1850 Fugitive Slave Law

• Law enforcement officials who chose not to arrest alleged runaway slaves could be fined $1000 ($26,600 today)

• A claimant’s sworn testimony was sufficient for an arrest• No jury trial could be given, nor could the suspected

runaway provide testimony• Any citizen aiding an escaped slave could be fined $1000

and/or serve jail time• The federal official got $5 if the runaway was freed, but

$10 if not

Effects

• Turns many moderates in the North into stronger opponents of slavery and the South

• Many free blacks in the North were enslaved since they had little opportunity to defend themselves in court

• Northerners were now forced to participate in a practice they did not like, rather than simply ignore it

• Supports belief of a Southern slave-power conspiracy

The Dred Scott Decision

Background

• Scott born a slave in VA in 1800, taken to MO in 1820, then bought by army surgeon John Emerson & taken to IL (a free state)

• In 1836, Emerson & Scott move to the WI territory; Congress had banned slavery in all territories in the Missouri Compromise of 1820

• Emerson reassigned to LA but leaves Scott in WI; Emerson marries and sends for Scott to come to LA

• Emerson dies, & Dredd Scott is inherited by his wife Eliza

The Case

• In 1846, Scott sues for his freedom based on his past habitation in free states & territories, but keeps losing on technicalities

• Reaches Supreme Court by March 1857• Court, consisting of mostly men who support slavery,

hands down decision:1. Scott cannot sue bc he is black, & therefore not a

citizen of the United States2. The ban on slavery in territories was considered

unconstitutional

Effects

• Once again, outrages Northerners & fuels the theory of a slave-power conspiracy

• Congress had seemed to side with the South in the K-N Act, 10 out of 15 of the first presidents were slave-owners, & now the Supreme Court had seemed to side w/ the South; that’s 3 out of 3 branches of gov.

• Northerners were terrified the next ruling would be that all states had no right to ban slavery

• Further fanned flames of civil war

The Good News...

• Dred Scott’s 1st owner purchased freedom for he & his family 2 months after trial

• BUT...Scott dies of tuberculosis 18 months later