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Wisconsin Defies Federal Government
On March 10, 1854, an escaping Missouri slave named Joshua Glover was arrested near Racine under the Fugitive Slave Act. The 1850 law made it a crime for anyone to harbor or assist an escaping slave, so when his master tracked him to Wisconsin and demanded his return, local authorities felt compelled to arrest Glover. Because Racine was a hotbed of abolitionists, he was transported under cover of darkness to the stronger jail inside the Milwaukee courthouse. On the morning of March 11, 1854, abolitionist newspaperman Sherman Booth learned of Glover's plight, printed up leaflets calling for a demonstration at the courthouse, and rode through the streets calling for action. By 2 o'clock that afternoon, a large crowd had gathered at the courthouse for the demonstration, and their ranks were swollen about 5 p.m. by a large contingent of anti-slavery activists just arrived from Racine. This mob seized a beam from a nearby construction site, smashed the courthouse door, liberated Glover, and got him safely back on his way to Canada. But that's not the end of the story.
Booth, the abolitionist ringleader, and another organizer of the demonstration were arrested by Milwaukee authorities and charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and their case became a cause celebre across the nation among anti-slavery sympathizers. Booth was arrested by Milwaukee officials, convicted, and sentenced to serve a month in the same jail from which Glover had been spirited away. Booth was defended by Byron Paine, who quickly got the case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Paine argued that, because the Fugitive Slave Law violated the U.S. Constitution, it had no legal authority under the Wisconsin Constitution, and that Booth therefore could not be charged with violating it. The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed, concluding that "The act of Congress of 1850, commonly called the Fugitive Slave Act, is unconstitutional and void."
Booth continued to be harassed by federal officials, arrested on related charges, and sued by Glover's owner until the Civil War broke out in 1860. After the war he moved to Chicago, where he died in 1904. His attorney, Byron Paine, became a member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court five years after the Glover incident, led an infantry regiment during the Civil War, successfully argued the 1866 Ezekiel Gillespie case that secured the right of African Americans to vote in Wisconsin, and taught law at the University of Wisconsin until his early death in 1871.
:: Posted September 19, 2005
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