Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the
first day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, it shall not be lawful to
bring into the District of Columbia any slave whatever, for the purpose of
being sold, or for the purpose of being placed in depot, to be subsequently
transferred to any other State or place to be sold as merchandize. And if any slave
shall be brought into the said District by its owner, or by the authority or
consent of its owner, contrary to the provisions of this act, such slave shall
thereupon become liberated and free.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be
lawful for each of the corporations of the cities of Washington and Georgetown,
from time to time, and as often as may be necessary, to abate, break up, and
abolish any depot or place of confinement of slaves brought into the said
District as merchandize, contrary to the provisions of this act, by such
appropriate means as may appear to either of the said corporations expedient
and proper. And the same power is hereby vested in the Levy Court of Washington
county, if any attempt shall be made, within its jurisdictional limits, to
establish a depot or place of confinement for slaves brought into the said
District as merchandize for sale contrary to this act.
APPROVED, September 20,
1850.
SOURCES: George Minot, Editor, The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America from
December 1, 1845 to March 3, 1851, Volume 9, p. 467-8; Andrew Cunningham
McLaughlin, Editor, Readings in the
History of the American Nation, p. 235-6
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