The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required citizens and officials to assist in returning fugitive slaves to their owners, with serious consequences for those who refused. Abolitionists saw the process as unfair, and tensions between the north and south increased. The law was repealed in 1864.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850 in the United States. Under the Fugitive Slave Act, citizens and federal officials were required to assist in returning fugitive slaves to their owners. Knowingly challenging this law has led to serious consequences. The passage of the law is said to have sown terror among blacks and unleashed anger in the free northern states.
The US Congress enacted the first Fugitive Slave Act in 1793, but because the Northern states were free, the act was rarely enforced. Southern resentment and other parts of the Compromise of 1850 prompted Congress to enact the new law in 1850.
In this second amendment, more officials were hired and charged with actively capturing runaway slaves. Citizens were also expected to help capture runaway slaves. Those who refused to cooperate, as well as those who aided or hid slaves, were subject to fines, imprisonment, or both.
Captured slaves were not given a trial. Instead, a federal commissioner was appointed who would hear the case and determine the outcome. For abolitionists, this procedure was seen as unfair. Slaves were not allowed to testify at their trials, and most of the evidence was taken from slave owners who weren’t even required to appear at the hearing.
Also, those in the North felt the commissioners were being bribed to side with the slave owners. Commissioners who ruled in favor of the slave owner were paid $10 US dollars (USD) and commissioners who ruled in favor of the slave were paid only $5 USD. Most of the captured slaves were returned to their owners.
The underground railroad was used aggressively during this period. No black in the United States was exempt from the law, and although runaway slaves were the target, as slaves could not defend themselves, many free blacks were captured and turned into slaves. Fearing for their lives, an estimated 20,000 blacks fled to Canada.
The act caused tensions between the north and the south. Northern abolitionists believed that the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 offered preferential treatment to Southern slaveholders and that the North should not be required to enforce slavery. Many people in the north disagreed with the law, so some states tried to enact laws that would overrule or thwart it. Congress repealed both acts in 1864.
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