word is to be construed in favor of liberty_."

The third compact is:

"A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other
crime, who shall flee from justice, or be found in another
State, shall, on demand of the Executive authority of the
State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to
the State having jurisdiction of the crime."

It has never been pretended that Congress has any power to act in
such cases. There is no clause _delegating any power to the United
States_; consequently, all proceedings on the subject have been left
to the several States.

The fourth compact is:

"No person held to service or labor in one State, under the
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of
any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such
service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due."

If the framers of the Constitution had meant that Congress should
have power to pass a law for delivering up fugitives "held to
service or labor," they would have inserted a clause _delegating
such power_, as they did in the compact concerning "public acts and
records." The Constitution does _not_ delegate any such power to the
United States. Consequently, Congress had no constitutional right to
pass the Fugitive Slave Bill, and the States are under no