Casue of the Civil War

In 1850, a document called the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. Primarily, this document dealt with the reclaiming of runaway slaves. This law allowed southerners to call upon the federal government to capture runaway slaves who had fled the South and may be living in the North. The Fugitive Slave Act and the laws that went with it only caused controversy in the North. This split the North and South. In reaction to this, some northern states passed laws forbidding state officials to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law, which only angered the southern states. Northerners had become aware of the hypocrisy of slavery and became resolved to end slavery. Many abolitionists started to take action to help slaves escape. This major controversy over the runaway slaves sparked the beginning of the Civil War.

Basic rights that Americans held were denied to suspected runaway slaves. One should note that even though some African Americans in the North were free, they could be considered a suspected runaway. Suspected runaway slaves, even if they were free, were denied the right to a jury and held the burden of proof; no longer where