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Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was a law passed by the 31st United States Congress on September 18, 1850,[1] as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers.

For the slave act of 1793, see Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.

Long title

An Act to amend, and supplementary to, the Act entitled "An Act respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons escaping from the Service of their Masters", approved February twelfth, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.

the 31st United States Congress

Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 31–60

9 Stat. 462

The Act 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, upon capture, be returned to the enslaver and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate.[2] The Act contributed to the growing polarization of the country over the issue of slavery. It was one of the factors that led to the American Civil War.

Fugitive slave laws in the United States

Ableman v. Booth

Contraband (American Civil War)

Emancipation Proclamation

of 1850, Cazenovia, New York

Fugitive Slave Convention

Prigg v. Pennsylvania

Slave Trade Acts

Underground Railroad

Campbell, Stanley W (1970). . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Archived from the original on June 26, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2017.

The Slave Catchers: Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850–1860

Fehrenbacher, Don E. (2002). . Oxford University Press/NetLibrary, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0198032472. Retrieved February 11, 2013.

The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government's Relations to Slavery

Franklin, John Hope; Schweninger, Loren (1999). . Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on June 27, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2017.

Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation

"Fugitive Slave Law" (2008)

(1947). Ordeal of the Union: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847–1852. Vol. 1. Collier Books. ISBN 978-0020354413.

Nevins, Allan

Basinger, Scott J. (2003). "Regulating slavery: Deck-stacking and credible commitment in the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850". Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization. 19 (2): 307–342. :10.1093/jleo/ewg013.

doi

Campbell, Stanley W. (2012). The Slave Catchers: Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850–1860. U North Carolina Press.

Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers; (2006). "The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850: Symbolic Gesture or Rational Guarantee". Unpublished Paper. SSRN 1153528.

Weingast, Barry R.

(1920). "The Negro Migration to Canada after the Passing of the Fugitive Slave Act". Journal of Negro History. 5 (1): 22–36. doi:10.2307/2713499. JSTOR 2713499. S2CID 149662141.

Landon, Fred

Smith, David G. (2013). On the Edge of Freedom: The Fugitive Slave Issue in South Central Pennsylvania, 1820–1870. Fordham University Press.

(2008). The Underground Railroad Set: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Operations. M. E. Sharpe.

Snodgrass, M. E.

Walker, Christopher David (2013). (PhD thesis). Lafayette: Purdue University.

The Fugitive Slave Law, Antislavery and the Emergence of the Republican Party in Indiana

Complete text of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

Compromise of 1850 and related resources at the Library of Congress

"Slavery in Massachusetts" by Henry David Thoreau

a Primary Source Adventure featuring fugitive slave advertisements from the 1850s, hosted by The Portal to Texas History

Runaway Slaves

Serialized version of Uncle Tom's Cabin in The National Era by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center