Why did the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 pose a grave danger to free Blacks? How did African Americans and their white abolitionist allies resist the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850?

1) Why did the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 pose a grave danger to free Blacks? How did African Americans and their white abolitionist allies resist the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850? Be sure to provide a definition of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

2) What was the ruling in the Dred Scott Decision? How did Chief Justice Roger Taney, using History, justify the decision? What did it mean for black people in the free states? (be sure to provide some brief detail regarding the circumstances of the case).

3) Provide an essay discussing any similarities that you may see between the perilous freedom that Fugitive slaves endured in the 1850’s and the plight of undocumented immigrants today. (Discuss the issues faced by both groups and whether you see any similarities)

4) After having studied Black Codes (in the colonial period and the Ante-bellum period) as well as Black Laws, do you see any historical links to present-day ideas of race or the present construction of racism? Please discuss and use examples from the past and the present. (hint: cite some of e early black codes as the building blocks of America’s racial system).