Title:
New Londoners free a slave
Author:
Showalter, Lucille
Subjects:
Stowaway slave incident
Object ID:
scr-030-088
Object Name:
Scrapbook
Category:
8: Communication Artifact
Subcategory:
Documentary Artifact
Publisher:
The Day
Pubication Date:
02/23/1991
Collection:
Indian and Colonial Scrapbook
Summary:
This article is about a particular incident in the 1850s involving the contradiction between the federal Fugitive Slave Act and the Personal Liberty Law of Connnecticut. The story goes that a runaway slave from North Carolina hid himself aboard the Eliza S. Potter, a ship which was carrying lumber to Connecticut. When the stowaway was discovered, he was befriended by the captain and the crew members. The slave jumped off the ship and was later found on State Street. The slave was brought to U.S. Customs by the owners of the ship who were eager to free him legally. There a judge asked the slave if he wanted to be freed, and when he responded that he wished to be freed, and was likely put aboard a railway to Canada to escape the Fugitive Slave Law. The Captain of the ship was forced to pay the slave owner to avoid trouble. The article also reported that a retelling of the event was to take place the next day.
People:
Joe (slave)
Lincoln, Abraham
Mallory, Clifford H.
Palmer, First Mate Roswell
Potter, Thomas
Rogers, M.
Brandegee, Attorney Augustus
Mather, John Perkins C.
MacCluggage, Reid
Lincoln, Abraham
Mallory, Clifford H.
Palmer, First Mate Roswell
Potter, Thomas
Rogers, M.
Brandegee, Attorney Augustus
Mather, John Perkins C.
MacCluggage, Reid
Search Terms:
Eliza S. Potter (schooner)
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
North Carolina
New London
Connecticut Personal Liberty Law
Groton Long Point
State Street
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
North Carolina
New London
Connecticut Personal Liberty Law
Groton Long Point
State Street