Fugitive Slave Act:
- The Fugitive Slave Act required all citizens, regardless of their personal feelings about slavery, to assist in capturing and returning escaped slaves to their owners.
- The act was deeply unpopular in the North, where many opposed slavery and viewed the law as a moral outrage.
- Northern states began passing "personal liberty laws," which were designed to obstruct the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. This further inflamed tensions between the North and South.
Transcontinental Railroad:
- The transcontinental railroad was proposed as a way to connect the East and West coasts and facilitate trade and travel.
- The construction of the railroad required immense funding and resources, which led to fierce competition between the North and South over the route and economic benefits of the project.
- The question of whether the railroad would allow or prohibit slavery in the newly acquired Western territories became a major point of contention between the pro-slavery South and the anti-slavery North.
- The debate over the expansion of slavery into new territories further exacerbated sectional tensions and contributed to the growing divide between the North and South.
The combination of the Fugitive Slave Act and the transcontinental railroad inflamed the existing divisions between the Northern and Southern states, both economically and morally, and brought the nation closer to the brink of civil war.