内战前美国反奴隶制政治的发展——以马萨诸塞州“1843年人身自由法”为中心的考察

Personal Liberty Law and the Rise of Antebellum American Anti-Slavery Politics:A Case Study in the Making of Massachusetts' Personal Liberty Law of 1843

从美国建国开始,北部自由州先后制定了人身自由法,给予所谓的逃奴以基本的普通法权利。联邦最高法院在1842年普利格诉宾夕法尼亚案中,判定北部州的人身自由法违宪。同年10月,废奴主义者以乔治·拉蒂默逃奴案为契机,发起了一场大规模的反逃奴法运动,推动马萨诸塞州议会在1843年制定了新的人身自由法。该法律的制定,推动了马萨诸塞州反奴隶制政治力量的兴起,激发了其他北部州制定内容相似的人身自由法。在制定该法律的过程中,废奴主义者提出了全面的反联邦逃奴法思想,挑战了内战前美国法律界盛行的法律实证主义理念,促进了废奴运动的发展。马萨诸塞州"1843年人身自由法"充分表明,人身自由法的历史影响不在于营救了多少逃奴,而在于极大地推动了反奴隶制政治的发展。

Since the founding of the republic,some northern free states had enacted personal liberty laws,which aimed to give the so-called fugitives basic common-law guarantees of liberty,such as the writ of habeas corpus,the writ of personal replevin and trial by jury.But in 1842,Supreme Court＇s judgment on the Pirgg v.Pennsylvania case announced that all personal liberty laws of the northern states were unconstitutional.In October this year,taking advantage of the George Latimer case,the abolitionists of Massachusetts launched a massive campaign and promoted the Massachusetts State Legislature to enact a new personal liberty law in the following year.This law challenged Supreme Court＇s judgment on the Pirgg v.Pennsylvania case in a ＂negative way＂and stimulated other northern states to pass similar personal liberty laws.What＇s more,in the process of enacting the personal liberty law of 1843,the abolitionists of Massachusetts proposed a set of comprehensive anti-federal fugitive slave law thought,which challenged the popular doctrine of legal positivism and had a significant influence on the development of the anti-slavery ideas.Massachusetts＇ personal liberty law of 1843 indicates that the historical influence of the personal liberty laws doesn＇t lie in how many fugitive slaves it saved,but in how greatly it promoted the development of anti-slavery politics.