University of Virginia Library

13. Materials Bearing on Legislation

The study of our colonial legislation supplies ample proof that the
harboring of the hunted slave early became a source of annoyance to
slave-owners. Laws against this misdemeanor, with curious penalties
attached, are included in the collections of statutes of various colonies
for example, in the Laws and Ordinances of New Netherlands, the Maryland
Archives (Assembly Proceedings), the Acts of the Province of New
York, the Province Laws of Pennsylvania, the Laws of Virginia, etc.
These statutes have been made accessible through their publication in
series of volumes, a good collection of which may be found in the State
Library in Boston. Among the most important editions are Leaming
and Spicer's collection for New Jersey, Hening's series of Virginia Statutes
at Large, Bacon's collection for Maryland, and Iredel's edition of
South Carolina Statutes.

The history of our national legislation respecting fugitive slaves may
be traced in outline in the Journals of the Senate and House. For the
voicing of the need of this legislation, which one would naturally expect
to find in the speeches of members from the Southern states, one must
turn to the Annals of Congress, covering the period from 1789 to 1824,
the Congressional Debates, for the period from 1824 to 1837, and the Congressional
Globe from 1833 to 1864. The provisions of the Fugitive Slave
laws one may find, of course, in the Statutes at Large, and some of the
effects of the law of 1850 may be studied in a pamphlet entitled The
fugitive Slave Law and Its Victims, compiled by Samuel May, Jr., and
first published in 1856. An enlarged edition of this pamphlet was issued
in 1861.