The Fugitive Slave Law
Prior to the civil war, domesticated slaves in the south were escaping plantations in search of a better life; however, the plantation owners were losing labor. Until the Fugitive Slave Act in 1793, slaves were not forced by law to return to their owners. This law was an advantage only to the southern slave owners, and caused friction between the two halves of the United States that eventually becoming the primary motive of the Civil War.
In 1793, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed by congress. This law benefited plantation owners, preventing loss of their slaves (Encyclopedia Americana 150). Although southerners were happy to obey the law if a slave was found away from their plantation, northerners did not support slavery by returning slaves who had migrated north. Among the different northern states, laws were passed to allow former slaves a right to a jury trial; some states even prohibited authorities to assist the south. Resistance was great where laws were different from what the local population believed in. The law was not morally practical in the minds of the north, which angered the south.
For years, the Fugitive Slave Act was ignored in the north, until the compromise of 1850. In the compromise, congress again passed a law against Fugitive Slaves, but this time penalties were severe, and rewards were great (Encyclopedia Americana 150). Rather than ignore the law, northerners passed "personal liberty" laws. These laws stated that Blacks had rights, rather than being treated like roaming cattle (Academic Encyclopedia 355).
Southern states viewed both of the fugitive slave laws as documents that had to be followed unconditionally, but the north perceived the law as being unconstitutional, similarly to the issue of slavery. These two attempts to ensure that the future of America would be made up of slave-driven plantations were among the last that would be made before the Civil War in 1861. On June 28, 1864, congress announced that fugitive slave laws were no longer in effect (Academic Encyclopedia 355). When President Lincoln made his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, hope for southern states began spiraling downward, but did not reach its all-time low until the thirteenth amendment abolished slavery when passed in 1865 (Encyclopedia Americana 150).
In summary, the fugitive slave laws may have seemed like a brilliant idea at the time to the people writing the laws, but they may have actually sped up the process of abolition. Attention was brought to the fact that slaves were escaping, but the same attention was making a statement to the northern white Americans that slaves wanted to be free. Had attention not been drawn to the Fugitive Slave Acts, slavery might have continued well into the twentieth century.
Works Cited:
"Fugitive Slave Laws." The Encyclopedia Americana. 1999 ed. Danbury: Grolier Inc. 150.
"Fugitive Slave Laws." Academic American Encyclopedia. 1998 ed. Danbury: Grolier Inc. 355.
