The US Constitution of 1791 and the Fugitive Slave Clause

The US Constitution of 1791 and the Fugitive Slave Clause PDF Author: Norman Coles
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1782846794
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
The US Constitutions, both of 1788 and 1791, contain at Article IV (para 2, Section 3) a clause generally called The Fugitive Slave Clause. This Clause was held to make it legal to both recapture and return fugitive slaves to the states where they had lived or the owner, even if he or she resisted. The Clause was held to be constitutionally legal by lawyers and legal commentators. Even Lincoln as a lawyer thought the Clause was constitutionally legal, even though he thought slavery evil. Norman Coles presents arguments which show that the Clause has at least two (and possibly three) meanings. The Clause may not refer to slaves at all, when it is interpreted in accord with its actual phrasing rather than its intended meaning promoting the wishes of owners. Alvan Stewart, a renowned Abolitionist lawyer, argued that the Clause was inconsistent with that part of the 1791 US Constitution which is Amendment IV, reasoning premised on the definition of person, which applied to the two dated Constitutions; and with regard to the Fourth Amendment (1791) where slavery (unless a result of crime and jury trial) was illegal under US law. Stewarts arguments are about Constitutional principles, not the practical consequences of believing the Clause was law. Stewarts reasoning is penetrating; arguments relating to ambiguity and legal jargon are superseded by the logical consequence of the fact that if the Clause is about fugitive slaves, its legality rests on false assumptions. Herein lay the potential to avoid an historical tragedy. In the course of time legal and political champions, in conjunction with a growing number of US States, favoured laws which barred slave-hunting, but in the interim legal inadequacy resulted in the unnecessary continuation of slave-holding. This publication is a fundamental reconsideration of the intertwining of American History and American Constitutional Law.

The US Constitution of 1791 and the Fugitive Slave Clause

The US Constitution of 1791 and the Fugitive Slave Clause PDF Author: Norman Coles
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1782846794
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
The US Constitutions, both of 1788 and 1791, contain at Article IV (para 2, Section 3) a clause generally called The Fugitive Slave Clause. This Clause was held to make it legal to both recapture and return fugitive slaves to the states where they had lived or the owner, even if he or she resisted. The Clause was held to be constitutionally legal by lawyers and legal commentators. Even Lincoln as a lawyer thought the Clause was constitutionally legal, even though he thought slavery evil. Norman Coles presents arguments which show that the Clause has at least two (and possibly three) meanings. The Clause may not refer to slaves at all, when it is interpreted in accord with its actual phrasing rather than its intended meaning promoting the wishes of owners. Alvan Stewart, a renowned Abolitionist lawyer, argued that the Clause was inconsistent with that part of the 1791 US Constitution which is Amendment IV, reasoning premised on the definition of person, which applied to the two dated Constitutions; and with regard to the Fourth Amendment (1791) where slavery (unless a result of crime and jury trial) was illegal under US law. Stewarts arguments are about Constitutional principles, not the practical consequences of believing the Clause was law. Stewarts reasoning is penetrating; arguments relating to ambiguity and legal jargon are superseded by the logical consequence of the fact that if the Clause is about fugitive slaves, its legality rests on false assumptions. Herein lay the potential to avoid an historical tragedy. In the course of time legal and political champions, in conjunction with a growing number of US States, favoured laws which barred slave-hunting, but in the interim legal inadequacy resulted in the unnecessary continuation of slave-holding. This publication is a fundamental reconsideration of the intertwining of American History and American Constitutional Law.

The Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States PDF Author: United States
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Slavery
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description


A Constitutional Manual for the National American Party

A Constitutional Manual for the National American Party PDF Author: Thomas Robinson Hazard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Slavery
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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The Constitution of the United States, with the Acts of Congress, Relating to Slavery, Embracing, the Constitution, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, the Missouri Compromise Act of 1820, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, and the Nebraska and Kansas Bill, Care

The Constitution of the United States, with the Acts of Congress, Relating to Slavery, Embracing, the Constitution, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, the Missouri Compromise Act of 1820, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, and the Nebraska and Kansas Bill, Care PDF Author: United States Constitution [From Old C
Publisher: Palala Press
ISBN: 9781359490728
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 62

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Constitution of the United States, with the Acts of Congress, Relating to Slavery

The Constitution of the United States, with the Acts of Congress, Relating to Slavery PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Slavery
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description


The Chicago Common Council and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

The Chicago Common Council and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 PDF Author: Charles W. Mann
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781332902279
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Chicago Common Council and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850: An Address Read Before the Chicago Historical Society at a Special Meeting Held January 29, 1903 In short, this decision placed the execution of the Act of 1793 in the hands of the general government and thereby left unimpaired the action of several States prohibiting State officers from executing it. Thus the legal machinery became inadequate for the execution of the law, and with the increasing feeling at the North, the complaints of the South became constant. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Slavery and the Founders

Slavery and the Founders PDF Author: Paul Finkelman
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
ISBN: 076564147X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The new edition of this classic work addresses how the first generation of leaders of the United States dealt with the profoundly important question of human bondage. This third edition incorporates a new chapter on the regulation of the African slave trade and the latest research on Thomas Jefferson.

Through Darkness to Light

Through Darkness to Light PDF Author: Jeanine Michna-Bales
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1616896094
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
They left in the middle of the night—often carrying little more than the knowledge to follow the North Star. Between 1830 and the end of the Civil War in 1865, an estimated one hundred thousand slaves became passengers on the Underground Railroad, a journey of untold hardship, in search of freedom. In Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad, Jeanine Michna-Bales presents a remarkable series of images following a route from the cotton plantations of central Louisiana, through the cypress swamps of Mississippi and the plains of Indiana, north to the Canadian border— a path of nearly fourteen hundred miles. The culmination of a ten-year research quest, Through Darkness to Light imagines a journey along the Underground Railroad as it might have appeared to any freedom seeker. Framing the powerful visual narrative is an introduction by Michna-Bales; a foreword by noted politician, pastor, and civil rights activist Andrew J. Young; and essays by Fergus M. Bordewich, Robert F. Darden, and Eric R. Jackson.

We the People

We the People PDF Author: Erwin Chemerinsky
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250166004
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
A primer on recognizing the power and promise of the Preamble and the Constitution during this conservative assault on our founding text “Over the course of American history, there have been great gains in individual freedom and enormous advances in equality for racial minorities, women, and gays and lesbians, though obviously much remains to be done. Now we are at a moment with a president who is not committed to these values and face the reality of a Supreme Court that will likely be more hostile to them for the foreseeable future.” --From the Preface Worried about what a super conservative majority on the Supreme Court means for the future of civil liberties? From gun control to reproductive health, a conservative court will reshape the lives of all Americans for decades to come. The time to develop and defend a progressive vision of the U.S. Constitution that protects the rights of all people is now. University of California Berkeley Dean and respected legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky expertly exposes how conservatives are using the Constitution to advance their own agenda that favors business over consumers and employees, and government power over individual rights. But exposure is not enough. Progressives have spent too much of the last forty-five years trying to preserve the legacy of the Warren Court’s most important rulings and reacting to the Republican-dominated Supreme Courts by criticizing their erosion of rights—but have not yet developed a progressive vision for the Constitution itself. Yet, if we just look to the promise of the Preamble—liberty and justice for all—and take seriously its vision, a progressive reading of the Constitution can lead us forward as we continue our fight ensuring democratic rule, effective government, justice, liberty, and equality. Includes the Complete Constitution and Amendments of the United States of America

The Revolutionary Constitution

The Revolutionary Constitution PDF Author: David J. Bodenhamer
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0195378334
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
The Revolutionary Constitution examines how the Constitution has served as a dynamic and contested framework for legitimating power and advancing liberty in which our past concerns and experiences influence our present understanding. Informed by the latest scholarship, the book is an interpretive synthesis linking constitutional history with American political and social history.