August 29, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, The Fugitive Slave Act made all Americans accomplices in the practice of slavery. This story marks the beginning of its end.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Here again to
tell another great story is the Jack Millicenter's editorial officer
and historian, Eliot Trego. The Jack Millicenter is a trusted
partner of our American stories, and there are a nationwide
network of scholars and teachers dedicated to educating the next
(00:30):
generation about America's founding principles and history. Take it away, Elliott.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
In the heart of Philadelphia, our runaway mother desperately held
her infant son close as she matched wits with a
ruthless slave catcher. The mother, born Betsy Galloway, escaped from
her enslavement in Maryland in eighteen forty five with the
help of a free man named William Thompson. Galloway soon
married Thompson, changed her name to Catherine Thompson, and eventually
(01:00):
settled in Burlington County, New Jersey, where she gave birth
to a son, Joel in eighteen forty seven. The Thompson
family lived in relative safety in New Jersey, though the
thought of her prior enslavement must have haunted her, for
black Americans across the North often felt prey to determined enslavers,
ruthless kidnappers, and unflinching slave catchers, Catherine Thompson was far
(01:25):
from safe. Two years later, a black man named James
Frisbee Price appeared at the Thompson's doorstep, claiming that he
was a lost hunter. Taking pity on the man, the
Thompsons welcomed him into their home and made fast friends
with Price. A few weeks later, Catherine Thompson received an
invitation from Price to visit him and his wife in Philadelphia.
(01:46):
She obliged and brought her infant son, Joel with her
to meet them, But when she arrived at the Price household,
she realized Price's ruse and found herself face to face
with the notorious slave catcher, Philadelphian ALBERTI.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Junior.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Black Americans, like Catherine Thompson, faced a precarious freedom living
in the Antebellum North. Despite its history of abolitionism, including
passing the nation's first gradual Emancipation Act, the forces of
slavery still lurked across the state of Pennsylvania, especially in
the city of Philadelphia. Labeled as the most northern of
southern cities by one historian, Philadelphia hosted street battles over
(02:27):
slavery throughout the nineteenth century. These battles took many forms,
from fugitive slave rescues and the kidnapping of free black
Americans to vicious riots that led to the wanton destruction
of Black Philadelphia. Conflicts at the street level in Philadelphia
became inextricably fused to state and national politics, as politicians'
(02:48):
ability to classify in slave Black Americans both as property
and as human beings represented a fundamental tension throughout the
United States. The tension stemmed from the seventeen ninety three
Federal Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed in slavers and slave
catchers to pursue fugitives from slavery across state lines. Compounding
this issue, states like Pennsylvania passed legislation that not only
(03:12):
promoted freedom, such as their seventeen to eighty Gradual Emancipation Act,
but also sought to protect free blacks against kidnappers masquerading
as quote legal slaveholders. Ordinary black and white abolitionists protected
Black Americans by practicing what I call street diplomacy. The
upclose contests over freedom and slavery at the local level
(03:33):
in Philadelphia that influenced politics and politicians at the state
and national levels. The kidnappings of free blacks as well
as fugitive slave retrievals, led street diplomats to pressure Pennsylvania
lawmakers to pass liberty laws, which were pieces of state
legislation designed to protect black Americans. Not only did these
(03:56):
laws reflect the intertwined realities of blacks fleeing Southern slavery
and the kidnapping of free blacks throughout the North, but
these laws also revealed how some Americans, namely black and
white abolitionists, strived to live up to the promises enshrined
in the Declaration of Independence. While most of these cases
began on the streets of Philadelphia, all of them involved
(04:17):
high profile politicians, from governors to members of Congress to
Supreme Court justices. These struggles in Pennsylvania brought to light
the illusory nature of borders between the free and the
slave states, as well as the inherent tension over freedom
and slavery that eventually led to the Civil War, to
the chagrin of slaveholders. By eighteen fifty, a slew of
northern states followed Pennsylvania's lead and enacted their own liberty laws.
(04:42):
Southerners believed that they possessed the right to track and
capture Black Americans throughout the Union, and viewed Northern states
liberty laws as a threat to maintaining peaceful relationships within
the Union. The rise of aggressive abolitionism and the national
celebrity of black Americans like Frederick Douglas, as well as
the ongoing public successes of the Underground Railroad, further exacerbated
(05:03):
slaveholder's patients. Southern enslavers and some of their Northern colleagues
believed that only federal legislation could solve the fugitive slave crisis,
protect slave state interests, and save the Union. The eighteen
fifty Fugitive Slave Act fully immersed the federal government in
the process of retrieving fugitives from slavery. Enslavers and slave
(05:24):
catchers can now enlist the help of U. S. Marshals
to retrieve fugitives from slavery anywhere in the Union. Federal
commissioners and judges now possessed the authority to issue warrants
to remove black Americans being accused of runaways. This federal
slave catching policy overrode Northern state officials bound by either
personal conviction or state law to refuse to become involved
(05:46):
in futuitive slave cases. Furthermore, slaveholders testimonies would be valid,
while the accused could not testify at all. If the
court ruled in favor of the enslaver, they then had
the power to request that U s Marshals hired as
many people as necessary to bring the enslaved person back South.
Most importantly, anyone who interfered with the arrest of an
(06:08):
accused fugitive faced a fine of one thousand dollars and
up to six months in jail. In short, the eighteen
fifty Fugitive Slave Act made all Americans, whether Northern Southern, white, black,
male or female, responsible for assisting slaveholders in their pursuit
of fugitives from slavery. Returning to Catherine Thompson's case, here
(06:30):
we witness how she acted as a street diplomat in
a high stakes game of life and death. Slapping handcuffs
on her, Alberti demanded that she leave Joel with the
prices in Philadelphia and that she come with him back
to slavery in Maryland. Catherine Thompson bravely refused Alberti's request
and clung tightly to her child. As a mother, she
(06:53):
would not surrender her son. Yet, as a street diplomat.
She also knew that Alberti would be charged as a
kidnapper under pencil law if he brought them both back
to Maryland, for Joel was indeed born free in New Jersey.
Although a slave catcher posing as an abolitionist tried to
convince her otherwise, and even after enduring a savage beating
(07:13):
from Alberti, Thompson would not let go of her child.
Alberti relented and agreed to bring Joel to Maryland too,
but not to avoid separating a mother from her child. Instead,
Alberti adopted the heartless logical and legal realities created by
slaveholders and their pro slavery allies, namely that the condition
(07:34):
of slavery followed the mother. Since Joel was the product
of a runaway slave, Alberti reasoned that both he and
his mother could be legally kidnapped and re enslaved down south,
and that's exactly what he did. Alberti brought them back
to Maryland, where Thompson's former enslaver sold them further south,
never to be heard from again. But that is not
(07:56):
the end of the story. Black and white street diplomats,
many of whom acted as agents and conductors of the
Underground Railroad convinced Pennsylvania officials to press charges against Albertian
Price for kidnapping Joel, but not his mother. You might ask,
why weren't they charged for kidnapping Catherine Thompson. Here's the
tragic answer. Catherine Thompson was a runaway, and therefore the
(08:20):
slave catchers were within their legal rights to bring her
back to her enslaver. After a lengthy, gripping trial, the
jury found Albertian Price guilty of kidnapping Joel and sentenced
them to prison at the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary. In
a cruel twist of fate, the newly elected Democratic governor
William Bigler of Pennsylvania pardoned the pair the next year,
(08:44):
and both Alberti and Price returned to plying their grim
trade on the streets of Philadelphia. The case of Catherine
Thompson and her infant son Joel was one and a
plethora of similar events that exploded across the North prior
to the Civil War. Confronted by such cases, white Americans
soon began to chafe over the inhumanity of slavery and
(09:05):
the inhumanity of the Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen fifty,
which charged all Americans with aiding in the return of runaways.
This aid meant ripping families apart, inflicting violence on the innocent,
and condemning their fellow Americans to perpetual servitude, each human
being lost to slavery. The efforts of black and white
(09:26):
abolitionists to expose the true nature of aiding the forces
of slavery in all of its gut wrenching intricacies eventually
bore fruit. In time, Americans increasingly rejected being beholden to
slaveholders who hoped to spread slavery and not freedom, across
the nation. Northerners elected a president in eighteen sixty who
refused to accept the expansion of slavery as the true
(09:49):
mission of the United States. The Civil War reflected the
culmination of history, diplomacy, the efforts of black and white
Americans who worked together to destroy slavery and bring about
a more perp.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
And a terrific job of the editing, production and storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
Elliot Drago who's the Jack Millericenter's editorial officer and historian.
The Jack Miller Center is a nationwide network of scholars
and teachers dedicated to educating in the next generation about
America's founding principles and our history. To learn more, visit
(10:25):
Jackmillercenter dot org. And we got a lesson in American
history and the Fugitive Slave Act, making all Americans accomplices
in this sin of slavery, and of course the abolition movement.
The original civil rights movement would culminate in the Civil War,
the story of Catherine Thompson. Here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. Here again to
tell another great story is the Jack Millicenter's editorial officer
and historian, Eliot Trego. The Jack Millicenter is a trusted
partner of our American stories, and there are a nationwide
network of scholars and teachers dedicated to educating the next
(00:30):
generation about America's founding principles and history. Take it away, Elliott.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
In the heart of Philadelphia, our runaway mother desperately held
her infant son close as she matched wits with a
ruthless slave catcher. The mother, born Betsy Galloway, escaped from
her enslavement in Maryland in eighteen forty five with the
help of a free man named William Thompson. Galloway soon
married Thompson, changed her name to Catherine Thompson, and eventually
(01:00):
settled in Burlington County, New Jersey, where she gave birth
to a son, Joel in eighteen forty seven. The Thompson
family lived in relative safety in New Jersey, though the
thought of her prior enslavement must have haunted her, for
black Americans across the North often felt prey to determined enslavers,
ruthless kidnappers, and unflinching slave catchers, Catherine Thompson was far
(01:25):
from safe. Two years later, a black man named James
Frisbee Price appeared at the Thompson's doorstep, claiming that he
was a lost hunter. Taking pity on the man, the
Thompsons welcomed him into their home and made fast friends
with Price. A few weeks later, Catherine Thompson received an
invitation from Price to visit him and his wife in Philadelphia.
(01:46):
She obliged and brought her infant son, Joel with her
to meet them, But when she arrived at the Price household,
she realized Price's ruse and found herself face to face
with the notorious slave catcher, Philadelphian ALBERTI.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Junior.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Black Americans, like Catherine Thompson, faced a precarious freedom living
in the Antebellum North. Despite its history of abolitionism, including
passing the nation's first gradual Emancipation Act, the forces of
slavery still lurked across the state of Pennsylvania, especially in
the city of Philadelphia. Labeled as the most northern of
southern cities by one historian, Philadelphia hosted street battles over
(02:27):
slavery throughout the nineteenth century. These battles took many forms,
from fugitive slave rescues and the kidnapping of free black
Americans to vicious riots that led to the wanton destruction
of Black Philadelphia. Conflicts at the street level in Philadelphia
became inextricably fused to state and national politics, as politicians'
(02:48):
ability to classify in slave Black Americans both as property
and as human beings represented a fundamental tension throughout the
United States. The tension stemmed from the seventeen ninety three
Federal Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed in slavers and slave
catchers to pursue fugitives from slavery across state lines. Compounding
this issue, states like Pennsylvania passed legislation that not only
(03:12):
promoted freedom, such as their seventeen to eighty Gradual Emancipation Act,
but also sought to protect free blacks against kidnappers masquerading
as quote legal slaveholders. Ordinary black and white abolitionists protected
Black Americans by practicing what I call street diplomacy. The
upclose contests over freedom and slavery at the local level
(03:33):
in Philadelphia that influenced politics and politicians at the state
and national levels. The kidnappings of free blacks as well
as fugitive slave retrievals, led street diplomats to pressure Pennsylvania
lawmakers to pass liberty laws, which were pieces of state
legislation designed to protect black Americans. Not only did these
(03:56):
laws reflect the intertwined realities of blacks fleeing Southern slavery
and the kidnapping of free blacks throughout the North, but
these laws also revealed how some Americans, namely black and
white abolitionists, strived to live up to the promises enshrined
in the Declaration of Independence. While most of these cases
began on the streets of Philadelphia, all of them involved
(04:17):
high profile politicians, from governors to members of Congress to
Supreme Court justices. These struggles in Pennsylvania brought to light
the illusory nature of borders between the free and the
slave states, as well as the inherent tension over freedom
and slavery that eventually led to the Civil War, to
the chagrin of slaveholders. By eighteen fifty, a slew of
northern states followed Pennsylvania's lead and enacted their own liberty laws.
(04:42):
Southerners believed that they possessed the right to track and
capture Black Americans throughout the Union, and viewed Northern states
liberty laws as a threat to maintaining peaceful relationships within
the Union. The rise of aggressive abolitionism and the national
celebrity of black Americans like Frederick Douglas, as well as
the ongoing public successes of the Underground Railroad, further exacerbated
(05:03):
slaveholder's patients. Southern enslavers and some of their Northern colleagues
believed that only federal legislation could solve the fugitive slave crisis,
protect slave state interests, and save the Union. The eighteen
fifty Fugitive Slave Act fully immersed the federal government in
the process of retrieving fugitives from slavery. Enslavers and slave
(05:24):
catchers can now enlist the help of U. S. Marshals
to retrieve fugitives from slavery anywhere in the Union. Federal
commissioners and judges now possessed the authority to issue warrants
to remove black Americans being accused of runaways. This federal
slave catching policy overrode Northern state officials bound by either
personal conviction or state law to refuse to become involved
(05:46):
in futuitive slave cases. Furthermore, slaveholders testimonies would be valid,
while the accused could not testify at all. If the
court ruled in favor of the enslaver, they then had
the power to request that U s Marshals hired as
many people as necessary to bring the enslaved person back South.
Most importantly, anyone who interfered with the arrest of an
(06:08):
accused fugitive faced a fine of one thousand dollars and
up to six months in jail. In short, the eighteen
fifty Fugitive Slave Act made all Americans, whether Northern Southern, white, black,
male or female, responsible for assisting slaveholders in their pursuit
of fugitives from slavery. Returning to Catherine Thompson's case, here
(06:30):
we witness how she acted as a street diplomat in
a high stakes game of life and death. Slapping handcuffs
on her, Alberti demanded that she leave Joel with the
prices in Philadelphia and that she come with him back
to slavery in Maryland. Catherine Thompson bravely refused Alberti's request
and clung tightly to her child. As a mother, she
(06:53):
would not surrender her son. Yet, as a street diplomat.
She also knew that Alberti would be charged as a
kidnapper under pencil law if he brought them both back
to Maryland, for Joel was indeed born free in New Jersey.
Although a slave catcher posing as an abolitionist tried to
convince her otherwise, and even after enduring a savage beating
(07:13):
from Alberti, Thompson would not let go of her child.
Alberti relented and agreed to bring Joel to Maryland too,
but not to avoid separating a mother from her child. Instead,
Alberti adopted the heartless logical and legal realities created by
slaveholders and their pro slavery allies, namely that the condition
(07:34):
of slavery followed the mother. Since Joel was the product
of a runaway slave, Alberti reasoned that both he and
his mother could be legally kidnapped and re enslaved down south,
and that's exactly what he did. Alberti brought them back
to Maryland, where Thompson's former enslaver sold them further south,
never to be heard from again. But that is not
(07:56):
the end of the story. Black and white street diplomats,
many of whom acted as agents and conductors of the
Underground Railroad convinced Pennsylvania officials to press charges against Albertian
Price for kidnapping Joel, but not his mother. You might ask,
why weren't they charged for kidnapping Catherine Thompson. Here's the
tragic answer. Catherine Thompson was a runaway, and therefore the
(08:20):
slave catchers were within their legal rights to bring her
back to her enslaver. After a lengthy, gripping trial, the
jury found Albertian Price guilty of kidnapping Joel and sentenced
them to prison at the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary. In
a cruel twist of fate, the newly elected Democratic governor
William Bigler of Pennsylvania pardoned the pair the next year,
(08:44):
and both Alberti and Price returned to plying their grim
trade on the streets of Philadelphia. The case of Catherine
Thompson and her infant son Joel was one and a
plethora of similar events that exploded across the North prior
to the Civil War. Confronted by such cases, white Americans
soon began to chafe over the inhumanity of slavery and
(09:05):
the inhumanity of the Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen fifty,
which charged all Americans with aiding in the return of runaways.
This aid meant ripping families apart, inflicting violence on the innocent,
and condemning their fellow Americans to perpetual servitude, each human
being lost to slavery. The efforts of black and white
(09:26):
abolitionists to expose the true nature of aiding the forces
of slavery in all of its gut wrenching intricacies eventually
bore fruit. In time, Americans increasingly rejected being beholden to
slaveholders who hoped to spread slavery and not freedom, across
the nation. Northerners elected a president in eighteen sixty who
refused to accept the expansion of slavery as the true
(09:49):
mission of the United States. The Civil War reflected the
culmination of history, diplomacy, the efforts of black and white
Americans who worked together to destroy slavery and bring about
a more perp.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
And a terrific job of the editing, production and storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
Elliot Drago who's the Jack Millericenter's editorial officer and historian.
The Jack Miller Center is a nationwide network of scholars
and teachers dedicated to educating in the next generation about
America's founding principles and our history. To learn more, visit
(10:25):
Jackmillercenter dot org. And we got a lesson in American
history and the Fugitive Slave Act, making all Americans accomplices
in this sin of slavery, and of course the abolition movement.
The original civil rights movement would culminate in the Civil War,
the story of Catherine Thompson. Here on our American Stories
Host
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