Читать книгу Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865) - Marion Gleason McDougall - Страница 11

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§ 16. Effect of the fugitive slave clause in the Constitution.—By obtaining in the Constitution the insertion of a clause requiring the return of fugitives, a great step for the advancement of the interests of slavery had been taken. For this embodiment in the Constitution ever afterward formed a basis for the slaveholder's argument that the Constitution recognized and defended slavery, and was a justification to Northern men in their support of the later fugitive slave laws.

Although the clause did not in terms apply to the Territories, the Ordinance of 1787 was, on August 7, 1789, confirmed in terms which by implication continued the sixth article, including the rendition of slaves;⁵⁹ and in the earliest treaties made by the United States with Indian tribes, under the new Constitution, the return of negroes was expressly required.⁶⁰