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“When the Victims of Oppression Stand Up Manfully for Themselves”
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120 Spencer R. Crew “When the Victims of Oppression Stand Up Manfully for Themselves” The Fugitive Slave Law of and the Role of African Americans in Obstructing Its Enforcement The opening months of 1850wereatimeofchallengeforthenation and for the Thirty-First Congress. The successful war against Mexicoandtheacquisitionofnewlandsonceagainraisedtheissueofthe place of slavery in the nation. These were issues similar to those that had appeared with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which also dramatically increased thesizeofthecountry.Southernerswantedassurancesthatthey couldbringslaveswiththemastheymovedontothenewlands.Theyperceived nothavingthatoptionasathreattoboththeireconomicwell-being andthepoliticalbalanceinCongress.Thereevenwastalkatthetimeofthe possibility of secession, but the Missouri Compromise of 1820 quieted those threats.BrokeredbyHenryClayandothers,thelegislationproducedan uneasytrucethatbegansteadilyunravelingandreachedfeverpitchby1850.1 AsthenewlyacquiredMexicanterritoriessoughtrecognitionandeventual statehoodfromCongressthedividebetweensouthernslaveholdingstates andnorthernnonslaveholdingstatesonceagainmovedfrontandcenter. Alongwithissuesconcerningtheboundariesofthesenewstatesandwhether theywouldjointheunionasfreeorslavestates,questionsaroseconcerning theslavetradeintheDistrictofColumbiaandenforcementoffugitiveslave ThetitlequotationistakenfromFrederickDouglass,“TheAnti-slaveryMovement:A LecturebyFrederickDouglass,beforetheRochesterLadies’Anti-SlaverySociety,Rochester, 1855,” in Philip S. Foner, The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, 4 vols. (New York, 1950), 2:333–59. 1 Holman Hamilton, Prologue to Conflict: The Crisis and Compromise of (Lexington,1964), pp. 11–13;JohnC.Waugh,On the Brink of Civil War: The Compromise of and How It Changed the Course of American History (Wilmington,Del.,2003), pp. 8–13. The Fugitive Slave Law of 121 laws. Southerners saw themselves and their way of life under attack once again.Theywerealarmedbytheactionsofnearlyeverynorthernlegislature thathadresultedinvotesurgingtheircongressionalrepresentativesto acttobarslaveryfromallterritories.Inaddition,severalothershadurged the end of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia.2 Henry L. Benning,aGeorgialawyer,expressedsouthernconcernswhenhewrote,“I no more doubt that the North will abolish slavery the very Wrst moment it feels itself able to do it without too much cost, than I doubt my existence.”3 Inthefaceofthesebeliefs,momentumwasgrowingintheSouthforthe ideaofleavingtheUniontoprotectsoutherninterests.Asawaytoseriously examine this alternative, a call was issued in June 1850 for a convention of southern states in Nashville, Tennessee, to discuss the possibilities.4 TheSouthwascorrectthatnorthernsentimentagainstthespreadof slaverywasgrowing.AbolitionistsoVeredtheloudestdissent,arguingslavery wasmorallycorruptandshouldbeendedaltogether.Butmostpeoplein theNorthwerenotabolitionistsanddidnotseektoendslaveryinexisting states. They were opposed to its spread to new states, as they believed in the importanceoffreelaborasthebackboneofAmericansuccess.Theysaw the small independent farmer as the best future for the nation, not unpaid, enslavedlabor.TheyrecognizedtheacknowledgmentofslaveryintheConstitution and therefore were not ready to abolish it, but for them slavery was not the future of the country. The hope was that it would eventually fade awayorgetsqueezedoutofexistence.5 AsCongressassembledinDecember1849, emotions continued to rise as political leaders hoped to Wnd a solution that would placate both sides. Aswasthecasein1820, Henry Clay of Kentucky oVered a compromise hehopedmightsolvethedilemma.Theplanhadseveralpartstoit.Some focused speciWcally on California, Texas, and the land acquired from Mexico. Here the status of slavery was left to the determination of each newstateasitemergedandsoughtadmittancetotheUnion.Otherparts of thecompromiseprohibitedCongressfromrestrictingtheslavetradein the states. Clay’s compromise continued slavery in the District of Columbia ,butendedtheslavetradewithinitsborders.Finally,itclosedgapsin...