A Slave Takes the Secretary of State to Court, 1829

. . . they are people of color who are entitled to their freedom and who are now held in a state of slavery by one Henry Clay (Secty of State) contrary to law and your petitioners just rights and that they are about to be taken out of this district and carried into the state of Kentucky, there to be held as slaves for life’
There were 12 slave and 12 free states at the time. Kentucky was a slave state and would remain one until the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

A Slave Takes the Secretary of State to Court 1829

This petition was entered on behalf of Charlotte DuPee and her two children, slaves owned by the retiring Secretary of State, Henry Clay. DuPee claimed they were promised their freedom by their previous owner. She lost the case and was enslaved for 10 more years before Henry Clay freed her.

National Archives, Records of the District Courts of the United States