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Slave Act, by Lydia Maria Child

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Title: The Duty of Disobedience to the Fugitive Slave Act
Anti-Slavery Tracts No. 9, An Appeal To The Legislators Of Massachusetts

Author: Lydia Maria Child

Release Date: November 9, 2004 [EBook #13989]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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ANTI-SLAVERY TRACTS. No. 9. New Series.

THE

DUTY OF DISOBEDIENCE

TO THE

FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT:

AN APPEAL TO THE

LEGISLATORS OF MASSACHUSETTS,

BY L. MARIA CHILD.

"Thou shalt _not_ deliver unto his master the servant which is
escaped from his master unto thee."--DEUT. 23:15.

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 1860.

APPEAL

TO THE

LEGISLATORS OF MASSACHUSETTS.

I feel there is no need of apologizing to the Legislature of
Massachusetts because a woman addresses them. Sir Walter Scott says:
"The truth of Heaven was never committed to a tongue, however
feeble, but it gave a right to that tongue to announce mercy, while
it declared judgment." And in view of all that women have done, and
are doing, intellectually and morally, for the advancement of the
world, I presume no enlightened legislator will be disposed to deny
that the "truth of Heaven" _is_ often committed to them, and that
they sometimes utter it with a degree of power that greatly
influences the age in which they live.

I therefore offer no excuses on that score. But I do feel as if it
required some apology to attempt to convince men of ordinary
humanity and common sense that the Fugitive Slave Bill is utterly
wicked, and consequently ought never to be obeyed. Yet Massachusetts
consents to that law! Some shadow of justice she grants, inasmuch as
her Legislature have passed what is called a Personal Liberty Bill,
securing trial by jury to those claimed as slaves. Certainly it is
_something_ gained, especially for those who may get brown by
working in the sunshine, to prevent our Southern masters from taking
any