They Said I Couldn't Do It by Robyn R. Pearce

Author:Robyn R. Pearce [Robyn R. Pearce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Getting A Grip Publishing
Published: 2022-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

It was as bad as we feared. Colored people everywhere were unsafe. Kidnapping had always been a problem, but this ghastly law escalated the numbers all around the country. Many free blacks were illegally captured and shipped south for sale, with no legal recourse. The kidnappers employed devious means to carry this out. For example, a letter written by a southerner was discovered saying, ‘Go among the niggers; find out their marks and scars, make good descriptions and send to me, and I’ll find masters for ’em.’

The Fugitive Slave Act forced people to take a position. Throughout the north, folk who normally went quietly about their daily affairs, with no firm position on slavery, rose in protest.

Clergymen told their congregations to ignore it. ‘God’s Law takes precedence over the Fugitive Slave Act. We must trample it underfoot, no matter what the consequences.’

Abolitionists in many northern states, for so many years considered to be dangerous fanatics, gained credibility. The abolition movement gathered momentum. Cities that, in the past, had been antagonistic to emancipation began to turn around. Even in border cities like Cincinnati, with its pro-slavery civil authorities, newspapers and residents, public opinion shifted.

We heard later it was the final straw for writer Harriet Beecher Stowe, so incensed that she penned her runaway best-selling book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin as an exposé of the vile trade. Her book shook the nation, bringing the evils of slavery into homes across the land, forcing well-intentioned people with no direct exposure to the issues to take notice.

As opposition mounted in the north, southerners ranted just as hotly–about our reaction. They shouted about secession from the union. Was it just a threat, in order to make the resistant north back down and leave their property rights alone (property meaning slaves) or would they really secede?

That was fighting talk. Armageddon was thundering towards us.

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