Stand the storm

Again. The 1950s and 60s were a tumultuous time in the United States. Violence erupted as African Americans demanded the equality guaranteed them under the Constitution. Because I have a dream. My four little children, one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of our skin but by the content of that character. I have a dream today. I was very young at the time but I do remember seeing vivid examples of a fountain that was for colors.

Many southern governors also clung to the Constitution to deny black people equal access and perpetuate decades of state mandated segregation. They asserted that the federal government had no authority to intervene in state matters. I will not force my people to integrate against their will. I believe in the democratic processes and principles of government to bring in the people to determine the problems on the local level which is their right. The belief guaranteed by the 10th amendment to the Constitution that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government belong to the states is known as the doctrine of states' rights. State rights is associated with the defense of slavery by the South. It's associated with the secession ordinances passed by the South. And it's associated with the Jim Crow legislation passed by the South after the Civil War. However, states' rights has another history and that history was written in good measure in the state of Wisconsin. In defense of one man, a runaway slave, a century before the march on Washington and amid the tempest of a country divided, Wisconsin took a stand in the store.

A storm was already brewing on the horizon as Wisconsin entered the Union in 1848. Northern and southern states squared off on the issue of slavery. As repugnant as it was to a large number of American slavery was recognized by the Founding Fathers and protected by Article 4 Section 2 of the Constitution. When I hear about some of our Founding Fathers who I respected in the writings, I don't know that they had slaves. It's a paradox. I mean, it's something hard to handle but a reality of the times. I can't excuse the conduct. I guess to some extent I can understand it, but can you ever understand slavery? The horror of slavery spurred civil disobedience. For many, an allegiance to the Constitution was overshadowed by a higher law. A moral outrage ignited by slavery fueled the abolitionist movement.

The abolitionist was the activist, the 19th century activist who hated slavery so much that he was willing and actively engaged in attempting to do away with the institution of slavery. Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and sojourner truth, passionately spoke out on the atrocities of slavery. They inspired Wisconsin's own leaders in the movement, including newly arrived Sherman Booth. Sherman Booth arrives in Wisconsin a May of 1848, just 10 days before a statehood. New York native, Yale graduate, and had been active in anti-slavery in the abolitionist movement for at least a dozen years. Booth himself arrives in Wisconsin to edit the American Freeman. Booth is also very domineering. He's very tackless in his dealings with friends and foes alike. So an interesting man. Not somebody that want to go have a beer with on a Friday night after work.

Many leaders of the abolitionist movement were editors who used their newspapers as pulpits. Others violating the law made the underground railroad possible, creating a secret alliance that reached deep into the South. With this help, and armed with only courage, faith, and the stars as a guide, freedom became a possibility for a fortunate few. That would be songs, that would be song, that would be part of the accepted hymns. It would say, one of the songs like Swing Low Sweet Chariot, which were accustomed to it, and they were saying, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, coming for the carry me home, oh Swing Low Sweet Chariot, coming for the carry me home. So many times that was an indication that that would be someone waiting, and this would be a good time to go.

Some abolitionists were very active. That meant actually helping out the underground railroad. But it was such a secret, because it was illegal, and it was not always accepted, even hearing Wisconsin. And they didn't always have perfect information from local people. Nor could local people, frankly, guarantee their safety. They could only guarantee assistance, and they did that. There were places that they could stop. Sometimes it was a candle lit in the window. There were rags tied on a doughnut to say this is the safe place to go. That meant also providing food and shelter, that meant being a corridor to allow people to go through the area where they live. If it was simply giving them their burn. There would be directions of following the North Star, but as they traveled further north, then it became cold and colder, and it became strange, lonely. So a series of unofficial homes or churches or other kinds of stopping places, and sometimes these stopping places, were simply holes in the ground.

Just even thinking about it was a dangerous thing, and then you know that there were no guarantees. I just marvel at the courage, the just raw courage that my people had, and seeking that freedom. The drive must have been enormous to take such a risk. To most black people traveling on the Underground Railroad, Wisconsin was merely a stop on their way to safety in the Lions Paws, freedom in Canada. A few stayed, choosing to make a new home among the free black people already living here. This was the case of Joshua Glover, who made his escape from a plantation in Missouri in May of 1852. Joshua Glover arrived in Racine, and he went to the Salmiro, and there he saw the employment, a very hard worker, all of his life. He moved throughout the city, selling some of the things that he had created.

At that time when Joshua was in Racine, there were about 30 African Americans. The continued existence of the Underground Railroad enraged the slaveholders and encouraged the abolitionists. With decades of compromise and appeasement unraveling, tensions between the North and the South were coming to a boil. The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress in 1850, further drove a wedge between free and slave states. Fugitive Slave Act denied the right of fugitives to a jury trial. It denied them the rights to a Ritzofabius Corpus. Simply stated, what we have when we talk about the Ritzofabius Corpus, and it's viewed as the great Ritz and a very important Ritz for the freedom of people. The Ritz says, look, you've got somebody in your custody, you've got control over this body, and we want you to come into co-ed and explain to us by what authority do you keep him in or her in custody. And we are going to judge whether or not you're keeping this person or detaining this person or having control over this person is valid.

Slave owners, armed with the Fugitive Slave Act, became more aggressive in their pursuit. This created a new occupation, the Slave Catcher. Slave catchers were people who were commissioned by various private parties, sometimes they were employed by public institutions, and they basically operated like bounty hunters. The idea of southern slave owners invading the free soil of Wisconsin infuriated the abolitionists, a confrontation seemed inevitable. On the evening of March 10th, 1854, a series of events began that would reverberate far beyond the newly formed boundaries of Wisconsin. Under a cover of darkness, Missouri Slave owner Benjamin Garland, armed with a Fugitive Slave warrant, and accompanied by federal marshals, set out for the home of Joshua Glover.

At that time, Joshua and two other people were in his house playing cards. One of his name was Trinity. When Garland and the marshals came upon Joshua's house, they stayed some distance away and approached the shanny, knocked on the door, pulling the knock on the door. Turner stands up and he approaches the door. Joshua screams out to him, don't open the door unless you know who they are. But Turner, things to go open anyway. Joshua Glover was arrested, shackled, and dragged away to a jail in Milwaukee. The news spread like wildfire that Joshua Glover had been captured. And the bells were run for people together at the hay market, which is now monument square.

They wrote out the proclamation about doing what is right and this is a human being, this is not a piece of property. The citizens of Racine appointed a delegation through which to voice their outrage. Upon their arrival in Milwaukee, they joined a crowd of over 5,000 people gathered on the courthouse square, among them abolitionist leader Sherman Booth. When Sherman Booth did, depending on what side he listened to, was to basically organize, talk to these people and explain to them that Joshua Glover was going to be moved out at state before he had a chance to have a beard here. That's what the Hades Corpus was about. And since they weren't going to recognize it, they did what they thought was the appropriate thing to do, which was to allow him to have freedom. Or the other side, jailbreak. Excited by Booth's fiery oratory, the crowd could no longer be contained. A righteous mob stormed the Milwaukee County jail with a battering round.

Newspaper accounts later dubbed in the writ of open sesame. When Joshua Glover heard them coming in, you think about an African American in a jail, hearing a rowdy crowd outside. I can just imagine sitting in the jail as Joshua Glover and hearing a commotion outside, not knowing exactly what they were saying or what the intention was. And then someone breaking in and climbing the people coming to my door. Now this scenario has been played out amongst African Americans, time in and time out. And the circumstances usually have us very unfortunate in. But for Joshua Glover, fate was good to him because this crowd was not coming here to lynch him, to kill him, but they were there to free him. And irony that it's not often visited in the historical references I've seen.

Throughout the night, Joshua Glover was spirited from one safe house to another. As dawn approached, he was smuggled aboard a schooner bound for Canadian wires. Once again, running for his life on the underground railroad. And I guess in some respects, you look at that and say, well, is he ever going to stop running? And is it worth running? Is it worth leaving the people that he knows? I would submit to you that freedom is worth anywhere you need to go. If it's across the county line, if it's across the state line, if it's across our country's line, if you're free, it is worth every step that you can walk. Because to be a slave is to allow you nowhere to walk without someone with a foot on you. And I think that Joshua Glover ultimately was able to walk free. Maybe not where he wanted to, but nevertheless as a free man. For his role in the Glover Rescue, Sherman Booth was promptly arrested by Federal Marshall Stephen Abelman for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. And Abelman V Booth, one of the most famous legal cases in the anti-slavery arena, began.

The case starts with Mr. Glover and these fugitive slave law. And then it turns into a case in which Mr. Booth is a primary figure, because he's the one that is now in custody for violating a federal law. Newspapers were quick to react to Glover's daring rescue and Booth's subsequent arrest. To enforce the law in this state has signaling gloriously failed. The free Democrat. We do not justify or believe in breaking laws or jails as a general thing, but neither laws nor jails will stand against the people when they think their sacred rights are involved. They evidently thought so the other day. The Milwaukee Sentinel. Booth retained Byron Pain, a Milwaukee lawyer with an abolitionist tradition to defend him. On March 21st, 1854, they were scheduled to appear before US Commissioner Winfield Smith.

At a rally before the hearing, Booth made no attempt to endear himself to the commissioner. I rejoice in that on the first attempt of the slave hunters to convert our jail into a slave pen and our citizens into slave catchers, they have significantly failed. And it has been decided by the spontaneous uprising and sovereign voice of the people that no human being can be dragged into bondage from Milwaukee. I am glad to say that rather than have the great constitutional rights and safeguards of the people, the writ of habeas corpus and the right to trial by jury, stricken down by this fugitive law, I would rather see every federal officer in Wisconsin hanged on a gallow. At the hearing and increasingly defiant Booth made no apologies for his actions.

The warrant for my arrest charges me or so the legal friction runs with the aiding and a batting, the escape of a human being from bondage. My answer to that charge is that it is not true. Whatever aid and comfort I may have rendered to that battered and hunted fugitive was only such aid as the law permits and humanity dictates. None the plainest precepts of the Christian religion require of me. I am peril of my soul. So far, therefore, from having to reproach myself for what I have done. I ought perhaps to blame myself for not having done more. Commissioner Smith unmoved by Booth's fiery rhetoric bound him over for trial.

Playing the role of martyr Booth chose jail over bail. Byron Paine appealed to Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Abram Smith to have Booth released from custody. At the hearing, Paine passionately challenged the very constitutionality of the fugitive slave act. I do not stand here to oppose that law because it is a monstrous moral deformity, detestable in its purpose, and detestable in its detail. Sinking to the depths of depravity to punish. Do not stand here to oppose it because it is a violation of the higher law. That law needs no enforcement for its own sake. At the hands of the court. I stand not here to oppose this act for the reason that it violates a law higher than the constitution. But only for the reason that it violates the constitution itself. Paine argued that it was egregious to nullify the most sacred right guaranteed by the constitution, the right of every person, black or white, to the writ of habeas corpus and the right to a trial by jury. I will, with God's help, and as long as I have tongue to speak, never fail to assert the right of every man, woman, or child in the state of Wisconsin without regards to color, rank, or condition of life.

The right to trial by jury in all questions, if I could have faith that any prayers of mine could furnish me other aides, I would ask for the tongues of angels. I would evoke the genius of liberty to inspire my lips when I attempt to speak on behalf of this great birthright and best privilege of all who have lived with the protecting influence of the English common law. Just as Smith, sitting alone as the Supreme Court was not in session, freed Booth and declared the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional. Smith ruled that the act infringed upon the rights of individuals and the rights of states. Every jot and title of power delegated to the federal government will be acquiesced in, but every jot and title of power reserved to the states will be rigidly asserted and, as rigidly sustained, justice Abram Smith. One other point to keep in mind that both Smith and Paine make, Smith in his decision, Paine in his argument is that the federal government is not the ultimate operator of its own authority, and that states courting to seed on behalf of prisoners held on the federal jurisdiction.

In the summer of 1854, the Booth case came before the entire Supreme Court, consisting then of only three justices, Chief Justice Edward Witten, Justice Samuel Crawford, and Justice Smith. The full court agreed with Smith that Booth should be discharged from federal custody. Excitement over the Wisconsin Court's decision spread through the country, in writing the majority opinion, just to Smith dwelled at length on the fact that a slave, while Chattel and a slave holding state is a person in Wisconsin. God will be over him. Realizing the national implications of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision, the federal government continued to pursue the Booth case.

In January 1855, federal judge Andrew G. Miller sentenced Booth to 30 days in jail and fined him $1,000, the verdict incensed people throughout the state. Openly defying the federal court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court once again stepped in and released Booth. The people of Wisconsin applauded. The fugitive slave act has again been pronounced unconstitutional and void by the supreme tribunal of the state. The great writ of liberty has been sustained. Slavery cannot and will not be tolerated in her borders. Kidnapping finds no favor with her courts, no protection in her jails, no countenance among her people. Wisconsin is and will remain a free state. Rufus King, the Milwaukee Sentinel. In early 1859, five years after Joshua Glover was freed by the citizens of Milwaukee, the United States Supreme Court proceeded to review the Booth case.

In writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice Roger B. Tawny upheld the fugitive slave act and severely castigated the Wisconsin court. The United States Supreme Court, in harsh words, with Chief Justice Tawny writing the decision, said Wisconsin Supreme Court, can't interfere with the federal enforcement of federal laws. And the state's must obey valid congressional acts. And so, keep your hands, Wisconsin Supreme Court, or federal marshal prisoners. Overruled, yet still obstinate, the Wisconsin Supreme Court met in December of 1859 to accept and file the U.S. Supreme Court decision, usually a routine matter. But the makeup of the Wisconsin court had changed dramatically during the years the Booth case was on appeal. The court was now made up of Chief Justice Luther Dixon, Justice Orsamas Cole, and newly elected Justice Byron Payne. In arguing that Wisconsin should accept the United States Supreme Court's decision, Chief Justice Dixon wrote,

the appellate power is necessary to preserve uniformity of decision throughout the United States, upon all subjects within the purview of the Constitution. And the mischiefs of opposite constructions and contradictory decisions in the different states would be deplorable. Chief Justice Luther Dixon. Justice Cole disagreed and voted not to file the decision. Byron Payne, because of his obvious association with the case, abstained creating a tie vote. With no clear majority, the court refused to accept and file Justice Tony's decision. Finally, ten years after it began, the case of Abelman V Booth came to a close. On March 4, 1861, as his last official act as president, James Buchanan pardoned Sherman Booth. This case is important because it raises issues of federalism, civil disobedience, and the role of the courts. It's an important case because the people of the state recognize the equality of all persons, and recognized that no man should enslave another.

And that's a glorious part of our history. Wisconsin uses state's rights unlike the South during the 1850s in the fence of individual liberty, in the fence of the freedom of its citizens from unjust and unconstitutional federal enactments. You have to say, I as an individual, or we as a community, will not tolerate certain things. And if it means challenging existing law, so be it. If it means negative consequences for me, so be it. Because the moral issue is more important to me. Overshadowed by the Civil War, the issue of states' rights fell into the background of national politics. The Civil Rights Movement, a hundred years later, again thrust the issue of states' rights back into the national spotlight. And so the arguments were used in Wisconsin regarding states' rights, repeated themselves, Governor Wallace. We're not going to allow the federal government to come in here and tell us what to do in the state of Alabama, not while I'm government.

Very dramatic, but it was only an argument to meet his specific narrow need, which is to limit the rights of African Americans. Joshua Glover, Byron Pain, Abram Smith, and Sherman Booth never thought what they did in defense of freedom and liberty was extraordinary. Like most people of true conviction, they saw no other choice. Years later, Sherman Booth attempted to put the case of Abelman V. Booth in perspective. There was something deeper in the struggle in which I was engaged than the question of technical law. There was something higher than the decisions of the court on the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of the fugitive slave act. It was the old motto, not yet ended, between freedom and slavery. It was divine mercy against infernal cruelty.

It was the refining of the spirit of humanity. We'll stand the stone with a won't be long, we'll anchor by and by. We'll anchor by and by. We'll anchor by and by.

We'll anchor by and by. We'll anchor by and by. We'll anchor by and by.

We'll anchor by and by. We'll anchor by and by.