A supposed moral rule, excusing the citizen from obeying the law of the land.
1850. I see no way of avoiding [these consequences], unless they are destroyed by the operation of that “higher law,” the conscience of Free Soilers.—Mr. Savage of Tenn., House of Repr., May 13: Cong. Globe, p. 559, App.
1850. [The Boston Liberator] presents the first clear and distinct definition which I have seen of this “higher law.” I wish this same “higher law” to be understood in all its amplitude. [Then follows the 14th resolution of the New England Anti-Slavery Convention.]—Mr. Foote of Miss., U.S. Senate, June 17: id., p. 906, App.
1850. Let no man tell me there is no higher law than this fugitive [slave] bill.—Mr. Giddings of Ohio House of Repr., Dec. 10: id., p. 15.
1851. I am informed [said Mr. Thaddeus Stevens of Pa.] that there is no law which gives to pre-emption right to unsurveyed land but the “higher law,”—the law of the bowie-knife. I think we ought not to recognize that kind of “higher law.” Mr. Sibley of Minn. said that the “higher law” to which he referred was not any law of violence, but the law of public opinion, of public sentiment, a higher law which he believed existed elsewhere, as well as in Minnesota.—The same, Feb. 6: id., p. 445.
1851. The evil spirit assumed the form of a serpent, and whispered to Eve that there was a “higher law.”—Mr. Butler of S. Car., U.S. Senate, Feb. 17: id., p. 580.
1854. We hold to a “higher law” than Congressional enactments.—Mr. Giddings, House of Repr., Dec. 11: id., p. 35, App.
1861. [Mr. Seward’s] genius has organized the vagrancies (sic) of fanaticism into a code of aggressive principles. He is the author of the pandects of the “higher law.”—N.O. Picayune, Jan. 20.
