...For my antebellum cartoon, I chose Hoff & Bloed’s “Effects of the Fugitive-Slave-Law”. The Fugitive Slave Law (also known as the Fugitive Slave Act) was passed in 1850 as part of the compromise between slave owning states and non-slave owning states. This law granted slave owners permission to go through any means to find their runaway slave, even if the said slave is in a Free State. In this cartoon, the audience can notice four black men running away from a group of heated white men. This cartoon is a perfect representation of how it was like to live as a black individual during this time. The primary issue I believe this cartoon is focussing on is discrimination. According to pbs.org, “Blacks who had been living in freedom for years, were...
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...Fugitive Slave Act also known as the Fugitive Slave Law is a federal law that was passed by the United States congress on September 18, 1850. This act allowed the capturing and returning of runaway slave within the United States. The Fugitive Slave Act was part of a group of laws referred to as the Compromise of 1850. This federal law was a controversial part of the Compromise of 1850, and raised Northern fears of a slave power conspiracy. The Fugitive Slave Act was signed and favored by the United States president Millard Filmore. The earlier Fugitive Slave Act was written to enforce Article 4 section 2 of the United States constitution. Article 4 section 2 of the United States constitution required to return the runaway slaves. Many Northern...
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...under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, was denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus and ordered returned to the State of Georgia into the custody of his owner, James Potter. He brings a petition of error before this Court and prays for issue of the writ, that he may have the lawfulness of his imprisonment tried upon his discharge. The facts sufficiently appear in the opinion of the Chief Justice. TRUEPENNY, C.J. The defendant is a colored person living in Boston, Massachusetts. Upon complaint of John B. Bacon of Savannah, Georgia, acting as agent and attorney of James Potter of Chatham, Georgia, the defendant was arrested pursuant to a warrant issued by George T. Curtis, Commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Massachusetts District, charging the defendant with being a fugitive from labor, and with having escaped from Georgia whilst owing service or labor to said Potter. U.S. Marshal Charles Deven and U.S. Deputy Marshal Frederick D. Byrnes, acting under direction of the warrant, arrested and imprisoned the defendant on the 4th of April, 1851. The defendant claims via petition, both signed and sworn to by him, that he was free, and not a slave. The defendant prayed for a writ of habeas corpus so that he may be discharged from his imprisonment and brought before a court to have his case heard. Counsel for the defendant asked the court to consider, first, whether Congress has authority to pass any law on the subject of fugitive slaves and, second...
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...public as an ultimate defense field for people to protect their rights and equalities. However, there were few laws in the Constitution signed by the government that actually prohibited certain groups of this country’s people from obtaining their justice and denied the moral base. One representative example was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, when it was passed by the Congress, the slaves owners were given to the right of capturing escaped slaves even with the help from the local government. This act banned the escaped slaves’ rights and equalities which their entire life was now count as a possession of the slave owners no matter where they were. The unconstitutionality of the Fugitive Slave was criticized by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel and Barry R....
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...rush in 1849 it was petitioning to congress to become a free state. Ever since the Missouri compromise the slave to free state ratio was balanced, so letting California in as a free state would make it unbalanced. On january 29, 1850 Henry Clay, a senator from kentucky proposed a compromise. According to the compromise the territories of Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona would be organized without mention of slavery, which later the inhabitants of the area agreed to when they applied for statehood. It also noted that the slave trade in Washington D.C would be abolished although slavery would still be allowed, and finally California was admitted as a free state and in order for that to satisfy slave-state politicians the fugitive slave act was passed. The fugitive slave act was one of the most controversial, it made it so people had to aid in the return of a runaway slave, also it denied a fugitive’s right to a jury trial. More often than not these fugitive’s cases were handled by special commissioners, these commissioners would be paid Five dollars if the alleged fugitive was set free and Ten dollars if the fugitive was sent home. For slaves attempting to build lives in the north this was the worst thing that could happen as many slaves left their homes and fled up to Canada. During the next decade an estimated 20,000 slaves moved up to canada. Harriet Jacobs, a fugitive living in New York said that the passing of the last was “the...
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...man who aided more than 2,700 slaves to freedom. Another very important person was William Still, an agent of the underground railroad, he was important because he kept secret records for 8 years of the underground railroad. The life of a runaway slave and the struggle to freedom was a very tortuous journey but they wanted freedom so they did what ever they had to do to reach their goals. Slavery was a dark time in America’s past. Not only did slavery separate millions of families, it damages the trust and reputation of white people to African American’s. Many slave owners treated their slaves well but others did not. They forced their slaves to live in rough conditions. Starvation and overworking often led to death. Slaves lived a very rough life. The underground railroad was a very secretive system, it helped african american slaves escape to freedom. In the railroad the fugitives...
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...The Fugitive slave act was enacted by the United States congress on September 18, 1850 It made any federal marshal or other official who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave Subject to a fine of $1,000. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 empowered federal commissioners to issue warrants, depose witnesses, and employ federal marshals to arrest and imprison suspected runaways within the jurisdictions of the individual states. Historians estimate that eighty percent of accused runaways brought before federal commissioners under the fugitive slave act of 1850 were sent into bondage. Many Northerners disapproved of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 because it circumvented state and local jurisdiction and expanded the power of the federal government. Moreover, federal marshals who refused to enforce the law and individuals who helped slaves to escape were heavily penalized and were fined $1,000Furthermore, special commissioners were given concurrent jurisdiction with U.S. courts enforcing this act. But although the Constitution recognized the institution of slavery and the rights of slave owners, it was still unclear just what the law required of the people and officials in free states in regard to the matter of fugitive slaves. In 1847 the Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of the 1793 act in Jones v. Van Zandt....
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...but the only state right they were fighting for was slavery. The south used federalism ideology to protect the institution of slavery. Although they used a few states right’s arguments such as the Kansas Nebraska act, the ultimate power was at a federal level (moving from the Articles of Confederation to the US Constitution, the states authority was trumped by the federal government) making federalism the dominant ideology. The south supported the national fugitive slave law, the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision, and wanted a national slave code. In the Compromise of 1850 the National Fugitive Slave Law was passed. The compromise essentially kept slavery from spreading to the western territories acquired by the US from Mexico but to appease the pro-slavery southerners a national fugitive slave law was passed. The National Fugitive Slave Law would require states to return fugitive slaves regardless of states laws protecting fugitive slaves. This requires the federal government to over ride a states authority, as this law was requested by southerners it shows southerners using federalism over states rights. The south is using federalism to directly trump states rights, although the south is fighting for, states rights. Prior to the Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court slavery was outlawed in the northern territories, the north was viewed as ‘free’ states. The Dred Scott v. Sanford case...
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...Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 Katrina N. Hill American Public University System Abstract Years of research routinely done on the life of African American slaves and their struggles within the United States. However, many have forgotten about the injustice African American slaves faced in the United States Court system. During 1740-1860 African American slaves endured not only enslavement but, were neglected by the U. S. Courts. A number of slaves tried to secure their own freedom, only to find the legal system was not on their side. The United States Courts was responsible for hearing and ruling on some of the country’s most controversial cases. The research in this paper was greatly influenced by previous works, with the hopes of shedding light on the United States court systems as it related to African American slaves in this time frame. Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 According to Lubert (2010) Slavery has been the great moral failing of the American Revolution… a movement that was based on the self-evident truth that all men were created equal. The founding fathers believed that slavery was in fact an embarrassing contradiction that violated everything the American Revolution stood for (Lubert, 2010.). Even though documents such as the Declaration of Independence existed slavery was widely practiced and legally acceptable. Nearly twenty years after the Declaration of Independence was written. Fugitive slave law was...
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...Both Douglass and Foner strongly believe that abolishing slavery will make a better world, and they always supported to fight for freedom. There were many similarities between Douglass' experiences and the experiences that Professor Foner discussed, but I think there are two main similarities. First, in general, the slaves had to suffer about physical abuse which they were mistreated, whipped, and abused in one way or another. In Gay's record, he explains that fugitive slaves want to escape because they had to suffer physical abuse and threat of sale. With Douglass, we can see clearly he ran away because he was whipped cruelly, starved, treated unfair and witnessed his relatives got brutal punishment to death. Moreover, if they were captured...
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...and the laws along with it. Socially, principles and provisions of the Constitution allow for the states to grasp rights, but also allow others to limit them. Politically, viewpoints from political figures on the Constitution bring forward ideas and opinions on laws regarding states’ rights and disunion. By the 1850s, the Constitution became a factor in the failure of the Union due to the opposing...
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...three main reasons why the South gave for Session from the Union. The reasons are from slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law, and from the “Last Straw” which was the Election of 1860. One of the main reasons that the South gave for Session from the Union was from slavery. Southerner’s life depended on slavery because without it, their economy would fall apart. On the other hand, the Northerners disliked it. They thought that it was cruel to treat people like animals! The North wanted to end slavery, however the South didn’t. Controversy between the two exploded! African Americans tried running away, fights broke out, and riots began! The Union couldn’t stay half slave or half free, it needed to be all one or all the other....
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...over the slaves since the majority of their earnings originated from the products, produced by slaves which were later traded. While the North advocated for slaves to become free that it was incorrect for them to be dealt the way that they were, with cruel work, and nearly to no freedom. The South kept its ideology of how resourceful slaves were to them and the economic thrive that they had developed. However, the perspective of the abolition of slavery came to be that it was about the race of the slaves, although the color of their skin was not the origin of servitude. Racial bias did play a role in slavery, yet the economic...
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...railroad. The underground railroad was a system/method used to help black slaves escape to the northern states or Canada where they would be free, and respected better than they were in the Southern States. The runaway slaves were called fugitives. There were also people who would help the slaves along their journey north. There were also many aspects to the journey that had to work or the system would fail, and the fugitives would be caught. Prejudice act White people at this time were very racist to black people. They would make black people work for them for...
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...The Underground Railroad was organized originally by the Quakers. The Underground Railroad helped African Americans escape slavery. The Underground Railroad offered shelter to those fleeing from Slavery. The earliest known mention of the Railroad was in 1831 when the owner blamed it for helping his slave escape from Kentucky into Ohio. The Fugitive Slave Acts was passed in 1793. This was a law stating that any local people or governments could apprehend and remove slaves within the borders of free states. Anyone caught helping slaves would be prosecuted. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was made to strengthen the previous law, the consequences of violations were increased. Many slaves tried to flee to Canada. Canada offered blacks freedom to...
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