[Magdalen] 5 Easter sermon, was Baptism refused...

[Roger Stokes]

On 09/05/2015 18:37, Eleanor Braun wrote:
> David:  the US Constitution, in Article IV, Section 2 provided:  "No person
> held to service or labor 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 labor, but shall be delivered up on claim
> of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
> <https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiii>
>
> That section was superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing
> slavery.  My understanding is that lots of the northern states were not
> following that provision, which, of course, pissed off the slave states.

When I was in Virginia last year I went to Fort Monroe, which some 
apparently called Fort Freedom. Despite being in basically Confederate 
territory during the war between the states it remained in Union hands 
under the command of Major General Bejamin Bitler. He was a lawyer and, 
as such, took the view that slaves who reached the fort were contraband 
and so should not be returned to their owners on the confederate side.

As the guide put it he told the confederate emissary seeking return of 
some slaves "You have renounced the Constitution and so cannot claim 
benefit from it."  The result was a lot of slaves seeking sanctiary there.

Roger