(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION) HAMLET JAMES The Fugitive Slave Bill

Sale 2342 - Lot 55

Price Realized: $ 1,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 700 - $ 1,000

(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) HAMLET, JAMES. The Fugitive Slave Bill: It History and Unconstitutionality with an Account of the Seizure and Enslavement of James Hamlet and his Subsequent Restoration to Liberty. 36 pages, sewn; lacking the presumed wrappers; some light stains and toning, especially to the outer leaves. New York: William Harned, 1850

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Additional Details

first edition, scarce James Hamlet was the first slave arrested and remanded under the Fugitive Slave Act of 18 September 1850, seized just eight days after its passage. Finkelman (Slavery in the Courtroom), pages 85-86 cites this pamphlet as the only real record of the proceedings; there were no published reports of hearings before the fugitive slave commissioners. Through the sale of this pamphlet and the fund-raising efforts of the American Anti-Slavery Society, $800 was raised to buy Hamlet's freedom. He was officially freed on October 5th, 1850. Not in the Blockson Collection.