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Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was a statute passed by the 31st United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers.
The Act was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a slave power conspiracy. It required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to the slave-owner and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. The Act contributed to the growing polarization of the country over the issue of slavery. It was one of the factors that led to the founding of the Republican Party and the start of the American Civil War.
By 1843, several hundred enslaved people per year escaped to the North successfully, making slavery an unstable institution in the border states.[page needed]
The earlier Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was a federal law that was written with the intent to enforce Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, which required the return of escaped slaves. It sought to force the authorities in free states to return fugitive slaves to their enslavers.
Many free states wanted to disregard the Fugitive Slave Act. Some jurisdictions passed personal liberty laws, mandating a jury trial before alleged fugitive slaves could be moved, while others forbade the use of local jails or the assistance of state officials in arresting or returning fugitive slaves. In some cases, juries refused to convict individuals who had been indicted under the federal law.
The Missouri Supreme Court routinely held that enslaved people who had been relocated into neighboring free states along with their enslavers gained their freedom as a result. The 1793 act dealt with slaves who escaped to free states without their enslavers' consent. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) that states were not required to aid in the hunting or recapture of slaves, significantly weakening the law of 1793.
After 1840, the Black population of Cass County, Michigan, proliferated as families were attracted by White defiance of discriminatory laws, by numerous highly supportive Quakers, and by low-priced land. Free and escaping Blacks found Cass County a haven. Their good fortune attracted the attention of Southern slavers. In 1847 and 1849, planters from Bourbon and Boone Counties, Kentucky, led raids into Cass County to recapture escaped slaves. The attacks failed, but the situation contributed to Southern demands in 1850 to pass a strengthened fugitive-slave act.
Southern politicians often exaggerated the number of people escaping enslavement, blaming the escapes on Northern abolitionists, whom they believed to be inciting their allegedly happy slaves and interfering with Southern property rights. According to the Columbus Enquirer of 1850, the support from Northerners for fugitive slaves caused more ill will between the North and the South than did all the other causes combined.
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Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was a statute passed by the 31st United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers.
The Act was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a slave power conspiracy. It required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to the slave-owner and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. The Act contributed to the growing polarization of the country over the issue of slavery. It was one of the factors that led to the founding of the Republican Party and the start of the American Civil War.
By 1843, several hundred enslaved people per year escaped to the North successfully, making slavery an unstable institution in the border states.[page needed]
The earlier Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was a federal law that was written with the intent to enforce Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, which required the return of escaped slaves. It sought to force the authorities in free states to return fugitive slaves to their enslavers.
Many free states wanted to disregard the Fugitive Slave Act. Some jurisdictions passed personal liberty laws, mandating a jury trial before alleged fugitive slaves could be moved, while others forbade the use of local jails or the assistance of state officials in arresting or returning fugitive slaves. In some cases, juries refused to convict individuals who had been indicted under the federal law.
The Missouri Supreme Court routinely held that enslaved people who had been relocated into neighboring free states along with their enslavers gained their freedom as a result. The 1793 act dealt with slaves who escaped to free states without their enslavers' consent. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) that states were not required to aid in the hunting or recapture of slaves, significantly weakening the law of 1793.
After 1840, the Black population of Cass County, Michigan, proliferated as families were attracted by White defiance of discriminatory laws, by numerous highly supportive Quakers, and by low-priced land. Free and escaping Blacks found Cass County a haven. Their good fortune attracted the attention of Southern slavers. In 1847 and 1849, planters from Bourbon and Boone Counties, Kentucky, led raids into Cass County to recapture escaped slaves. The attacks failed, but the situation contributed to Southern demands in 1850 to pass a strengthened fugitive-slave act.
Southern politicians often exaggerated the number of people escaping enslavement, blaming the escapes on Northern abolitionists, whom they believed to be inciting their allegedly happy slaves and interfering with Southern property rights. According to the Columbus Enquirer of 1850, the support from Northerners for fugitive slaves caused more ill will between the North and the South than did all the other causes combined.