From the earliest days of slavery in America, slave owners had tried to get agreements among all of the colonies or states for the return of fugitive saves. In 1643, the several colonies of the New England Confederation (Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven) had made such a pact with one another. Throughout the colonial era, public sentiment seemed to support such a policy. That is why Southerners were able to force into the Constitution of the United States Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 which reads: “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” (Epstein and Walker, 1998, p.
From the earliest days of slavery in America, slave owners had tried to get agreements among all of the colonies or states for the return of fugitive saves. In 1643, the several colonies of the New England Confederation (Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven) had made such a pact with one another. Throughout the colonial era, public sentiment seemed to support such a policy. That is why Southerners were able to force into the Constitution of the United States Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 which reads: “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” (Epstein and Walker, 1998, p.