The Fugitive Slave Act Historical Essay Sample

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 created a law that helped track down and capture runaway slaves who escaped the north and took them back to their southern owners. The northerners did not like the law because it forced the runaway slaves back into slaves. Nat Turner’s revolt in 1831, led 70 white people to Virginia in an uprising that killed 55 white men, women, and kids, and when white people found out, they were mad at Nat and black people for the cause of the deaths. So they formed a mob and in retaliation, they killed Nat Turner and 200 African Americans. The southern states tightened their slave laws, and as a result of a fear of other revolts going on in the south, more northerners began to support the abolition of slavery. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina voted to secede from the union. After President Abraham Lincoln won, many states left the union. Before there were 32, there were 25 states. At Fort Sumter, President James Buchanan refused to act with force during his last days in office, instead opting to leave the problem to Abraham Lincoln. When Abraham Lincoln was president, he said he would send provisions to the people at Fort Sumter, and at 4 am on April 12, 1861, South Carolina fired upon Fort Sumter and the Civil War began.

The Tariff of 1828 was furiously opposed by the South, and that tariff of 1832 was only slightly changed. The South Carolina legislature established an Ordinance of Nullification in November 1832, declaring the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 invalid. As a result, Congress passed the force bill, granting President Andrew Jackson the authority to collect tariffs using military force. South Carolina's Nullification Ordinance was revoked, but the Force Bill was eventually deemed null and void. President Andrew Jackson is quoted as saying, "Be warned, I consider disunion by armed force treason." 

During the 1848 election, Zachary Taylor of the Whig party owned slaves, but he did not fight for the extension of slavery, feeling that keeping the country unified was more essential. Lewis's democratic party endorsed the concept of territorial popular sovereignty. Martin Van Buren, of the Free Soil Party, was a former President. Martin also supported the abolition of slavery in the areas. The reason he might not have won was that he wanted to free the slaves, and the south doesn’t like that. During the 1848 election, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore won. In 1850, Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore died, and his Vice President became President in 1850. 

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was the law that made it easier to track down and capture runaway slaves. This act was made for the slaves that escaped to the North and returned them to their Southern owners. They would get a cash reward to forget them back to their owner and used to be 100 per slave that was brought back. The north did not like the new act, and it was very much resisted by them. The South would go to the north to get the slaves. They probably didn’t want people from the north to find out that they were from the south.

Some of the Kansas-Nebraska Act benefited the north, like Support for a northern transcontinental railroad comes from the south. For example, slavery would be permitted in the Kansas and Nebraska territories based on popular sovereignty. In addition, slavery had previously been prohibited in these regions by the Missouri Compromise. There were lots of Democrats in the north who despised that choice. They battled it, they condemned it, but they couldn't change it. Many anti-slavery Democrats migrated into a new coalition with the emerging Republican Party once it was in place. Once it was in place, one of the preconditions for what would become not just the breakup of a political party, but the breakup of the Union, young people in large numbers came out and joined what became known as the Red Guards.

Two forts controlled by Federal troops now located in the Confederate States of America were the immediate challenge created by the southern state’s secession. South Carolina's Fort Sumter was cut off from federal supplies and troops. During his final days as president, Buchanan declined to use force and instead chose to delegate the matter to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln stated that supplies would be sent to the troops at Ft. Sumter. The Civil War began when South Carolina fired on Ft. Sumter at 4 a.m. on April 12, 1861.