February 10, 1846
An article, in sarcastic tone, tells of the enactment of “new laws against the colored people”, in Ohio. “Driven from the slave States by oppressive laws, under penalty of being sold into slavery, they will, a few of them, make their way into Ohio, notwithstanding our accursed laws against them….This will not do. They must be utterly shut out from amongst us —- and being driven out from the slave States, they must go to Canada, or perish in the ocean.”
August 7, 1846
An article from the St. Mary’s (Ohio) Sentinel tells of the arrival of 385 slaves, given freedom by John Randolph. They were encamped in the town of Bremin. A crowd gathered, and after discussion and maneuvers, the freed people are finally removed….. “men will not quietly submit to have their farms and hard earnings of the best portion of their lives to be rendered worthless by the settling down amongst them of a colony of manumitted slaves….”
April 1, 1853
An article under Refuge of Oppression includes the text of a law passed in Illinois, which severely restricts any mulatto or negro either coming into or being brought into the state. It is accompanied by selected articles from the Worcester Spy, (Illinois Slave State), The Hartford Republican (Barbarism, the Commonwealth, (Infernal Legislation), and the New York Evening Post, all condemning the law.
January 23, 1857
Under the Refuge of Oppression, from the New Orleans Picayune, is an article, under the title, The Negro Rumors. The article affirms that all is peaceful among the black; there is little concern about an uprising, yet it issues a warning. “The whole black code of the State needs to be revised, in view of the late developments; and while every safe melioration of the condition of the slave will be cheerfully granted, the precautions against the mischiefs of foreign tampering with their ignorance ….. should be precise, stern and unrelenting. A short and terrible doom should be made to fall, on any man who lends himself to the promotion of discontent and insubordination among the blacks….”
February 18, 1859
“Oregon, with its tyrannical constitution, outlawing all free colored persons, was admitted to the Union on Saturday last, by a vote of 114 to 103 in the House of Representatives – Comins and Thayer, of this State, voting in the affirmative.!”
April 25, 1862
This article includes provisions in the Illinois Constitution, on which people in that state are soon to vote, which stipulate that “no Negro or mulatto shall migrate or settle in this State after the adoption of this Constitution”, and that “no Negro or mulatto shall have the right of suffrage, or hold any office in this State”. Comments on these provisions include: “We would fain hope that the State of Illinois will repudiate the barbarity thus sought to be forced upon her, and refuse to allow the hungry and naked and the stranger of God’s children, to be thrust out of her door…”
February 17, 1865
From Harper’s Weekly, this article commends that “Missouri has emancipated herself; Illinois has thrown off her black laws.”, and then hopes that New York and other states will do the same…Suppose that sensible men and women now emancipate themselves from the black law of a most cruel and senseless prejudice.”