California Admission Day and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 - California 175 Commemoration

During the Mid-19th century, US leadership had targeted expansion and completed acquisition of the vast Alta California Mexican Territory, nearly 1/3 of the former Mexican Republic lands..

US President Polk (1845-1849) states vision of “Manifest Destiny” for the United States of America, from sea to shining sea, was complete with the 1850 Compromise, 5 Congressional Acts signed into law by US President Fillmore.

Earlier an amended Mexican Republic Constitution in 1829 prohibited slavery challenged the desire to expand “America’s Peculiar Institution” established a clear need for the US / Mexican War. (1846-1848)

June 1846, the first “military action” of the California Bear Flag Revolt was stealing the horses from the Mexican Army, around 20 miles from Sutter’s Fort, along the Consumes River at Murphy’s Corral. This act prepared the way for US Army and US Navy leadership as Military Governors of California on the path towards California statehood.

July of 1846. the US Declaration of Independence was read aloud on the veranda of the stylish City of San Francisco home of US Vice Consul to Mexico, Honorable William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr., while official terms of the transition by US Military occupation of Alta California Mexico were being discussed.

The Mexican Flag was lowered and the United Stares of America Flag was raised as the beginnings of the transfer of power from Mexican Civil Law to English Common Law forever changed over 300+ years of Spanish/Mexican rule in California.

The California Gold Rush had just begun in January of 1848 and a wild, Wild West mentality facilitated massive genocide of Native California Indigenous tribes and widespread introduction of chattel slavery of enslaved Pan Africans forced to participative in the Gold Rush.

As part of the 1850 Compromise, US Senate Bill 169 was signed into law by President Fillmore establishing the State of California on September 9, 1850.

A few weeks later In September Democratic Senator James M. Mason of Virginia drafted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which penalized officials who did not arrest someone allegedly escaping from slavery, and made them liable to a fine of $1,000 (equivalent to $37,800 in 2024).

Law enforcement officials everywhere were required to arrest people suspected of escaping enslavement on as little as a claimant's sworn testimony of ownership. Habeas corpus was declared irrelevant.

The Commissioner before whom the fugitive from slavery was brought for a hearing—no jury was permitted, and the alleged refugee from enslavement could not testify.

Compensation of $10 (equivalent to $380 in 2024) for the Commissioner of he found that the individual was proven a fugitive and only $5 (equivalent to $190 in 2024) if he determined the proof to be insufficient.

In addition, any person aiding a fugitive by providing food or shelter was subject to up to six months of imprisonment and up to $1,000 in fine. Officers who captured a fugitive from slavery were entitled to a bonus or promotion for their work.

Enslavers needed only to supply an affidavit to a Federal marshal to capture a fugitive from slavery.

Since a suspected enslaved person was not eligible for a trial, the law resulted in the kidnapping and conscription of free Blacks into slavery, as purported fugitive slaves had no rights in court and could not defend themselves against accusations.

The Act adversely affected the prospects of escape from slavery, particularly in states close to the North. One study finds that while prices placed on enslaved people rose across the Southern United States in the years after 1850, it appears that "the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act increased prices in border states by 15% to 30% more than in states further south", illustrating how the Act altered the chance of successful escape.

According to abolitionist John Brown, even in the supposedly safe refuge of Springfield, Massachusetts, "some of them are so alarmed that they tell me that they cannot sleep on account of either them or their wives and children.

I can only say I think I have been enabled to do something to revive their broken spirits. I want all my family to imagine themselves in the same dreadful condition."