John McLean

“ I go no further than to say, that where the constitution imposes a positive duty on a state or its officers to surrender fugitives, congress may prescribe the mode of proof, and the duty of the state officers. This power may be resisted by a state, and there is no means of coercing it. In this view, the power may be considered an important one. So, the supreme court of a state may refuse to certify its record on a writ of error to the supreme court of the Union, under the 25th section of the judiciary act. ”

“ The states are inhibited from passing 'any law or regulation which shall discharge a fugitive slave from the service of his master;' and a positive duty is enjoined on them to deliver him up, 'on claim of the party to whom his service may be due.' The nature of the power shows that it must be exclusive. It was designed to protect the rights of the master, and against whom? Not against the state, nor the people of the state in which he resides; but against the people and the legislative action of other states where the fugitive from labor might be found. ”

“ Congress can no more regulate the jurisdiction of the state tribunals, than a state can define the judicial power of the Union. The officers of each government are responsible only to the respective authorities under which they are commissioned. But do not the clauses in the constitution in regard to fugitives from labor, and from justice, give congress a power over state officers, on these subjects? ”

“ A law is better understood by a knowledge of the evils which led to its adoption; and this applies most strongly to a fundamental law. At an early period of our history, slavery existed in all the colonies; and fugitives from labor were claimed and delivered up, under a spirit of comity or conventional law among the colonies. ”

“ The conflict is supposed to arise out of the prohibition against the forcible removal of persons of color, generally, which may include fugitive slaves. Prima focie, it does not include slaves, as every man within the state is presumed to be free, and there is no provision in the act which embraces slaves. ”

“ In some of the states, it was considered an evil, and a strong opposition to it, in all its forms, was felt and expressed. In others, it was viewed as a cherished right, incorporated into the social compact, and sacredly guarded by law. ”

“ Under such circumstances, the master needs no proof of his claim, though he might stand in need of additional physical power; having appealed to his power, he has only to collect a sufficient force to put down all resistance and attain his object ”