Petition to Congress on the Fugitive Slave Act, 1799 Written by Absalom Jones and signed by more than seventy other people, the Petition to Congress on the Fugitive Slave Act was submitted in 1799. It was a response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which was enacted to enforce the Constitution’s fugitive slave clause. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 required both legal institutions and free citizens of even free states to report and remit slaves to back into the custody of their masters. The act also made it much easier to force previously free black people into the confines of slavery, regardless of their actual freedom status, should they not have the appropriate proof of meeting the requirements. Both free and enslaved black folk were subject to stopping and having their paperwork demanded at any time. The Petition to Congress on the Fugitive Slave Act was an assertion of black folk that they were entitled to basic human rights as well as citizen’s rights in the United States of America.…show more content… The Petition stated. “In the Constitution, and the Fugitive Bill, no mention is made of Black People or Slaves – therefore if the Bill of Rights, or the declaration of Congress are of any validity, we beseech that as we are men, we may be admitted to partake of the Liberties and unalienable Rights therein held forth…” They, by virtue of their humanity, were entitled to the freedom and liberty outlined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights because it did not distinguish between race or
