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THE 
 
 DEFENSIVE LEAGUE OF FREEDOM. 
 
 In proposing to form a league for the protection 
 and defence of persons claimed as fugitive slaves, and 
 of persons accused of violating the Fugitive Slave 
 Act of 1850, it is proper to state distinctly what is 
 proposed to be done, and the necessity which exists 
 for some such organization. Wliile the whole re- 
 sources of the general government are at the service 
 of the Slave Power, — while the slaveholder has the 
 use of United States marshals, commissioners and sol- 
 diers, of the State militia, of revenue cutters, and of 
 the treasury of the United States to pay the expense 
 of these agencies, — the colored man, claimed as a 
 fugitive, must provide for his protection as he best 
 can. Commonly poor, ignorant of the law, unexpect- 
 edly arrested and with only a day or two to prepare 
 his defence, he must depend upon the accidental aid,. 
 
 I P^^ 
 

 and voluntary unremunerated service, of whoever is 
 willing to defend him. In like manner, if, from an 
 impulse of humanity, or a sense of duty, a man re- 
 ceive a fugitive slave into his house, give him food 
 and lodging, and help him on his way, he is liable to 
 be dragged before a United States judge and exposed 
 to heavy expenses in addition to fines which may 
 swallow up the whole of his property. If these were 
 only possible cases, we should not need any new or- 
 ganization ; but they have occurred, and are occurring ; 
 and there is no existing organization which is able to 
 meet the actual present necessity. We, therefore, pro- 
 pose to organize a league, the distinct object of which 
 shall be to secure the fullest legal protection to per- 
 sons claimed as fugitive slaves, and to persons accused 
 of violating the Fugitive Slave Bill ; and, also, to in- 
 demnify such persons against costs, fines, and expenses, 
 whenever they shall seem to deserve indemnification. 
 The object of this Union, it will be seen, is legal, 
 peaceable, and open. We do not propose to make any 
 forcible resistance to the laws, nor to make a crusade 
 into the slaveholding States for the purpose of freeing 
 the slaves. Our organization will neither censure nor 
 praise those who do these things, but such is not our 
 object. Our distinct purpose is to see that no man is 
 
l)eaten down by tlie Slave Power, without an adequate 
 defence ; that no man shall be crushed by the im- 
 mense resources of the United States Government, 
 without help from his fellow-citizens ; and that no 
 man is ruined for such simple acts of humanity, as 
 we should feel it our duty to do ourselves under his 
 circumstances. A singularly cruel and stern law is 
 now in operation thi'ough the United States, for the 
 support of a tyrannical and evil institution. We do 
 not think it rio'ht that men should be ruined for dis- 
 obeying a law which commands them to do what (as 
 they and we believe) God has forbidden. If we agree 
 with them in their convictions, it is only right that 
 we should take our share of the penalty. We would, 
 moreover, by means of this union, present a broad 
 front of moral resistance to the execution of this law, 
 and so increase the great public opinion of fireedom 
 that it shall le impossible to arrest a fugitive in this 
 part of the Union. This league will act, meantime, as 
 a society of mutual protection, and every member 
 shall thereby assume his portion of such penalties as 
 would otherwise fall with crushing weight on a few 
 individuals- 
 
 We will now proceed to show that such a Union 
 is needed. 
 
The Fugitive Slave Act, approved Sept. 18, 1850, 
 declares that any person who shall knowingly and 
 wilfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent the arrest of a 
 fugitive from slavery, or shall aid, abet, or assist such 
 person, owing labor or service, to escape from such 
 claimant, or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, 
 shall be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand 
 dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, 
 besides forfeiting, as civil damages, the sum of one 
 thousand dollars for each fugitive lost. The law also 
 commands all good citizens to aid and assist in arrest- 
 ing such fugitives, to be taken back into slavery. 
 
 Under this law and the previous law of 1793, 
 many cases have occurred, from which we select the 
 following as examples. 
 
 In 1847, there resided in the town of Marshall, in 
 Michigan, a colored family, consisting of Adam Cross- 
 white, his wife, and five cliildren. He was sober, 
 industrious, honest, — supporting himself and family 
 by liis labor, — his wife a member of the mcthodist 
 church, and his children attending the schools. Sud- 
 denly, one morning, a party of Kentuckians appeared, 
 claiming Mm and his family as slaves. A crowd as- 
 sembled, at the news, the Kentuckians drew pistols, 
 and were arrested for breach of the peace. Mean- 
 
while Crosswliite and his family escaped, and went to 
 Canada. A suit was instituted, founded on the law 
 of 1793, and brought in the Ciixuit Court of the 
 United States, against some of the individuals in the 
 crowd ; and, at a second trial, a verdict was obtained, 
 amounting, with expenses and cost, to six thousand 
 dollars, which three individuals were obliged to pay. 
 
 In 1848, a family of thirteen slaves, escaping from 
 Maryland to the North, took refuge in the barn of 
 Daniel Kauffman, of Cumberland County, Pennsyl- 
 vania. He gave them food and shelter, put them in 
 his wagon, and helped them on their way. For this 
 oifence he was prosecuted, and sentenced to pay a 
 fine, amounting, with costs, to two thousand dollars. 
 He appealed to the Supreme Court of the State, and 
 the decision was reversed. Judge Coulter delivered 
 the opinion of the Bench, and in the coui'se of his 
 remarks used the following language : — 
 
 " The true question in this aspect of the case ouglit 
 to be and is, whether, in the State of Pennsylvania, a 
 citizen who gives a cup of water and a morsel of 
 bread to famishing women and children, and permits 
 them to rest a few hours in his barn, when they are 
 supplicants to his mercy, or even gives them a lift in 
 his wagon, even if it should turn out that thev are 
 
fugitives from slavery to freedom, does by that offer 
 of mercy and compassion break the . law, and make 
 himself liable to their price in the mart where men, 
 women, and children are bought and sold ? " 
 
 After this a new suit was commenced before Judge 
 Grier, in the United States Circuit Coiut. After 
 several hearings, a verdict was obtained against Kauff- 
 man, amounting, with cost and expenses, to more 
 than four thousand dollars. A large part, if not the 
 whole, of this sum was paid for Mr. Kauffman and 
 his friends, by contributions. 
 
 Thomas Garrett, of Wilmington, Delaware, after 
 helping many slaves to escape, was indicted, convict- 
 ed, and sentenced to pay a sum which consumed all 
 his property. When the Marshal took from him this 
 amount, he said, " I suppose this will teach you, Mr. 
 Garrett, to be more careful hereafter." Mr. G.'s re- 
 ply was, " You have now taken my last dollar, but if 
 you hear of any fugitives from slavery, who need 
 shelter, send them to me." 
 
 Sherman M. Booth and John Rycroft, of Milwau- 
 kee, Wisconsin, were lately convicted of aiding in the 
 rescue of the fugitive Glover, and sentenced, by 
 Judge Miller, of the United States Court, to pay fines 
 of one thousand and two hundred dollars, together 
 
with imprisonment. The Milwaukee Marshal and 
 Clerk of the Court selected the jury, in this case, in 
 defiance of a law of Congress to the contrary, and 
 Judge Miller told the jury, in his charge, that he 
 alone Y/as judge of the lav,^ ; that the defendant was 
 guilty, and that it was their duty to convict. Three 
 of the jiu-ors, after agreeing to the verdict, adopted 
 the following resolution : — 
 
 " Resolved, That while we feel ourselves bound 
 by a solemn oath to j)erform a most painful duty, in 
 declaring the defendant guilty of the above charge, 
 and thus making him liable to the penalties of a most 
 cruel and odious law, yet at the same time, in so 
 doing, we declare that he performed a most noble, 
 benevolent, and humane act, and we thus record our 
 condemnation of the Fugitive Slave Law, and earn- 
 estly commend him to the clemency of the Court." 
 
 The Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin, has 
 since nobly distinguished itself by discharging Booth 
 and his companions from imprisonment. But they 
 have been afterward prosecuted in a civil suit for 
 damages before the same Judge Miller. 
 
 In 1854, Rush R. Sloan, of Sandusky, Ohio, was 
 prosecuted under the Fugitive Slave Law, and sen- 
 tenced to pay nearly four thousand dollars by the U. S. 
 
8 
 
 Courts for simply doing his duty as counsel for some 
 persons claimed as fugitives, advising his clients that 
 he could not ascertain that they were held by any 
 legal process, and that, therefore, they were at liberty 
 to go where they chose. 
 
 And, in addition to all this, we have the trials in 
 Mass., of Theodore Parker, and Wendell Phillips, for 
 speaking in Faneuil Hall in behalf of liberty, at the 
 time of the Burns rendition. With this case, we are 
 all familiar. It will be seen from these facts, that 
 there is a real necessity for such a union as we pro- 
 pose. It is evident that the U. S. Courts, knowing 
 how obnoxious is the Fugitive Slave Law, feel that it 
 can be only enforced by a system of intimidation. By 
 severe penalties inflicted on individuals, they hope to 
 put down opposition to this law. If a man is to run 
 the risk of being ruined who shelters the Fugitive, 
 who aids him to escape from his pursuers, who does 
 his duty as his legal counsel, or who publicly de- 
 nounces the iniquity of slave-catching, it is supposed 
 that the Slave Lav/ will be easily enforced. The 
 great object, therefore, is to punish severely all who in 
 any way oppose its execution. This is accomplished 
 first, by large instructions to the Grand Jury of the 
 TJ. S. Courts, making it a crime against the Statute to 
 
9 
 
 say or do anything in consequence of which the fugi- 
 tive escapes ; secondly, by putting such questions 
 to the petit jury as shall exclude all those who do 
 not believe that the safety of the Union depends on 
 the rendition of fugitives ; and tliirdly, by directing 
 them that they are not to judge of the law, but only 
 of the fact. In this way, it is too easy to secure a 
 verdict asrainst the defendant. All that we can do 
 is to see that he shall have proper counsel, and if 
 unjustly convicted, or convicted of doing justly, to 
 take our share of the penalty, by contributing to the 
 expenses which he has incurred. Such is the piu-pose 
 of this league ; and it is one which we need not be 
 ashamed to avow openly as legal, proper, and emi- 
 nently necessary at the present time. 
 
CONSTITUTION 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 The name of this Association shall be The Defensive 
 League of Freedom. 
 
 article ii. 
 The object of this Association shall be, to secure to all 
 persons claimed as fugitives from Slavery, and to all persons 
 accused of violating the Fugitive Slave Bill, the fullest legal 
 protection ; and also to indemnify all such persons against 
 costs, fines, and expenses whenever they shall seem to de- 
 serve such indemnification. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 All persons may become members of the League by signing 
 the Constitution, and paying one dollar as entrance money, 
 and also by subscribing such sum as he or she may choose, 
 which subscription is liable to an assessment according as it 
 is needed, but not to exceed five per cent, per annum, on the 
 amount subscribed. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 The oSicers of this Association shall consist of the Presi- 
 dent, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Central 
 Committee, to be chosen every year, at the Annual Meeting. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 The Central Committee shall consist of one member from 
 every County in the State, to whom shall be added the 
 
12 
 
 President, Vice Presidect, Secretary, and Treasurer, and five 
 other members chosen at large. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 The duty of the Central Committee shall be to obtain 
 subscribers to the League through the State ; to collect and 
 distribute the funds ; to call meetings, and generally to con- 
 duct and control the affairs of the Association, Five shall 
 constitute a business quorum. 
 
 ARTICLE YII. 
 
 This Constitution can be changed at any meeting of the 
 League, called for that purpose by the Central Committee, 
 due notice bciog given. 
 
 Note. — Persons receiving this pamplilet, Tvho may wish, to be- 
 come members of the League, are requested to send their names 
 to any of the following persons, mentioning the amount they 
 choose to subscribe in addition to the entrance fee of one dollar. 
 It will be seen that only five per cent, per annum of this sub- 
 scription can be called for. Thus any person willing to pay five 
 dollars a year Avhen needed, will subscribe one hundred dollars ; 
 if he is wilfing to pay ten dollars a year, he will subscribe two 
 hundred dollars. If no case* shall arise during the year calling for 
 aid, then no assessment will be levied on subscriptions. As soon 
 as names are received, a meeting of the League 
 
 will be called for organization, and the officers for the year will be 
 chosen. 
 
 Ellis Gray Loring, Henry J. Prextiss, 
 
 No. 27 State Street. No. 19 Water Street. 
 
 James Freeman Clarke, John A. Andrew, 
 
 Roxbury, Mass. \o ' ""ourt Street- 
 
 Samuel Cabot, Jr. Samuel «. Howe, 
 
 No. 17 Winter Street. No 2; Bromfield Street. 
 
 54 i 
 
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