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The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, was a part of the US Constitution. It gave slaveholders the right to capture and recover enslaved people who had escaped to another state. The clause was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and remained in effect until the abolition of slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was enacted to enforce this clause, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 further strengthened these enforcement measures. These acts contributed to growing tensions over slavery and led to resistance and legal challenges, particularly in Northern states.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Fugitive Slave Clause |
| Article | IV |
| Section | 2 |
| Clause | 3 |
| What it did | Gave slaveholders the right to recover an enslaved person from another state |
| Who proposed it | Pierce Butler and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina |
| When it was proposed | During the Constitutional Convention of 1787 |
| When it was adopted | 1787 |
| When it was repealed | 1865 (with the Thirteenth Amendment) |
| What it says | "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." |
| What it doesn't say | The words "slave" and "slavery" |
| What it led to | The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 |
| What the Act did | Required the return of escaped slaves and sought to force authorities in free states to return them to their enslavers |
| When it was strengthened | 1850 |
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The Fugitive Slave Clause
> 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.
Despite not mentioning the word "slave", the clause gave enslavers the constitutional right to reclaim their enslaved persons from another state. This formed the basis for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which gave slaveholders the right to capture their escaped enslaved persons. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 further strengthened the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Clause, giving the federal government a role in capturing fugitive enslaved persons.
Modern legal scholars debate whether the vague wording of the Fugitive Slave Clause conferred constitutional legitimacy on slavery. Some argue it was a political compromise that avoided overtly validating slavery at the federal level, while others contend it functionally entrenched slaveholder power.
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The Thirteenth Amendment
> 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 Clause was a compromise made during the Constitutional Convention without explicitly mentioning the word "slave." It formed the basis for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which gave slaveholders the right to capture escaped enslaved persons. The Act was strengthened in 1850, giving the federal government a role in capturing fugitive enslaved persons and requiring all states to return escaped slaves to their owners. The Thirteenth Amendment made the Fugitive Slave Clause unenforceable, as it abolished slavery and involuntary servitude.
The immediate impact of the Thirteenth Amendment was to criminalise the pre-war system of chattel slavery in the U.S. and widen the scope of emancipation to include the entire nation. However, slavery continued in areas under the jurisdiction of Native American tribes, and the economic situation of most freed African Americans in the South remained unchanged. The amendment also allowed for prison labour and temporary government, jury, and military service.
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Northern resistance to the Fugitive Slave Clause
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, was Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution. It gave slaveholders the constitutional right to recover an enslaved person from another state. The clause remained in effect until the abolition of slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment.
Despite the Fugitive Slave Clause's constitutional authority, resistance to its enforcement in the North grew in the 19th century, especially after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This act was passed by Congress under the Compromise of 1850 and strengthened existing fugitive slave laws by guaranteeing federal assistance to enslavers in capturing freedom seekers. It required escaped slaves to be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state, and made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. The Act also required officials and citizens of free states to cooperate in the capture of fugitive slaves.
Several Northern states enacted "personal liberty laws" to circumvent the Fugitive Slave Clause and protect free Black residents from kidnapping. For example, Massachusetts prohibited state officials from assisting in fugitive slave renditions and banned the use of state facilities for holding alleged fugitives. Vermont passed the Habeas Corpus Law, which established a state judicial process, parallel to the federal process, for people accused of being fugitive slaves. This law rendered the federal Fugitive Slave Act unenforceable in Vermont.
Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 also took the form of violent resistance from antislavery groups in the North, such as the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858. In this incident, an escaped slave named John Price found refuge in Oberlin, Ohio, for two years until he was arrested by a federal marshal authorised by the 1850 Act to capture him and return him to slavery. The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue exposed the irreconcilable divisions between North and South and was described by Frederick Douglass as a "Gibraltar of Freedom".
Legal challenges to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 also occurred. In 1859, the Wisconsin Supreme Court became the only state high court to declare the Act unconstitutional. Jury nullification also occurred, with local Northern juries acquitting men accused of violating the law.
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Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was enacted by Congress as part of Henry Clay's famed Compromise of 1850, a group of bills that helped quiet early calls for Southern secession. It was a revised version of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which had been significantly weakened by the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) that states did not have to offer aid in the hunting or recapture of enslaved people. The 1850 Act added more provisions regarding fugitives and imposed harsher punishments for those who interfered with their capture.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 gave the federal government a role in capturing fugitive enslaved persons and required escaped slaves in any state to be returned to their slaveholders. 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 fugitives had no rights in court and could not defend themselves against accusations. The Act also forcibly compelled citizens to assist in the capture of runaways, with law enforcement officials everywhere required to arrest people suspected of escaping enslavement on as little as a claimant's sworn testimony of ownership. Officials who did not arrest alleged escapees could be fined $1,000 (equivalent to $37,800 in 2024).
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was among the most controversial laws of the early 19th century, with Northern resistance to its enforcement increasing steadily. Several Northern states enacted ""personal liberty laws" to circumvent the Act and protect free Black residents from kidnapping. For example, Vermont passed the Habeas Corpus Law, requiring Vermont judicial and law enforcement officials to assist captured fugitive slaves, but also establishing a state judicial process, parallel to the federal process, for people accused of being fugitive slaves. This rendered the federal Fugitive Slave Act effectively unenforceable in Vermont and caused a storm of controversy nationally. The Act was also a driving force behind the peak of the Underground Railroad in the 1850s, with many enslaved people fleeing to Canada to escape U.S. jurisdiction.
The Fugitive Slave Clause in the U.S. Constitution, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3. It 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 Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 were based on this Clause, which remained in full effect until the abolition of slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment made it unenforceable.
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Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was a United States federal law that gave effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the US Constitution. The Act was passed by the House of Representatives on February 4, 1793, and was signed into law by President George Washington on February 12, 1793.
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 US Constitution. It 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.
Although the clause does not mention the word "slave", it gave slaveholders the constitutional right to recover an enslaved person from a different state. This right was already guaranteed by the Fugitive Slave Clause, but the Act created the legal mechanism by which it could be accomplished. It clarified the process used by slaveholders to claim their property and was designed to balance the competing interests of free and slave states.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was strengthened by the Compromise of 1850, which required state governments and residents of free states to enforce the capture and return of fugitive slaves. The Act was superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery except as a punishment for criminal acts.
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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 U.S. Constitution. It gave slave owners the constitutional right to recover an enslaved person who had escaped to another state.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was a federal law that enforced the Fugitive Slave Clause. It sought to force authorities in free states to return escaped slaves to their enslavers. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 further strengthened the enforcement of the Clause, making it a highly controversial element of the Compromise of 1850.
No, the Fugitive Slave Clause did not mention the word "slave" or "slavery". This ambiguity has been interpreted differently by modern legal scholars, with some arguing it avoided overtly validating slavery, while others contend it functionally entrenched slaveholder power.
