The Fugitive Slave Act

     The Fugitive Slave Law was part of the Compromise of 1850, which was written by Henry Clay. This act required all citizens in the north to capture any escaped slave and return them to their owner. The Fugitive Slave Act split the north and the south even more because of their differences in opinion about slavery. This act helped many northerners unify and encouraged them to speak out against slavery but in the south the act was supported. Essentially the North and South were divided more than ever over differences in opinion about slavery. Most northerners did not want to follow the new act, but the south depended on the north to return their escaped slaves. Conflict increased in the northern states, because many northerners did not want anything to do with slavery and this new act was trying to force them to become involved. Tension increased in the south due to the north saying how cruel slavery was and trying to help slaves escape and establishing laws so that they didn't have to follow the Fugitive Slave Act. The differences in opinions about slavery between the north and south gave both regions the opportunity to defend their beliefs concerning slavery.
     The northern response to the Fugitive Slave Act was mostly negative. The north responded this way because they did not support the injustices of slavery, including how poorly the average slave was treated. Under this new act northerners felt like they were officers that had to be on the look out for fugitive slaves at all times. Other northerners that did not care about slavery as much as others and were in need of quick money, decided to capture free black men and take them to the south to become slaves. As a reward the people who took these slaves to the south were given money. This was unfair because black men who were born free did not have any rights, and they could not go to court and make a case for themselves. Dred Scott is an example of someone who was a victim of this unfair law and was sent to the south to become a slave. One significance of this law in the north is that the tension over this law caused some free northern states to establish personal liberty laws. These laws nullified the Fugitive Slave Law and arrested men for kidnapping if they were caught taking escaped slaves back to their owners in the south. This is significant because this shows that the issues that began due to this act caused the north to stand up against the south and show them how they felt about the cruelties of slavery.
     Abolitionists in the north wanted to help slaves escape from the south so that they could be free in the north. The Underground Railroad was a system that slaves, white abolitionists, and free black people from the north made to help runaway slaves escape from the south and make their way to Canada. It was made up of conductors who hid slaves in their farmer wagons and riverboats and took slaves either to a free state in the north or to Canada. Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who helped many slaves escape to freedom through this system. This system finally showed people in the north taking a stand, putting their lives at risk, and helping many slaves from their abusive owners in the south. The Underground Railroad
     The south responded to the Fugitive Slave Act with support because it gave them hope that if their slaves escaped to the north that they might be returned. If the slaves were returned, the owners would pay whoever returned their slave. One outcome of the Fugitive Slave Act which made slave owners angry was due to the northerners writing books about the cruelties of slavery which lead the south to lie about how they treated their slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe published a book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin," in this novel Stowe expressed how terribly slaves were treated, which impacted many white northerners and made them want to stop slavery more that ever before. Southerners responded to books like Stowe's by publishing books saying that they treated their slaves well and the only slaves that escaped were ones that were mentally ill. The slave owners who would claim that the escaped slaves were mentally ill would say those slaves had a disease called Drapetomania. This is significant because it shows that the south was so desperate to defend slavey and try to get their escaped slaves back that they had to lie about how they treated their slaves.
     The Fugitive Slave Act caused more conflict between the north and south than ever before. Most people in the north wanted nothing to do with slavery but the south needed the north's help so that they could get their escaped slaves back. The south became angry with the north because when the north was supposed to be returning the escaped slaves, abolitionists in the north were helping slaves escape to freedom.  The significances of the Fugitive Slave Act resulted in increased conflict between the north and south regions. The tension was due to lies made up in the south about how they treated slaves, and the new act lead some northern states to pass laws that nullified the act that was just passes. Under the Fugitive Slave Law, the north was able identify why slavery should be ended and south was able to fight in order to keep slavery.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

     Harriet Beecher Stowe was a writer during the Antebellum Era and in many of her writings she expressed her opinions about slavery and woman's rights. Her religious beliefs and opinions about abolition were shown in her writing as well. During the transcendentalism period, abolition of slavery and rights of women were two major issues, which Stowe influenced through her writing as an author. She promoted rights for women and their capabilities and was against slavery and talked about the injustices of it. Her writing gave her a voice and she used it to her advantage, because during this time women were not allowed to vote and did not have any authority at home or job wise. Stowe's writing about slavery and women's rights defiantly changed the transcendentalism time period.
    She was most famously known as the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was a book based on Stowe's observations of the lives of African-Americans working as slaves. "I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity - because as a lover of my county, I trembled at the coming day of wrath" (pbs.org). This quote is an example of how her faith influenced her opinion on slavery and why she was against it and effected by it. Her writing helped advance the abolitionist movement which worked towards ending slavery.
     Not only did she focus on the issue of slavery in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but also brought up the importance of the role of a mother. This tied in with her strong beliefs that women deserved more rights during this time period and how mothers impacted the lives of those around them. "If the mothers of the free states had all felt as they should, in times past, the sons of the free states would not have been the holders, and proverbially, the hardest masters of slaves; the sons of the free states would not have connived at the extension of slavery (472)" (womanwriters.net). Her beliefs in women's rights are evident. She used her writing to speak her opinion so that maybe people's view on women would change, and then one day women would be given the rights that they deserved.

   

Dolley Madison

 

  Dolley Madison was the husband of President James Madison, and she is remembered as an influential and positive figure during the war of 1812. She managed to maintain a cheerful and hopeful atmosphere in the White House. She made the president a more approachable and pleasant man. She was a socialite and was admired by all the classes. 

     She collected all the important documents in the White House and made sure that the portrait of George Washington was saved before the White House was evacuated. By saving this portrait, Dolley is remembered even more for her good works and determination. This act of bravery shows her true character and determination, because she put her life at risk by staying in the White House to get the portrait when she was supposed to have already evacuated the house. 

     While the president was away with his troops, he always kept her informed through his letters and she helped him through this difficult war with encouraging words in her letters in response to him. "Dolley had become the president's political partner." She never failed to lift him up and stand by his side with every decision he made.  Dolley wrote in a letter to a friend: “I am not the least alarmed at these things but entirely disgusted & determined to stay with him.” "But Dolley, whose determination to stay with her husband was unwavering, remained. She welcomed Madison’s decision to station 100 militiamen under the command of a regular Army colonel on the White House lawn. Not only was it a gesture of protection on his part, it was also a declaration that he and Dolley intended to stand their ground."
     Dolley Madison was a memorable person during the war of 1812 mostly for saving the portrait of George Washington. She is also remembered as a socialite and was admired by all the classes for her good works and happy spirits that spread to many others. She will forever be remembered as a heroic figure for saving a piece of not just art, but American history.

Cite used for the direct quotes

(ttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-dolley-madison-saved-the-day-7465218/