Porter Broyles

“Justice Josiah Hoffman wrote the opinion for the supreme court, an opinion that proved every bit as favorable to the South as Riker, Wells, and others had hoped. The court declared that the requirement of a jury trial violated the US Constitution because “the legal rights of the Southern Slaveholder are so clearly defined, as at once to mark him, who in any way impede their exercise, as a violator of the public space.”
― Jonathan Daniel Wells, The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War

“Wells argued that, in fact, jury trials in fugitive cases were unconstitutional because they placed a barrier between a slaveholder and his slave property.”
― Jonathan Daniel Wells, The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War

“If the US claim was correct, it would mean the loss of over 84,000 acres for Texas. Associated with the border dispute were grievances raised against Nemesio de Salcedo y Salcedo, the commander general of the Internal Provinces, who refused to allow US agents to enter Texas in search of runaway slaves. US officials charged that the commander’s interpretation of international-border policy was wrong. Salcedo had informed them that upon entering Texas, slaves gained their freedom and that this policy did not violate international law or the property rights of US slave owners. US official disagreed because Spain’s laws were encouraging slaves from Louisiana and the Carolinas to run away and seek refuge in Texas.”
― Martha Menchaca, The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality

“Complicating matters, American spies, with the aid of Canary Islanders, were expected to enter Texas and instigate revolts. Canary Islanders had the right to obtain a license to enter Texas as Spanish subjects seeking to relocate to New Spain. Twenty years earlier, when Louisiana belonged to Spain, Canary Islanders were brought in to populate the region. Over 2,000 of them settled in Louisiana. Spanish officials now feared that these settlers’ loyalties lay with the United States.”
― Martha Menchaca, The Mexican American Experience in Texas: Citizenship, Segregation, and the Struggle for Equality