The Fugitive Slave Act and Popular Sovereignty

Fugitive Slave Act

• Required Northerners to assist in the capture and return of runaway enslaved people
• Led to widespread resentment among Northerners who felt their personal freedoms were being curtailed
• Southerners saw it as a means to retrieve their "property" from the North

Popular Sovereignty

• Allowed new states to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery or not
• Decided through a vote by the people living in the state

Abolition Movement

• A movement to end slavery
• Key figures:
  • Harriet Tubman: helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom
  • Frederick Douglass: fought for equality and an end to slavery through non-violent means
  • William Lloyd Garrison: founded The Liberator newspaper to promote abolition and taught enslaved people to read
  • John Brown: attempted to incite a slave rebellion by stealing weapons from a government arsenal

Dred Scott Case

• Dred Scott sued his master for freedom, arguing that he had lived in a free state with his owner and was therefore free
• Supreme Court ruled that Scott was not a citizen and had no right to sue, and that as a slave, he was not free

Election of 1860 and Secession

• Election reflected the deep divisions between North and South on the issue of slavery
• Abraham Lincoln's campaign platform promised to stop the spread of slavery and keep the Union together
• Southern states seceded from the Union following Lincoln's election, fearing the end of slavery and their way of life

Explore the Fugitive Slave Act, its impact on the North and South, and the concept of popular sovereignty in the US.