The
Fugitive Slave Law or
Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the
United States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
on September 18, 1850, as part of the
Compromise of 1850The Compromise of 1850 was a complex package of five bills, passed in September 1850, defusing a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North that arose from expectation of territorial expansion of the United States with the Texas Annexation and...
between
SouthernThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
slaveholdingSlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
interests and
NorthernThe Northern United States is a large geographic region of the United States of America. Most Americans refer to the region simply as "the North". It is currently divided by the United States Census as the Midwest and Northeast, both of which have their own sub-regions...
Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a '
slave powerThe Slave Power was a term used in the Northern United States to characterize the political power of the slaveholding class in the South.-Background:...
conspiracy'. It declared that all runaway slaves be brought back to their masters.
The earlier
Fugitive Slave Act of 17931793 Fugitive Slave Act was written in response to a conflict between Pennsylvania and Virginia. Although the problem of fugitive slaves was addressed at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 , there was an assumption that interstate cooperation would allow this provision to be enforced...
was a
FederalThe federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and...
law which was written with the intention of enforcing Article 4, Section 2 of the
United States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States...
that required the return of runaway slaves.
The
Fugitive Slave Law or
Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the
United States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
on September 18, 1850, as part of the
Compromise of 1850The Compromise of 1850 was a complex package of five bills, passed in September 1850, defusing a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North that arose from expectation of territorial expansion of the United States with the Texas Annexation and...
between
SouthernThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
slaveholdingSlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
interests and
NorthernThe Northern United States is a large geographic region of the United States of America. Most Americans refer to the region simply as "the North". It is currently divided by the United States Census as the Midwest and Northeast, both of which have their own sub-regions...
Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a '
slave powerThe Slave Power was a term used in the Northern United States to characterize the political power of the slaveholding class in the South.-Background:...
conspiracy'. It declared that all runaway slaves be brought back to their masters.
Background
The earlier
Fugitive Slave Act of 17931793 Fugitive Slave Act was written in response to a conflict between Pennsylvania and Virginia. Although the problem of fugitive slaves was addressed at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 , there was an assumption that interstate cooperation would allow this provision to be enforced...
was a
FederalThe federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and...
law which was written with the intention of enforcing Article 4, Section 2 of the
United States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States...
that required the return of runaway slaves. It sought to force the authorities in free states to return fugitive slaves to their masters.
Some Northern states passed "
personal liberty lawsThe personal liberty laws were a series of laws passed by several U.S. states in the North in response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and 1850.-Origins:...
", mandating a jury trial before alleged fugitive slaves could be moved. Otherwise, they feared free blacks could be kidnapped into slavery. Other states forbade the use of local jails or the assistance of state officials in the arrest or return of such fugitives. In some cases, juries simply
refused to convictJury nullification is the process whereby a jury in a criminal case nullifies a law by acquitting a defendant regardless of the weight of evidence against him or her." Widely, it is any rendering of a verdict by a trial jury which acquits a criminal defendant despite that defendant's violation of...
individuals who had been indicted under the Federal law. Moreover, locals in some areas actively fought attempts to seize fugitives and return them to the South. And everywhere that was not tied with slavery, abolitionists spoke against this.
The Missouri Supreme Court routinely held that voluntary transportation of slaves into free states, with the intent of residing there permanently or definitely, automatically made them free. The Fugitive Slave Law dealt with slaves who went into free states without their master's consent. The
U.S. Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
ruled, in
Prigg v. PennsylvaniaPrigg v. Pennsylvania, , was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that Federal law is superior to State law, and overturned the conviction of Edward Prigg as a result.-Federal Law:...
(1842), that states did not have to offer aid in the hunting or recapture of slaves, greatly weakening the law of 1793.
New law
In the response to the weakening of the original fugitive slave act, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made any
Federal marshalThe United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice and is the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the United States....
or other official who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave liable to a fine of $1,000. Law-enforcement officials everywhere now had a duty to arrest anyone suspected of being a runaway slave on no more evidence than a claimant's sworn testimony of ownership. The suspected slave could not ask for a jury trial or testify on his or her own behalf. In addition, any person aiding a runaway slave by providing food or shelter was subject to six months' imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. Officers who captured a fugitive slave were entitled to a bonus for their work.
Slave owners only needed to supply an affidavit to a Federal marshal to capture an escaped slave. Since any suspected slave was not eligible for a trial this led to many free blacks being conscripted into slavery as they had no rights in court and could not defend themselves against accusations.
Effects
In fact the Fugitive Slave Law brought the issue home to anti-slavery citizens in the North, since it made them and their institutions responsible for enforcing slavery. Even moderate abolitionists were now faced with the immediate choice of defying what they believed an unjust law or breaking with their own consciences and beliefs. The
caseBurns Fugitive Slave Case was one of three famous fugitive slave cases arising in Boston, Massachusetts, after the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Part of the Vigilance Committee planned to rescue Anthony Burns, an escaped slave, from an upper room of the courthouse...
of
Anthony BurnsAnthony Burns was born a slave in Stafford County, Virginia. As a young man, he converted to Baptism and became a "slave preacher"...
fell under this statute.
The Fugitive Slave Act brought a defiant response from abolitionists. Reverend Luther Lee, pastor of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of
Syracuse, New YorkSyracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2000 census, the city population was 147,306, and its metropolitan area had a population of 732,117. It is the economic and educational hub of Central New...
wrote in 1855:
This was far from empty rhetoric; several years beofre, in the famous
Jerry RescueThe Jerry Rescue was an event in Syracuse, New York in the United States that involved the arrest of a freed slave during the anti-slavery Liberty Party's state convention and his rescue by members of that party....
, Syracuse abolitionists did free by force a fugitive slave who was about to send back into the South and succefully smauggled him to Canada.
In 1854, the
Wisconsin Supreme CourtThe Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in the state of Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin.-Location:...
became the only state high court to declare the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional, as a result of a case involving fugitive slave
Joshua GloverJoshua Glover was a runaway slave from St. Louis, Missouri who sought asylum in Racine, Wisconsin in 1852. Upon learning his whereabouts in 1854, slave owner Bennami Garland attempted to use the Fugitive Slave Act to recover him. Glover was captured and taken to a Milwaukee jail...
, and
Sherman BoothSherman Booth was an abolitionist, editor and politician in Wisconsin.Born in Davenport, New York, Booth moved to Wisconsin from New York, just days before Wisconsin was granted statehood. He was one of the only members of the Free Soil Party in the state at the time, and he was a stauch supporter...
, who led efforts that thwarted Glover's recapture. Ultimately, in 1859 in
Ableman v. BoothAbleman v. Booth, 62 U.S. 506 , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that state courts cannot issue rulings that contradict the decisions of federal courts....
the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the state court.
Other opponents, such as African American leader
Harriet TubmanHarriet Tubman was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue over seventy slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the...
, simply treated the law as just another complication in their activities. The most important reaction was making the neighboring country of
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
the main destination of choice for runaway slaves.
With the outbreak of the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, General
Benjamin ButlerBenjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as governor of Massachusetts....
justified refusing to return runaway slaves in accordance to this law because the
UnionDuring the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty-three states which were not part of the secession attempt by the 11 states that tried to form the Confederacy...
and the
ConfederacyThe Confederate States of America was a separatist political entity existing between 1861 to 1865, established by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States...
were at war: the slaves could be confiscated and set free as
contrabandContraband was a term commonly used in the United States during the American Civil War to describe a new status for certain escaped slaves or those who came into the possession of Union forces.-History:...
of war. The North also argued that the Fugitive Slave Act only applied to the Union; the South had broken away, so the law did not apply to the Confederacy.
See also
- Fugitive slave laws
The fugitive slave laws were laws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another or into a public territory.-Colonial era:...
- Prigg v. Pennsylvania
Prigg v. Pennsylvania, , was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that Federal law is superior to State law, and overturned the conviction of Edward Prigg as a result.-Federal Law:...
- Ableman v. Booth
Ableman v. Booth, 62 U.S. 506 , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that state courts cannot issue rulings that contradict the decisions of federal courts....
- Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th century Black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists who aided the...
- Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The first one, issued September 22, 1862, declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union...
Incidents involving fugitive slaves:
- Anthony Burns
Anthony Burns was born a slave in Stafford County, Virginia. As a young man, he converted to Baptism and became a "slave preacher"...
- Christiana incident (or riot), 1851
- Joshua Glover
Joshua Glover was a runaway slave from St. Louis, Missouri who sought asylum in Racine, Wisconsin in 1852. Upon learning his whereabouts in 1854, slave owner Bennami Garland attempted to use the Fugitive Slave Act to recover him. Glover was captured and taken to a Milwaukee jail...
- The Jerry Rescue
The Jerry Rescue was an event in Syracuse, New York in the United States that involved the arrest of a freed slave during the anti-slavery Liberty Party's state convention and his rescue by members of that party....
- Shadrach Minkins
Shadrach Minkins was an African American fugitive slave. Born in Norfolk, Virginia, he escaped from slavery in 1850 to settle in Boston, Massachusetts, where he became a waiter...
External links