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People resisted the Fugitive Slave Act by aiding escaped slaves through the Underground Railroad, participating in legal challenges and protests, and establishing communities that provided sanctuary and support for fugitive slaves. Some individuals also actively engaged in civil disobedience by refusing to comply with the law and risking arrest to protect escaped slaves.
A citizen who helped a runaway slave under the Fugitive Slave Act could be fined or imprisoned for aiding a fugitive slave. The act required citizens to assist in capturing and returning escaped slaves to their owners.
The Fugitive Slave Act was supported by Southern slaveholders and their political allies in the United States government. They saw the law as a way to uphold the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution and protect their property rights in enslaved people.
Some northerners defied the Fugitive Slave Act by harboring fugitive slaves, helping them escape to free states or Canada, or participating in the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses and secret routes for escaping slaves. These individuals believed in the immorality of slavery and chose to actively resist laws that supported it.
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850.
The Fugitive Slave Act made it illegal for anyone to assist or harbor a fugitive slave, and mandated that law enforcement officials in free states capture and return escapees to their owners in slave states. Anyone found guilty of aiding a fugitive slave could be fined or imprisoned.