ts of colon

s as to fugitiv

tment of

ons in New En

n New England:

ulations in Ne

es from Ne

colonial r

ercoloni

rnational

ternatio

ns with the m

r the Articles of Con

or the Northwest

uestion in the Const

t part in a line of little colonies closely following the Atlantic coast. To the west, wide forests and plains, broken only by the paths of the Indian, stretched on to

flight. The wild woods, the Indian settlements, or the next colony, peopled by a foreign race, and perhaps as yet without firmly established government, offered to the slave a refuge and possibly protection. Escape, therefore, as a peculiar danger, demanded peculiar remedies. Though it

nly the negro, as at a later period, but also the white and the Indian slave. There existed in some of the colonies of this time a peculiar class of white people, who received no wages, and were bound to their masters.1 Usually these redemptioners were laborers or handicraftsmen, but sometimes they were persons of education who had committed a crime

ike most people thereabouts at that time, had no other education than reading, writing, and accounts, which he was taught b

by the West India Company, in 1629, "to all Patroons, Masters, or Private Persons" who would agree to settle in New Netherlan

d that "the securing of such persons as Run away, or otherwise absent themselves from their master's lawfull Occasion," was "a material encouragement to such Persons as come into this country to settle Plantations and Populate th

of the F

uthern colonies, as in later regulations, provided most minutely for all possible cases. By a Virginia law of 1642, all persons who entertained runaways, whether slaves or hired freemen, were to be f

for life, and he was therefore incapable of making up his lost time, the white servant's punishment should be doubled by adding the negro's sentence to

d without a pass usually took him before the next justice, who took cognizance of the captor's good service, and certified

fied and went for his slave; if not, a notice describing the runaway must be placed upon the door of the court-house, and sent to the clerk or reader of each church or chapel within the county. They were required to post all such notices every Lord's day for two months in some convenient place near the church. At the end of this time, should no claimant appear, the

, "An Act respecting Masters, Servants, and Laborers." In accordance with the arbitrary methods of government then pursued, it included not only runaway servants, but also any persons who should "privily go away with suspicion of evil intention," and ordered the magistrate "to press men, boats, or p

g the free negro population, enacted that every freeman or mulatto who should harbor a negro servant i

ted that "no ferryman or boatman whatsoever, within this colony, shall carry or bring any slave as aforesaid over their ferries, without a certificate under the hands of their masters or mistresses, or some person in authority, upon the penalty of paying all costs a

in New

in sufficient numbers to prove that escapes were common. It seems probable, therefore, that the return of a slave when within his own colony was taken as a matter of course, and rous

ight colored Jacket with sleeves, one pair of worsted Stockings, two striped woolen Shirts, and one good linnen Shirt. He went away in company with a short thick set Fellow, who wore a green coat and a green Jacket double b

l Gil

nd others are cautioned a

chusetts, "A molatto fellow about twenty-seven years of age, named Crispus." After describing his clothing and appearance, a reward of ten pounds, old tenor, is offered for his return, and "all masters of vessels and others are cautioned against concealing said servant on penalty of law."17 Tradition has it, howev

ived on board the whaler Friendship a young negro boy named Boston, belonging to the heirs of William Swain. At the end of the voyage his master, John Swain, brought action in the court of

tercolonial

away from their masters, whereby the latter are put to great inconvenience and expense; the corn and tobacco rot in the field, and the whole harvest is at a standstill, which tends to the serious injury of this country, to their masters' ruin, and to bring the magistracy

New Amsterdam, ran away to Manhattan. One of them soon returned, and in accordance with the regulation made in 1630 by the West India Company,22 requiring the retu

ecessary to the welfare of the settlements. To secure such legislation in a single colony was a comparatively easy mat

erated Jurisdiccons, That in such Case vpon the Certyficate of one Majistrate in the Jurisdiccon out of which the said servant fled, or upon other due proofe, the said servant shall be deliuered either to his Master or any other that pursues and brings such Certificate or 24 This clause

nies, whatever their relation to each other, since about this time we find an agreement made for th

s could be induced to hunt them out. Curious rewards were sometimes offered. Maryland, in 1669, ordered that any Indian who shall apprehend a fugitive may have a "match c

is negro servants to the mountains. The Indians promised their help in this and any other search; but as they seldom seem to have succeeded, it is probable that their sympathy was with the fugitives.29 Again Governor B

renewed in 1715, to prevent slaves running away from frontier towns like Albany to Canada, because it was of great importa

ives, both Indian and negro, who were escaping in large numbers into Florida. There, among the Creek Indians and the Spanish at St. Augustine, they easily found refuge.32 This

olonia

epended wholly upon the state of feeling existing between the two peoples, and sometimes became an important question. Between the New England colonies no cases ha

d one of them, William Browne, to a Swede, and Browne, learning of his former master's appearance, had found opportunity to escape. The fourth of the fugitives was still among the Mantas, and could not be secured. Of the two recaptured, one was returned without trouble, but the other, Turc, who had just entered the service of a certain Pieter Aldrich, resisted his captors. A struggle took place upon the boat in which they were carrying him away. After wounding three of his guards, he succeeded in making his escape, only to be recaptured almost immediately

t was a hard one; but the distrust and enmity between neighboring colonies owing allegiance to different sovereigns caused such escapes to lead to petty quarrels. There was no system of extradition treaties; in fact, there was as yet little international l

ationa

laves. Soon after, Governor Stuyvesant was refused the return of some of his runaway servants from New Haven. Thereupon the angry Lords of the West India Company issued a proclamation commanding that there should be no rendition of fugitive slaves to New Haven. This provision continued in effect until Governor Elton sent back some of the fugitives to New Netherlands. It was then annulled, and a mutual ag

ould flee north to New Netherlands. In the State Archives may be found a let

e Outres & the demand of the parties interessted you will remand to us all such apprentice servants as are or shall run out of this government into yours; and will compell such other persons, as shall flie to you without a passe, being indebted or otherwise obnoxious to the justice of this place, to make such satisfac

e Governor of the

of the communication was quite different. Instead of assurances of good will, and expressions of a belief in the certainty of peaceful return, the Dutch threatened, if their

possession of the Sieur de la Corne St. Luc; and, in a letter to a friend, one of the officers of the colony makes the following explanation concerning them: "In regard to the negro in possession of Sieur de la Corne St. Luc I thought proper not to send him back every neg

. In England white slavery had long since died out, except as a punishment for crime; villeinage ceased about the time the

hat a certain negro who had been brought into Great Britain must be liberated, on the ground that a guiltless human being taken into that country must be free.41 In 1762 occurred another similar case. A bill had been filed in

e intention of selling him as a slave. A writ of habeas corpus was then served upon the captain of the ship, and on the hearing Lord Mansfield decided that Somersett must be discharged. In England, he said, slavery could exist only by positive law; and in default of such law there was no legal machinery for depriving a man of his liberty on the ground that he w

their respective States criminal fugitives, servants, or slaves, but the same to apprehend, secure, and deliver."44 In seven of the eight other treaties negotiated with Indian tribes from 1784 to 1786, clauses were introduced for the return of black prisoners, or of "negroes and other property."45 The States affected were chiefly Southern; but the article on

. Northwest

egions. Before the change of conditions in the States was completely understood, the same question had arisen in the Western territories. Jefferson, in 1784, proposed to draw a north and south line through the mouth of the Kanawha, west of which there should be no slavery after 1800.48 The next year a Northern man proposed a similar limitation in the territory north of the Ohio, and added a clause for the return of fugitive slaves to the original slave States.49 Neither of these two propositions was carried, but the principles both of exclusion of slavery and of the return of fugitives appear

n in Constitutio

more necessary in a Constitution meant permanently to bind together a free and a slaveholding section. The only debate of which we have a record occurred August 28, 1787. Mr. Butler of North Carolina pressed the point in behalf of the Southern States. To his first proposition, "that fugitive slaves and servants be delivered up like criminals,"51 Mr. Wilson ob

, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Lab

t on the whole I do not think them bad."54 In North Carolina, Mr. Iredell explained to the Convention that the Northern delegates, owing to their peculiar scruples on the subject of slavery, did not choose the word "slave" to be mentioned; but since the present laws were so prejudicial to the inhabitants of the Southern States, some such clause was necessary.55 In Virginia, Mr. Grayson discussed the provision giving Congress exclusive legislation over ten square miles surrounding the capital. It seemed to him that, unless the ten miles square be consid

however, it was thought that without such a clause the Southern States would not