Fugitive Slave Act Of 1850 Essay

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

The war with Mexico had recently come to an end. Territory had just been won over which meant disputes over that same land arose, and there was an ongoing controversial topic still ongoing at the time: slavery. Who was going to be a free state or a slave state? Who was going to get to decide? In addition to this, there were tensions running high across the country as it was beginning to crumble and fall, and because of those very tensions The Civil War was just around the corner. Texas would end up relinquishing the land being discussed over but would be given 10 million dollars to pay off their debt, slave trade but not slavery itself would become illegal in Washington, California entered as a free state, and New Mexico, Utah and others would be admitted without any mention of slavery.

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Section one of this very document starts off by simply saying that those who are commissioners which have been appointed by the Circuit Courts have a duty and must abide by those responsibilities. Section two makes the point that the Superior Court found in each of the organized territories would have the same power to appoint other commissioners as the Circuit Court of the Nation, and that those commissioners would have the same power and responsibility as those appointed by the Circuit Court. Section three states that the Circuit Court would have the power to enlarge the number of commissioners it would come to appoint if they saw it fit especially in order to find those runaway slaves. Section four explains a little of the duties that these commissioners had such as to give out certificates to the claimants that had proof in order to be able to take the fugitives back to their perspective states. Section 5 is where it becomes clear what the South wanted from the North as well as what they