sep 18, 1850 - Fugitive Slave Law

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The purpose of the Fugitive Slave Law was to find and capture runaway slaves that escaped to the Northern states and bring them back to their southern masters and owners. Warrants were issued by US commissioners that permitted the arrest of these slaves, and if the captured African- Americans claimed to be free, they were denied a trial by jury. The enforcement of this law drove a wedge between the South and North because while the South seemed to accept the entrance of California with this compensation, anti-slavery Northerners resisted the law greatly.

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