Deep dive
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
How a single law turned every Black American into a target and radicalized the North.
8 min read
The fugitive-slave-act-1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. It compelled Northern citizens and officials to assist in capturing people who had escaped slavery, and denied the accused a jury trial.
Free Black communities were endangered by kidnappers; the law made Northerners complicit in slavery and swelled the ranks of abolitionism and the underground-railroad. Figures like harriet-tubman-escape grew only bolder.