Congress passes and President Millard Fillmore signs the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850, transforming the capture of freedom seekers from a state matter into a federal responsibility and converting the entire apparatus of federal law enforcement into an instrument of …
U.S. CongressMillard FillmoreFederal commissionersFederal marshalsSlaveholders+1 morefugitive-slave-actslave-powerfederal-complicityinstitutional-corruptionkidnapping+1 more
President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act into law, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi River to Native American tribes in exchange for their ancestral homelands within existing state borders. The legislation passes narrowly in the House (102 to 97) despite …
Andrew JacksonU.S. CongressCherokee NationFive Civilized TribesLand speculators+1 moreethnic-cleansingindian-removalinstitutional-corruptionland-speculationslave-power+2 more
Congress passes and President George Washington signs the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, federal legislation enforcing the Constitution’s Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2) by authorizing slaveholders and their agents to pursue freedom seekers across state lines and establishing …
U.S. CongressGeorge WashingtonFederal judgesSlaveholdersFreedom seekersslaveryinstitutional-corruptionfugitive-slave-actfederal-complicitydue-process-violation
The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1787, creating the Northwest Territory and establishing governance procedures for the region between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River (modern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota). Article VI of the …
Continental CongressNathan DaneSouthern state delegatesSlaveholdersslaveryfugitive-slave-clauseterritorial-expansioninstitutional-corruptionlegal-framework+1 more
The Virginia House of Burgesses enacts “An act concerning Servants and Slaves,” a comprehensive 41-section legal code consolidating and strengthening nearly two decades of piecemeal slave legislation into a unified framework that permanently establishes racial slavery as Virginia’s …
Virginia House of BurgessesVirginia ColonySlaveholdersslaveryinstitutional-corruptionslave-codeslegal-frameworkracial-caste
The Virginia House of Burgesses enacts a law establishing that “all children borne in this country shalbe held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother,” implementing the Roman legal doctrine of partus sequitur ventrem (literally “that which is born follows the …
Virginia House of BurgessesVirginia ColonySlaveholdersslaveryinstitutional-corruptionslave-codeslegal-frameworkgenerational-bondage