Our group, was asked to define the Fugitive Slave Act and who was affected by it, but who can define such cruelty to innocent, hardworking individuals? Not us, but we'll try. The Compromise of 1850 did not last long. It was soon replaced by the Fugitive Slave Act -passed in 1850 also -which required all citizens (black, white, free, slave, woman or man) to help in the capture of runaway slaves. Anyone who helped a fugitive along to freedom in Canada could be fined up to one thousand dollars or even sent to jail. Silly, huh? People in the South believed the laws would make the Northerners see them as equals, and force them to recognize the rights of Southerners. Instead, enforcement of this atrocity led to mounting anger in the North, convincing more people of the evils of slavery, and leading more to abolitionism.

After the passage of the...