[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 180 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 180

   Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Thomas 
Garrett was and should be recognized as a national abolitionist leader 
   and activist in the struggle against slavery in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2023

   Ms. Blunt Rochester submitted the following resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Thomas 
Garrett was and should be recognized as a national abolitionist leader 
   and activist in the struggle against slavery in the United States.

Whereas Thomas Garrett, a devout Quaker and noted abolitionist, was born in 
        Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, on August 21, 1789, and died on January 25, 
        1871;
Whereas Thomas Garrett became an abolitionist when he rescued a free Black woman 
        who worked for his parents and was kidnapped by slave traders;
Whereas Thomas Garrett moved his family to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1822, to 
        start his own business and continue his activism in the struggle against 
        slavery;
Whereas Thomas Garrett boycotted goods made by enslaved labor, supported 
        abolitionist petitions, authored opinion pieces in local newspapers, and 
        organized with antislavery societies;
Whereas Thomas Garrett established a station of the Underground Railroad at his 
        home and business on 227 Shipley Street, Wilmington, Delaware;
Whereas Thomas Garrett helped his friend and noted civil rights heroine, Harriet 
        Tubman, rescue her parents from arrest for helping enslaved people 
        escape to freedom;
Whereas Thomas Garrett helped over 2,400 people escape to freedom;
Whereas Thomas Garrett, in 1848, was found guilty by United States Supreme Court 
        Chief Justice Roger B. Taney for violating the Fugitive Slave Act of 
        1793 for helping a family escape to freedom;
Whereas Chief Justice Taney would later write the opinion for the court in the 
        infamous Dred Scott decision;
Whereas Thomas Garrett vowed to continue his abolitionist activism despite the 
        miscarriage of justice and a fine of $5,400 imposed by Chief Justice 
        Taney which nearly bankrupted him, despite its reduction to $1,500;
Whereas the Maryland legislature proposed various exorbitant bounties for the 
        arrest of Thomas Garrett due to his antislavery efforts;
Whereas Thomas Garrett joined a 10-person delegation of abolitionists to meet 
        with President Abraham Lincoln on June 20, 1862, to urge the President 
        to decree the emancipation of the enslaved;
Whereas President Abraham Lincoln started drafting the Emancipation Proclamation 
        in July 1862; and
Whereas Thomas Garrett's life and contributions to the Underground Railroad and 
        the abolition of slavery in the United States should be recognized as 
        exemplary deeds of service for his country and his fellow citizens: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) Thomas Garrett was unjustly convicted under the 
        Fugitive Slave Act of 1793;
            (2) Thomas Garrett was and should be recognized as a 
        national abolitionist leader and activist in the struggle 
        against slavery in the United States; and
            (3) the President should take appropriate measures within 
        his power to honor Thomas Garrett's service to the United 
        States and to his fellow citizens.
                                 <all>