Fugitive Slave Act Research Paper

As the nation descended further into a split entity, with the issue of slavery at the forefront of the debate. The North and South needed to find a way to deal with their differences before the Union fell in shambles. The Compromise of 1850 was passed after long extensive debate in congress, the compromise was intended to settle the debate over how slavery would be controlled throughout the expanding nation. The Fugitive Slave Act was included in the compromise to satisfy southern states, that wanted to preserve the institution of slavery. The act allowed for run away slaves to be hunted down and returned to their past owners, even after they made it to the free states in the North. The Southerners wished to preserve their right to property, which is among the “Unalienable Rights”. Some northern states refuse to recognize the law which infuriated the South because they saw this as an explicit violation of the slave holder’s rights, this intensified the South’s urge to become a separate State.

The Fugitive Slave Act was an act that stated citizens of the United States were required to help capture runaway slaves. This act made a huge impact in the south and in the north. It was an issue for people against slavery and a victory for those for it. The Fugitive Slave Act made it so that everyday people who would help slaves were now to scared to do anything about it because they could get punished too. The Fugitive Slave Act led to problems for the underground railroad and for abolitionist who were helping free slaves. The Fugitive Slave act also led to a growth in illegal slaves. In my opinion, the Fugitive Slave Act was one of the most important issues during slavery and the fight to end it.

Finally, in 1854, the first state high court declared the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 to be unconstitutional. The state of Wisconsin ruled in favor of abolitionist Sherman Booth, who had helped slave Joshua Glover escape to safety. The United States Supreme Court eventually overturned this ruling, declaring the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 to be constitutional and upholding the law. This political move frustrated the abolitionists, even those who considered themselves to be less extreme.

The most glaring established issue with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was its disavowal of due process. A criminal was returned south on the expression of any white individual. The blamed was not permitted to present confirmation in his own guard. This unmistakably disregards the Fifth Amendment. "No individual might be… denied of life, freedom, or property, without due procedure of law."Unless you need to contend dark individuals weren't "people," a blamed criminal had a privilege to a real trial. As it stood, the Fugitive Slave Acts stripped all rights from a dark individual on the simple assumption he was a slave. He was assumed liable and had no real way to substantiate himself guiltless. The Bill of Rights was added to give "promote decisive

In 1850, representatives of Clinton County tried to introduce the bill again. Both houses opposed it, but eventually the bill passed and the governor signed it. However, there was an important stipulation to the bill; it could only go into effect after it was published in the newspapers; Iowa City Reporter and the Iowa Freeman of Mt. Pleasant. Fortunately, the Freeman refused to publish it, thus effectively stopping the bill from becoming law (History of Clinton County, 54). Nevertheless, there was another legal move to block runaway slaves from achieving freedom, this time from the United States Government. Before the Federal Government passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, slaves felt safe if they could run away to a free state. However, after this law went into effect slave catchers everywhere hunted them. The Fugitive Slave Act brought the problem of slavery to “Iowa’s doorstep” (History of Clinton County, 54).

The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a law passed by the United States Congress on September 18th. This Law stated that all people who had escaped from slavery must be returned to their owners. Keep in mind that in this situation slaves were traded and bought, sort of thought of back then what farm equipment is now. If people in the North, Where Slavery was not legal, hid or in some way helped slaves, they were breaking the law of the land. Law officials everywhere now had a duty to arrest anyone that was suspected of being a runaway slave, with very little evidence needed except the owners testimony of ownership. The suspected slave could not ask for a jury trial or testify on his or her own behalf.

M., Spalding, M.). This was named the Fugitive Slave Clause, which became Article IV. This said that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude would exist in the territory” (III, E. M., Spalding, M.).

The Constitution was open to wide interpretation on many issues including that of slavery. The southerners, who were mainly proponents of slavery, interpreted the Constitution to include slaves as property. They believed that as personal property slaves were allowed to be taken into the Territories of the United States as well as the slave states already existing as part of the Union. Additionally, these Constitutional property rights were interpreted by southerners to mean that “fugitive slaves” should be returned if caught because they are personal property (Document B). The interpretations of the Constitution made by many southern proponents of slavery prove the validity of the statement in question by creating an argument seen as inflammatory by northern opponents of slavery and increasing the tension that sparked the Civil

The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. This act required that authorities in the North had to assist

During the late 18th century, America’s southern states used to have a law that granted slave owners the ability to free their slaves if they wanted to. According to historian Alan Taylor, this practice was called “private manumission” (Slaves Background Video), and it is clear that the choice to free them was entirely up to the slave owners, considering that he does not suggest that they were forced to free their slaves. However, that makes their successful attempts to remove the manumission law more confusing, because they technically restricted their own freedoms by making it “more difficult for an individual to free his or her slaves” (Slaves Background Video). The main reasons why they would take such a drastic measure are that they feared the growing population of free blacks and they (ironically) felt that they were

This named slaves as three-fifths of a person. It just goes to show the mindset that people were in at this time; that people of color were not even human. This is shown again later in the document when it says “No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. ”(Const. Article four, Section two)

The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. Though the entire compromise had been controversial, the Fugitive Slave act was the most so. The first Fugitive Slave Act had been made in order to return runaway slaves to the South, but was fairly ineffective. The revision of the act was made in 1850 as a part of a compromise suggested by the South as a way of keeping them from seceding. This revision included a fine of $1,000, twice as much as it was previously, and up to 6 years in jail for anyone who interfered with the return of a runaway slave. It also disallowed the African Americans from using a jury case. Judges were payed $10 for returning the slave and $5 for releasing them. Some judges took advantage of this by sending

How did the abolitionists' proposals and methods differ from those of earlier antislavery movements (see Chapter 8)?

The Fugitive Slave Acts were a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States. Enacted by Congress in 1793, the first Fugitive Slave Act authorized local governments to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight. Widespread resistance to the 1793 law later led to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which added further provisions regarding runaways and levied even harsher punishments for interfering in their capture. The Fugitive Slave Acts were among the most controversial laws of the early 19th century, and many Northern

In response to slaves running north for freedom, the US Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, an extension of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which granted owners the right to recapture their slaves and place them back in slavery. This was a controversial issue because slave owners could hire a bounty hunter to capture slaves, or in most instances, capture a free African