Causes And Effects Of The Fugitive Slave Acts Of 1850

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Intro The Fugitive Slave Acts of 1850 were created because the previous slave acts were loosely enforced in the North and the South demanded that this be changed. The new slave acts listed the need for commissioners. Many things, such as people being wrongly accused of being a slave, the punishments for failure to do their job, and also gave Northerners more reason to help the slaves evade capture happened because of the commissions. Cause or Effect 1 The commissioners also had punishment is they failed to do their jobs. If they didn’t or refused to serve a warrant then they were fined to a one thousand dollar fine. Back then, that was enough money to buy a 10 acre plot of land with a big house. Not only did they have these fines, but if a slave escaped their custody they were liable for,” the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State, Territory, or District whence he escaped.” They would have to pay people back in full for the loss of their labor. The commissioners had to make up for the owners losses, they also got paid but they didn’t have a salary. Cause or Effect 2 …show more content…

This cased chaos on the streets for black people, free or not. Because of greed, these people could be walking down the street and then they are taken off the streets to be returned to their ‘masters’. Commissioners could be running black people down just to get paid. Sometimes they would get escaped slaves, but they also got free slaves and because they were not allowed to speak for themselves they could become slaves. Commissioners or deputies could take free people and they wouldn’t know the

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