Fugitive slaves orrunaway slaves were historical terms used in the 18th and 19th centuries to describe individuals who fled the institution ofslavery in the United States. Modern historical scholarship often prefers the termsself-emancipated people orfreedom seekers to acknowledge the active role these individuals took in claiming their own liberty.
The history of self-emancipation is linked to two federal laws that established the right of retrieval: theFugitive Slave Act of 1793 and theFugitive Slave Act of 1850. The legal status of a person escaping slavery was initially addressed in theUnited States Constitution'sFugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3), which mandated the return of such individuals to the party claiming ownership. This legal framework, in tension with resistance efforts like theUnderground Railroad and Northern "personal liberty laws," intensified the sectional conflict betweenslaveholding states and free states, contributing significantly to the causes of theAmerican Civil War.
Generally, freedom seekers tried to reach states or territories where slavery was banned, includingCanada, or, until 1821,Spanish Florida. Most slave laws tried to control slave travel by requiring them to carry official passes if traveling without an enslaver.
Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 increased penalties against runaway slaves and those who aided them. Because of this, some freedom seekers left the United States altogether, traveling to Canada orMexico. Approximately 100,000 enslaved Americans escaped to freedom.[1][2]
Before the U.S. Constitution was ratified, agreements existed among the colonies for the mutual return of those who had escaped bondage. TheNew England Articles of Confederation of 1643 contained a clause providing for the return of fugitive slaves from one member colony to another. These early agreements established a legal framework for the recovery of human property, foreshadowing the federal mechanisms that would follow.
Over time, the states began to divide into slave states and free states. Maryland and Virginia passed laws to reward people who captured and returned enslaved people to their enslavers. Slavery was abolished in five states by the time of theConstitutional Convention in 1787. At that time,New Hampshire,Vermont,Massachusetts,Connecticut andRhode Island had become free states.
During the Constitutional Convention, Southern delegates expressed concern that states that had abolished slavery would obstruct the recovery of runaways. Although the Constitution was ratified in 1788 without using the words "slave" or "slavery," it recognized the institution through theFugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3). It stated:
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
This provision guaranteed a slaveholder's right to repossess their "property" and barred free states from legally emancipating a person who escaped from a slave state. The Constitution also recognized the institution via thethree-fifths clause and the prohibition on banning the importation of slaves prior to 1808 (Article I, Section 9).[3]
Because the constitutional clause lacked a federal enforcement procedure, Congress passed theFugitive Slave Act of 1793. This federal law permitted slaveholders or their designated agents to seize an alleged fugitive in any state and bring them before a magistrate. The law required minimal proof—often just an affidavit or oral testimony—to establish ownership. Crucially, it afforded the accused no right to ajury trial.
The Act allowed for fines of $500 (equivalent to $11,755 in 2024) for individuals who assisted slaves in their escape. Slave hunters were obligated to obtain a court-approved affidavit in order to apprehend an enslaved individual, giving rise to the formation of an intricate network of safe houses commonly known as theUnderground Railroad.[4]
This low burden of proof made the law a danger to free Black citizens, who were frequently kidnapped and sold into slavery. A famous example of the law's limitations in practice was the case ofOney Judge, who self-emancipated fromGeorge Washington's household and successfully avoided multiple recapture attempts.
Analysis offugitive slave advertisements placed by slaveholders reveals that self-emancipation was frequently a calculated act of resistance rather than a random impulse. Advertisements often detailed the gender, age, skills (such as literacy), and family ties of the escapees. Historical analysis suggests that men under the age of 35 comprised the majority of those who attempted and succeeded in escaping long distances.[5]
Self-emancipation involved various methods of flight. While many freedom seekers followed the organized network of the Underground Railroad toward Northern free states, Canada, or Mexico, scholarly research indicates that the majority of runaways remained within the slaveholding South.[6]
To throw tracking dogs off the trail, escaped slaves often rubbed turpentine on their shoes or scattered "soil from a graveyard" on their tracks.[7] Another technique for scent masking was the use of wild onions or other pungent weeds.[8]
Some fugitives establishedMaroon communities—independent settlements in geographically isolated regions, sometimes integrating withNative American populations.
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 Network to Freedom map, in and outside of the United States |
The Underground Railroad was a clandestine network of abolitionists who helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom. Members of theReligious Society of Friends (Quakers),African Methodist Episcopal Church,Baptists,Methodists, and other religious sects helped in operating the network.[10][11] The network used railway terminology ("stations", "conductors") and extended throughout the United States into Canada.
Hiding places called "stations" were set up in private homes, churches, and schoolhouses in border states between slave and free states.John Brown hada secret room in his tannery to give escaped enslaved people places to stay on their way.[12]
One of the most notable conductors wasHarriet Tubman. Born into slavery inDorchester County, Maryland, around 1822, Tubman escaped in 1849. Between 1850 and 1860, she returned to the South numerous times to lead parties of other enslaved people to freedom. She aided hundreds of people, including her parents, in their escape.[13] Tubman wore disguises and sang songs in different tempos, such asGo Down Moses, to indicate whether it was safe for freedom seekers to come out of hiding.[14]
Notable people who gained or assisted others in gaining freedom via the Underground Railroad include:
Passed as part of theCompromise of 1850, theFugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a far stronger measure intended to enforce federal power in recovering self-emancipated people. Key provisions included:
Enslavers were outraged when an enslaved person was found missing. Under the 1850 Act, they could send federal marshals into free states to kidnap them. The law also broughtbounty hunters into the business; in 1851, there was a case of a black coffeehouse waiter whom federal marshals kidnapped on behalf of John Debree, who claimed to be the man's enslaver.[15] Enslavers often harshly punished those they successfully recaptured, such as by amputating limbs, whipping, branding, and hobbling.[16]
The 1850 Act radicalized theabolitionist movement. High-profile cases, such as the 1848 escape ofWilliam and Ellen Craft, were framed as continuing the "unfinished American Revolution."[17]
In response, Northern states enactedpersonal liberty laws. These state laws forbade state officials from assisting in captures and guaranteed fugitives state-level judicial protections. Opponents of the 1850 Act used theFourth Amendment to argue that seizure procedures violated protections against unwarranted arrest and search.[18]
The tension between state resistance and federal enforcement led to violence and legal battles.
Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Acts largely ceased once the Civil War began, as thousands of self-emancipated people sought refuge with advancing Union lines, where they were often classified as "contraband of war." Congress formally repealed the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 on June 28, 1864.
The legal basis for these laws was permanently nullified by theThirteenth Amendment (1865), which abolished slavery. The decades of legal and violent conflict surrounding the recovery of freedom seekers were a significant factor that pushed the country toward civil war.
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