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Slaves and the Courts

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Submitted By khill1977
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Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860

Katrina N. Hill
American Public University System

Abstract
Years of research routinely done on the life of African American slaves and their struggles within the United States. However, many have forgotten about the injustice African American slaves faced in the United States Court system. During 1740-1860 African American slaves endured not only enslavement but, were neglected by the U. S. Courts. A number of slaves tried to secure their own freedom, only to find the legal system was not on their side. The United States Courts was responsible for hearing and ruling on some of the country’s most controversial cases. The research in this paper was greatly influenced by previous works, with the hopes of shedding light on the United States court systems as it related to African American slaves in this time frame.
Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860
According to Lubert (2010) Slavery has been the great moral failing of the American Revolution… a movement that was based on the self-evident truth that all men were created equal. The founding fathers believed that slavery was in fact an embarrassing contradiction that violated everything the American Revolution stood for (Lubert, 2010.). Even though documents such as the Declaration of Independence existed slavery was widely practiced and legally acceptable. Nearly twenty years after the Declaration of Independence was written. Fugitive slave law was introduced in the United States. The fugitive slave law was known as the “Fugitive Slave Act”. This act made it illegal for individuals to interfere with the attainment of fugitive slaves…. "No person held to labor or service in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such labor or service, but shall

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