Fugitive Slave Act

Cultural  

1. A law passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, which provided southern slaveholders with legal weapons to capture slaves who had escaped to the free states. The law was highly unpopular in the North and helped to convert many previously indifferent northerners to antislavery.

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Example Sentences

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 compelled Northerners to collaborate in hunting freedom-seekers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 9, 2025

Franklin Pierce, although a Northerner, fiercely defended slavery while signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act; he was a drunkard to boot.

From Salon • Jul. 26, 2025

The Fugitive Slave Act mandated that free states return runaway slaves—and even incentivized states to send free people into slavery.

From Slate • Jul. 10, 2025

King County, originally named in 1852 for Vice President William Rufus de Vane King, a slave owner and advocate for the Fugitive Slave Act, was renamed for the civil-rights hero in 2005.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 15, 2024

For the slaveowners, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, requiring that all Black people who had escaped from slavery be returned to their owners.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock