Slavery, Fugitive Slave Law, 1853

Slavery, Fugitive Slave Law, 1853

Gun fight between slaves and slave-catchers, capture of Robert Jackson in 1853 near Harper's Ferry. The Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850. The Act was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a slave power conspiracy. It required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to their masters. At the time of Fugitive Slave catchers the North was moving more in the direction of abolition. The Fugitive Slave Law stated that every citizen was responsible for helping to recover and return fugitive slaves, so any white person from the North or South could be, and was expected to be, a fugitive slave catcher. Illustration from: Underground Railroad, 1872.

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4500 x 2951 px | 38.0 MB

38.1 x 25.0 cm | 15.0 x 9.8 in (300 dpi)