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.