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Interpretations of the compromise of 1850
Fugitive slave acts of 1793 and 1850
Fugitive slave Act essays
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The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by congress in 1850, it was a federal law that allowed slaves to be captured and the return of runaway slaves. The Fugitive Slave Act resulted because free black people were being captured and sold into slavery. This law was referred to by some people as the “Compromise of 1850.” Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Calhoun said that California was going to be a free state but they would have a Slave Law. The law was that the slaves who ran away for freedom in the North would be denied freedom and they would be returned to their owned in the South. Being a runaway slave would make you a criminal. The law let commissioners decide the destiny of the fugitives without a trial or a statement by the person who is
What is freedom? This question is easy enough to answer today. To many, the concept of freedom we have now is a quality of life free from the constraints of a person or a government. In America today, the thought of living a life in which one was “owned” by another person, seems incomprehensible. Until 1865 however, freedom was a concept that many African Americans only dreamed of. Throughout early American Literature freedom and the desire to be free has been written and spoken about by many. Insight into how an African-American slave views freedom and what sparks their desire to receive it can be found in any of the “Slave Narratives” of early American literature, from Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustav Vassa, the African published in 1789, to Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself which was published in 1845. Phillis Wheatley’s poetry and letters and Martin R. Delany’s speech Political Destiny of the Colored Race in the American Continent also contain examples of the African-American slaves’ concepts of freedom; all the similarities and differences among them.
The difficulties of legislating on fugitive slaves has always been finely intertwined with kidnapping. The colonies, upon their establishment, found that indentured servants and slaves were the quickest ways to establish a solid class of laborers necessary to survive in the New World. This lack of a working class and the growth of the institutions of indentured servitude and slavery in the colonies established a strong legal precedence in attempting to protect against the loss of labor in the form of runaway servants. Laws in Virginia would double the contract length of ...
It would organize the new lands acquired from Mexico into territories, which could apply for statehood as either free or slave states, depending upon popular sovereignty. This violated the earlier Missouri Compromise’s Mason-Dixon Line with California becoming a free state, and by giving territories the choice of whether or not they would become free or slave states. The compromise also enacted the Fugitive Slave Act, which stated that any free person who does not report a slave that escaped from the South will be fined, and that the escaped slave has to be returned back to their owner. This was disastrous, as it “Sowed the seed of destruction” by creating animosity between northerners and southerners of the union, and began destroying the unity of the
Following the success of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas in the early16th century, the Spaniards, French and Europeans alike made it their number one priority to sail the open seas of the Atlantic with hopes of catching a glimpse of the new territory. Once there, they immediately fell in love the land, the Americas would be the one place in the world where a poor man would be able to come and create a wealthy living for himself despite his upbringing. Its rich grounds were perfect for farming popular crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton. However, there was only one problem; it would require an abundant amount of manpower to work these vast lands but the funding for these farming projects was very scarce in fact it was just about nonexistent. In order to combat this issue commoners back in Europe developed a system of trade, the Triangle Trade, a trade route that began in Europe and ended in the Americas. Ships leaving Europe first stopped in West Africa where they traded weapons, metal, liquor, and cloth in exchange for captives that were imprisoned as a result of war. The ships then traveled to America, where the slaves themselves were exchanged for goods such as, sugar, rum and salt. The ships returned home loaded with products popular with the European people, and ready to begin their journey again.
...be taken into custody for deportation; and if that, it is argued they may also be held for some undetermined
Between 1800 and 1860 slavery in the American South had become a ‘peculiar institution’ during these times. Although it may have seemed that the worst was over when it came to slavery, it had just begun. The time gap within 1800 and 1860 had slavery at an all time high from what it looks like. As soon as the cotton production had become a long staple trade source it gave more reason for slavery to exist. Varieties of slavery were instituted as well, especially once international slave trading was banned in America after 1808, they had to think of a way to keep it going – which they did. Nonetheless, slavery in the American South had never declined; it may have just come to a halt for a long while, but during this time between 1800 and 1860, it shows it could have been at an all time high.
The indeed started to return all the runaway slaves back to the south. The united states kept trying to defend the rights of slaves owner throughout other countries but the federal government was all for slavery so they bumped heads. Therefore the abolitionists began a petition asking for the congress to end slavery in columbia which the national government controlled. As the petition got to the congress the southerners became infuriated and decided to go out and kill those abolinistor who was promoting to end slavery.Abolitionist and the anti slavery advocates stated that “ the federal fugitive slave act was unconstitutional “ because it does not give specifically give congress permission to return all the runaway slaves and “ the act’s provisions deprived accused runaways of various right specified in the bill of rights” . In Prigg v. Pennsylvania , the supreme court over ruled the act and its guaranteed the slave owner and catcher the rights to hold all slaves without going to court for seizing them.The state 's law is considering that as kidnapping and requires proof. Now in the south slave owner would not have to prove
...if they slave were sent back into slavery. The Fugitive Slave law of 1850 was enforced greatly.
One item in the Compromise of 1850 was the provision for a stronger Fugitive Slave Law. This new law made it a federal crime to not return a runaway slave to the south. The law also established that any suspected runaway slave was to be tried by a single judge, not by a jury. Also, these judges were compensated by a system that provided them with more money for deciding that the slave was guilty than innocent. This law obviously encouraged people not to harbor runaway slaves, and when they were caught, it provided the judge an incentive to have them returned to the south.
The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. This act required that authorities in the North had to assist southern slave catchers to retrieve and return slaves to their owners. Southerners favored this act because they saw no slavery in the territories to the west, by the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act it would help preserve slavery in the south. This act allowed southern slave owners to get their slaves back when they escaped to the North that is why this act was important and critical to southern survival. The view of this act by the North was the opposite, especially from those who were black, they feared this act. The blacks in the North were terrified that this act would make it so they could be ushered back to the south even if they were innocent. This led to the creation of resistance groups in the North.
These events had helped keep the slavery issue alive. At first, there was the Compromise of 1850. This compromise made Texas give up its land. In return, Texas got 10 million dollars so it would be able to pay off its debts. The following quote states what had happened, “Slave trade would be abolished… although slavery would still be permitted” (“Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act”). Next, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. It required everyone to help with fugitive slaves. According to the article “The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act,” the Fugitive Slave Act made the subject of slavery come out more out into the
Slavery in the eighteenth century was worst for African Americans. Observers of slaves suggested that slave characteristics like: clumsiness, untidiness, littleness, destructiveness, and inability to learn the white people were “better.” Despite white society's belief that slaves were nothing more than laborers when in fact they were a part of an elaborate and well defined social structure that gave them identity and sustained them in their silent protest.
The Compromise of 1850 marked the initial rise of Black loss of rights in this period. Previously, it was possible for Northerners to ferry slaves to their freedom. However, “Included in the compromise were funds budgeted specifically for catching fugitive slaves and prosecuting anyone lending assistance in the effort'; (Kevin Holloway, The Fugitive Slave Act and the Compromise of 1850). With specific funds that were directed in catching fugitive slaves, white bounty hunters could freely raid the North and search for fugitive slaves. These brutal hunters could now abduct any Black person left alone. Many Blacks that were never in bondage were kidnapped and taken to the South to be slaves. This legislation limited the rights of African Americans and enabled the white populous to oppress African Americans.
“For the Slave South to deter its most potentially destructive slave resistance, potential fugitives had to dread coercion outside as well as inside their masters’ estate” and the act provided that coercion. The free blacks, at the very least inspiring images to slaves, encouraged potential runaways through their lifestyles and knowledge. Without these slaves’ attempts to gain freedom, the act would not have been necessary. The northern states would not have made laws allowing citizens not to participate in slave catching, and the southern states would not have been nervous about northern state compliance with the return of their
“The Hunters of Men” first appears to support the Fugitive Slave Act, but Whittier is actually using irony to argue against this law. How is his repetition of the idea of freedom ironic when read with this understanding? Whittier’s use of irony shows when he states how the hunter rides to hunt slaves because of their skin tone. He states, “Right merrily hunting the black man, whose sin is the curl of his hair and the hue of his skin”, and “Alms—Alms for our hunters! Why will ye delay, When their pride and their glory are melting away? Whittier pities them for taking pleasure in hunting slaves because of the color of their skin.