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Fugitive Slave Act 1850
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Fugitive Slave Law History
| April 24, 1851 "Warning Poster" |
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| Results of the Fugitive Slave Act |
What was the Fugitive Slave Act? The Fugitive Slave Law
of 1850, commonly referred to as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, was one of the five laws that passed in the Compromise of 1850.
The Fugitive Slave Law stated that any United States marshal
or official who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave was liable to a fine of $1,000. Law-enforcement officials had
a duty to arrest anyone suspected of being a runaway slave, based solely on a claimant's sworn testimony of ownership.
The suspected slave could not ask for a jury trial or testify on his or her own behalf. In addition, any person who aided
a runaway slave by providing food or shelter was subject to six months' imprisonment and a $1,000
fine. Officers who captured a fugitive slave were entitled to a fee.
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Section 1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be, appointed commissioners, in virtue of any act of Congress, by
the Circuit Courts of the United States, and Who, in consequence of such appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers
that any justice of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States, may exercise in respect to offenders for any
crime or offense against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning, or bailing the same under and by the virtue of the
thirty-third section of the act of the twenty-fourth of September seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled "An Act to establish
the judicial courts of the United States" shall be, and are hereby, authorized and required to exercise and discharge all
the powers and duties conferred by this act.
And be it further enacted, That the Superior Court of each organized Territory of the United States shall have
the same power to appoint commissioners to take acknowledgments of bail and affidavits, and to take depositions of witnesses
in civil causes, which is now possessed by the Circuit Court of the United States; and all commissioners who shall hereafter
be appointed for such purposes by the Superior Court of any organized Territory of the United States, shall possess all the
powers, and exercise all the duties, conferred by law upon the commissioners appointed by the Circuit Courts of the United
States for similar purposes, and shall moreover exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
And be it further enacted, That the Circuit Courts of the United States shall from time to time
enlarge the number of the commissioners, with a view to afford reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and
to the prompt discharge of the duties imposed by this act.
And be it further enacted, That the commissioners above named shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges
of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, in their respective circuits and districts within the several States,
and the judges of the Superior Courts of the Territories, severally and collectively, in term-time and vacation; shall grant
certificates to such claimants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to take and remove such fugitives from
service or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped
or fled.
And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy marshals to obey and execute
all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy
marshal refuse to receive such warrant, or other process, when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute
the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of such claimant, on the
motion of such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court for the district of such marshal; and after arrest of such fugitive,
by such marshal or his deputy, or whilst at any time in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive
escape, whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, such marshal shall be liable, on his official bond,
to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State,
Territory, or District whence he escaped: and the better to enable the said commissioners, when thus appointed, to execute
their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the requirements of the Constitution of the United States and of this act, they are hereby authorized and empowered, within
their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from time to time,
to execute all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their respective duties;
with authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them, to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and
call to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus of the proper county, when necessary to ensure a faithful observance
of the clause of the Constitution referred to, in conformity with the provisions of this act; and all good citizens are hereby
commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required, as
aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run, and be executed by said officers, any where in the State within
which they are issued.
And be it further enacted, That when a person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the United
States, has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons
to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney,
in writing, acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory in which the
same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant from some one of the courts,
judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from
service or labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by taking, or
causing such person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine
the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing,
to be taken and certified by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified
by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to administer an oath and take depositions
under the laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate
of such magistracy or other authority, as aforesaid, with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which
seal shall be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by affidavit, of the identity of the
person whose service or labor is claimed to be due as aforesaid, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor
to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory from which such fugitive may have escaped as aforesaid,
and that said person escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate setting
forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from
the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney,
to use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such
fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing under
this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates in this and the first
[fourth] section mentioned, shall be conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted, to remove such
fugitive to the State or Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons by any
process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever.
And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such
claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive
from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from
service or labor, from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or persons lawfully assisting
as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person
so owing service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other
person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery
and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor as
aforesaid, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not
exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in which
such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of
the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages to the party injured
by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action
of debt, in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been
committed.
And be it further enacted, That the marshals, their deputies, and the clerks of the said District and Territorial
Courts, shall be paid, for their services, the like fees as may be allowed for similar services in other cases; and where
such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody, and delivery of the fugitive to the claimant, his or her agent
or attorney, or where such supposed fugitive may be discharged out of custody for the want of sufficient proof as aforesaid,
then such fees are to be paid in whole by such claimant, his or her agent or attorney; and in all cases where the proceedings
are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery
of the said certificate to the claimant, his agent or attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where the proof shall not,
in the opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest
and examination, to be paid, in either case, by the claimant, his or her agent or attorney. The person or persons authorized
to execute the process to be issued by such commissioner for the arrest and detention of fugitives from service or labor as
aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for each person he or they may arrest, and take before any
commissioner as aforesaid, at the instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable
by such commissioner for such other additional services as may be necessarily performed by him or them; such as attending
at the examination, keeping the fugitive in custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his detention, and until
the final determination of such commissioners; and, in general, for performing such other duties as may be required by such
claimant, his or her attorney or agent, or commissioner in the premises, such fees to be made up in conformity with the fees
usually charged by the officers of the courts of justice within the proper district or county, as near as may be practicable,
and paid by such claimants, their agents or attorneys, whether such supposed fugitives from service or labor be ordered to
be delivered to such claimant by the final determination of such commissioner or not.
And be it further enacted, That, upon affidavit made by the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney,
after such certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will he rescued by force from his
or their possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty
of the officer making the arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence he fled, and
there to deliver him to said claimant, his agent, or attorney. And to this end, the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized
and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service
so long as circumstances may require. The said officer and his assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation,
and to be allowed the same expenses, as are now allowed by law for transportation of criminals, to be certified by the judge
of the district within which the arrest is made, and paid out of the treasury of the United States.
And be it further enacted, That when any person held to service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the
District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent
or attorney, may apply to any court of record therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to such court,
or judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor to such party. Whereupon
the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, and also a general description of the person so escaping,
with such convenient certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of the clerk and
of the seal of the said court, being produced in any other State, Territory, or district in which the person so escaping may
be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other office, authorized by the law of the United States to cause
persons escaping from service or labor to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service or labor of the person
escaping is due to the party in such record mentioned. And upon the production by the said party of other and further evidence
if necessary, either oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of the identity of the person
escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant, And the said court, commissioner, judge, or other person authorized
by this act to grant certificates to claimants or fugitives, shall, upon the production of the record and other evidences
aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such person identified and proved to be owing service
or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport such person to the
State or Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the production
of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But in its absence the claim shall be heard and determined upon other
satisfactory proofs, competent in law.
Approved, September 18, 1850.
(Sources listed at bottom of page.)
Recommended Reading:
The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861
(Paperback), by David M. Potter. Review: Professor Potter treats an incredibly complicated and misinterpreted time period with unparalleled
objectivity and insight. Potter masterfully explains the climatic events that led to Southern secession – a greatly
divided nation – and the Civil War: the social, political and ideological conflicts; culture; American expansionism,
sectionalism and popular sovereignty; economic and tariff systems; and slavery. In
other words, Potter places under the microscope the root causes and origins of the Civil War. He conveys the
subjects in easy to understand language to edify the reader's understanding (it's not like reading some dry
old history book). Delving beyond surface meanings and interpretations,
this book analyzes not only the history, but the historiography of the time period as well. Continued below…
Professor Potter
rejects the historian's tendency to review the period with all the benefits of hindsight. He simply traces the events, allowing
the reader a step-by-step walk through time, the various views, and contemplates the interpretations of contemporaries and
other historians. Potter then moves forward with his analysis. The Impending Crisis is the absolute gold-standard of historical
writing… This simply is the book by which, not only other antebellum era books, but all history books should be judged.
Recommended Reading: Lincoln
and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America
(Simon & Schuster) (February 5, 2008) (Hardcover). Description: In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois
lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was
elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history. What carried this one-term
congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country's most formidable
politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. Lincoln challenged Douglas
directly in one of his greatest speeches -- "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- and confronted Douglas on the
questions of slavery and the inviolability of the Union in seven fierce debates. As this
brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his
party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation. Continued below...
Of course,
the great issue between Lincoln and Douglas was slavery. Douglas was the champion of "popular sovereignty," of letting states and territories decide
for themselves whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln drew a
moral line, arguing that slavery was a violation both of natural law and of the principles expressed in the Declaration of
Independence. No majority could ever make slavery right, he argued. Lincoln lost that Senate
race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the "Little Giant," whom almost everyone
thought was unbeatable. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas brings alive their debates and this whole year of campaigns and underscores
their centrality in the greatest conflict in American history. The encounters between Lincoln and Douglas engage a key question
in American political life: What is democracy's purpose? Is it to satisfy the desires of the majority? Or is it to achieve
a just and moral public order? These were the real questions in 1858 that led to the Civil War. They remain questions for
Americans today.
Recommended Reading: Arguing about Slavery: John Quincy Adams and the Great Battle
in the United States Congress.
Description: In the 1830s, slavery was so deeply entrenched
that it could not even be discussed in Congress, which had enacted a "gag rule" to ensure that anti-slavery petitions would
be summarily rejected. This stirring book chronicles the parliamentary battle to bring "the peculiar institution" into the
national debate, a battle that some historians have called "the Pearl Harbor of the slavery
controversy." The campaign to make slavery officially and respectably debatable was waged by John Quincy Adams who spent nine
years defying gags, accusations of treason, and assassination threats. In the end he made his case through a combination of
cunning and sheer endurance. Telling this story with a brilliant command of detail, Arguing About Slavery endows history with
majestic sweep, heroism, and moral weight.
Recommended Reading: What Hath
God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848
(Oxford History of the United States)
(Hardcover: 928 pages). Review: The newest volume in
the renowned Oxford History of the United States-- A brilliant portrait of an era that saw dramatic transformations in American
life The Oxford History of the United States
is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes two Pulitzer Prize winners, two New York
Times bestsellers, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. Now, in What Hath God Wrought, historian Daniel Walker
Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American
War, an era when the United States expanded
to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent. Continued below...
Howe's panoramic
narrative portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American
empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information.
These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from
an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture.
In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. He examines
the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public
education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets
of America's future. He reveals the power
of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and
other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion -- Manifest Destiny -- culminates
in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico
to gain California and Texas for the United States. By 1848, America had been transformed. What Hath God Wrought provides a monumental narrative
of this formative period in United States
history.
Recommended Reading: Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (Simon & Schuster). Description: One of the nation's foremost Lincoln
scholars offers an authoritative consideration of the document that represents the most far-reaching accomplishment of our
greatest president. No single official paper in American history changed the lives of as many Americans as Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. But no American document has been held up to greater
suspicion. Its bland and lawyerlike language is unfavorably compared to the soaring eloquence of the Gettysburg Address and
the Second Inaugural; its effectiveness in freeing the slaves has been dismissed as a legal illusion. And for some African-Americans
the Proclamation raises doubts about Lincoln himself. Continued below…
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation dispels the myths and mistakes surrounding the Emancipation
Proclamation and skillfully reconstructs how America's
greatest president wrote the greatest American proclamation of freedom. About the Author: Allen C. Guelzo is the Grace Ferguson
Kea Professor of American History at Eastern University
(St. David's, Pennsylvania), where he also directs the Templeton Honors College. He is the author of five books, most recently the highly acclaimed Abraham
Lincoln: Redeemer President, which won the Lincoln Prize for 2000.
Sources: U.S. Department of State; Stanley W. Campbell, The Slave Catchers:
Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850-1860, 1970; Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Slaveholding Republic : An Account of the
United States Government's Relations to Slavery, 2002; John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger, Runaway Slaves: Rebels on
the Plantation, 1999 Yale Law School: The Avalon Project.
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