Defying the System of Slavery

By: Sarah and Brandon

Fugitive Slave Act

• Any runaway slave who was caught in the North was obligated to be returned back to their owners

• Fugitives were not entitled to a trial by jury– Could not testify on their own behalfStatement by slave owner was all required to have a

slave returned-Judges $10 for runaway slave$5 for free slave

“The colored men’s rights are less than those of a jackass. No man can take away a jackass without submitting the matter to twelve men in any part of this country. A black man may be carried away without any reference to a jury. It is only necessary to claim him, and that some villain should swear to his identity. There is more protection there for a horse, for a donkey, or anything, rather than a colored man.”

-Frederick Douglas

Northern Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act

• Organized vigilance committees– Send endangered African Americans to safety in

Canada• Personal liberty laws– Nine states passed– Forbade imprisonment of runaway slaves– Guaranteed jury trials

• Northern Lawyers dragged trials out (3 or 4 years)– Increases slave catcher’s expenses

Underground Railroad

• Secret network of people who would aid fugitive slaves in their escape– Conductors hid fugitives in secret tunnels and

false cupboards-Provided slaves food and clothing

Harriet Tubman

• Most famous conductor• Born a slave– Brain damage from plantation owner

• Hit on head by lead weight• Lost consciousness on daily basis• Increased strength to do tasks men couldn’t do

• 1849- made break for freedom after her owner died• Became conductor– Made 19 trips back to south– Helped 300 slaves flee to freedom

• “In the woods I lived on nothing… I stayed in the hollow of a big popular tree for seven months… I suffered mighty bad with the cold and for something to eat. One time a snake come to the tree… and I took my axe and chopped him in two. It was… the poisonest kind of snake we have. While in the woods all my thoughts was how to get away to a free country.” –Harry Grimes

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe– Instant bestseller– Delivered message that slavery was not just a political

contest, but also a great moral struggle– About a girl who ran away from her slave owner with her

infant son in her arms– Uncle Tom was sold and whipped to death by the new

owner– Northerner abolitionists increased protests against Fugitive

Slave Act– Southerners felt like it was a personal attack towards them

Video Clips

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5gLVulWa4s

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60oFmPwLz8U

Works Cited

• Danzer, Gerald A. The Americans. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2005. Print.

• http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/resources/online/2004/grade8/ss/q32.jpg

• http://www.letsgetfreethebook.com/jurorsforjustice/images/fill-fugitiveslaveact.jpg

• http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0Qh0lOPyrZk/TH05D7GH6xI/AAAAAAAAAek/r4quw9Nnnxs/s1600/01-28-2010-frederick-douglass.jpg

• http://hunt-barronclasswiki.wikispaces.com/file/view/underground_map.jpg/33143555/underground_map.jpg

• http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/ugrr/map_images/fugitives28_use.jpg

• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Harriet_Tubman_cropped.jpg

• http://www.47thnewyork.com/images/uncle_toms_cabin.jpg

• http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/african-american-art/uncle-tom-cabin.jpg