Runaway Slave Definition

Lawmakers in the southern United States feared that free states would offer protection to slaves fleeing slavery. [4] The United States Constitution, ratified in 1788, never uses the words “slave” or “slavery”, but recognizes its existence in the so-called fugitive slave clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3)[4], the three-fifths clause[5] and the prohibition on importing “such persons as any of the now existing States deems appropriate” (Article I, Section 9). [6] Fugitive slave, any person who escaped slavery in the period before and including the American Civil War. In general, they fled to Canada or the northern free states, although Florida (for a time under Spanish control) was also a refuge. (See Black Seminoles.) In addition, federal marshals who refused to enforce the law and those who helped slaves escape were severely punished and fined $1,000 (Ohio History Connection, n.d.). In addition, the special commissioners were given concurrent jurisdiction with the U.S. courts responsible for the application of this law (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.). This was considered extremely corrupt because these special commissioners were given $10 to rule in favor of the slave owners, but they only received $5 if they sided with the slaves. Between 1850 and 1860, 343 fugitive slaves appeared before this special commission, 332 of whom were enslaved in the South (Ohio History Connection, n.d.). Beginning in 1643, slave laws were enacted in colonial America, first within the New England Confederacy and then by several of the original Thirteen Colonies. In 1705, the Province of New York passed a measure to prevent the Bonds from fleeing north to Canada.

[4] Seized with a feeling of great insecurity and loneliness. Nevertheless, I was safe from being recaptured and subjected to all the tortures of slavery. That alone was enough to dampen the zeal of my enthusiasm. But loneliness invades me. There I was in the midst of thousands of people, and yet a complete stranger; Homeless and friendsless, in the midst of thousands of my own brothers – children of a common father, and yet I dared not reveal my sad state to any of them. Many escaped slaves faced severe punishments upon their return, such as amputation of limbs, flogging, marking, lameness, and many other terrible acts. [11] Frederick Douglass, one of the best-known fugitive slaves, expressed particularly well in his writings the bittersweet quality of finding freedom. At first, he is overwhelmed with joy at having arrived in a free state. But almost immediately, he says, it was: the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, passed by Congress on September 18, 1850, was part of the compromise of 1850. The law required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The law also made the federal government responsible for finding, bringing back, and bringing to justice runaway slaves.

“Stations” were set up in private homes, churches and schools in border states between slave and free states. Often, slaves had to make their way through the slave states of the South. [13] Slaves helped people who had escaped. There were signals, such as using a light or two lamps, or choosing songs sung on Sundays to let fleeing people know if it was safe to be in the area when the slave hunters were there. If they stayed in a slave hut, they would probably get food and learn good hiding places in the forest on their way north. [16] The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was the first of two federal laws that allowed fugitive slaves to be captured and returned to their slave owners. It was enacted by Congress in 1793 to allow agents of slave owners and local governments, including free states, to persecute and capture slaves. They could also impose a $500 fine (equivalent to $10,130 in 2021) if they helped African Americans escape. [4] Slave hunters had to obtain a court-approved affidavit to capture the slave. Northerners thought this meant it was like legalized kidnappings and regretted the idea of slave hunters hunting down their state. This led to the creation of a network of safe houses, the so-called Underground Railroad.

[4] Concerned that these new free states could become safe havens for runaways, Southern politicians saw that the constitution contained a “fugitive slavery clause.” This provision (Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3) states that “no person detained for service or work” may be released from servitude if he escapes to a free State. The legality of personal liberty laws was finally challenged in 1842 in Prigg v. Pennsylvania of the Supreme Court. The case involved Edward Prigg, a Maryland man convicted of kidnapping after capturing an alleged slave in Pennsylvania. This edict was in many ways similar to the fugitive slave clause, but contained a more detailed description of how the law should be put into practice. More importantly, it decreed that owners of enslaved persons and their “agents” had the right to search for refugees within the borders of free states. Refugee slave laws existed in America as early as 1643 and the New England Confederacy, and slave laws were subsequently enacted in several of the original 13 colonies. In the event that they capture an alleged runaway, these hunters must bring them before a judge and present evidence proving that the person was their property. If court officials were satisfied with their evidence — which often took the form of a signed affidavit — the owner was allowed to detain the slave and return to his home state. The law also imposed a $500 fine on anyone who helped house or hide refugees.

A law passed as part of the Compromise of 1850 that provided legal weapons to Southern slave owners to catch slaves who had fled to the free states. The law was very unpopular in the North and helped convert many Northerners previously indifferent to the fight against slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, part of the Compromise of 1850, was a law passed by Congress that declared that all fugitive slaves must be returned to their masters. Since the South agreed to California being admitted as a free state, the North allowed the creation of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The Act was passed on September 18, 1850 and repealed on June 28, 1864. The Act strengthened the federal government`s authority to capture fugitive slaves. The law authorized federal marshals to require Northerners to assist in capturing runaways. Many Northerners saw the law as a way for the federal government to overstep its powers, as it could be used to force Northerners to act against their abolitionist beliefs. Many northern states eventually passed “personal liberty laws” that prevented the abduction of supposedly fugitive slaves; In Prigg v.