In reading over the various secession ordinances one thing that keeps being mentioned is the failure of northern States to comply with the Constitution's requirement in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3; "No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due." Otherwise known as the Fugitive Slave Clause. Such failure is probably the most frequently quoted "violation" of the compact by northern States that justified the seceding States severing mutual obligations under the Constitution. But did this actually happen?
I know that some states passed Personal Liberty Laws to avoid the kidnapping problem, when slavecatchers grabbed free negroes under the claim they were slaves. Reasonably, I believe, these states wanted evidence that they were in fact runaway slaves and not kidnapping victims, before they were carried away. Prigg v. Pennsylvania addressed this situation, with an astounding opinion by Justice Story that said such laws were illegal and violated the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, thus declaring open season on free negroes who could now be kidnapped with impunity and enslaved.
I also know that some States, in the wake of Dred Scott, passed laws making explicit that when a slave was brought by his or her master into the State (and thus was not a runaway) they were immediately free, which the Supreme Court seemed to leave open as a possibility in its Dred Scott decision, citing that the law of the State of jurisdiction prevailed and that comity between States was merely optional.
However, I am not aware of any State actually holding runaway slaves, under color of State Law, and refusing to "deliver up" the runaway upon claim of the slaveholder. That does not mean it did not happen, but I am wondering if any members here can educate me on this and cite any cases.
I know that some states passed Personal Liberty Laws to avoid the kidnapping problem, when slavecatchers grabbed free negroes under the claim they were slaves. Reasonably, I believe, these states wanted evidence that they were in fact runaway slaves and not kidnapping victims, before they were carried away. Prigg v. Pennsylvania addressed this situation, with an astounding opinion by Justice Story that said such laws were illegal and violated the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, thus declaring open season on free negroes who could now be kidnapped with impunity and enslaved.
I also know that some States, in the wake of Dred Scott, passed laws making explicit that when a slave was brought by his or her master into the State (and thus was not a runaway) they were immediately free, which the Supreme Court seemed to leave open as a possibility in its Dred Scott decision, citing that the law of the State of jurisdiction prevailed and that comity between States was merely optional.
However, I am not aware of any State actually holding runaway slaves, under color of State Law, and refusing to "deliver up" the runaway upon claim of the slaveholder. That does not mean it did not happen, but I am wondering if any members here can educate me on this and cite any cases.
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