Posters such as the one above were posted in the North to
warn both free and fugitive blacks to beware of slave catchers.
In the year 1850, The Fugitive Slave Act was put into affect. This act caused considerable social issues between the North and South. Henry Clay had believed the law would be a benefit to Southern plantation owners because it would allow them to legally cross state borders into the North in order to retrieve their escaped slaves. Though the act was passed with good intentions, it caused open hostility towards slavery in the South as well as slave-catchers coming to the North to retrieve slaves. The Fugitive Slave act included a reward for the assistance in catching a fugitive slave. Along with the financial incentive to boost Northern cooperation, it was also required by law that Northern marshals assist slave-catchers in catching fugitive slaves. Many people in the North openly disobeyed the Act and assisted fugitive slaves and misled Southern slave-catchers.
As a result of the Fugitive Slave Act, there was increased hostility between the North and South over slavery. Increasingly more than before, the hostility was open. People in the North refused to assist Southern slave-catchers, further angering Southern plantation owners.
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