The Players
Charles Stewart
Abolitionist and attorney who had been one of the founding officers of the Detroit Anti-Slavery Society and who interviewed Nelson Hackett when he was held in Detroit.
Henry Bibb
Henry Bibb, one of the leaders of Detroit’s Colored Vigilant Committee, helped mobilize support for Nelson Hackett.
Hiram Wilson
Hiram Wilson an abolitionist and an American Reverend ministering to Toronto’s fugitive population who visited Hackett at Sandwich.
Follow Hackett's Flight
A primary problem in trying to reconstruct Hackett’s flight is that there are few records of his words and thoughts. This problem is rooted in the racism that undergirded chattel slavery and created most of its archival record. Hackett’s flight is therefore reconstructed using other voices, including abolitionists (both white and black), journalists, colonial and elected officials, and slave owners and their apologists.
The Documents
Anti-Slavery Reporter, November and October, 1842 Transcript
Anti-Slavery Reporter, November 2, 1842 (selection). ASHBURTON TREATY : THE TENTH ARTICLE. Playford HAll, October 24th, 1842. MY DEAR FRIEND, JOHN BEAUMONT, -- I have looked into the tenth article of the late treaty with the United States, and I will now give you...
Charles H. Stewart, “Case of Nelson Hackett,” Anti-Slavery Reporter, September 21, 1842, p. 150.
CASE OF NELSON HACKETT. From the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter. [Application having been made by Mr. Scoble, on behalf of the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, for the FACTS in connection with this important case, which was the...
Charles H. Stewart, “Case of Nelson Hackett,” Anti-Slavery Reporter, September 21, 1842, p. 151.
custody, and being brought by force within our jurisdiction, the federal laws made for recapture of fugitives from justice, or from labour, were alike inoperative, inasmuch as they require voluntary residence as the ground of jurisdiction. On consultation, we...