Taylor Amendment, January 26, 1820

From Annals of Congress, Sixteenth Congress, First Session. V. 1 (1820). 947.

Section 4, line 25, insert the following after the word "States:" "and shall ordain and establish, that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said States, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any other State, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid: And Provided also, That the said provision shall not be construed to alter the condition or civil rights of any person now held to service or labor in the said Territory."