Northern Condemnation of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act

With the nation about to plunge into a civil war over the slavery issue, Congress in September 1850 passed the Compromise of 1850, legislation meant to appease both pro- and anti-slavery advocates. Abolitionists got California accepted into the Union as a free state, and the outlawing of slave markets in Washington, D.C. Slavery advocates received a strengthened Fugitive Slave Act, in part thanks to a controversial Senate speech Daniel Webster delivered. In his “Plea for Harmony and Peace” speech, Webster insisted that the U.S. Constitution protected the right of slave owners to hunt down, capture, and bring back into bondage any fugitive slave—and that Northerners had a legal obligation to assist Southerners in the capture.

Within weeks of the Compromise of 1850’s package of five bills becoming law, Northern newspapers were printing stories of the cruel operation of the Fugitive Slave Act. The Milwaukee Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) ran this editorial on October 25, 1850:

Workings of the Fugitive Slave Law

On the 28th ult., Jesse Jones, a colored man, residing in Pittsburgh, Pa., was seized, under the Fugitive Slave Law, by a man named Wyatt, who made oath that Jones was his slave and had “escaped from labor” two years previous. The claimant made out a prima facie clear case, and but for the accidental circumstance that Jones had friends in Pittsburgh, he would have been given up to Wyatt, carried to the South and sold into Slavery. As it was, these friends, knowing the claim to be unfounded, hunted up the necessary witnesses and proved by incontestable evidence that Jones was a free man, and had lived in Pittsburgh twenty years. Thereupon Jones was released from confinement, and the claimant, Wyatt, arrested for perjury, and in default of $1000 bail, committed to prison.

Ten days since, a colored man in Lodi, New Jersey, was falsely accused of theft. Two constables started to arrest him. Not knowing of what he was accused, but fearing that he was about to be seized under the Fugitive Slave Law, and hopeless of proving his title (which was a perfect one) to Freedom, he determined to defend his liberty, at the risk of his life. In the struggle, one of the constables was mortally wounded. The black man, however, was overpowered, and on being brought up for examination, his entire innocence of the imputed theft was clearly proved.

Last week, the following transaction occurred on our own shores. We copy from the Racine “Advocate”:

“An Incident--On Friday night last, about 12 o’clock, as the “Empire State” was taking freight on from Topham & Cross’ pier, a small craft was observed to make for the leeward side of the pier. She touched, and on being hailed would make no reply; at length a negro landed and enquired for the officers of the “Empire State.” After a few moments consultation with the Clerk, he jumped on board and speedily returned in company with about 20 other negroes and their wives and children, and what few articles they appeared to have hastily collected. The “Empire State” went on her way east, the small vessel filling her sails and departing no one knows whither.”

Those 20 negroes doubtless go to swell the multitude of fugitives, who have already sought “free homes” in Canada. Is it possible to contemplate these workings of the Fugitive Slave Act with any other feelings than those of shame, disgust and abhorrence? Can the Freemen of Wisconsin lend their countenance or sanction to such a law? Or will they hesitate to record their emphatic condemnation of it, by sustaining their three Representatives in Congress, Messrs. Cole, Durkee and Doty, who voted against it?

For more information, visit the Compromise of 1850 website provided by the Library of Congress.

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