Anaya Nolan
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. It states that a Person held to Service or Labour (usually a slave) who escapes to another state must be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped. The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, has made the clause mostly irrelevant. However, it is still referenced in connection with certain circumstances, such as when people are held to service or labour. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which was passed to strengthen the original Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, also contributed to the growing polarization over slavery and was a factor in the American Civil War.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Fugitive Slave Clause |
| Other Names | Slave Clause, Fugitives From Labour Clause |
| Location | Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 |
| Description | Requires a "Person held to Service or Labour" (usually a slave, apprentice, or indentured servant) who flees to another state to be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped |
| Status | Nullified by the Thirteenth Amendment's abolition of slavery |
| Interpretations | Historian Donald Fehrenbacher believes that the Constitution intended to make it clear that slavery existed only under state law, not federal law |
| Resistance | Northern resistance to the Fugitive Slave Clause increased in the 19th century, with several Northern states enacting "personal liberty laws" to protect free Black residents |
| Related Acts | Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 |
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What You'll Learn
Fugitive Slave Clause
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. The Clause requires a "Person held to Service or Labour" (usually a slave, apprentice, or indentured servant) who escapes to another state to be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped.
The text of the Fugitive Slave Clause is as follows:
> No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
It is notable that the words "slave" and "slavery" are not used in this clause, despite other references in the Constitution dealing with slavery. Historian Donald Fehrenbacher believes that the intent of the Constitution was to make it clear that slavery existed only under state law, not federal law. This is supported by a last-minute change to the Fugitive Slave Clause, whereby the phrase "legally held to service or labour in one state" was changed to "held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof". This revision prevented the inference that the Constitution itself legally sanctioned slavery.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was enforced by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which was strengthened in 1850. Under the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Clause, the owner of an enslaved person had the same right to seize and repossess them in another state as the local laws of their own state granted to them. State laws that conflicted with this right were deemed unconstitutional.
Resistance to the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Clause increased in the 19th century, particularly in the North, where several states enacted "personal liberty laws" to protect free Black residents from kidnapping and provide safeguards for accused fugitives. This led to legal challenges, such as Ableman v. Booth (1859), in which the Supreme Court ruled that states could not obstruct federal enforcement. An attempt to repeal the Clause during the Civil War in 1864 failed, but the subsequent passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery except as a punishment for crime, rendered the Clause mostly irrelevant.
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Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was a federal law enacted by Congress that gave effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3). The Act was passed by the House of Representatives on February 4, 1793, by a vote of 48-7, with 14 abstentions, and was approved on February 12, 1793.
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, guaranteed the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave. The Act created the legal mechanism by which this could be accomplished, allowing slaveholders and their agents to pursue and reclaim fugitive slaves who had escaped to another state. It also imposed penalties on anyone who aided in the escape of a slave.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was controversial and was met with criticism, particularly from Northern states. It was seen as an invasion of their states by bounty hunters and was likened to legalized kidnapping. Despite this, the Act was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1842.
The Act was strengthened in 1850 at the insistence of slave states, which added more provisions and harsher punishments for interfering in the capture of fugitive slaves. This led to further outrage and resistance, especially in the North, where several states passed "personal liberty laws" to protect free Black residents and provide safeguards for accused fugitives.
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Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. It requires a "person held to Service or Labour" (usually a slave, apprentice, or indentured servant) who escapes to another state to be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped. The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which abolished slavery, has since made the clause mostly irrelevant.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed in response to the weakening of the original Fugitive Slave Act. It was drafted by Democratic Senator James M. Mason of Virginia and imposed a fine of $1,000 (equivalent to $37,800 in 2024) on officials who did not arrest people allegedly escaping slavery. Law enforcement officials were required to arrest people suspected of escaping slavery on as little as a claimant's sworn testimony of ownership. Enslavers only needed to supply an affidavit to a federal marshal to capture a fugitive, and suspected enslaved people were not eligible for a trial. This resulted in the kidnapping and conscription of free Black people into slavery, as purported fugitive slaves had no rights in court and could not defend themselves against accusations. The Act made it more difficult to escape slavery, particularly in states close to the North.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was met with resistance from several Northern states, which enacted "personal liberty laws" to protect free Black residents from kidnapping and provide procedural safeguards for accused fugitives. For example, Massachusetts prohibited state officials from assisting in fugitive slave renditions and banned the use of state facilities for holding alleged fugitives. In 1859, the Supreme Court reversed the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision that had freed abolitionist Sherman Booth, who had been jailed for aiding an escaped slave. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that states could not obstruct federal enforcement, reinforcing federal supremacy.
In November 1850, Vermont passed the Habeas Corpus Law, requiring judicial and law enforcement officials to assist captured fugitive slaves. This law established a state judicial process, parallel to the federal process, for people accused of being fugitive slaves, and caused a storm of controversy nationally. It was considered a nullification of federal law, a concept popular among slave states that wanted to nullify other federal laws.
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Personal Liberty Laws
The Fugitive Slave Clause in the United States Constitution, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3. This clause requires a "Person held to Service or Labour" (usually a slave, apprentice, or indentured servant) who flees to another state to be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped. The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, has since made the clause mostly irrelevant.
The Fugitive Slave Clause states:
> No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
The Fugitive Slave Acts, passed in 1793 and 1850, were federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves. The 1793 statute allowed a slaveowner or their agent to "empower[s] to seize or arrest [the] fugitive" and bring them before a federal judge. Anyone convicted of concealing a runaway or interfering with their capture was subject to a $500 fine, payable to the slave's owner.
The Personal Liberty Laws were enacted by Northern "free" states between 1780 and 1859 to protect African Americans from kidnapping and from being claimed as fugitive slaves. These laws were in response to the Fugitive Slave Acts, which Northerners believed left free Blacks vulnerable to kidnapping and were tantamount to legalized kidnapping. Many Northern states already abolished slavery by 1787, and so they feared that the Fugitive Slave Acts would turn their states into a "stalking ground for bounty hunters". The Personal Liberty Laws required enslavers to follow many steps before removing a fugitive from the state. For example, Massachusetts prohibited state officials from assisting in fugitive slave renditions and banned the use of state facilities for holding alleged fugitives.
The legality of the Personal Liberty Laws was challenged in the 1842 Supreme Court case Prigg v. Pennsylvania, which concerned Edward Prigg, a Maryland man convicted of kidnapping after capturing a suspected slave in Pennsylvania. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Prigg, setting the precedent that federal law superseded state measures that interfered with the Fugitive Slave Act. In 1859, the Supreme Court again ruled that states could not obstruct federal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, reinforcing federal supremacy.
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Thirteenth Amendment
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. It states that a "Person held to Service or Labour" (usually a slave, apprentice, or indentured servant) who escapes to another state must be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1864 during the Civil War, abolished slavery "except as a punishment for crime", making the Fugitive Slave Clause mostly irrelevant.
The exact wording of the Fugitive Slave Clause is as follows:
> No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
It is worth noting that the words "slave" and "slavery" are not used in this clause, similar to other references in the Constitution dealing with slavery.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was widely interpreted as having completely abolished slavery under British law, and this interpretation spread by word of mouth among slaves, causing concern among their masters. Despite this interpretation, there was no mechanism to compel free states to capture fugitive slaves and return them to their masters under the Articles of Confederation. This changed with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which was strengthened as part of the Compromise of 1850.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 faced significant resistance, particularly in Northern states, where several states enacted "personal liberty laws" to protect free Black residents from kidnapping and provide procedural safeguards for accused fugitives. This resistance further polarised public opinion, as the Supreme Court ruled that states could not obstruct federal enforcement, reinforcing federal supremacy.
The 13th Amendment's abolition of slavery effectively nullified the Fugitive Slave Clause, as it removed the legal basis for slaveholders to reclaim escaped slaves. However, it is important to note that the 13th Amendment did not completely eradicate the practice of compelling labour, as the U.S. Supreme Court stated in United States v. Kozminski (1988) that "not all situations in which labour is compelled by physical coercion or force of law violate the Thirteenth Amendment".
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Frequently asked questions
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. It requires a "Person held to Service or Labour" who flees to another state to be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and 1850 was a federal law that enforced the Fugitive Slave Clause. It included a more detailed description of how the law was to be put into practice. For example, it decreed that owners of enslaved people could enter free states to search for escapees and that law enforcement officials everywhere were required to arrest people suspected of escaping.
The Fugitive Slave Act contributed to the growing polarization of the country over the issue of slavery. It led to the kidnapping and conscription of free Black people into slavery, as purported fugitive slaves had no rights in court. It also resulted in the founding of the Republican Party and was one of the factors that led to the American Civil War.
No, the Fugitive Slave Clause has been mostly nullified by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery "except as a punishment for crime".
