August 9, 1842

Likely as a consequence of the case of escaped slave Nelson Hackett, Article 10 of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was approved by the British and American governments. It carefully limited extradition only to criminals, thus protecting fugitive slaves from automatic surrender to their owners. Hackett was an Arkansas slave whose 1841 escape to Canada (then a colony of Great Britain) led to a campaign by his owner to have him extradited to the United States on charges of theft as a way of getting around the legal sanctuary that Canada provided to fugitive slaves. Hackett’s extradition aroused the ire of abolitionists on both sides of the border.