New England Ministers Resolve to Oppose the Fugitive Slave Act, 1850

1850 amendment to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

An 1850 amendment to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 included a provision mandating the return of fugitive slaves. About nine hundred fugitive slaves, of an estimated ten thousand, were returned under the 1850 act.

This resolution of the Barnstable County Association of Universalists was signed by several prominent New England area abolitionist ministers. The ministers resolved that the 1850 amendment was "directly opposed to the spirit of our holy religion" and that they would "use all honorable means to effect its repeal."