Fugitive Slave Law 1850

   

 The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers.

It required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 counts as one of the most reprehensible laws in American history. But rather than wait for Congress to repeal it, or for the Supreme Court to strike it down, Northern States took action to nullify it in practice and effect.


http://www.compromise-of-1850.org/fugitive-slave-act-of-1850/