It was launched in a bad spirit as part of the ill-starred Compromise of 1850.
To get the South to agree to allow California to enter the Union as free soil, Congress had to make a big concession in favour of slave property. The Fugitive Slave Act was deliberately designed as a dramatic gesture to impress the slave-owners. The general public must now report anyone who looked as though they might be a runaway, on pain of a heavy fine.
The Northern public strongly resented being treated as unpaid slave-catchers, and the Abolitionists reacted in fury, setting-up the Underground Railroad, a system of safe-houses by which slaves could be smuggled into Canada. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' as her personal response to the Act, and it sold in its hundreds of thousands, recruiting many more people to the Abolitionist cause. This publication alone probably did as much as anything to start the Civil War, as Lincoln wryly commented.
The first fugitive slave law was passed by Congress in 1793. It allowed slaveowners to reclaim their escaped slaves in any state or territory in the United States.
Fugitive Slave Law
people who did not favor slavery
Compromise of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Law was a United States law passed in 1850 that required all escaped slaves to be returned to their owners, even if they were found in free states. It was part of the Compromise of 1850 and was highly controversial, leading to increased tensions between abolitionists and pro-slavery advocates.
the first fugitive slave law was passed in 1793.
The fugitive slave law lasted until 1765 to 1776.
The Fugitive Slave Law was a United States law passed in 1850 that required all escaped slaves to be returned to their owners, even if they were found in free states. It was part of the Compromise of 1850 and was highly controversial, leading to increased tensions between abolitionists and pro-slavery advocates.
The first fugitive slave law was passed by Congress in 1793. It allowed slaveowners to reclaim their escaped slaves in any state or territory in the United States.
Henry Clay's role in the Fugitive Slave Law was to renew the countries slave attitude.
California was to be admitted as a free state.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it a federal crime to assist a runaway slave by allowing for the capture and return of escaped slaves even in free states. This law required citizens to help slave owners recapture their escaped slaves, and those found assisting runaways could face fines or imprisonment.
The Fugitive Slave Law
Northern states passed Personal Liberty laws to counteract the Fugitive Slave Law. These were meant to make the law equitable and to protect the rights of Freedmen and escaped slaves without nullifying the Fugitive Slave Law.
1850
1850
The Fugitive Slave Act was written as part of the Compromise of 1850 and was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850. It required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to their owners.