Resistance (Ver Steeg, 1985)

Despite promising signs that the Compromise of 1850 would be accepted, differences over slavery did not end.  In 1851 an escaped salve named Shadrach was arrested in Boston.  He was rescued by a group of fellow blacks.  "The rescue of Shadrach" wrote antislavery supporter Wendell Phillips, "has set the whole public afire."  A Maryland slave owner, reclaiming two of his runaway slaves in Pennsylvania, was killed by a mob.  In New York, a well known black named James Hamlet was captured.  A Maryland woman claimed that he was a runaway.  Hamlet was taken directly to Maryland without a court hearing and without being allowed to see his wife and children.  These acts touched off public outcries.