Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-04-21
From the Wayne County Record.
Black Laws of Indiana.

Mn EDlToR Through The columns Of
your paper ] beg leave to invite public atten-
lion TO a subject Of great Importance to the
people OF Indiana, which, owing 10 some
cause or other, has hitherto been kept strange
ly out OF sight. ! alluJe to what are COM
monty called the Black Lows of our State.
The greater part OF these enactments may be
found lnterspersed here aud there through
the Revised Statutes of 1913; and as ! be-
Iieve much confusion Of ideas prevails re-
speeding their character and particular pro-
visions, shall endeavor to give the substance
Of them 10 your readers as Follows:
They provide that every black or mulatto
person who shall come into this State, shall
give Gond, with sufficient security, PAYABLE
TO the State OF Indiana, In the penal sum Of
five bundled dollars, conditional that such
person shall not become a county charge, as
also for such PERSONS good behavior; and a
conviction Of such negro or mulatto Of any
crime or misdenleanor, shall amount TO a for
i%eiture OF the condition of such bond and
should any negro or mulatto fail to give such
bond, the overseers of the poor shall hire him
out for six months for the best price in cash
that can be had, or at their option, remove
him without the jurisdiction Of the State, in
the manner pointed out by the regulations in
force, Inspecting paupers.
They provide that no negro ormulaito shall
be a witness, except in pleas Of the State
against negroes and mulattoes, and in civil
causes where negroes and mulattoes alone
are parties.
They provide that the right Of slavehold
eTs 20 pass through our State with thei
slaves shall be secured, thus violating tn,
express and positive prohibitions of our Con
s~iilution.
They prohibit the intermarriage Of negroes
or mulatloes with whites, by IA penalty OF i'm.
%prisonment at hard labor in the State Prison
for not less than one year, nor more than ten
years, and a Gne of not less than one thou
sand dollars, nor more than five thousand dol
lars.
They provide that any person who shall
harbor or employ any fugitive slave who may
come within this State, or shall encourage
and assist any such fugitive to desert his
master, or by any means prevent or hinder
his master from recovering such fugitive,
shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five
hundred dollars, and be liable for damages
to any person who may be injured by any of
said acts; thus making penal by STATE enact
ments, an offence cognizable and punishable
by a ldtc Of Congress, (act Of l793,) as a mat
ter affecting the government and laws of the
Union, with which, be it remembered the
States are not bound to have any Thing to do.
They provide thatno negro or muIatto shall
have any share Of the school fund belonging
10 the State.
Finally, they provide tina, it shall be the
duty Of State officers, such as Justices of the
Peace, Judges, &c, on affidavit made, TO as
sist Shareholders in retaining their fugitive
slaves, although it has been settled by the
highest tribunal in the nation, that State Off
GERS in such cases are not bound to act, and
that it belongs exclusively TO the General
Government by its own officers, to bind the
slaveholding Stale in the assertion OF their
rights.
Now ! observe that those legislative pro-
visions ought to be repealed, or they ought
not. If they are just, polite, and humane,
they should be allowed to remain on our stat
ute book, and they ought to be enforced like
all other laws. If, however, they are unjust,
impolitic, and inhuman, they should be re,
pealed at once-those Of them, at least Of this
latter description.