party in such record mentioned. And upon the production by
the said party of other and further evidence, if necessary, either
oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said
record of the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be
delivered up to the claimant. And the said court, commissioner,
judge or other person authorized by this act to grant certificates
to claimants of fugitives, shall, upon the production of the record
and other evidences aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate
of his right to take any such person identified and proved to be
owing service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall
authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport such
person to the State or Territory from which he escaped: _Provided_,
That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the
production of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid;
but in its absence, the claim shall be heard and determined upon
other satisfactory proofs competent in law.

HOWELL COBB,
_Speaker of the House of Representatives_.

WILLIAM R. KING,
_President of the Senate, pro tempore_.

Approved September 18, 1850.
MILLARD FILLMORE.

The most prominent provisions of the Constitution of the United States,
and those which form the fundamental basis of personal security, are
they which provide, that every person shall be secure in their person
and property: that no person may be deprived of liberty without due
process of law, and that for crime or misdemeanor; that there may be no
process of law that shall work corruption of blood. By corruption of
blood is meant, that process, by which a person is _degraded_ and
deprived of rights common to the enfranchised citizen--of the rights of
an elector, and of eligibility to the office of a representative, of the
people; in a word, that no person nor their posterity, may ever be
debased beneath the level of the recognised basis of American
citizenship. This debasement and degradation is "corruption of blood";
politically understood--a legal acknowledgement of inferiority of birth.

Heretofore, it ever has been denied, that the United States recognised
or knew any difference between the peop