Burns Fugitive Slave Case (1854) was one of three famous fugitive slave cases arising in Boston, Massachusetts, after the enactment of the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slaveholding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened...
. Part of the
Vigilance CommitteeA vigilance committee, in the 19th century United States, was a group of private citizens who organized themselves for self-protection. The committees were established in areas where there was no local law enforcement, or where the local government was ineffectual, corrupt, or unpopular...
(1850-61) planned to rescue
Anthony BurnsAnthony Burns was born a slave in Stafford County, Virginia. As a young man, he converted to Baptism and became a "slave preacher"...
, an escaped slave, from an upper room of the
courthouseA courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America...
. They battered in a door of the building at night, May 26, entered and one of them shot and killed Marshal Batchelder. Despite the committee's efforts, United States Commissioner and
Suffolk County, MassachusettsSuffolk County is a county of Massachusetts. As of 2007, the population was 723,684; an increase from its population in 2000 of 689,000. The county seat is Boston, the state capital and largest city.-History:...
probate court judge
Edward G. LoringEdward Greely Loring was a Massachusetts judge who ignited controversy by ordering Thomas Sims and Anthony Burns be forced back into slavery under the federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1850....
remanded Burns to his owner, Suttle, of
Alexandria, VirginiaAlexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,283. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately 6 miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as...
.
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Burns Fugitive Slave Case (1854) was one of three famous fugitive slave cases arising in Boston, Massachusetts, after the enactment of the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slaveholding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened...
. Part of the
Vigilance CommitteeA vigilance committee, in the 19th century United States, was a group of private citizens who organized themselves for self-protection. The committees were established in areas where there was no local law enforcement, or where the local government was ineffectual, corrupt, or unpopular...
(1850-61) planned to rescue
Anthony BurnsAnthony Burns was born a slave in Stafford County, Virginia. As a young man, he converted to Baptism and became a "slave preacher"...
, an escaped slave, from an upper room of the
courthouseA courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America...
. They battered in a door of the building at night, May 26, entered and one of them shot and killed Marshal Batchelder. Despite the committee's efforts, United States Commissioner and
Suffolk County, MassachusettsSuffolk County is a county of Massachusetts. As of 2007, the population was 723,684; an increase from its population in 2000 of 689,000. The county seat is Boston, the state capital and largest city.-History:...
probate court judge
Edward G. LoringEdward Greely Loring was a Massachusetts judge who ignited controversy by ordering Thomas Sims and Anthony Burns be forced back into slavery under the federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1850....
remanded Burns to his owner, Suttle, of
Alexandria, VirginiaAlexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,283. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately 6 miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as...
. On June 2 throngs witnessed the slave's departure. Several rich citizens paid $1,300 and got him back early in 1855.
Source
- Adams, James Truslow
James Truslow Adams was an American writer and historian.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Adams took his bachelor's degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1898, and a master's degree from Yale University in 1900...
. Dictionary of American History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940.