Tuesday, September 12, 2023

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Raise your hand if you know what the The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was. Hint it lead to the Civil War.
Passed on September 18, 1850 by Congress, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850.  The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state.  The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves.
So what does The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 have to do with what is happening now? The law was passed almost 175 years ago. Well take a look at this from MSNBC News and see if you see a correlation?
Alabama’s Attorney General, in a state that is already enforcing one of the nation's strictest abortion bans that makes no exception for rape or incest, is now asserting his right to criminally prosecute anyone who assists women in traveling to other states for abortions. Whether the abortion would be legal in the state where it's performed would be of no consequence. Legal historian and abortion law scholar Mary Ziegler says nothing like this has been tried since the civil war. “Nobody is safe anywhere,” says Robin Marty, operations director at West Alabama Women’s Center. The fight is in Alabama and southern states now, but “this is coming for blue states.”
Do you see the correlation between 1850 and 2023?

1 comment:

  1. SCOTUS has opened the flood gates for litigation. It's a godsend for attorneys. Will Alabama sue the United States Postal Service for transporting abortion drugs across state lines into Alabama?

    ReplyDelete