Frederick Douglass, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
The Fugitive Slave Law — passed by Congress, signed by the President, enforced by ministers of religion and officers of state — is the nationalization of slavery in its most horrible and revolting form.1 Before it, a man who had crossed into a free state might breathe something resembling air. After it, Mason and Dixon's line was obliterated; New York became as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and children remained no longer a mere state institution but an institution of the whole United States.1
Where the star-spangled banner flies, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. Your broad republican domain became, by that act, a hunting-ground for men — not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, but for men guilty of no crime.2 The machinery of it is worth examining, because the machinery is the indictment. An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five when he fails to do so.3
That is not a court; that is a bounty. The oath of any two villains is sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most pious and exemplary black man into the remorseless jaws of slavery.4 His own testimony counts for nothing. He can bring no witnesses for himself. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear but one side, and that side is the side of the oppressor.5
Let that damning fact be thundered around the world: in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges who hold their offices under an open and palpable bribe.6 Its practical effect was terror — and not only upon the escaped bondman. Even colored people who had been free all their lives felt themselves insecure, for the law made no distinction between the fugitive and the freeborn.7
Asleep or awake, at work or at rest, in church or market, a man was liable to surprise and capture.7 I was not myself without apprehension in those years, though I had purchased my freedom; my house was guarded several nights by friends, and had kidnappers come, they would have got anything but a cool reception.8 The law was, in its stated purpose, a failure — as a means of recapturing runaway property in human flesh, its efficiency was destroyed by its enormity.9
But its true purpose was never merely recapture. It was the declaration of a policy. I named that policy plainly in 1853: a slavery party, shapeless and nameless, reaching into church and state alike, committed to five objects — the suppression of anti-slavery discussion, the expatriation of free colored people, the perpetuation of slavery, its nationalization across every state, and its extension into Mexico and South America.10
The Fugitive Slave Law was not an isolated statute. It was one instrument of that comprehensive design. In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation.11 I have said I doubt there is another nation on the globe having the brass and the baseness to put such a law on the statute-book, and I have never been shown reason to retract the claim.11
By an act of the American congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. By that act, Mason and Dixon's line has been obliterated; New York has become as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and children as slaves, remains no longer a mere state institution, but is now an institution of the whole United States.My Bondage and My Freedom
Your broad republican domain is a hunting-ground for men. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime.My Bondage and My Freedom
An American judge GETS TEN DOLLARS FOR EVERY VICTIM HE CONSIGNS to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so.My Bondage and My Freedom
The oath of an two villains is sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most pious and exemplary black man into the remorseless jaws of slavery!My Bondage and My Freedom
His own testimony is nothing. He can bring no witnesses for himself. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear but one side, and that side is the side of the oppressor.My Bondage and My Freedom
Let it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges, who hold their office under an open and palpable bribe, and are bound, in deciding in the case of a man's liberty, to hear only his accusers!My Bondage and My Freedom
Even colored people who had been free all their lives felt themselves very insecure in their freedom, for under this law the oaths of any two villains were sufficient to consign a free man to slavery for life.Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
My purchase was of doubtful validity... From rumors that reached me my house was guarded by my friends several nights, when kidnappers, had they come, would have got anything but a cool reception.Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
As a means of recapturing their runaway property in human flesh the law was an utter failure. Its efficiency was destroyed by its enormity.Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
I understand this policy to comprehend five cardinal objects. They are these: 1st. The complete suppression of all anti-slavery discussion. 2d. The expatriation of the entire free people of color from the United States. 3d. The unending perpetuation of slavery in this republic. 4th. The nationalization of slavery to the extent of making slavery respected in every state of the Union. 5th. The extension of slavery over Mexico and the entire South American states.My Bondage and My Freedom
In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this fugitive slave law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. I doubt if there be another nation on the globe having the brass and the baseness to put such a law on the statute-book.My Bondage and My Freedom