View source for Ableman v. Booth

'''''Ableman v. Booth''''',  21 Howard 506 (1859), was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold [[abolitionist]] Sherman M. Booth's conviction for assisting in the rescue of a fugitive slave at Milwaukee.  A judge of the Wisconsin Supreme Court had released him on a writ of habeas corpus, saying that the [[Fugitive Slave Act]] was unconstitutional. The case was carried to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Chief Justice [[Roger B. Taney]] rendered a unanimous opinion pronouncing the Fugitive Slave Act valid and forbidding a state to interfere with federal prisoners by habeas corpus writs.

While this decision effectively nullified laws such as the [[Massachusetts Personal Liberty Act]], it was largely ignored in the North.  The next year, the South was still protesting that fugitive slaves were not being returned.<ref>[http://www.google.com/books?id=CJQk9Ax6fZAC Official proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, 1860]</ref>
==Bibliography==
* Swisher, Carl B. ''Roger B. Taney'' (1961)
* [http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0062_0506_ZO.html Full text of Taney's opinion]
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[[Category:United States Law]]
[[Category:Slavery]]