Television companies. It is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Next on American History tv, historians discuss the social and political impact of several events leading up to the civil war. Including the fugitive slave act and abolitionist john browns raid on a federal armory at harpers fairy. Erry. This was part of Yale UniversitysGilder Lehrman center for the study of slavery, resistance, and abolition. This was the most fun to , deciding which events, which problems, which moments of the precivil war era would we represent. Said, thisanna and is one you should moderate. Speak on no, i want to it. [laughter] which is great. Hook herst trying to into being moderator. The shock of events. The passage by douglas at the nation, the way he put it, not educated by theory, they are taught by events. We all know, we lived through events that no one predicts. Who predicted pearl harbor . Some people, sort of. Who predicted the end of the cold war in 89 . 9 11 . Last years election . Other events . That shock us and make us reposition in relation to them . Events like this, throughout history. People always generally find themselves unprepared. We historians and other scholars often think, if they knew more history, they would be prepared. We are just as shocked as anyone else and we think we know something. This is a great panel. I will introduce these people as quick as i can starting with richard. He is one of the oldest friends i have in this business. He came to the first professional paper i gave. He has heard me do this before. It was at a conference in onladelphia, i gave a paper a man named smith and he said, not bad. Want to have a drink . That is where our friendship began. Richard is the Andrew Jackson ,rofessor of American History he had to be at this hot conference. [laughter] he was at oxford when i was at cambridge and we got to do some journeys together around scotland. We even had a debate in belfast. Put together by catherine clinton, the indomitable. We had to draw straws. How were the slaves freed . One of us had to argue lincoln freed them and the other had to argue that the slaves freed themselves and we drew straws. I got lincoln. [laughter] the audience got to vote. We thought the whole thing was crazy. Then we got into it and started fighting like hell. He won by three votes. [laughter] i have never forgiven that crowd. Afterward, i played the race card on you. [laughter] he did. [laughter] enough of that. He has written 87 books. Sorry. Richard taught us more frankly than anyone who is ever written about this, about black leadership in precivil war america, about black abolitionists, etc. His most recent book is, making freedom. He wrote the wonderful book called, divided hearts, britain and americas civil war. He wrote, black civil war correspondent. And then books on black leaders back in the 1980s, beating against the barriers. Wall,ng an antislavery africanamericans in the abolitionist movement. Richard was educated at the undergraduate and regiment level in england. He was in manchester. Theill speak on lessons of 1850 fugitive slave law, which is a soft title. Richard is about to publish next spring . Yes. Book on fugitive slaves and the underground railroad and the border region of the united states. The deepest thing anyone has ever done on that subject. It will change how we think about it, to say the least. Is professorson, the alexander professor of history at ball state university. She has taught at el paso, south dakota, her phd in indiana. You have to be careful with these things. At least no one is from ohio state university. Actually, yes they are. [laughter] university. Te blah, anyway. Midwesterner . Yes. Good. Her book that makes her so relevant to this panel and conference is called, a generation at war, the civil war era in the northern communities. She has also written, by the way it won the craven apprise, a very important prize. She has also written essays on local history. Nicole, welcome. Jackson didarter her ba at howard. Howard is a big place. She did her ba at howard and her andat Columbia University , you were atng Hunter College . Now it is wellesley. Interests are slavery and emancipation, particularly violence. Her book also under contract entitled, press, is god, my eyes have not seen the glory, called it, force and freedom, the politics of violence. She has coedited a book with called, remembering roots, race, politics and memory since 1970. Finally joanne freeman, my colleague here at yell. Known for many things, my colleague here at Yale University. Joannsr many things, comments are well known. Joann went to uva. , she is theva author of, affairs of honor, National Politics in the new republic. She is also the editor of the essential hamilton from the library of america and the Alexander Hamilton writings collection also by the library of america. She is involved in all kinds of things hamilton. Her new book out next spring, fall. It is called, the field of blood, congressional violence and the road to the civil war. This session is about 80 events that shocked americans and lets go richard you are first. Richard these introductions. It is a pleasure to be invited by Frederick Douglasss grandson. [laughter] you missed a great line in the paper. [laughter] go on. Richard when i first came to Yale University to give a talk many years ago, tom, the recorder of the history of these things, the history by taking photographs. He is now doing twitter. Where have we gone wrong . [laughter] i dont know. I have no answer. Lessons of the 1850 fugitive slave law. When henry claire rose on the senate floor in 1852 propose a new compromise, he expressed the balmthat it would act as a to soothe his distracted and unhappy country that stood on the edge of a dangerous political precipice. One suspects, given his experience and involvement in an earlier compromise, must have felt a tinge of uncertainty about his plansefficacy. The one that generated the most political heat was the akoni and fugitive slave law which nationalized the recapture of runaway slaves, creating a new semijudicial system for cases of rendition led by commissioners whose rulings were final and not subject to appeal. The accused were not allowed to testify, nor were they permitted legal counsel, and were to be returned under heavy guard, the cost borne by the national treasury. Advocates not trials, insisted and so did not involve the right to habeas corpus or a jury of their peers. Steep penalties were imposed on those who aided fugitive slaves on those whopture, refused when requested to help authorities to retake a slave. Even more troubling was the fact that the law was not governed by any statutes of limitation. A fugitive who had lived for years as a free woman, started a family and became a pillar of the community was always liable to be retaken. Opponents of the law questioned whether congress had the power to enact such a law. Under the constitution, renditions were determined between states. If the law was meant to ease tension between slave and free states, opponents predicted, it would have the opposite effect. If it is true, that laws can only gain legitimacy by being assented to by all they wish to bind, then this law was doomed to failure. Not only did it pander to slave interests, it violated bedrock interests of jurisprudence. Slave owners insisted that on the passage of its enforcement rested the future of the union. By nationalizing the system of recapture, every effort to retake an escapee created deep political crisis in the communities. The law seemed designed to borrow a phrase from toni morrison, to authorize political chaos in the defense of order. Meant to stem the flow of escapes, it was a failure. The slaves continue to escape in increasing numbers especially from the border states. One editor observed on the eve of the civil war that fugitive slaves were the driving force behind the underground railroad. The presence in northern communities necessitated the creation of mechanisms of defense by those opposed to slavery and the law. Told his former master, he had decided to make his feet feel for canada and to make you feel it in your pocket. The law was widely denounced by opponents. Black communities in the north led the charge and vowed to resist the enforcement at all costs. Delaney in pittsburgh made it clear that his house was his castle and any slave catcher who dared to cross the threshold must be prepared to die. Im in the presence of david so i have to include a Frederick Douglass quote. Frederick douglas declared, the best way to limit the effects of the law was to kill two or three slave catchers. Hundreds of meetings were called throughout the north to denounce the law. At the end of summer these gatherings and committees were formed to protect former slaves living in these communities and to help fugitive slaves reach safety. The governor of virginia was surprised by the widespread opposition which he insisted was received as if it was a proclamation of an invading foe. It was. The law also disrupted the lives of former slaves living in northern communities. 200 sprint just before fillmore at sign the bill into law before fillmore signed the bill. A local editor was surprised to discover as a result of the exodus, how many black residents of the city were fugitive slaves. The same occurred elsewhere. Thomas, ofike henry buffalo, who had escaped from nashville with the aid of his thenr, in 1834 and since had become a leading figure in the city. In the months after the law was an active, thomas closed his barbershop and moved his family to buxton in canada. If the law was meant to soothe a distracted country as they hoped, such widespread opposition only deepened political tension. Worried about the potential of a rupture, james cooper, the pennsylvania whig who had voted for the log reluctantly, spoke for many when he called for a cessation of agitation. He pleaded that harmony and good feeling between the different sections of the union could be restored. If many of the compromised advocates sought as a last chance to keep the country together, it was clear within a matter of weeks that they had seriously miscalculated the effects. Even before the vote was taken, one tennessee senator wondered how the agreement could be considered a compromise. How many northern senators, he asked rhetorically, had voted against admitting california as a free state . How many from the south had voted in favor of banning the slave trade in washington dc . He was right. This was not a compromise. It was an appeasement of the south. Thishaos created by morally indefensible law points in the direction of political considerations. In response to the mandate, germane logan, a fugitive from tennessee, declared syracuse a safe city, his words, from which no fugitive would be taken. He and local opponents of the law proved to the point weeks later when jerry henry, a fugitive from missouri was captured and brought before the local commissioner. Logan and a handful of others stormed the hearing, rescued daniel and sent him to canada. In the weeks before the rescue, Daniel Webster the secretary of state, had informed an audience of syracuse supporters, that opposition to the law was treason, his words, and would be dealt with accordingly. By the action, logan and the others, had thumbed their noses at the authorities and declared syracuse a sanctuary city. I should add, in the wake of the rescue, logan thought it best to go to canada. [laughter] for a little while. His colleague who had participated in the rescue, samuel ward, never returned to the united states. No fugitive was returned from the city in the years leading to the civil war, even when logan publicly announced, as he frequently did, housing a number of fugitive slaves at his home. He made this public in the newspaper and invited people to come to his home to meet the fugitive slaves. This puts new meaning to the idea of a century city. There are of a sanctuary city. In there echoes today Immigration Law by providing a safe space to those in the country legally. Northern opponents made it clear that it would be legal and unpatriotic, bordering on revolutionary. Nativism,e of rising benjamin curtis, who would soon be elevated to the Supreme Court, told a meeting in boston that states have the rights to protect themselves. They had a right to limit the entry of immigrants, such as the irish, who he argued, were ground down by the oppression of england. Hadhe same token, states endorsed the fugitive clause of the constitution, because a guarantee what he called, incalculable benefits. It was an act of what he calls selfpreservation, similarly, fugitive slaves, he went on to say, had no right to be here. Our peace and safety, they have no right to invade. Whatever natural rights they have, i admit those natural rights to their fullest extent, this is not the place, the soil, on which to vindicate them. This is our soil. Sacred to arbys on which we intend sacred to our peace. Springs took a slightly different approach. Why it free blacks were welcomed, the city must turn our backs on fugitive slaves. He was pleased to see they were leaving new york in droves after passage of the law. To borrow a phrase from a recent election, they were self deporting. Such foundations that indiana and illinois built their policies of black exclusion. By the actions, those in circles counted such arguments, by widening the soil of safety, and in doing so, asserted their rights to full citizenship. Similarly, the absence of alonges of limitation, is with wider political lessons. A mother of six was accused of escaping from maryland 25 years earlier. She was freed after a lengthy hasing but many asked, how someone who have been a wellknown figure in the community and had lived an exemplary life could be dragged before a commissioner on what scantonly be considered, evidence. They could not even demonstrate that the woman in the hearing room was the same person who had fled the plantation. Like the Illegal Immigrants was lived in this country many years and has established a life for their self and family, williams was still liable to be expelled. Williams was fortunate. Others were returned to slavery after similar years of freedom. Another question raised by the williams case has a modern resonance. Whats would have become of her children, all of whom were born in pennsylvania, had she been returned to maryland . Would williams have been separated from her children . His wife maryn, and daughter caroline, were caught in columbia, pennsylvania, not long after the williams case and brought to a hearing in harrisburg where the commissioner ruled in favor of the claimant, even though as one report put it, the family child, bornsuckling in pennsylvania. The young child was separated from its parents. Not so in the case of the thompson family, which included a child born in pennsylvania. They were taken back to maryland without a hearing as permissible under the fugitive slave law. The governor of pennsylvania insisted they had been kidnapped and issued nexan extradition. He consulted the attorney general on the merits of the request. Recommending rejection, the attorney general reasoned that the issue was not that the child was born in a free state and so was free, but that she was born of a slave woman and so inherited the status of the mother. Any state law such as pennsylvanias, which had the right to the incident or natural increase of the fugitive property, was consequently no and avoid as it sought to deny the right to the property itself. It is always dangerous to make parallels over such a broad there are some disturbing lessons to be learned from the history of the law that produced such profound social and political turmoil. The reconciliation that clay and other supporters of the law had anticipated were dashed within weeks. The authorities persevered, determined the law had to be enforced. Slave masters took every opportunity to reclaim their lost property. The result was a sustained political dispute. Not only did those opposed to the log resist its enforcement, but many northern states enacted laws to limit the reach of the federal laws, and in so doing worse and political tensions. Vermont went a step went a step further by guaranteeing the right of trial by jury of suspected fugitives. Stated that such guarantees were based on a recognition that suspected fugitive slaves were, and this is his words, citizens, and should be treated as such. Such sustained resistance to the implementation of the law goes some ways to explain the coming of the civil war. Thank you. [applause] good afternoon. I am happy to be here today. I get to talk about one of my favorite topics, which is the significance of black women. I think it is important to state this because i had a student who recently asked me, who is Harriet Tubman, again . I was shocked. He said, oh yeah, she is the woman who would not get off the bus. Clearly we had some work to do. [laughter] jackson john browns raid on Harpers Ferry is a familiar story with an antebellum history. Grouprown let a small into virginia with the goal of igniting a slave rebellion during the goal was to capture the federal army located in Harpers Ferry, capture as many as possible and overthrow the institution of slavery. Defeated by quickly the state militia and john brown and his comrades were charged with treason. Many historians see john browns rain raid as the final often missing from the energy of is the importance of black leadership. John brown cannot it become the radical abolitionist he is known for had he not chosen to take inspiration from the militant black figures around him. To understand black activism and contributions in dismantling slavery is to de center john brown from the ferry,ve of harpers which is often portrayed as a fanatical white mans bleeding heart. Sidelineds about the black leaders who have been pushed to the periphery of the movement to end slavery. What might it due to envision follower ofs a black revolutionary violence who put black radicalism into practice. What might it due to centralize the significance of black womens contribution to the raid. How can we pivot our understanding of radical abolition of them away from abolitionism away from white leaders to a movement that situation lack women at the center of change. How do we see black radical firmly amongd black abolitionists themselves. Black americans are responding to their impression and taking the lead on Political Violence in 1850s. You think of william and