Chicago Weekly Journal Articles on the Fugitive Slave Law

Overview & Instructional Use

In this lesson for middle school, students will compare two articles from the Chicago Weekly Journal documenting Chicago residents’ responses to the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law.

It can be used:

• To practice close reading and textual analysis within a history curriculum.
• As a part of a lesson on resistance to slavery in Chicago and the wider North.
• As an example of the ways nineteenth-century Chicagoans used newspapers, public meetings, and local government to organize for political goals.

Materials

• Student worksheet (PDF and Word) or other space for students to write observations
• Optional: Computer and projector for displaying documents
• Chicago Weekly Journal Articles on the Fugitive Slave Law teacher guide (PDF and Word)
• Images of primary sources
  • Print-friendly transcriptions (PDF and Word)
  • High-resolution image of Source 1: “Public Meeting” (upper righthand corner)
  • High-resolution image of Source 2: “The Council and the Slave Law”

Procedure

1. Read: Display or handout copies of the excerpts. Have students read each excerpt, discussing unfamiliar words and phrases. Bring in the words to know as needed.
2. Analyze: Use the questions below to help students pull out information about how Chicago responded to the Fugitive Slave Law and how residents’ beliefs about Christianity and US law shaped their actions.
3. Bring in the background information below when it is most relevant to students.

Step 1: Read

• Display or distribute the excerpts.
  • High-resolution image of Source 1: “Public Meeting” (upper righthand corner)
  • High-resolution image of Source 2: “The Council and the Slave Law”
• Explain to students that the Fugitive Slave Law created major resistance in Chicago. The article “Public Meeting” reports on meeting held by the “colored citizens of Chicago.” The article “The Council and the Slave Law” reports on a Chicago City Council meeting. Reference the background information below as needed.
• Have students read the excerpts and discuss unfamiliar words and phrases, using the words to know as desired.

Words to Know

Step 2: Analyze

1. Distribute the student worksheet or other place for students to record observations.
2. Come together as a class or in small groups to discuss questions like those below.

Potential Questions for Source 1: “Public Meeting”

• What kind of source is this? (Newspaper article) 
• Is it a primary or secondary source? How do you know? (Primary; the law was passed in 1850, and the date of the article is 1850. The article also reports on the response to the law’s passage as recent news.) 
• What do the Black men of Chicago pledge to do in response to the Fugitive Slave Law? (Defend themselves and each other at all costs, even death) 
• How do the writers appeal to the Founding Fathers in support of their cause? (They quote Patrick Henry’s famous line, “Give me liberty or give me death.”) 
• How do the writers appeal to Christianity in support of their cause? (They appeal to the “Supreme Judge of the Social World” for guidance and protection) 
• What do they believe is the intention or impact of the Fugitive Slave Law? (“to enslave every colored man in the U.S.”) 
• How do you predict the Chicago community will respond to this pronouncement? Why? (Answers will vary based on background knowledge of the Underground Railroad and abolitionist societies in Chicago at the time.) 

Potential Questions for Source 2: “The Council and the Slave Law”

• What kind of source is this? (Newspaper article) 
• Is it a primary or secondary source? How do you know? (Primary; the law was passed in 1850, and the date of the article is 1850. The article also reports on the response to the law’s passage as recent news.) 
• What do the councilmen of Chicago believe is the intention or impact of the Fugitive Slave Law? (To violate the Constitutional rights of habeas corpus and jury trial; to enslave all Black men, in addition to white men under work contracts) 
• How do the writers appeal to Christianity in support of their cause? (They claim the laws of Christianity are supreme to human laws; they reference Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus.) 
• What do the writers think about the Congressmen who signed the law? (They are traitors to “all lovers of freedom.”) 
• How do they recommend the authorities respond to the law? (They should not participate in enforcing the law.) 
• What argument against the law appears in this source that does not appear in the first one? (The law’s possible negative impact on white laborers) 
• How do you predict the Chicago community will respond to this pronouncement? Why? (Answers will vary based on background knowledge of Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, the Underground Railroad, and abolitionist societies in Chicago at the time.) 

Background

The Fugitive Slave Act was passed on September 18, 1850, requiring non-slave states and their citizens to return freedom seekers to their enslavers, thus expanding slavery to the entire nation. Many citizens of non-slave states were angry the law would force them to participate in the institution of slavery against their will. Free people of color feared for their own safety, as well as the safety of their friends and families because they could be forced into slavery by slavecatchers from the South regardless of their papers proving their free status. 

Resistance to the institution of slavery was common in Illinois, starting with the formation of multiple abolitionist societies in the 1830s. Despite Illinois being a free state, counter-resistance to abolition was common as well, as in the case of printer Elijah Lovejoy, whose abolitionist views prompted the destruction of his printing press three times and ultimately ended in his death at the hands of a mob in Alton, Illinois in 1838.  

The Fugitive Slave Law provoked profound organized resistance in Chicago. Chicago was a city with a large abolitionist presence, and many of her citizens vehemently opposed the law, seeing it as an infringement on personal freedom and a moral abomination. Resistance via the Underground Railroad increased in the Chicago area as residents were compelled to observe and participate in the capture of freedom seekers as required by the new law. The city’s proximity to both Canada and other free states, made it an essential nexus for both resistance and the safe passage of fugitives seeking freedom. Writers attacked the law in the press, and the people of Chicago, Black and white, held meetings in opposition to the law, the proceedings of which were published in local newspapers. As documented in the second article, the City Council passed a resolution stating that all Chicagoans would not follow such a law, counseling the legal community—including the police—to follow suit. They later repealed the resolution following intervention from Illinois senator Stephen Douglas, who supported the law. 

More background can be found in the following essay: The Anti-Slavery Movement in Chicago and Illinois.

 

Illinois Social Science Standards

This lesson supports the following standards from the Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science:

Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence

• SS.6-8.IS.2.LC: Determine the value of sources by evaluating their relevance and intended use.
• SS.6-8.IS.2.MC: Gather relevant information from credible sources and determine whether they support each other.

Civics

• SS.6-8.CV.1.MC: Evaluate the powers and responsibilities of individuals, political parties, interest groups, and the media; how these have changed over time; and the impacts on multiple communities

History

• SS.6-8.H.3.MdC: Detect possible biases and limitations in the historical record based on evidence collected from different kinds of historical sources by identifying the author, purpose, funding/source, type of publication/outlet, intended audience, etc.
• SS.6-8.H.3.MC: Evaluate the validity of claims made in historical sources representing a variety of perspectives, describe the possible or actual impact(s) of sources on audiences, and determine uses or applications.
• SS.9-12.H.10: Identify and analyze ways in which marginalized communities are represented in historical sources and seek out sources created by historically oppressed peoples.

Common Core

This lesson supports the following Common Core Literacy in History/Social Science standards:

English Language Arts: History/Social Studies

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources. 
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH-6-8.2: Determine the central ideas of information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.  

The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework

This lesson supports the following C3 Framework standards:

Dimension 2, Civics

• D2.Civ.13.6-8: Analyze the purposes, implementation, and consequences of public policies in multiple settings.  

Dimension 2, History

• D2.His.4.6-8: Analyze multiple factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.  
• D2.His.13.6-8: Evaluate the relevancy and utility of a historical source based on information such as maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose.  

Dimension 3

• D3.2.6-8: Evaluate the credibility of a source by determining its relevance and intended use.

Download the materials for this lesson as PDF and Microsoft Word documents.

Teacher Guide

Sources

Words to Know

Student Worksheet

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