Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-09-01
L1NCoLN's GRADUAL ABOLITION AMI
FUGITIVE SLAVE BILL.

SEC. L. Be it enacted by the Senate and House
Of Representatives of the United States of Ameri-
CO in Congress assembled That no person not
owned by any person or persons now resident
within it, nor hereafter born within il, shall ever
be held in slavery within said District
SEC. 2. That no person now within said District
OF now owned by any person o. persons now resi-
dent within the same, or hereafter born within it,
shall ever be held in slavery without the limits of
said district Provided, That officers Of the gov
ernment Of the United States being citizens of the
slaveholding States, coming into said District Oh
public business, and remaining only so long as
may be reasonably necessary for the object, may
be attended in and out of said District, and while
there BY the neceSSsry servants of thcniselve and
their families without their right to hold such ser
wants in service being thereby impaired
SEC. 3. That all children born of slave Mothers
within said District, Oh or after the first day o
January, in tho year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and fifty, shall be free hut shall be
reasonably supported and educated by the respec
tive owners of their mothers, or By their heirs OF
representatives. and shall serve reasonable servic
es, as apprentices, to such owners, heirs, and rep
resentatives, until they respectively arrive at the
age of--years when they shall be entirely
FREQ. And the municipal authorities of Washing
ton andGeorgetown within their respective turisdic.
tional limits, are hereby empowered and required
to mako all suitable and necessary provisions for
enforcing obedience to this section, The part Of
both master and apprentices.
See. 4. That all persons now within said Dis
trict lawfully held as slaves, or now owned by any
persons now residing within said District shall re-
main such at the will of their respective owners,
their heirs and legal representatives. Provided,
That any such owner, or his legal representative,
may at any time receive from the treasury Of the
United States the full value of his or her slave of
the class in :his section mentioned upon which
such slave shall be Forthwith and forever free.
Sec. 5. That the municipal authorities of Wash
ngton or Georgetown, within their respective iur-
isdictional limits, are hereby empowered and re-
qured to provide active and efficient means to ar
rest and deliver up to their owners all fugitive
slaves escaping into said District.
Sec. 6. That the election officers within said
District of Columbia hereby empowered and
required to open polls at all the usual places of
holding elections on the first Monday of April
next, and receive the vote Of every free white male
citizen above the age of twen!y-ono years. having
resided within said District for tho period of one
year or moro ne&t preceding the time of such vot-
ing for against this act to proceed in taking said
votes in all respects net herein specified, as at the
elections under the municipal laws, and with as
little delay as possible to transmit correct state.
ments of the votes cast to the President of the
United States and it shall be the duty of the
President to canvass said votes Immediately, and
if majority of them be found to be for this act
to forthwith issue his proclamation giving notice
of the fact and this act shall only be in full force
and effect on and after the day of such proclama-
ton.