Saturday, October 1, 2022
On this date in 1851 abolitionists in Syracuse, New York broke into the city’s police station and freed William “Jerry” Henry. Henry had escaped from slavery and had been working as a barrel-maker. The federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required “good citizens” to assist in the return of those who had fled “ownership” by another. These abolitionists refused to obey an inhumane law and staged a “Jerry Rescue” one more time (after he was re-captured and jailed a second time) when they secretly relocated him in Canada where he was safe from this act.
- New York History Net article The Jerry Rescue
- The Tenth Amendment Center video: Heroes of Nullification: The Jerry Rescue, Resisting Slavery