Newspaper Articles on the Green Case

The New York Herald Jan. 31, 1856, p. 4
Threatened Civil War Between Virginia and Pennsylvania

We give place in another part of the Herald of the debate in the Virginia Legislature on the subject of the arrest, some months ago, of James Parsons, Jr., a citizen of Virginia, who was in pursuit of a fugitive slave, by the local authorities of Pennsylvania. We also publish reports from a committee - majority and minority – of the Pennsylvania legislature, on the proposed right of transit of slaves through that state. The subject is one of profound interest and the proceedings of the two legislative bodies indicate that the time has come when the rights of the states must be thoroughly tested in this matter of fugitive slaves and the legal privilege of transit claimed by the South through the territories of the North.

Aside from the mere legal bearings of the matter, it is remarkable indeed that there should be a conflict between members of the federal Union on the subject either of the surrender of slaves or of transit through each other's territory. The common courtesies of life, good neighborhood between members of the same general family, without any special constitutional or legal guarantees, should have been sufficient to induce the state of Pennsylvania to aid the people of Virginia to enforce the rights of her citizens to such property as is recognized in the latter State. We can imagine nothing better calculated to sow the seeds of permanent estrangement than even to confine a neighbor strictly to use legal rights; to deny him those right under an assumed condemnation of their in immoralities, is an offense against justice, the obligations of law, and the comities of good neighborhood.

But we must take things as we find them, and call them by their names. The federal constitution provides for the surrender of fugitive slaves to their masters on proper demand. It is not too much to claim that the object of this provision was two fold - to give to the slaveholder a legal right to claim his fugitives from labor, and to impose an obligation obligation upon the free States - indeed, upon all the States - - to make the surrender. In order to give effect to this constitutional right and obligation the act of 1703 was passed. That act, in process of time, became powerless, by reason of the refusal of citizens of the free States to discharge their General Obligations - to act in good faith towards the slaveholders in the matter of escaped slaves. The supplementary Act of 1850 was finally passed, the necessity for which arose entirely from the bad faith of the North. We had substantially refused to meet and discharge our solemn constitutional obligations. We became technical. We refused to surrender slaves, and interposed every species of factious obstacle to the enforcement of the law.

So far has this work of repudiation and bad faith and offensive intermeddling been carried that no means have been spared to render the pursuit and capture of a slave a work of vast expense and personal annoyance to the pursuer. States have entered the field with distinct projects to obstruct the execution of the laws of Congress. In the present instance, the state of Pennsylvania not only prevented a citizen of Virginia from reclaiming his property, but pursued him as a criminal, indicted him as an abductor, and now holds him for trial. This is a species of nullification which has grown to an enormous national disgrace; and we rejoice that Virginia has at length determined to assume the responsibility of her citizen and conduct his defense.

The question involved in this controversy is one which has a broader bearing than that which is connected with the rights of James Parsons, Jr., a citizen of Virginia, now under indictment for crime in Pennsylvania. It has in an enlarged political feature. It involves the integrity of the constitution of the United States and the power of the federal courts to execute the laws of Congress. That Constitution has given the right of capture to the slaveholder, and is absurd to claim that such a right does not imply the security of the pursuer from the operation of State laws. The legal basis of this notion is laid in the organic law; the statutes of Congress merely point to facilities to enable him to execute his rights. The criminals in the case of Parsons are the authorities of Pennsylvania, who, by obstructing Parsons in the capture of his slave, we're obstructing The laws of the United States. The act of the authorities of Pennsylvania was illegal, criminal, and should be punished; and it is the duty of the Commonwealth of Virginia to assume, as far as possible, the place of her injured citizen, and prosecute the case to a final Hearing in the federal courts. It is a duty she owes alike to Mr. Parsons and to the future peace and harmony of the Union, which, in respect to the constitutional rights of the slaveholders, has become a rope of sand.

The state of Wisconsin, in the Booth case, has directly nullified the federal compact. That case is before the Supreme Court of the United States, and its decision may be regarded as certain. The act of the State Judges of Wisconsin was one of those palpable assumptions of power by an inferior and ignorant tribunal to nullify the obligations of the constitution.

Be celebrated Lemmon case will come up in February before the Circuit Court of the United States in this city, involving another Point, not so clear; but still it is believed in that case it will be decided in favor of the right of transit of slaves to the States and Territories by virtue of the spirit of the federal Union. It would be more creditable to the country to place this right on the comities of intercourse, then to deduce it from the positive provisions of the constitution. It is an unspeakable disgrace, indeed, to the free States that their Brethren of the South are compelled to resort to extreme remedies to enforce their rights of property in our territory. The mere privilege of transit of slaves with seem to follow from the general objects in nature of the federal government.

It is a right fairly deductible from the act of Union itself; from the fact that slaves are made the basis of representation in Congress, have been sold on execution from the federal courts, and title given to federal officers. If they thus enter into the very structure of the government, what sense is there in regarding them, when they are conducted through our territory, in a light different from that which attaches to them in their own country? They are the creation of municipal laws; but their mere transit through free territory should not be construed as divesting them of the legal character which attaches to them under those laws. In any just sense – in the spirit of our Union - by the comities of our inter-state intercourse - by our common history and brotherhood - by the interests and honor of our people – by the trade and commerce – by their faith and friendship, the right of transit should be regarded as the right of hospitality: sacred and unsullied.

Memphis Daily Appeal, Feb. 8, 1856

Virginia and the fugitive state law. A select committee of the Virginia House of Delegates has reported a bill to “protect James Parsons Jr. of Hampshire and other citizens of the Commonwealth in the prosecution and maintenance of their constitutional rights.” The said Parsons is now under recognizance to appear before the county court of the Blair County Pa., to answer to the charge of kidnapping under the law of said State, he having pursued to said County and endeavored to reclaim a fugitive slave in pursuance to the provision of the act of Congress known as the “Fugitive Slave Law.” The bill prohibits the said Parsons, under a penalty of $6,000, from appearing and pleading to the charge aforesaid, and provides that the Commonwealth of Virginia shall assume on his behalf all costs, fines, forfeiture &c., incurred by his non-appearance - the amount to be paid by the Governor out of the contingent fund. The bill further provides that if the said Parsons shall hereafter be arrested and imprisoned upon the charges aforesaid the Governor of Virginia is directed to demand his immediate surrender, and in default thereof shall cause the writ of habeas corpus to be applied for, &c. If his release not then effected, the Governor it is directed, ten days after the proclamation to seize and imprison all citizens, and to seize and hold all property of the State of Pennsylvania and of citizens thereof, until the release and surrender of said Parsons. For the enforcement of the proceedings contemplated by the proposed law the Governor is authorized to call upon and command the services of all civil and military officers of the state, and all private citizens whatsoever, &c. It is further provided that the provisions of the bill shall be extended to any other citizen of Virginia who may hereafter be placed in the situation of said Parsons, &c.

Timeline:

• September 18, 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress as part of the Compromise of 1850.
• 1852 publication ofUncle Tom's Cabin
• 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act
• August, 1855, Jake Green, a slave of Isaac Parsons, runs off carrying with him four other neighboring slaves.
• October, 1855 Green returns to Hampshire County again and escapes with five slaves of Mr. Stump.
• October 20, 1855, James Parsons, jr. whilst in the act of arresting the fugitive slave in Hollidaysburg, Pa. was assaulted by a mob; Jacob Green escapes.
• January, 1856 Virginia Attorney General J.R. Tucker was sent by Governor Henry A. Wise to represent the interests of the Commonwealth of Virginia at the January 1856 trail of James Parsons, Jr. in Pennsylvania.
• May 24-25, 1856 John Brown & the Pottawatomie Massacre
• March 6, 1857 the Dred Scott Decision of the U. S. Supreme Court.
• April 12, 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter opens the Civil War.
• April 9, 1865 General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House.
• 1866 Civil Rights Act of 1866
• 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution adopted. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."
• 1871 Civil Rights Act of 1871 prohibits ethnic violence against African Americans
• 1888 African Americans in West Virginia form a Colored Independent Party to run for state office.