Personal liberty laws
The personal liberty laws were laws passed by several U.S. states in the North to counter the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Different laws did this in different ways, including allowing jury trials for escaped slaves and forbidding state authorities from cooperating in their capture and return. States with personal liberty laws included Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Vermont.
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Books/Sources
- Free Men All: The Personal Liberty Laws of the North 1780-1861. - Thomas D. Morris
- Personal liberty laws, (statutes of Massachusetts), and slavery in the territories, (case of Dred Scott). By Joel... - Michigan Historical Reprint Series
American History
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Political History
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Early and Antebellum America (1789-1860)
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