[Magdalen] right to bear arms

[Roger Stokes]

On 13/12/2015 19:21, Eleanor Braun wrote:
> A little slow on the uptake here, but....
>
> The constitution as adopted had what was called the "fugitive slave
> clause", then Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3, which read:  "No person held
> to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into
> another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be
> discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim
> of the party to whom such service or labour may be due."
>
> This delicately gave effect to state laws allowing slavery [as opposed to
> direct federal approval of slavery], and required the return of escaped
> slaves.  It was amended out of existence by the 13th Amendment, abolishing
> slavery.

Don't forget Major General Butler's decision in 1861 that slaves who 
escaped Confederate lines and arrived at Fort Monroe (which he then 
commanded) would be regarded as contraband and not returned.  His 
rationale was that the Confederacy had rejected the Union, and thereby 
its Constitution, and so could not rely on any part of it. There can be 
advantages in having a lawyer onbiard in such a dispute.

Roger