What federal legislation passed in 1850 would allow law enforcement officials to capture runaway slaves?

Answer 1

The Fugitive Slave Act.

It reflected the increasing difficulty of creating new slave-states during the Western expansion.

As the Compromise of 1850 mostly favoured the North, Congress had to make a big gesture of appeasement to the South. It said, in effect, "We can't offer you much hope of new slave-states, but my goodness, we'll crack down on those runaways."

It backfired badly. Northern citizens resented being treated like unpaid slave-catchers, and 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was written as a protest against the Act.

Answer 2

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 allowed law enforcement officials to capture and return runaway slaves to their owners, even in free states. It required citizens and law enforcement to assist in capturing and returning escaped slaves, and imposed penalties on those who aided escaped slaves.