1842 | Human Rights, Social Justice
Human Rights, Social Justice
The owner of a fugitive slave may recover him under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, the Supreme Court rules March 1 in Prigg v. Pennsylvania. The court overturns the 1826 Pennsylvania law that made kidnapping a slave a felony, saying that an owner cannot be stopped from recovering a slave, but it says also that state authorities are under no obligation to help the slaveowner (see 1850).
Rep. Joshua (Reed) Giddings, 46, of Ohio resigns his seat March 22 after being censured by the House for introducing antislavery resolutions in violation of the gag rule adopted in 1836, but his constituents reelect Giddings and he is back in his seat May 8.