The Fugitive Slave Act
The Compromise of 1850 was introduced to stave off conflict between the
slave states and the free states upon the admission of California as a state.
Under the Compromise, California was admitted as a free state, New Mexico and
Utah were organized as slave territories, and Texas had its boundaries set.
Another part of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Act, which federalized
the return of escaped slaves to their owners.
It is an offensive piece of legislation to us today, even if one takes the
issue of race out of it. Slaves, of course, had no rights – they were guilty
by virtue of a slave-owner’s say-so, there was very little burden of proof,
the federal government bore most of the costs of returning escaped slaves, and
non-slaves who helped fugitive slaves were subject to harsh fines and
prison.
Resistance to the law in the North grew a fever pitch, with President
Fillmore calling out the army to quell some mobs and to return some former
slaves caught in the North.
As defiance of the law in the North became more and more open and more and
more fervent, the anger of the South grew and grew, adding to a general feeling
of discontent.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That the persons who have been, or may
hereafter be, appointed commissioners, in virtue of any act of Congress, by the
Circuit Courts of the United States, and Who, in consequence of such
appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers that any justice of the
peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States, may exercise in respect
to offenders for any crime or offense against the United States, by arresting,
imprisoning, or bailing the same under and by the virtue of the thirty-third
section of the act of the twenty-fourth of September seventeen hundred and
eighty-nine, entitled “An Act to establish the judicial courts of the United
States” shall be, and are hereby, authorized and required to exercise and
discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
§ 2. And be it further enacted, That the Superior Court of each organized
Territory of the United States shall have the same power to appoint
commissioners to take acknowledgments of bail and affidavits, and to take
depositions of witnesses in civil causes, which is now possessed by the Circuit
Court of the United States; and all commissioners who shall hereafter be
appointed for such purposes by the Superior Court of any organized Territory of
the United States, shall possess all the powers, and exercise all the duties,
conferred by law upon the commissioners appointed by the Circuit Courts of the
United States for similar purposes, and shall moreover exercise and discharge
all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
§ 3. And be it further enacted, That the Circuit Courts of the United
States shall from time to time enlarge the number of the commissioners, with a
view to afford reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and to the
prompt discharge of the duties imposed by this act.
§ 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners above named shall
have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges of the Circuit and District Courts
of the United States, in their respective circuits and districts within the
several States, and the judges of the Superior Courts of the Territories,
severally and collectively, in term-time and vacation; shall grant certificates
to such claimants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to take
and remove such fugitives from service or labor, under the restrictions herein
contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or
fled.
§ 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals
and deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued under
the provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or
deputy marshal refuse to receive such warrant, or other process, when tendered,
or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on
conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of
such claimant, on the motion of such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court
for the district of such marshal; and after arrest of such fugitive, by such
marshal or his deputy, or whilst at any time in his custody under the provisions
of this act, should such fugitive escape, whether with or without the assent of
such marshal or his deputy, such marshal shall be liable, on his official bond,
to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the
service or labor of said fugitive in the State, Territory, or District whence he
escaped: and the better to enable the said commissioners, when thus appointed,
to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the
requirements of the Constitution of the United States and of this act, they are
hereby authorized and empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint,
in writing under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from time to
time, to execute all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in
the lawful performance of their respective duties; with authority to such
commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them, to execute process as
aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus of
the proper county, when necessary to ensure a faithful observance of the clause
of the Constitution referred to, in conformity with the provisions of this act;
and all good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and
efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required, as
aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run, and be executed by
said officers, any where in the State within which they are issued.
§ 6. And be it further enacted, That when a person held to service or
labor in any State or Territory of the United States, has heretofore or shall
hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the
person or persons to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or
their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing,
acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the
State or Territory in which the same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim
such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant from some one of the courts,
judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county,
for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or labor, or by seizing and
arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by
taking, or causing such person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge,
or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such
claimant in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by
deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be taken and certified by such court,
judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and
certified by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal
officer authorized to administer an oath and take depositions under the laws of
the State or Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have
escaped, with a certificate of such magistracy or other authority, as aforesaid,
with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall
be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by
affidavit, of the identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to be
due as aforesaid, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor
to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory from
which such fugitive may have escaped as aforesaid, and that said person escaped,
to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a
certificate setting forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due
from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from the State or
Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such claimant, or
his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and restraint as may
be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such
fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped
as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such
alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates in this and the
first [fourth] section mentioned, shall be conclusive of the right of the person
or persons in whose favor granted, to remove such fugitive to the State or
Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such
person or persons by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or
other person whomsoever.
§ 7. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and
willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or
any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such
a fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid,
or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor, from
the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or
persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the
authority herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person
so owing service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from
such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally
authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to
prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of
the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor as aforesaid,
shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and
conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in
which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of
criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories
of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil
damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand
dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of
debt, in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose
jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed.
§ 8. And be it further enacted, That the marshals, their deputies, and the
clerks of the said District and Territorial Courts, shall be paid, for their
services, the like fees as may be allowed for similar services in other cases;
and where such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody, and
delivery of the fugitive to the claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or where
such supposed fugitive may be discharged out of custody for the want of
sufficient proof as aforesaid, then such fees are to be paid in whole by such
claimant, his or her agent or attorney; and in all cases where the proceedings
are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full
for his services in each case, upon the delivery of the said certificate to the
claimant, his agent or attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where the
proof shall not, in the opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate
and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest and examination,
to be paid, in either case, by the claimant, his or her agent or attorney. The
person or persons authorized to execute the process to be issued by such
commissioner for the arrest and detention of fugitives from service or labor as
aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for each person
he or they may arrest, and take before any commissioner as aforesaid, at the
instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees as may be deemed
reasonable by such commissioner for such other additional services as may be
necessarily performed by him or them; such as attending at the examination,
keeping the fugitive in custody, and providing him with food and lodging during
his detention, and until the final determination of such commissioners; and, in
general, for performing such other duties as may be required by such claimant,
his or her attorney or agent, or commissioner in the premises, such fees to be
made up in conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the
courts of justice within the proper district or county, as near as may be
practicable, and paid by such claimants, their agents or attorneys, whether such
supposed fugitives from service or labor be ordered to be delivered to such
claimant by the final determination of such commissioner or not.
§ 9. And be it further enacted, That, upon affidavit made by the claimant
of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued,
that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will he rescued by force from
his or their possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in
which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest
to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence he
fled, and there to deliver him to said claimant, his agent, or attorney. And to
this end, the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so
many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them
in his service so long as circumstances may require. The said officer and his
assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation, and to be
allowed the same expenses, as are now allowed by law for transportation of
criminals, to be certified by the judge of the district within which the arrest
is made, and paid out of the treasury of the United States.
§ 10. And be it further enacted, That when any person held to service or
labor in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape
therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be due, his, her, or
their agent or attorney, may apply to any court of record therein, or judge
thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to such court, or judge in
vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or
labor to such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the
matters so proved, and also a general description of the person so escaping,
with such convenient certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record,
authenticated by the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the said court,
being produced in any other State, Territory, or district in which the person so
escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other
office, authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping
from service or labor to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and
conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service or labor of the
person escaping is due to the party in such record mentioned. And upon the
production by the said party of other and further evidence if necessary, either
oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of the
identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to the
claimant, And the said court, commissioner, judge, or other person authorized by
this act to grant certificates to claimants or fugitives, shall, upon the
production of the record and other evidences aforesaid, grant to such claimant a
certificate of his right to take any such person identified and proved to be
owing service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such
claimant to seize or arrest and transport such person to the State or Territory
from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be
construed as requiring the production of a transcript of such record as evidence
as aforesaid. But in its absence the claim shall be heard and determined upon
other satisfactory proofs, competent in law.
Approved, September 18, 1850.