The Fugitive Slave Laws

Examining legislation that seems almost incomprehensible to 21st-century minds, this book provides readers with a wealth of information about and insights into fugitive slave laws in effect in the United States between 1790 and 1864.


* Primary-source materials, including the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, excerpts from congressional debates, sermons, and pro- and antislavery literature of the time, photographs, and citations from the 1842 Prigg v. Pennsylvania ruling

* Biographies of key figures

* A glossary

* An annotated bibliography of key and current works