Elizabeth Jo

So in a sense, we don't really need to talk about this clause, which allowed a slave owner to cross state lines, seize the fugitive enslaved person, go to court to prove ownership, and then receive legal authorization to go back to their home state with the enslaved person.

You know, the entire aspect of this clause is irrelevant because of the 13th Amendment, which abolishes slavery.

But I thought we'd pause here for a moment just to note that this is just another instance in which our foundational current document that organizes our government has a reference to slavery.

It's just one more.

And yet it doesn't even do so directly, right?

The Fugitive Slave Clause doesn't even use the word slave here.

It refers to a person held to serve or labor in one state escaping into another.

Although at the time, everyone understood that this reference was to enslave people and enslave people only.

So, you know, here you have this kind of historical marker in the Constitution that has no legal effect anymore, but it reminds us of kind of the very flawed origins of the document itself.

Right.

And again, I mean, that's another interesting thing, too, that just reflects the fact that the document itself is not an idealized one.

It's the result of political compromise.

Yeah.

So, I mean, these are this is sort of the baked in part of the document.

We can't escape the fact that it has this very, you know, again, flawed origin here.

That's right.

Let's move right along to Section 3.

And Section 3 of Article 4 has two parts.

The first part includes the admissions clause.

And that is how we allow or admit new states to the Union.