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Fugitive Slave Act Quizlet
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Fugitive Slave Act Quizlet
Slavery between the 1820s and the 1860s
Slavery in america in 1600 - 1800
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
According to their tenets, fugitives had no right to a jury trial and citizens were ordered to aid in he recovery of the fugitive slaves. The special commissioners treated the cases of the fugitives. They were paid $5 if a fugitive was liberated and $10 if the captive was returned to slavery. Furthermore, the act appealed for several changes that made the process of filing a claim against a fugitive easier and effortless for slave holders. The new law was devastating.
According to the Tenth Amendment of the constitution, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”. There have been moments in history where Congress has implemented laws that states felt were unconstitutional. The Constitution gave states the ability to counter the federal government’s power through the Judiciary branch of government, when they feel a law is unconstitutional. The Founders of our nation gave Congress enumerated powers to pass legislation that needs to be abided by all states and citizens. At times Congress will overstep its powers by enacting laws that are unconstitutional and the states have the right to challenge those powers.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was an Act of the United States Congress to give result to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In this acts, south purposed to assist the recapture and extradition of runaway slaves. In addition, they intended to make federal government giving a pledge to let holding property in slaves be legal. The international slave-trade clause restricted slavery after 20 years. As Waldstreicher illuminated that this clause gave slavery 20 years for wanton trade (2015).
The Unsuccessful Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 In the time of slavery, the North and the South struggled to find a balance over African Americans civil rights. The United States began to segregate into the Union states, those who did not support slavery, and the Confederate states, those who did support slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was among one of the many acts enforced during this time. It was ultimately unsuccessful in establishing peace between the North and the South because it was not a peace intended act, it was ineffective, and it upset both sides.
African Americans were imprisoned for minor crimes; even not having a job could get them arrested. This eventually led to the convict lease system, and the exploitation of the faulty clause in the amendment has been going on since then. It was followed by the rise of the Klu Klux Klan, Jim crow laws, declaring war on drugs and crime, imposing mandatory minimum sentences, three strikes law, police brutality, all of which targeted the African American society, specifically the men and criminalized them. As a result, prison population has been rising since 1970s, and today United States has 5% of the world population, but 25% of the world’s prison population. This mass incarceration has wiped the African American community of a generation of leadership, forced children to grow up without their fathers and harmed the society irrecoverably.
I believe that the Fugitive Slave Act was the main cause of the Civil War. This was when the south forced the north to catch any runaway slaves. Even if they just let the slave go through there property there is a high chance they could still get caught. When they get caught for not catching the slave they get fined 30,000 dollars in today's money. If they were to catch a slave and then have it run away it would be a 100,000 dollar fine.
The Fugitive slave law was an act passed to help southern slave owners maintain their slaves. The act was part of the “Compromise of 1850” proposed by Henry Clay. The compromise was made to resolve disputes between the south and north about land and slavery. The south ended up having slavery allowed below the “36,30” and California joined in as a free state. In the 1840s there were many problems of runaway slaves to the North to become free men.
It was conceived to force states to deliver escaped slaves to slave owner’s violated states ' rights due to state sovereignty and was believed that seizing state property should not be left up to the states. The Fugitive Slave Clause states that escaped slaves "shall be delivered up on claim of the arty to which such Service or labour may be due". During the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1793- it allowed masters or agents to pursue slaves over state lines and take them into legal custody, before a court. However, this did not stop the will of the slaves to escape, but made it a risky choice for them to take. This act allowed many people to be on the watch for slaves. Even those in the North would tell on an escaped slave.
In 1850, California was admitted to the Union with the understanding that it is a free state; meaning that it did not allow the practice of slavery. That was the intention at least, to forbid the practice of slavery, but as these scholars discuss, there were varying definition of “slavery” and the different terms being used in lieu of the specific term. Morrison writes, “[During] Off-year congressional elections in 1850 and 1851 demonstrated the public’s general acceptance of the compromise .” There seemed to be a general conscious of the admittance of a free state in California, but the Southern Democrats, also known as the Chivs, did not stand for it and felt that the admission of California as a free state was a detrimental fraud to the South .
While some sought to end slavery other tried to save the owner 's right to slaves. In 1793 and 1850 the fugitive slave act was instated. It helped give owners the return of runaway slave. The owners would stop at nothing to have their slave back. Sometimes owners would even have a bounty on them.
This amendment allowed blacks to have an equal part in American society barring the exception of voting. They were provided with due process of law and a right to a fair trial, this made them equal in the courtrooms in theory. They were still discriminated against in the courts and really did not have fair trials and due process. Many whites still believed themselves superior to blacks, so most times when a black was brought into a legal proceeding they were convicted, no matter if they were innocent or guilty. They also had the right to run for local political offices, while this was a tremendous stepping stone for black rights, those blacks that ran for office never were elected because blacks did not have the right to vote, and no white man would vote for a black in this time period.
Jim Crow Laws The Jim Crow Laws authorized legal punishment for interacting with the opposite race. This led to treatment and areas that were almost always inferior to the whites. “Jim Crow” originally referred to a popular dance from the 1820s, and referred to a black man in an old song. Theologians and Christian ministers taught that whites were the “Chosen people”, God support racial segregation and blacks were cursed to be servants (Hansen 1). Jim Crow Laws legalized segregation between blacks and whites to create “separate but equal”, but this had a more negative than positive outcome.
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the House of Representatives on February 4, 1793 by a vote of 48–7 with 14 abstaining. Eight days later, the Act was approved by Congress. Although the Article four of the U.S. Constitution granted the slave masters the rights to recapture slaves who fled to free states, “the Fugitive Slave Law included new and harsher provisions mandating the participation of northern states and individuals in the recapture process and curtailing the rights of alleged fugitives to prove they were not runaways” (Kazin 492). Many, either white or black, reacted to this Act, especially in the North. Some states even passed personal-liberty laws to allow fugitive slaves to appeal their case in a court.
Why to be a slave catcher: The Fugitive Slave Law stated that it was the law that every citizen was responsible for helping in recovering and returning of fugitive slaves. This basically meant that any white person from the North or South was expected to be a fugitive slave catcher. Anyone who was caught aiding slaves to freedom or hiding slaves were punished for their efforts.