Northerners bristled at the idea of turning their states into a stalking ground for bounty hunters, and many argued the law was tantamount to legalized kidnapping. Some abolitionists organized clandestine resistance groups and built complex networks of safe houses to aid enslaved people in their escape to the North.
Likewise, the act denied fugitives who claimed to be freemen the right to a fair jury trial and put all fugitive cases under federal jurisdiction. Southerners believed that the compromise met its goals in stopping the South from seceding from the Union, at least temporarily.
Many Northerners opposed the Fugitive Slave Act because they did not agree with the idea of slavery nor the requirement to help capture runaway slaves.
This legislation allowed the federal government to deputize Northerners to capture and return escaped slaves to their owners in the South. Although the Fugitive Slave Act was well intentioned, the plan ultimately backfired. The Fugitive Slave Act fueled the Abolitionist Movement in the North and this angered the South.
Ultimately, what led to the American Civil War were the differences in the North and South's views toward the institution of slavery. There were other aspects within the institution of slavery that led to division in the United States.
Passed on September 18, 1850 by Congress, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves.
What led to the outbreak of the bloodiest conflict in the history of North America? A common explanation is that the Civil War was fought over the moral issue of slavery. In fact, it was the economics of slavery and political control of that system that was central to the conflict. A key issue was states' rights.
By 1850 sectional disagreements related to slavery were straining the bonds of union between the North and South. These tensions became especially critical when Congress began to consider whether western lands acquired after the Mexican-American War would permit slavery.
Finally, and most controversially, a Fugitive Slave Law was passed, requiring northerners to return runaway slaves to their owners under penalty of law. The Compromise of 1850 overturned the Missouri Compromise and left the overall issue of slavery unsettled.
The major issue between the North and the South was slavery. Starting in the 1850s, Northerners became more and more hostile to the idea of slavery on moral grounds, while slavery continued to be an accepted fact of life in the South.