The Fugitive Slave Law had a huge impact on the divide between the North and the South. The law addressed slaves who ran away needed to be returned even if they were in “free” states. Law enforcement officials had to arrest and return slaves or would have to face penalties. Also, if anyone was caught hiding a slave in a free state they would have to pay a fine and could be sent to prison. The Fugitive Slave Law conflicted many people in the North and therefore caused a greater divide between the North and the South.
The creation of the cotton gin was the root of the Fugitive Slave Act. Eli Whitney introduced the cotton gin in 1793. The cotton gin made it easier to separate cotton fibers. Since the cotton gin is so helpful, they put the slaves on the duty. The chaos of the cotton gin made them handcuff the slaves to the cotton gin. After all this, the Cotton Kingdom plays a part. The Cotton Kingdom has bought cotton gins to make a very big company. The Kingdom makes a lot of money for all the cotton they sell. The Cotton Kingdom had so much cotton that they would have so many different piles of cotton. Northern shippers take large amounts of profits. They would get loads of cotton from southern ports and it goes to England. King Cotton and his money mad plantation agriculture not important. Farmers were selling land and moving to a different area of North or South.
The development of slavery changed immediately after the indentured slaves didn’t obey and follow the master’s rules. So after the indentured slaves didn’t obey. They brought slaves from Virginia because they were thinking that they would have more obedient slaves then the others. When the slaves came from Virginia they weren’t indentured servants they were lifelong slaves. The African slaves obeyed because they have nowhere to go. It would take them months to go back home. Bringing these slaves in made it easier for them to have tobacco 10 times faster than without more slaves. The slaves would have a lot of tobacco ready for the next ship that comes. Eli Whitney thought he was helping by creating the cotton gin when in reality it made it worse for slaves.
In the Northwest territory, they prohibited slavery & so did Kansas. They wanted to be anti-slavery. The Northwest territory wanted to protect ad outlaw slavery in all the territories. The division helped the admitting free and slave states. Ohio River is the natural way of dividing the line of free states. The Northwest territory moved to Kansas to help be part of Free Staters. Free-State settlers piled into Kansas, trying to get Kansas to make a decision. Kansas admitted to the Union as a free state. There is a big problem with the Articles of Confederation because they have no taxing power to the national government from taking everyone’s money. The National government is only taking money away it to basically pay their debt to other states. Congress didn’t have enough power to have a standing army. Articles of Confederation has a weakness. They are too weak to enforce laws. So if no laws, no power. (Articles of Confederation & Bleeding Kansas)
Africans would fend for their lives and try to escape to be free. They were probably whipped and have scars. Treated and lived in horrible conditions. Only some escape but most fail. Whipped, hanging, burning,& beatings. How horrible they were treated for taking care of a family or a single person.Weren’t even given respect for cleaning taking care of their family while they were away. African Americans had to work hard on fighting so they don’t get punished and end up dying. There is the one African American who escaped with beatings, scars, and bad memories. He is named Anthony Burns. He escaped from slavery and field to Boston to become a “Slave Preacher”.Burns escaped at the age of 19. He escaped and then got caught walking somewhere, was arrested then captured to be a slave again. (Priest Engravings & Fugitive Slave Law)
This poster cautioned black people from speaking to the police in Boston because police were responsible for returning fugitive slaves back to their owners in the south. This document highlights how serious a problem Black people still had in the North. They were warned not to talk to the police. This is an important primary source in history pointing out the divide between the North and the South.
The Christiana Riot case papers is another primary source for the Fugitive Slave Law. It started when Edward Gorsuch (1795-1851) and a group of his men came to Christiana from Baltimore County, Maryland, with warrants for the arrests of four fugitive slaves. When they got to the home of William Parker, a fugitive slave, several armed black men, and women were there. They told Gorsuch to leave his property but he would not. They fought and Gorsuch was killed and Parker fled to Canada. Whoever was left had to go to trial. They were found guilty. This created an even stronger divided between the North and South but it did prove that blacks now knew how to organize and would fight to return slaves in the North to slave owners in the South.
Anthony Burns is another good excample of living as a slave. He escaped and lived in Boston,lived the life he wanted. He had a lot of privlliages of getting jobs and going to church. He became a preacher until he was sadly captured to be put right back into slavery. After people found out he was recaptured people tried to attack the kiddnappers and they failed to set him free.
The Compromise of 1850 was put in place because states did not have to help return slaves. President Millard Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act that required all states and their citizens to help return slaves. This of course was greeted with a lot of resistance from the North and their “free states” because they did not believe in slavery. This was done really as an economic policy. The South needed the “free” labor to keep their production going and costs down. Without having slaves, their business and farms would not be as successful.
In conclusion. The Fugitive Slave Act had a huge impact on the divide between the North and the South because of moral and economic reasons. The North wanted all men free but the South wanted free labor.The South wanted more free labor so they didn’t have to work just as hard just before the cotton gin was invented and since the cotton gin came into the world it gave the South to have a better reason to bring in more slaves. The South wanted more slaves to work for them so they could do the things they wanted to do for the day.
