Sherman Booth

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Sherman Booth (September 12, 1812 - August 10, 1904) was an abolitionist, editor and politician in Wisconsin.Born in Davenport, New York, Booth moved to Wisconsin from New York, just days before Wisconsin was granted statehood. He was one of the only members of the Free Soil Party in the state at the time, and he was a stauch supporter of the Free Soil abolitionist platform. He was editor of the Milwaukee Free Democrat, which would later become the Waukesha Freeman newspaper.^[1]

In March 1854, he led a raid that freed Joshua Glover, a runaway slave from Missouri, from custody.^[2] Glover was being held in a Milwaukee jail, after being subdued the night before by a deputy federal marshal in Racine. Booth, under the instruction of the mayor of Racine, had discovered that there was a legal warrant out for Glover, obtained by Glover's owner Bennami Garland. Under the current laws, Glover did not have the right to a fair trial, and, determined to set Glover free, Booth rode through Milwaukee, gathering support.

After a mob had gathered at the jail, over a hundred Racine men and their sheriff attempted to arrest the federal marshal for assault and battery. Not surprisingly, the federal judge refused the demands of the mob. After repeated refusals, the restless mob broke through the jail door, and Glover saftly escaped to Waukesha, where a boat took him on to Canada. Booth was blamed for the incident, and was arrested for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. His lawyer, Bryon Paine, then appealed for a writ of habeas corpus from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The court, under Associate Justice Abram D. Smith, freed Booth, declaring that the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law was unconstitutional. On July 19, 1854, the court officially reaffirmed Smith's decision.

The U.S. Supreme Court overruled the Wisconsin court's decision. They then asserted the supremacy of federal law and Booth was ordered to go back to prison. Arrested and tried, Booth was convicted in January 1855. However, he would go on to appeal again and again to the Wisconin Supreme Court. On February 3, 1855, the court ruled again that the Fugitive Slave Law was unconstitutional, and demanded Booth's release.

Over the next four years, the case was debated in the Wisconsin courts, until the US Supreme Court overturned the state action, rearresting Booth.In response, the state legislature issued a Declaration of Defiance that declared the court decision to be "without authority, void, and of no force." By the time of the Civil War, the question was moot, and public interest focused on the war and secceding states.

Sherman Booth died in Chicago, Illinois, and was buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.

1 References
2 Notes
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] References

Butler, Diane S. "The Public and Private Affairs of Sherman M. Booth." Wisconsin Magazine of History 82 (Spring 1999).
Current, Richard. The History of Wisconsin, Volume II:The Civil War Era, 1848-1873.
Wisconsin Public Television. Stand the Storm. (A television program regarding Joshua Glover.)