fillmore found it necessary to issue a Presidential proclamation calling upon citizens and governmental officials to maintain the law." The issue of slavery in the northern portions of the Louisiana Territory had been deemed settled by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. It was reopened, however, in 1854, when 43 Swisher, op. cit. supra note 34, at 238-39. 44 Act of Sept. 9, 1850, 9 Stat. 446; act of Sept. 9, 1850, 9 Stat. 452. 45 Act of Sept. 20, 1850, 9 Stat. 467. 46 Act of Sept. 18, 1850, 9 Stat. 462. 476 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents 2637-42, 2645-46 (1897). |