Fugitive Slave Days in Boston

Abstract

B OSTONIANS were never more conscious of their traditional position in the United States as a Cradle of Liberty than during the 1850's when the Fugitive Slave Law was in effect. Residents of the capital of a sovereign commonwealth in the forefront of Revolutionary struggle, they absorbed history in their daily affairs. Worshipping in the same churches as the patriots, and walking the very streets they trod, the descendants of the Minute Men of '75 could never forget their heritage. Thus admonished to sacrifice their comfort for the liberties of others, they took the law into their own hands, and nullified the most hateful statute since the Alien and Sedition Laws. I