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board his vessel any inhabitants of Africa, "with intent to be imported or transported as slaves or servants for a term of years." 3. Provides that if any person shall kidnap, decoy, or forcibly carry off out of this State any free negro, Indian, or mulatto, or any person entitled to freedom at the age of twentyfive years, inhabitants or residents within this State, or shall be aiding or assisting therein, and be thereof duly convicted," &c., shall pay a fine to the State, and damages to the person injured. 4. Provides "that nothing in this act shall operate to prevent persons removing out of this State, for the purpose of residence, from carrying or transporting with them such negroes or mulattoes as belong to them, or to prevent persons living within this State from directing their servants out of this State, about their ordinary and necessary business. T. Green, ed. of L. p. 368. Suppl. are an act of 1789 and 1792. Hudson & Goodwin's ed. of 1808, p. 628; Rev. of 1821, Tit. 22, § 17.

1792.-Suppl. to act of 1784. Permits emancipation of slaves between twenty-five and forty-five years. Hudson & Goodwin's ed. p. 625.

1797, May. Suppl. to act of 1784 enacts "that no negro or mulatto child born within this State, after the first day of August, 1797, shall be held in servitude longer than until he or she arrive at the age of twenty-one years, notwithstanding the mother or parent of such child was held in servitude at the time of its birth; but such child, at the age aforesaid, shall be free, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." Ib. p. 626; Rev. of 1821, Tit. 93. See Windsor v. Hartford, 2 Conn. R. 356; that such child is not slave before the age aforesaid.

1797, October.—An act to repeal certain paragraphs of the "Act concerning Indian, mulatto, and negro servants and slaves," consisting of police regulations, including that forbidding free negroes to travel without a pass. Hudson & Goodwin's ed. p. 626.'

1810, May, c. 5 repeals the law for the satisfaction of

'In the revision of 1808, the above-cited statutes are arranged as chapters of Title CL. Slaves. In the same revision, Tit. LXXIX. contains "The act for remanding persons who have committed crimes in other States, and to escape from justice flee into this State," in the same terms as given in revision of 1784.

debts by personal servitude, as given in Tit. 13, c. 1, sec. 2 of the revision of 1808, following revision of 1784.

1818. A new State Constitution.' Some provisions declare rights in all persons, others in every citizen. Art. 6, sec. 2, limits the elective franchise to "white male citizens of the United States."

1821, May. Revision. Title 22. Crimes and punishments. Sec. 17. Against kidnapping, similar in terms to the third section of act of 1788, "Provided, that nothing in this section shall operate to prevent persons coming into this State, for the purpose of temporary residence, or passing through the same, from carrying with them their servants, nor to prevent persons moving out of the State, for the purpose of residence, from carrying and transporting with them such servants as belong to them, or to prevent persons living within this State from directing their servants out of the State, about their ordinary and necessary business."

Art. I. "That the great and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and established, we declare," &c. 1. "That all men, when they form a social compact, are equal in rights," &c. 2. "That the people have an indefeasible right to alter their form of government," &c. The language of the Declaration of Independence, "that all men are created equal," &c., is not employed. In the preamble, the people, acknowledging the providence of God in permitting them "to enjoy a free government," " ordain and establish the following Constitution and form of civil government," "in order more effectually to define, secure, and perpetuate the liberties, rights, and privileges which they have derived from their ancestors." That there is nothing in this Bill of Rights making slavery unlawful in Connecticut, see Jackson v. Bullock, 12 Conn. 42, 61, 62.

2 East Hartford v. Pitkin (1831), 8 Conn. 402, Williams, J.-"That slavery has existed in this State cannot be denied, and a few solitary cases still exist to attest the melancholy truth." Jackson v. Bullock (1837), 12 Conn. 42, Williams, J.-"Slavery exists here to a certain extent. A small remnant still remains," &c.; p. 59, Bissell, J.-"If it here assumed a milder and more mitigated form than in many of the States, this was rather the result of public sentiment and of a more correct state of moral feeling than of any peculiar mildness in our legislative enactments on the subject. But if the system was less rigorous, still it was a system of absolute unconditional servitude. Still the principle was recognized and acted upon that one man might have property in another, might command his services for life without compensation, and dispose of him as he would of any other chattel."

Judge Reeve, in his Law of Domestic Relations, 340, 341, said, "The law, as heretofore practiced in this State, respecting slaves, must now be uninteresting. I will, however, lest the slavery which prevailed in this State should be forgotten, mention some things that show that slavery here was very far from being of the absolute, rigid kind. The master had no control over the life of the slave. If he killed him, he was liable to the same punishment as if he killed a freeman. The master was as liable to be sued by the slave in an action for beating and wounding, or for immoderate chastisement, as he would be if he had thus treated an apprentice. A slave was capable of holding property in character of devisee, or legatee. If the

1821. A Revision. Tit. 93. An act to prevent slavery. Declares the then existing law. See title Slavery in the later revisions.

1833.—An act which appears in the revision of 1835 in Title 53,-Inhabitants, as An act in addition to An act for the admission and settlement of inhabitants in towns. (Rev. of 1821, Title 51.) "Whereas attempts have been made to establish literary institutions in this State for the instruction of colored persons belonging to other States and countries, which would tend to the great increase of the colored population of the State, and thereby to the injury of the people,”-therefore enacts, sec. 1, "That no person shall set up or establish in this State any school, academy, or literary institution for the instruction or education of colored persons, who are not inhabitants of this State, nor instruct or teach in any school, academy or other literary institution whatever in this State, or harbor or board for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed in any such school, academy or other literary institution, any person who is not an inhabitant of any town in this State, without the consent, in writing, first obtained of a majority of the civil authority, and also of the selectmen of the town in which such school, academy or literary institution is situated; and each and every person who shall knowingly do any act forbidden as aforesaid, or shall be aiding or assisting therein, shall for the first offence forfeit and pay to the treasurer of this State a fine of one hundred dollars, and for the second offence shall forfeit and pay a fine of two hundred dollars, and so double for every offence of which he or she shall be convicted. And all informing officers are required to make due presentment of all breaches of this act. Provided that nothing in this act shall extend to any district school established in any school society under the laws of this State or to any incorporated academy or incorporated school for instruction in

master should take away such property, his slave would be entitled to an action against him by his prochein ami. From the whole we see that slaves had the same right of life and property as apprentices; and that the difference betwixt them was this: an apprentice is a servant for time, and the slave is a servant for life. Slaves could not contract in court, for this is specially forbidden by statute." (Rev. of 1784.)

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this State. 2. Any colored person not an inhabitant of this State who shall reside in any town therein for the purpose of being instructed as aforesaid, may be removed in the manner prescribed in the sixth and seventh sections of the act to which this is an addition. 3. Any person not an inhabitant of this State, who shall reside in any town therein for the purpose of being instructed as aforesaid, shall be an admissible witness in all prosecutions under the first section of this act, and may be compelled to give testimony therein, notwithstanding any thing in this act, or in the act last aforesaid. 4. That so much of the seventh section of the act to which this is an addition as may provide for the infliction of corporal punishment, be and the same is hereby repealed."

1838, c. 34. Repeals the above, excepting the last section. c. 37. An act for the fulfillment of the obligations of this State, imposed by the Constitution of the United States, in regard to persons held to service or labor in one State escaping into another, and to secure the right of trial by jury

1 Crandall v. The State, 10 Conn. 340. The plaintiff had been indicted under this act: verdict and judgment, in the court below, against her. On hearing the case in the Supreme Court of Errors the information was held to have been insufficient. No opinion was delivered on the question raised on the trial and argued before the court-whether this statute was a violation of the first paragraph of sec. 2 of art. 4 of the Const. of the U. S. On the trial, Daggett, Ch. J., had charged that colored persons, "slaves, free blacks or Indians," are not citizens within the meaning of that provision. His reasoning was, before the case of Dred Scott, often cited as the leading authority on that side, and the arguments of counsel are suggestive and offer many authorities. A critical examination of this decision by Wm. Jay, Esq., may be found in his Inquiry into the character and tendency of the American Colonization and American Anti-Slavery Societies, pub. 1835, p. 37.

It is very remarkable that no objection seems to have been taken to this act as a violation of the State Constitution. Unless that Constitution recognized a distinction among free persons in respect to its guarantees, how could the legislature discriminate? And are not aliens in Connecticut protected against the action of the legislature by the State Bill of Rights as much as residents?

Sec. 6. "When any inhabitant of any of the United States (this State excepted) shall come to reside in any town in this State, the civil authority, or the major part of them, in such town, are hereby authorized, upon application of the selectmen, if they judge proper, by warrant under their hand, directed to either of the constables of said town, to order said person to be conveyed to the State from whence he or she came," &c. 7. Authorizes the selectmen to warn "any such person, not an inhabitant of this State, to depart," under penalty for remaining. Not applicable to apprentices and servants for time. Rev. of 1838. By R. S. of 1849 and 1854, under Tit. 42, c. 1, settlement in a town is made dependent on the consent of the town authorities, and inhabitants of any State, &c., of the United States, coming to reside, and not having obtained a settlement, may be thus removed. The terms of the act are not limited to paupers.

Sec. 1. The claimant may

in the cases therein mentioned. have writ of habeas corpus issued for the fugitive from labor, returnable before judges authorized to issue the writ. 2. Preliminary proof required by affidavit. 3. Judge to hear and commit. (Provisions modified by laws of 1839, c. 26.) 4. The facts may be tried by a jury at request of either party. 5, 6. If alleged fugitive be acquitted, he shall recover damages; if verdict for claimant, he shall be delivered, with a certificate. 7. Fees. 8. Forbids issuing the writ by justices of the peace, &c. 9. Penalty for any person removing another as fugitive otherwise than as here provided; and persons so seized may have habeas corpus; provided "that nothing herein shall be construed to extend to any proceedings before any court or magistrate of the United States, or any person acting by the authority of such court or magistrate." Rev. of 1838, p. 571.

1844, c. 27. An act to repeal the above. Sec. 1. Recites, "Whereas, it has been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, since the passing" of this act, "that both the duty and the power of legislation on that subject pertains exclusively to the national government, therefore "—repeals the above. 2. Prohibits judges, justices of the peace, and other officers appointed under the authority of the State, from issuing or serving any process for arrest of person as fugitive from labor, or giving certificate, and that if issued it shall be void; provided "that nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair any right which by the Constitution of the United States may pertain to any person to whom labor or service may be due, by the laws of any other State, from any fugitive escaping into this State, or to prevent the exercise in this State of any powers which may have been conferred by Congress on any judge or other officer of the United States in relation thereto."

This last section is sec. 5 of An act to prevent slavery, passed 1848, being Title 51 of Rev. of 1849, of which sec. 1 is, "That no person shall hereafter be held in slavery in this State." 2, 3, 4. Forbid the introduction of any Indian, negro, or mulatto slave," "to be disposed of, left, or sold within the same."

For the construction of this, see Jackson v. Bullock, 12 Conn. 38.

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