Fugitive+Slave+Act+of+1850

**Objectives**:

 * Summarize the Fugitive Slave Act
 * Identify point of view when analyzing primary source documents related to the Fugitive Slave Act
 * Describe and evaluate the reasons for obeying or rejecting the laws of the Fugitive Slave Act
 * Justify your decision either to aide or not to aide a runaway slave on their quest for freedom

**Do Now:**
Use the visual thesaurus posted on the board to describe what a fugitive is. What other words are similar to the word "fugitive"? Is being a fugitive a bad thing or a good thing?

**Lesson**:
===At the end of this lesson you will decide whether or not you would help a runaway slave (a.k.a. a fugitive) on their quest for freedom. While you examine the Fugitive Slave Act and the primary sources below, think about what kind of evidence you can include in your decision to either help or not help a fugitive slave.===

1)Read the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 below. Mark up the document and then summarize each section in your own words.



2) Next we will look at primary source documents that relate to the Fugitive Slave Act. For each of these documents, fill out details on what the source is about, who it was created for, why it was created, and whose point of view you think it is showing.





3) On the back of your graphic organizer, list two reasons to obey the Fugitive Slave Act and two reasons to disobey it. Do you think the reasons that you gave are good enough to obey or disobey the law? Why?

4) Using your summary from the Fugitive Slave Act and the information you took down in the graphic organizer, answer the following writing prompt below:

You have been asked to hide a fugitive slave overnight. If you get caught, you will be sent to prison. What would you do? Using textual evidence from the Fugitive Slave Act and the primary source documents you examined, explain your reasons for aiding the fugitive slave or your decision to not hide the fugitive slave in the space below.



Share your summary of the Fugitive Slave Act with the class. Be ready to share out the point of view of the sources you examine with an explanation of why it is from that perspective.
 * Ticket to Leave:**

Give one reason to obey the Fugitive Slave Act and one reason to disobey it. Do you think the reasons you provided are good enough to either obey or disobey the law? Why?
 * Homework:**