Fugitive Slave Law Case Study

Wisconsin Supreme Court Declares Fugitive Slave Law Unconstitutional
Wisconsin APUSH

Ryan Adams
APUSH
Mr. Menteer
December 9, 2014
The Fugitive Slave Law was passed by Congress in 1850. This was part of The Compromise of 1850 between slave states and free states. At the time, there were many slaves that were escaping utilizing the help of the Underground Railroad and finding refuge in free states, although it’s possible the number was exaggerated by Southerners since there was no way to verify a true amount. The law required that if slaves were captured they would be returned to their masters. The law only required an affidavit from the master to a federal official. The result was many free blacks being falsely accused
The decision, in 1859, sided with federal law stating that states do not have the ability to overrule federal law; that the Constitution was written as the supreme law of the land. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s decision denied the right of state’s courts to interfere in federal cases, prohibited states from releasing federal prisoners on a writ of habeas corpus, and upheld constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Act.3 Taney cited in his decision, “To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper to carry into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.”4 This is important because it limited the rights of the state governments. Taney’s decision strengthened the federal government and weakened the state governments. His decision also strengthened the judicial branch further following in the footsteps of John
On August 1, 1860 armed men rescued Booth from the federal custom house in Milwaukee and took him to Waupun where State Prison Commissioner Hans Heg gave him protection. Booth spoke at numerous political meetings in the area. Then, on October 8, 1860, Booth was recaptured by federal marshals at a meeting at Berlin, Wisconsin, and he was then taken back to the custom house in Milwaukee. After the election of President Lincoln, Booth applied for a pardon which was met with opposition from US Attorney General Black who said, “the fact that in all this criminal folly and insolence, he has been aided, comforted and abetted by a state court and by other lawless persons who pretend to justify him, makes the vindication of the law in this particular case absolutely necessary by way of example.” He was pardoned by President Buchanan on the day before Lincoln’s inauguration.5
The attempted nullification of the Fugitive Slave Act gave northerners inspiration for further abolition movements, it gave states the feeling of losing power and watching the federal government gain power, and it gave the southern states a reason to succeed thinking that the Wisconsin Supreme Court had no right to attempt to nullify the