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were not impressed with their northern counterparts for disregarding the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act and threatened to secede. In an attempt to appease the southern slave owners, the federal government passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The new law was meant to strengthen the enforcement measures of the 1793 version of the act. The new law made it mandatory for all citizens to help slaveholders capture escaped slaves. Helping escaping slaves with food, money, shelter or any form of aid was now illegal under the new act. Anyone found guilty of the crime would face both jail time (six months) and a fine of $500 to $1,000—an expensive penalty in those days, more than many people earned in a year. Escaping slaves could now be pursued and captured anywhere in the United States, including the northern states where slavery was

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Overview of Race Relations in America