2-831-818 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Proof copy of the first printing of The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 consisting of a single sheet of U.S. Government-issued blue stock paper folded quarto to form four pages and printed in black ink. At top a handwritten inscription reads [U.S. Congress. / Fugitive Slaves Act.] The printed text begins [AN ACT / TO AMEND, AND SUPPLEMENTARY TO, THE ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT RESPECTING FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE / AND PERSONS ESCAPING FROM THE SERVICE OF THEIR MASTERS," APPROVED FEBRUARY TWELFTH, ONE / THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-THREE.]. In the body, there are two annotations handwritten in black ink -correcting "B it enacted" to "Be it enacted," and "courts of United States" to "courts of the United States."