Fugitive Slave Act

Famous quotes containing the words fugitive slave, fugitive, slave and/or act:

    It is by a mathematical point only that we are wise, as the sailor or the fugitive slave keeps the polestar in his eye; but that is sufficient guidance for all our life. We may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we would preserve the true course.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    What should concern Massachusetts is not the Nebraska Bill, nor the Fugitive Slave Bill, but her own slaveholding and servility. Let the State dissolve her union with the slaveholder.... Let each inhabitant of the State dissolve his union with her, as long as she delays to do her duty.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Of all insults, the temporary condescension of a master to a slave is the most outrageous and galling. That potentate who most condescends, mark him well; for that potentate, if occasion come, will prove your uttermost tyrant.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    Buttons: Clowns are funny people, Holly. They only love once.
    Holly: All men aren’t like that, even if they act like clowns.
    Fredric M. Frank (1911–1977)