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Fugitive Slave Acts
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Fugitive Slave Acts cartoon Wendell Phillips
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Frontispiece and title page of Phillis Wheatley's book of poetry, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" 1773. Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784). African American slave. Black woman poet.
Slavery and Resistance Through History Quiz
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Fugitive Slave Acts cartoon
Fugitive Slave Acts cartoon “Effects of the Fugitive-Slave-Law,” cartoon criticizing the Fugitive Slave Acts, published in 1850.

Fugitive Slave Acts

federal statutes (1793, 1850) and primary sources
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History

Fugitive Slave Acts, in U.S. history, statutes passed by Congress in 1793 and 1850 (and repealed in 1864) that provided for the seizure and return of runaway enslaved people who escaped from one state into another or into a federal territory. The 1793 law enforced Article IV, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution in authorizing any federal district judge or circuit court judge, or any state magistrate, to decide finally and without a jury trial...

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