The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

THE ROAD TO DISUNION

FOCUS QUESTION:

• When is it appropriate to disobey the law?

THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

• Part of the Compromise of 1850

• Designed to protect property rights of Southerners

• Tightened up the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

• Intended to counter the Underground Railroad

DECLINE OF SLAVERY IN THE NORTH

• Anti-Slavery societies existed since 1776

• Brought an end to slavery in the North

• Promoted compensated emancipation

• Formed the American Colonization Society

• Supported establishing a colony in Africa

RISE OF ABOLITION SOCIETIES

• Rejected arguments of the ACS

• Took a radical approach to the United States

• American Revolution was not complete

• Saw Declaration as promoting equality of all

• Felt that African-Americans were Americans

• Promoted the complete ending of slavery

• Utilized confrontational tactics

• Public speeches and rallies

• Boycotts

• Antislavery newspapers

• Push for education changes

ACTIVITIES OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

• Assisted escaping slaves in the U.S.

• Illegal group of abolitionists and sympathizers

• Helped conduct several thousand fugitive slaves to freedom

ORGANIZED RESISTANCE

• Specific roles on the route

• Many known as “conductors”

• Set up secret meeting places, or “stations”

• Organized into small groups to avoid discovery

FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT OF 1850

• Designed to stop these activities

• Federal commissions for fugitive slave cases

• Cases heard by commissioners, not juries

• Alleged slaves could not testify

• Simple affidavit enough to reclaim a “slave”

IMPACTED MARSHAL SERVICE

• Federal Marshals required to

assist slave hunters

• Could deputize bystanders

on the spot

• Refusal to help was

made a felony

INFURIATED THE NORTH

• The Wisconsin Supreme Court declared the Act unconstitutional (overturned)

• Many states passed Personal Liberty Laws

• Laws stressed that residents of those states did not have to abide by the Fugitive Slave Act

• “Nullified” the Act

• Purpose?

LED TO INCREASED CONFLICT

• Southerners distrusted the North

• “Refused to meet constitutional obligations”

• Northerners had slavery brought home

• Forced to participate

• Saw the growth of the “Slaveocracy.”

CRACKS IN THE COMPROMISE

• The Fugitive Slave Act enflamed Northern opinion

• Assaulted ideas of personal liberty

• Assaulted ideas of fair play

• Used by Abolitionists

• Reaction to the Act infuriated the South

• Would the “Free” states continue to abide by the Constitution?

• What protections existed for their “property”?