The Fugitive Slave Act mandated the return of runaway slaves,
regardless of where in the Union they might be situated at the time of their
discovery or capture. Along with the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the ratification of
Kansas' admission for free statehood, this legislation is part of the chain of
events which culminated in the American Civil War.
Section 1: 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.
Section 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.:
Section 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.
