Effects of Fugitive Slave Law, c. 1850

So how did such an odd and wholly uncharacteristic law pass Congress? The Fugitive Slave Law was seen as a compromise between the Northern and Southern states as part of the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to enter the Union as a free state, while New Mexico and Utah were added as slave territories. The compromise also set the borders for Texas, also a slave state. The slave states were not pleased with this arrangement, since although New Mexico and Utah were allowed to be slave territories, when they applied for statehood most likely they would be entered as free states.  Also, by setting the northern border of Texas, the compromise constrained its area, which had magnificent cotton plantations at the time.

Ironically, it was the state of Virginia that promoted the Fugitive Slave Law. During the whole era of debate, Virginia firmly believed that a state was protected under the Tenth Amendment to decide independently, without federal interference, if it would become or remain a slave state. However, as Virginia pushed the Fugitive Slave Law, it became obvious that the state's beliefs concerning the Tenth Amendment and federal interference were not consistent. Virginia’s endorsement of federal intervention as part of the Fugitive Slave Law would later discredit its rationale for seceding from the Union. When the state seceded, its justification was because that the federal government was interfering with its rights as a state. Virginia wanted, it seemed, to use the power of the federal government only when it was convenient.

Like many pieces of legislation in the era, the Fugitive Slave Law did nothing to protect African American rights. African Americans who had either been born free, had successfully run away, or had bought their freedom were all vulnerable to being captured and returned to slave owners in the south.  Since African Americans were not allowed to testify in court, a free African American had no means of explaining the error. This loophole also allowed dishonest slave owners to claim slaves that were not theirs in the first place.
However horrible the Fugitive Slave Law was, it did have a few benefits to the abolitionist movement. First, the law brought the horrors and unfairness of slavery to the North. People were, for the first time, seeing slaves. This awakened many sympathizers who had previously been ambivalent. Also, men like Fredrick Douglass and Henry Highland, both runaway slaves and abolitionists, began campaigning for the end of slavery.