Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers.
This 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 were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves.
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Books/Sources
- FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT OF 1850: An entry from Thomson Gale's West's Encyclopedia of American Law
- FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT OF 1850: An entry from Gale's Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
Youtube
- The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
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Early and Antebellum America (1789-1860)
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