"$100 Reward! Ranaway"

Advertisement for capture of fugitive slave in Missouri

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 pledged federal government support in returning runaway slaves to their owners. This Act angered abolitionists in the North, who protested by helping slaves escape to freedom through a network of safe places to hide, known as the Underground Railroad. Bounty hunters known as slave catchers would seek the fugitives in order to claim the reward money. Escaping from slavery was a dangerous business, and many slaves were killed or captured and returned to their owners, or sold to other masters.

For more about this topic, see Documents 12, 16 and 107.

Citation - Document 11
1860
Courtesy Library of Congress, Reproduction no. LC-USZ62-39380
www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/civilwar