Читать книгу Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865) - Marion Gleason McDougall - Страница 12

Table of Contents

§ 16. Effect of the fugitive slave clause in the Constitution.

§ 17. The first Fugitive Slave Act (1793).

§ 18. Discussion of the first act.

§ 19. Propositions of 1797 and 1802.

§ 20. Propositions from 1817 to 1822.

§ 21. Period of the Missouri Compromise (1819–1822).

§ 22. Status of the question from 1823 to 1847.

§ 23. Canada and Mexico places of refuge.

§ 24. Status of fugitives on the high seas.

§ 25. Kidnapping from 1793 to 1850: Prigg case.

§ 26. Necessity of more stringent fugitive slave provisions.

§ 27. Action of Congress from 1847 to 1850.

§ 28. Slavery in the District of Columbia.

§ 29. The second Fugitive Slave Act (1850).

§ 30. Provisions of the second Fugitive Slave Act.

§ 31. Arguments for the bill.

§ 32. Arguments against the bill.

§ 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