One of the most controversial statutes of the pre-civil war period is the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 (Fugitive Slave Act). This law emphasized the differing regional concerns of the southern and northern states, and encouraged civil disobedience among many citizens of the northern and border states. It has been estimated that thousands of slaves were smuggled into the northern states and Canada during the 1850's (Villarruel 1438).
The Fugitive Slave Law was widely disputed because of the compromises conceded to Southerners. Several amendments were added to the 1850 Act in order to fill the loopholes left open by earlier Fugitive Slave Acts (Act of 1793). The 1850 Act created a more efficient system of administering and enforcing the obligation of citizens and state officials to return fugitive slaves to their owners.
The basic presumption of the Fugitive Slave Law was that slaves were property which, when found, must be returned to their rightful owners. The Constitution even contained a provision which stated that any person owing "service or labour" to another who escaped from his owner, would be "delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom Such Service or Labour may be due" (US Const.). Northerners did not dispute the notion that Southerners might have property rights which entitled them to the return of lost property. Some moderate northern citizens even conceded that southern slave owners might be entitled to the return of their slaves. The Fugitive Slave Law was part of a larger package of statutes, known as the "Compromise of 1850," which was drafted by Lewis Cass of Michigan and Stephen Douglas of Illinois in the hopes of holding the divided Union together. The Fugitive Slave Law was meant to pacify Southerners who feared that northern laws limiting or prohibiting slavery and the capture of fugitive slaves would deter owners from attempting to recapture their slaves (Brown and Kohn 179).
The 1850 Fugitive Sl...