The Fugitive Slave Act Of 1850

1850

Strengthened the previous version from 1793

The federal government

That the government was openly supporting slavery

"The Bloodhound Law" because the slave owners dogs were now allowed to patrol the north looking for escaped slaves.

The authorities in the north were required to return the runaway slaves, if they didn't uphold this law they would be fined 1,000 dollars, now days 28k. If the officers turned in slaves they would be rewarded.

They would stand around the slave catchers and point at them. They (especially abolitionists) were outraged

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet beecher stowe, 1852

Some were taken and enslaved and the police claimed the reward.

Heaven

It started before the civil war and was still running during the civil war. It was most used from 1810-1850.

She rescued over 300 slaves using the network established by the Underground Railroad between 1850 and 1860.

It was a law passed in 1850 that made it legal to arrest runaway slaves anywhere in the United States. The slaves could be returned to their owners. A person who helped runaway slaves faced fines and jail time.

It was not an actual railroad. It was a network of houses and buildings that were used to help slaves escape from the South to freedom in the Northern states or Canada.

They were slaves that were fleeing the South.

They were the guides that led the slaves from one stop to another.

These stops were places where escaping slaves could rest. These were homes where slaves would hide. The slaves would hide in the barns or in secret places in the house.

Under the law, alleged fugitives were not entitled to a trial by jury, despite the Sixth Amendment provision calling for a speedy and public jury trial and the right to counsel. Nor could fugitives testify on their own behalf. A statement by a slave owner was all that was required to have a slave returned.

Infuriated by the Fugitive Slave Act, some Northerners resisted it by organizing vigilance committees to send endangered African Americans to safety in Canada. Others resorted to violence to rescue fugitive slaves. Nine Northern states passed personal liberty laws, which forbade the imprisonment of runaway slaves and guaranteed that they would have jury trials. And Northern lawyers dragged these trials out—often for three or four years—in order to increase slave catchers' expenses.

Free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who would, at great risk to themselves, aid fugitive slaves in their escape. This network became known as the Underground Railroad. The "conductors" hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided them with food and clothing, and escorted or directed them to the next "station," often in disguise.

One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman, born a slave in 1820 or 1821.In 1849, after Tubman's owner died, she decided to make a break for freedom and succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. In all, she made 19 trips back to the South and is said to have helped 300 slaves—including her own parents—flee to freedom. Neither Tubman nor the slaves she helped were ever captured. Later she became an ardent speaker for abolition.