Reminiscences of fugitive-slave law days in Boston [Paperback]

Austin Bearse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1880

This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection

Product Details

• Paperback: 46 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Library (January 1, 1880)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1429720816
• ISBN-13: 978-5873271658
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,424,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars One Man's expoits recounted, July 23, 2008

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Barrie W. Bracken "Researcher" (Daytona Beach, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reminiscences of fugitive-slave law days in Boston (Paperback)

The Constitution makes provision for the return of "fugitives from labor." You remember it doesn't like to use the word slave because of the country's proclamation of "certain unalienable rights" for its citizens. The laws founded on this constitutional guarantee were found inadequate between 11789 and 1850. So as a part of the great series of compromises known collectively as the Compromise of 1850, a new Fugitive Slave Act was passed. This one stirred up more trouble than anyone expected.

While the idea of returning a slave who had found his freedom to slavery was unpalatable, the worst part of the law was the part the citizen was expected to play. A slave owner, or more likely a slave hunter, identifies some hapless black as a runaway slave and goes to a marshal to have that slave taken into custody. It is determined that help is needed to subdue and restrain the runaway, so any bystander can be drafted to assist in the capture. If this citizen does not cooperate he can be fined and/or jailed for his refusal. Of course, Boston was one of the most contentious places any catcher could pick to redeem a fugitive. While several well-known cases occurred in Boston, the most famous is the rendition of Anthony Burns. Our author says he played a part in or was witness to this capture, trial, and return. He was one of many well known men who formed the Committee of Vigilance. This committee whose purpose was to uphold the rights of the escaped slave and aid in his safe passage to free land had many famous people in its ranks: A. Bronson Alcott, John Andrew, Anson Burlingame, William Channing, Richard Dana, Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips, even Lysander Spooner.

Bearse worked as a mate on a coastal steamer that wintered in Charleston, S. C. and conducted some river trade during this time throughout the coastal states and on the rivers in the South. While engaged on this ship he carried groups of slaves from their homes to inland plantations to whom they had been sold. He recounts some of the horror stories from these voyages, but the main interest is in the rendition of fugitives in the Boston area. Unfortunately the author dedicates considerable space to extolling his own virtues and high place connections in the committee. This brief recounting will show the form the book takes:

"Hardly had Shadrach [another famous fugitive] fled the grasp of the slave-hounds, [and emotions cooled when on the night of April 3, 1851] Thomas Sims was seized . . . by the police, who, disguised as city watchmen, violated the law of Massachusetts that forbade an officer of our Commonwealth to aid in arresting a person claimed as a fugitive slave."

During the ensuing struggle Sims was heard to say he was being kidnapped. This was all it took to activate the Committee of Vigilance. They worked unsuccessfully to free Sims. Other cases are given of fugitives captured and returned, and we end with Anthony Burns, counting his original purchase price and the mammoth expense to the U. S. government to effect his return, the most costly slave in America. For anyone interested in the workings of the Fugitive Slave Law the story of Burns is the most elaborate and widely written and a better choice than this little book.