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Rare first edition of the FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT, 1850 in the yearly volume (see pages 64-69). The full title reads: An Act to Amend, and Supplementary to, the Act entitled An Act Respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons Escaping from the Service of their Masters, approved February Twelfth, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Three. In: Acts and Resolutions Passed at the First Session of the Thirty-First Congress of the United States; with an Appendix, Containing all Public Treaties Made and Ratified Subsequently to the Publication of the Laws of the Preceding Session, and All Proclamations by the President, Promulgated Within the Same Period, That Affect Any Law or Treaty of the United States. Published by Authority. Washington: Gideon & Co., 1850. 8vo (8.75 inches). First edition. 270 pages. Printed on rather thin paper. Original printed blue paper covers. A bit of spotting to the front cover and the title page. Stains and marginal tide marks to the last dozen leaves of the Index and rear cover. Expert paper restorations to the lower edge of the final eight leaves of the Index, the rear cover, and spine (which seem to have been affected by moisture), but without loss of text. Text block very lightly rumpled along top edge. Otherwise internally clean and bright, and in near-very good condition. By 1850 disagreements centered on Negro slavery between the North and South were straining the bonds of the American Union. Since 1834, when slavery was abolished in the British colonies, thousands of slaves had escaped to Canada making slavery an unstable institution in the northern border states. The Fugitive Slave Act, 1793 had been largely disregarded by many northern states, and southern politicians blamed the successful escape of slaves to Canada on northern abolitionists who were accused of violating the property rights of slave-owning citizens. Tensions became especially heated when Congress began to consider whether western lands acquired after the Mexican War would permit slavery. In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state, which would have upset the balance between free and slave states in the United States Senate. In an attempt to avert a crisis, several bills were introduced in Congress to address the issues of slavery and territorial expansion. The COMPROMISE OF 1850 consisted of FIVE ACTS passed in September 1850: the first Act settled the boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico and established a territorial government for New Mexico (Chapter 49), the second Act allowed California to enter the Union as a free state (Chapter 50), the third Act made provisions to establish a territorial government in Utah (Chapter 51), the fourth Act was the FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT, 1850 (Chapter 60), and the fifth Act abolished the slave trade in Washington, D.C. (Chapter 63). These five Acts (together with the other Acts, Resolutions, and Indian Treaties of the session) were passed by Congress and signed into law by President Millard Fillmore. The FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT, 1850 was one of the most controversial elements of the Compromise of 1850, and heightened fears of a slave power conspiracy. The law required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to their owners. All officials and citizens of free states were forcibly compelled to cooperate with the terms of the law. It also denied slaves the right to a trial by jury, and increased the penalty for interfering with the rendition process to $1000 and six months in jail. The FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT, 1850 contributed to the growing polarization of the United States over the issue of slavery, and is considered one of the main causes of the Civil War. It also significantly furthered the exodus of slaves to Canada by means of the Underground Railroad, and encouraged abolitionists (such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Toms Cabin) to sway popular opinion against slavery. Resistance to the law also resulted in public riots. Seller Inventory # 184
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