Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: Rutherford Hayes and the Fugitive Slave Act
Originally posted on September 7, 2014 as part of our "Presidents and the Law" series.
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio in 1822 and lived in the state for all of his life, other than the years he lived in Washington. Ohio was a free state during Hayes' life, although Kentucky, Ohio's neighbor to the south, was a slave state. According to Hayes' biographer Ari Hoogenboom, Hayes had never even met an African-American until his late 20s during the winter of 1848 to 1849, when he visited his college friend Guy Bryan, at his home on the Brazos River in Texas and met Guy's half-brother, who was also a slave.
Hayes later moved to Cincinnati where he married Lucy Webb. Lucy's father, Dr. James Webb, was from Kentucky, but was opposed to slavery. Dr. Webb had inherited fifteen to twenty slaves that he then freed. When Dr. Webb died before doing so, someone suggested to his widow Maria Cook Webb, that she should sell the slaves to support herself and her children comfortably. She is said to have replied: "Before I will sell a slave, I will take in washing to support my family." The Webb family freed these slaves and Lucy Hayes followed in her family's abolitionist beliefs.
As a young lawyer, Hayes defended slaves were were arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act, legislation passed in 1850 that required free states to cooperate in the return of runaway slaves. Hayes said "My services were always freely given to the slave and his friends in all cases arising under the Fugitive Slave Law." He did not publicize this however because his did not want his Cincinnati law practice to suffer in a city that bordered on Kentucky and was filled with southern sympathizers.
Hayes often appeared before Judge Jacob Flinn, a man who delighted in sending runaway slaves back to slavery. Hayes was a contemporary of John Jolliffe, Cincinnati's most conspicuous defender of fugitive slaves, who had advocated that Flinn be impeached. When Flinn physically attacked Jolliffe on a Cincinnati street, Hayes offered Jolliffe his services in the defense of fugitive slaves. A few weeks later, Hayes defended a young runaway slave named Louis. Louis slipped out of the courtroom and escaped to freedom while lawyers were arguing has case.
Hayes was part of a defense "dream team" that included then-Senator Salmon P. Chase and Judge Timothy Walker, which defended Rosetta Armstead. She was a young woman who was alleged to be was a runaway slave. Henry M. Dennison, a clergyman from Louisville, Kentucky, claimed to be her owner, had placed her in the charge of a man traveling to Richmond, Virginia. These travelers left an Ohio River steamboat at Cincinnati, intending to take a train to Columbus, when antislavery activists had them detained. They obtained an orderfrom the probate court freed Rosetta Armstead on a writ of habeas corpus, because she was a minor. Lewis G. Van Slyke was appointed as her guardian. At Columbus, Dennison asked Armstead to choose between going with him or remaining free. When she chose freedom, he said goodbye to her and told her that she would probably never see him again. But Dennis changed his mind and got a warrant for Armstead's arrest as a runaway slave from U.S. Commissioner John L. Pendery of Cincinnati.
Armistead was brought to Cincinnati, where her guardian Van Slyke asked for a writ of habeas corpus from Judge James Parker of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County. Van Slyke retained Chase, Walker and Hayes to represent her. The case attracted a lot of attention. The issues were: (1) Did a slave who was not a runaway become free upon touching the soil of Ohio? (2) Did Dennison, by allowing Rosetta Armstead, a minor, to choose freedom and then acquiescing before witnesses in her choice, legally free her? (3) Whose order took precedence, the Ohio court of the federal commissioner?
Judge Parker ordered that Armstead be freed, holding that under Ohio's constitution, no right of transit with slave property through the state existed. This did not end the matter however. Rosetta Armstead was rearrested by a federal marshal. In a hearing before U.S. Commissioner Pendery, Hayes made the major argument for the defense. Hayes argued that Dennison was "despising his pledged word" by trying to re-enslave Armstead after freeing her. He also argued that the Fugitive Slave Law did not apply to her case because she did not run away, Dennison's agent had brought her to Ohio. Pendery reserved his decision for a week before declaring that Rosetta Armstead was free under U.S. law as well as Ohio law. Van Slyke later said that he credited the outcome to Hayes's "eloquent and masterly closing speech."
Hayes continued to oppose the expansion of slavery and in 1855 he was one of the first members of the Ohio Republican party. He supported the nomination of John Charles Fremont on a platform opposed to the extension of slavery in 1856. When the war broke out in 1861, Hayes served in the Union Army, rising to the rank of brigadier general (he was a brevetted major general) He was wounded five times, and was elected to Congress where he served from 1865 to 1867 and supported many of the Radical Republican reconstruction measures.
Hayes would later draw criticism as president for his part in adherence to an agreement which settled on his victory in the controversial election of 1876, but which resulted in the removal of troops in the south who had been offering protection to freedmen. It was a difficult political position for Hayes and must have been troubling for him, given his exemplary record as a lawyer who had vigorously defended the rights of freed slaves.
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio in 1822 and lived in the state for all of his life, other than the years he lived in Washington. Ohio was a free state during Hayes' life, although Kentucky, Ohio's neighbor to the south, was a slave state. According to Hayes' biographer Ari Hoogenboom, Hayes had never even met an African-American until his late 20s during the winter of 1848 to 1849, when he visited his college friend Guy Bryan, at his home on the Brazos River in Texas and met Guy's half-brother, who was also a slave.
Hayes later moved to Cincinnati where he married Lucy Webb. Lucy's father, Dr. James Webb, was from Kentucky, but was opposed to slavery. Dr. Webb had inherited fifteen to twenty slaves that he then freed. When Dr. Webb died before doing so, someone suggested to his widow Maria Cook Webb, that she should sell the slaves to support herself and her children comfortably. She is said to have replied: "Before I will sell a slave, I will take in washing to support my family." The Webb family freed these slaves and Lucy Hayes followed in her family's abolitionist beliefs.
As a young lawyer, Hayes defended slaves were were arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act, legislation passed in 1850 that required free states to cooperate in the return of runaway slaves. Hayes said "My services were always freely given to the slave and his friends in all cases arising under the Fugitive Slave Law." He did not publicize this however because his did not want his Cincinnati law practice to suffer in a city that bordered on Kentucky and was filled with southern sympathizers.
Hayes often appeared before Judge Jacob Flinn, a man who delighted in sending runaway slaves back to slavery. Hayes was a contemporary of John Jolliffe, Cincinnati's most conspicuous defender of fugitive slaves, who had advocated that Flinn be impeached. When Flinn physically attacked Jolliffe on a Cincinnati street, Hayes offered Jolliffe his services in the defense of fugitive slaves. A few weeks later, Hayes defended a young runaway slave named Louis. Louis slipped out of the courtroom and escaped to freedom while lawyers were arguing has case.
Hayes was part of a defense "dream team" that included then-Senator Salmon P. Chase and Judge Timothy Walker, which defended Rosetta Armstead. She was a young woman who was alleged to be was a runaway slave. Henry M. Dennison, a clergyman from Louisville, Kentucky, claimed to be her owner, had placed her in the charge of a man traveling to Richmond, Virginia. These travelers left an Ohio River steamboat at Cincinnati, intending to take a train to Columbus, when antislavery activists had them detained. They obtained an orderfrom the probate court freed Rosetta Armstead on a writ of habeas corpus, because she was a minor. Lewis G. Van Slyke was appointed as her guardian. At Columbus, Dennison asked Armstead to choose between going with him or remaining free. When she chose freedom, he said goodbye to her and told her that she would probably never see him again. But Dennis changed his mind and got a warrant for Armstead's arrest as a runaway slave from U.S. Commissioner John L. Pendery of Cincinnati.
Armistead was brought to Cincinnati, where her guardian Van Slyke asked for a writ of habeas corpus from Judge James Parker of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County. Van Slyke retained Chase, Walker and Hayes to represent her. The case attracted a lot of attention. The issues were: (1) Did a slave who was not a runaway become free upon touching the soil of Ohio? (2) Did Dennison, by allowing Rosetta Armstead, a minor, to choose freedom and then acquiescing before witnesses in her choice, legally free her? (3) Whose order took precedence, the Ohio court of the federal commissioner?
Judge Parker ordered that Armstead be freed, holding that under Ohio's constitution, no right of transit with slave property through the state existed. This did not end the matter however. Rosetta Armstead was rearrested by a federal marshal. In a hearing before U.S. Commissioner Pendery, Hayes made the major argument for the defense. Hayes argued that Dennison was "despising his pledged word" by trying to re-enslave Armstead after freeing her. He also argued that the Fugitive Slave Law did not apply to her case because she did not run away, Dennison's agent had brought her to Ohio. Pendery reserved his decision for a week before declaring that Rosetta Armstead was free under U.S. law as well as Ohio law. Van Slyke later said that he credited the outcome to Hayes's "eloquent and masterly closing speech."
Hayes continued to oppose the expansion of slavery and in 1855 he was one of the first members of the Ohio Republican party. He supported the nomination of John Charles Fremont on a platform opposed to the extension of slavery in 1856. When the war broke out in 1861, Hayes served in the Union Army, rising to the rank of brigadier general (he was a brevetted major general) He was wounded five times, and was elected to Congress where he served from 1865 to 1867 and supported many of the Radical Republican reconstruction measures.
Hayes would later draw criticism as president for his part in adherence to an agreement which settled on his victory in the controversial election of 1876, but which resulted in the removal of troops in the south who had been offering protection to freedmen. It was a difficult political position for Hayes and must have been troubling for him, given his exemplary record as a lawyer who had vigorously defended the rights of freed slaves.