Prigg v. Pennsylvania

41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 536 (1842)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The Act authorized an owner to seize a fugitive slave and bring him before a federal judge or magistrate and to return by order the slave to its owner. This case arose in 1937 from the capture by Prigg, Bemis, and others of Margaret Morgan and her children in Pennsylvania and the subsequent taking of them to Maryland. Bemis had succeeded to the estate of Ashmore, the owner of Margaret Morgan's parents. There was a claim that the owner had set them free prior to her birth. Margaret was the marry Jerry Morgan, a free black man and they did so in 1832 and moved across the border to Pennsylvania wherein they had several children. The circumstances of the capture and return to Maryland were detailed on page 173 Brest 4th. Prigg and Bemis crossed the Maryland line and sold the mother and children to a negro trader. Pennsylvania was outraged and demanded the return of the guilty parties. Maryland refused. Maryland eventually sent Prigg to Pennsylvania for trial after it was agreed that Prigg would not be incarcerated until after the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the federal and state laws. In the meantime, the mother and the children were sold into slavery. Prigg was convicted under a statute that prevented self-help in the return of slaves. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.