Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

The United States passed this law, its first fugitive slave law, in 1793. It gave owners of escaped slaves the right to reclaim them:

...when a person held to labor in any of the United States...shall escape into any other part of the said States or Territory, the person to whom such labor or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take him or her before any Judge of the Circuit or District Courts of the United States...and upon proof to the satisfaction of such Judge or magistrate...that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the State or Territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such Judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent, or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from labor to the State or Territory from which he or she fled.

It was a response to a conflict between Virginia and Pennsylvania over the kidnapping of John Davis. Governor Mifflin of Pennsylvania claimed Davis was free. This law got rid of the conflict and made it legal for fugitive slaves to be captured in the north and returned to their masters. It also made it illegal for northerners to help a runaway slave.

It was approved on February 12, 1793, and signed into law by President George Washington. It was later strengthened by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required the return of slaves who fled their masters.