Fugitive Slave Act

Definition

The Fugitive Slave Acts were laws passed by Congress in 1793 and 1850 aimed at helping southern slaveholders recapture runaway slaves who had escaped to northern states.

Related terms

Underground Railroad: A network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century, used by enslaved African-Americans to escape into free states and Canada.

Abolitionism: The movement to end slavery. This term can be used both formally and informally.

Compromise of 1850: A package of five separate bills passed by Congress that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican–American War.