The Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 Note: Superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment)[1] guaranteed the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 created the legal mechanism by which that could be accomplished.
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It was officially called "An Act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters." It is commonly referred to as 1793 Fugitive Slave Act and was written as a way to ensure that slaveowners would be able to recover their slaves in any US state (Sections 3 & 4), as well as allow States to apprehend escaped fugitives from the law (Sections 1 & 2), which were not the same. Although the U.S. Constitution said that runaway slaves had to be returned in Article 4, it did not in itself make any provision for doing so; specific laws were still required. Congress therefore used its power to enforce this Act.[2]
The law established the legal mechanism by which escaped slaves could be seized in any state, brought before a magistrate and returned to their masters, giving states the right to demand a slave be returned. The law made it a crime to assist a fugitive or a slave in escaping, with prison and a fine for helping a fugitive but only a fine for helping a slave. The Act made every escaped slave a fugitive for life (unless manumited by the owner), who could be recaptured at any time anywhere within the territory of the United States, along with any children subsequently born of enslaved mothers.[3] Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act in February 1793 and this was signed into law by the first US president, George Washington.
SEC. 3. And be it also enacted, That when a person held to labor was the best way in any of the United States, or in either of the Territories on the Northwest or South of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other part of the said States or Territory, the person to whom such labor or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take him or her before any Judge of the Circuit or District Courts of the United States, residing or being within the State, or before any magistrate of a county, city, or town corporate, wherein such seizure or arrest shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such Judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken before and certified by a magistrate of any such State or Territory, that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the State or Territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such Judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent, or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from labor to the State or Territory from which he or she fled.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct or hinder such claimant, his agent, or attorney, in so seizing or arresting such fugitive from labor, or shall rescue such fugitive from such claimant, his agent or attorney, when so arrested pursuant to the authority herein given and declared; or shall harbor or conceal such person after notice that he or she was a fugitive from labor, as aforesaid, shall, for either of the said offences, forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars. Which penalty may be recovered by and for the benefit of such claimant, by action of debt, in any Court proper to try the same, saving moreover to the person claiming such labor or service his right of action for or on account of the said injuries, or either of them.[4]
The full text of the Act is available from the Library of Congress in the Annals of Congress of the 2nd Congress, 2nd Session during which the proceedings and debates took place from November 5, 1792 to March 2, 1793. The specific Act and the Congrsional vote is on Pages 1414-1415.[5]
This law had a real effect on slaves all their lives, though some slaveowners were not satisfied with it. One such person was Oney Judge (sometimes spelled Ona), one of Martha Washington's slaves and chambermaids; she served the Washingtons in Virginia and the President's House in Philadelphia during the time the city was the US capital and Washington was President. She escaped on Saturday, May 21, 1796.[6] George Washington made two attempts to seize her shortly afterwards, even enlisting the help of the Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott jr in a letter written on September 1, 1796.[7] He then tried to use his nephew, but neither attempt was successful, acting in a discreet manner so as to avoid causing controversy.
Oney Judge was interviewed by Rev. Benjamin Chase, and he published the account in a "Letter to the editor" in the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, on January 1, 1847. He discussed the fact she could be seized at any time, even 50 years later if Martha Washington's descendants decided to make a legal claim.
"This woman is yet a slave. If Washington could have got her and her child, they were constitutionally his; and if Mrs. Washington's heirs were now to claim her, and take her before Judge Woodbury, and prove their title, he would be bound, upon his oath, to deliver her up to them. Again — Langdon was guilty of a moral violation of the Constitution, in giving this woman notice of the agent being after her. It was frustrating the design, the intent of the Constitution, and he was equally guilty, morally, as those who would overthrow it."[8]
Furthermore, the slave catching industry grew as a result of this law, returning many slaves to their former owners. This made it more difficult for African Americans whether free or runaways, as slave catchers went after freed blacks too. There were numerous instances in which people who were legally free and had never been slaves were captured and brought south to be sold into slavery. One account is that of Solomon Northup. He was born around 1808 to Mintus Northup, who was a legally freed man from in New York state. Solomon was tricked into going to Washington DC, captured and sold into slavery in 1841 to be a slave for 12 years. One of the very few to be restored to freedom under such circumstances, he later sued the men involved but could not give evidence in the case as he was black. The New York Times published an article on this trial on January 20, 1853[9] His account is "Twelve Years a Slave", and provides his narrative as well as numerous details about the slave trade in Washington DC. It is available to read by Guttenberg & Google books[10] as the copyright is expired.