Fugitive Slave Act

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Slaves had always played an important role in the United States’ economy throughout its history. The United States was excelling in the production of cotton starting the 1800s. By 1815 cotton was already the nation’s most valuable export and by 1840 worth more than all other U.S. exports combined. Slaves provided the necessary labor to keep the industry going. To harvest the utmost crops, plantation owners developed two labor systems, the task system and the gang system. The task system was most popular on small-scale plantations. “Slaves were given a prescribed amount of labor to complete each day. Plowing or hoeing task, for example, involved plowing or hoeing so much ground per day.” The gang system was widely used on larger plantation …show more content…

“It was their challenge to the system of slavery, their actions in defying slaveholders by fleeing to the North and Canada, that prompted fugitive slave laws in the first place.” Congress passed the Compromise of 1850 act in order to ease the tension between northern and southern states. The act promises to grant the Fugitive Slave Act, to the pro-slavery state, while accepting California to the Union as a free state and “the abolition of the slave trade in the nation’s capital.” The Fugitive Slave Act “denied fugitive slaves a right to a jury trial and required northern citizens to assist in their recovery” which angered the anti-slavery group in the North. However, this act did not ease tension between the states, but further damage the relationships between them. This act prompted southern states to leave the Union on 1852. The expansion into the western territories played a large part in the conflict because the conflict first arose when deciding whether or not these new territories should become free states or slavery …show more content…

During the Progressive Era, tens of thousands of African Americans migrated from the South to the Northeast and Midwest in search of a better life. In the South, the Ku Klux Klan, a group that believed in white supremacy, started the practice of lynching. African Americans were lynched for simply being black. The Southern states also passed a series of laws called Jim Crow Laws. These laws prevented African Americans to vote by requiring poll tax, and literacy tests. Segregation was another big factor and drove African Americans to leave the South. From school, to restaurant, to public transportations, every place was segregated in the South. There were little to no job opportunity in the South for African Americans. “Escaped from the degrading heritage of slavery in the South,” African Americans were willing to work despite little wage in the North. Because of the ongoing WWI during that time period, factories lacked cheap labor from

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