The long Civil War: kidnapping and black activists in the early republic -- The making of the Fugitive slave law and the sectional crisis -- Civil conflict in the north: reactions to the Fugitive slave law in the fall of 1850 -- Trying to save the Union: battles over the Fugitive slave law in the 1850s -- An end to compromise.
Summary:
"The cause of disunion was the persistent determination on the part of enslaved people that they would flee bondage no matter the risks. By protesting against kidnappings and fugitive slave renditions, they brought slavery to the doorstep of the free states, forcing those states to recognize the meaning of freedom and the meaning of states' rights in the face of a federal government equally determined to keep standing its divided house. In so doing African Americans helped northerners and westerners to question whether or not the Constitutional compact was still worth upholding, a reevaluation of the republican experiment that would ultimately lead not just to Civil War, but to the 13th Amendment ending slavery. The real story of American freedom lay not with the Confederate Rebels or even with the Union Army, but instead rests with the tens of thousands of self-emancipated men and women who had to be the ones to demonstrate to the Founders and to succeeding generations of Americans the value of liberty"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.