The Fugitive Slave Act: The Compromise Of 1850

The Fugitive Slave Act was one of the five acts contained in the Compromise of 1850. The highly controversial new law required the return of all runaway slaves to their masters. The recovery of runaway slaves was now under Federal Jurisdiction. Federal Marshalls were now bound by duty to return any runaway and also now had the authority to require assistance from any individual. If the assistance was not provided, the individual faced prosecution and fines. The law also stripped runaway slaves of such basic legal rights as the right to a jury trial and the right to testify in one's own defense. (Digital History, 2014)
The effects of the act on the fugitive slaves was significant. Thousands of fugitive slave had escaped and managed to start a new life in the north. They now were faced with moving of United States territory or risk being captured. This act was also devastating to the free Blacks in the North, due to the minimal requirements for proof, many free Black people endured wrongfully enslavement. (Teach US History, 2015) This act lead to the creation of the “bounty hunters,” whose intention was to hunt down fugitive slaves and return them for profit. The Northerners were
This law was the driving force in the South’s acceptance of the Compromise of 1850 which prevented southern succession from the Union. Under the new Act, southern slave owners had significantly increased probability of getting their fugitive slaves returned to them. Since the Black people could not defend themselves, return to the slaveholder was eminent. The slaveholders also stood to make substantial gains. If a free Black was arrested, and the slaveholder submitted an affidavit, they stood to obtain a new slave. During the Act’s first decade, from 1850 to 1860, 343 Blacks were arrested and 332 of them were sent to the South to be slaves.