PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE COLLEGIATE INSTRUCTION
OF WOMEN
Fay House Monographs
No. 3
PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, Ph.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
BOSTON, U.S.A.
PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY
1891
Copyright, 1891,
By the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women.
University Press:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.
Every careful student of history is aware that it is no longer possibleto write the general history of any important country from the originalsources; on any period, the materials which accumulate in a year are morethan can be assimilated by one mind in three years. The general historianmust use the results of others' work. It is therefore essential that thegreat phases of political and constitutional development be treated inmonographs, each devoted to a single, limited subject and each preparedon a careful and scientific method.
This first number of the historical series of the Fay House Monographsaims to discuss the single topic of Fugitive Slaves. Mrs. McDougall hasdrawn together and compared many cases found in obscure sources, and hasperhaps been able to correct some commonly received impressions on thisneglected subject.
Even in its limited range this does not pretend to be a complete work inthe sense that all the available cases are discussed or recorded. Theeffort has been made to use the cases as illustrations of principles, andto add such bibliography as may direct the reader to further details. Theappendix of laws is as full as it was possible to make it from thecollections in the Boston Public and Massachusetts State Libraries. Ifthe monograph prove useful to the student of American history, it willmeet the expectations of author and editor.
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART.
Cambridge, April 2, 1891.
The following monograph was written while the author was a student in the"Harvard Annex" as a study in the Seminary course given by ProfessorAlbert Bushnell Hart. The work has continued during parts of the fouryears since 1887. The effort has been to trace in some measure thedevelopment of public sentiment upon the subject, to prepare an outlineof Colonial legislation and of the work of Congress during the entireperiod, and to give accounts of typical cases illustrative of conditionsand opinions. Only a few of the more important cases are describedminutely, but a critical list of the authorities may be found in thebibliographical appendix.
The thanks of the author are due first to Professor Hart, under whosedirection and with whose assistance and encouragement the monograph hasbeen prepared; then to Miss Anna B. Thompson, without whose carefultraining in the Thayer Academy and continued sympathy, the work could nothave been undertaken. Many thanks are due also to the authorities of theLibrary of Harvard College for the use, in the alcoves, of their largeand conveniently arranged collection of books and pamphlets on UnitedStates History, and to the assistants in the Boston Public andMassachusetts State Libraries for courteous aid. Colonel T. W. Higginsonhas kindly examined the chapter on the cases from 1850 to 1860,suggesting some interesting details; and Mr. Arthur Gilman has read thewhole in proof, and made many valuable suggestions.
MARION GLEASON McDOUGALL.
...