REPORT IN THE SENATE OF THE COMMITTEE ON SLAVERY AND FREEDMEN, FEBRUARY
29, 1864.
February 29, 1864, Mr. Sumner reported from the Committee
on Slavery and Freedmen a bill to repeal all acts for the
rendition of fugitive slaves. Accompanying this bill was the
following report, of which ten thousand extra copies were
ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate, together with
the views of the minority, by Mr. Buckalew.
The debate on this subject, and the final repeal of all
Fugitive Slave Acts, appear at a later date.[312]
The Select Committee on Slavery and the Treatment of Freedmen,
to whom were referred sundry petitions asking for the repeal of
the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and also asking for the repeal
of all acts for the rendition of fugitive slaves, have had the
same under consideration, and ask leave to make the following
report.
Two Fugitive Slave Acts still exist unrepealed on our statute-book.
The first, dated as long ago as 1793, was preceded by an official
correspondence, supposed to show necessity for legislation.[313] The
second, belonging to the compromises of 1850, was introduced by a
report from Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, at that time Chairman of the
Judiciary Committee of the Senate.[314] In proposing the repeal of
all legislation on the subject, it seems not improper to imitate the
latter precedent by a report assigning briefly the reasons governing
the Committee.