The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
A federal law compelling citizens to capture escapees, radicalizing the North and endangering all Black Americans.
Resources
The web
Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations, the links rarely drawn together.
- enabled·ThreadThe Underground Railroad
By making the North unsafe, the 1850 act pushed escape routes all the way to Canada and swelled the Underground Railroad.
- responded to (incoming)·EventThe Jerry Rescue
Syracuse's open defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act galvanized the abolitionist North.
- responded to (incoming)·EventThe Shadrach Minkins rescue
Bostonians defied the new Fugitive Slave Act by freeing Minkins from federal custody.
Where to go next
By making the North unsafe, the 1850 act pushed escape routes all the way to Canada and swelled the Underground Railroad.
Syracuse's open defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act galvanized the abolitionist North.
Bostonians defied the new Fugitive Slave Act by freeing Minkins from federal custody.