The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Boston Case

BOSTON CASE, in the history of slavery, a case where a Georgia slave hid or was hidden on the ship Boston returning from Georgia to Maine and on her arrival escaped to Canada. The governor of Georgia issued a requisition to the governor of Maine for the surrender of the captain to the Georgia authorities as a slave-stealer and fugitive from justice, and on his refusal the Georgia legislature demanded that Congress pass a law obligating the governor of Maine and all others in similar cases to comply with the requisitions. The resolution was never reported on. In his next message the governor of Georgia recommended that “all citizens of Maine who should thereafter come within the jurisdiction of Georgia on vessels, either as owners, officers or mariners, should be considered to have done so with intent to commit the crime of seducing negro slaves from their owners and be dealt with accordingly by the officers of justice.”