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The Abolitionists | Clip

The Personal Liberty Act

George Latimer arrived in Boston in the fall of 1842, only to be thrown in jail at the request of a Virginia planter. Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison rallied other local abolitionists to call for Latimer's freedom. In March of 1843, Massachusetts complied with their demands by passing the Personal Liberty Act. State officials could never again take part in the recapture of a fugitive slave. Within a few years, almost every other Northern state had followed suit.

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