The captive's quest for freedom
Subtitle: fugitive slaves, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, and the politics of slavery
By: R.J.M. Blackett
Series: Slaveries since emancipation; Slaveries since emancipation
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 511
ISBN-13: 9781108418713; 9781108407779
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: United States; Fugitive slaves; Legal status of slaves in free states; History; Slavery; Legal status, laws; Antislavery movements
Description: "[This book explores] the impact fugitive slaves had on the politics of the critical decade leading up to the Civil War. Through the close reading of diverse sources ranging from government documents to personal accounts, [the author] traces the decisions of slaves to escape, the actions of those who assisted them, the many ways black communities responded to the capture of fugitive slaves, and how local laws either buttressed or undermined enforcement of the federal law. Every effort to enforce the law in northern communities produced levels of subversion that generated national debate so much so that, on the eve of secession, many in the South, looking back on the decade, could argue that the law had been effectively subverted by those individuals and states who assisted fleeing slaves"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. The slave power asserts its rights. The Fugitive Slave Law; title: The law does its work; title: Compromise and colonize; title: Part II. Freedom's fires burn. Missouri and Illinois; title: Western Kentucky and Indiana; title: Eastern Kentucky and Ohio; title: Southeast Pennsylvania; title: Eastern shore of Maryland and Philadelphia; title: New York; title: Massachusetts; title: Conclusion.