TEXT: Possibly “their” or “her”.

In October 1842 Butterfield explained in detail the legal basis of this defense of JS in a letter written to Sidney Rigdon. The State of Alabama v. Williams case was the foundation of his argument. Robert G. Williams, an abolitionist residing in New York, was indicted by an Alabama court in 1835 on charges of “intending to produce conspiracy, insurrection and rebellion among the slave population” for distributing his antislavery paper The Emancipator in the latter state. In his request for Williams’s extradition, Alabama governor John Gayle stated that Williams was not in the state when the crime was committed and had not “fled” as the wording in the Constitution required, “according to the strict literal import of that term.” Gayle argued that the term “fled” should be interpreted as “evade” and that Williams should be extradited even though he had not physically fled from the justice of Alabama. New York governor William Marcy, though personally highly critical of abolitionism, rejected this interpretation and refused to extradite Williams, maintaining his stance that a fugitive must physically flee the jurisdiction of the state attempting extradition. The Alabama requisition papers, Gayle’s letter, and Marcy’s lengthy response were printed in the Albany Argus. (Justin Butterfield, Chicago, IL, to Sidney Rigdon, [Nauvoo, IL], 20 Oct. 1842, copy, Sidney Rigdon, Collection, CHL; “Requisition of the Governor of Alabama,” Albany Argus, 7 Jan. 1836, [2].)

Rigdon, Sidney. Collection, 1831–1858. CHL. MS 713.

Albany Argus. Albany, NY. 1825–1856.

The message cited is probably a reference to New York governor Marcy’s message to the New York state legislature of 5 January 1836. Marcy made it clear that he had protected New York abolitionist Williams from extradition to Alabama because his alleged seditious acts “arose from acts done within this State.” (Documents of the Assembly of the State of New-York, no. 2, pp. 29–39.)

Documents of the Assembly of the State of New-York, Fifty-Ninth Session, 1836. Vol. 1, From No. 1 to No. 42 Inclusive. Albany: E. Croswell, 1836.