The Fugitive Slave Act - American History, 1493-1945

Letter from Henry Weeden to Watson Freeman declining to repair his coat

4 December 1850

View the letter from Henry Weeden to Watson Freeman in the resource

This letter, dated 4 December 1850, is from Henry Weeden, a Boston tailor and free African American, to Watson Freeman, a U.S. Marshal of Massachusetts, and is a powerful yet succinct anti-slavery protest. Watson Freeman (1797-1868) was appointed by the northern but pro-slavery President Franklin Pierce, one of his duties being to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. In the letter, Weeden refuses to accept business from someone who “would volunteer his services to arrest a fugitive slave,” returning a coat unrepaired and referring to Freeman’s declaration that he was willing and ready to hang enslaved people for very little money: “With me, Principle first, Money afterwards.”

Although previous Fugitive Slave Acts existed before 1850, they had largely remained unenforced and thousands of enslaved people had succeeded in escaping to free states via networks such as the underground railroad. As part of Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850 (in which, amongst other things, the southern, slave-holding states needed to be pacified after the admission of another free state, California), Congress passed a revised Fugitive Slave Act that compelled citizens to assist in the capture of alleged enslaved fugitive and removed the prisoners’ right to a jury. As Black Americans were often assumed to be enslaved, the law threatened all, whether free or fugitive, with many free men and women being captured and sold into slavery as a result. One of the most famous victims of this attitude was Solomon Northup, a free-born farmer and musician who was kidnapped and forced to spend 12 years enslaved in Louisiana. Another influential case was that of Anthony Burns, an enslaved fugitive whose arrest (on Freeman’s orders) and trial in Boston sparked riots and protests by both black and white citizens as well as abolitionists in 1854. Federal commissioners were given control of individual cases, and they were paid more for returning enslaved people to their masters than for freeing them. This provoked criticism and sometimes violent protests both from abolitionist activists and liberal states, who passed several measures attempting to bypass the law. Despite this dissent, the law was only officially repealed in 1864.

Black entrepreneurs in Boston, like Henry Weeden, were highly active figures in charitable organisations, community work and protest groups, as well as at national conventions. Weeden campaigned for the integration of Boston’s schools and was also one of the leaders of the New England Freedom Association. Formed in 1845, its purpose was to assist enslaved fugitive, providing them with clothing, food and accommodation. Other leaders of the association included William C. Nell, Judith Smith and Thomas Cummings.