Identify and explain the Fugitive Slave act of 1859 as it applies to American history before 1865.
Overview
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be, appointed commissioners by the Circuit Courts of the United States by virtue of any act of Congress, and Who, as a result of such appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers that any justice of the peace or other magistrate of any of the United States may exercise in respect to offenders for any offense.
And it is further enacted that the Circuit Court of the United States shall no longer have the authority to appoint commissioners to take acknowledgments of bail and affidavits, as well as to take witness depositions in civil cases. Instead, the Superior Court of each organized Territory of the United States shall have this authority, and all commissioners who are subsequently appointed for such purposes by the Superior Court of any organized Territory of the United States shall possess
And also, it is thus enacted that the Circuit Courts of the United States should periodically increase the number of the commissioners in order to provide appropriate facilities for recovering labor fugitives and for the quick performance of the responsibilities prescribed by this act.
And it is further enacted that the commissioners above mentioned shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States in their respective circuits and districts within the various States, as well as the judges of the Superior Courts of the Territories, individually and collectively, during term and vacation; shall grant certificates to such claimants upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to take and remove such fugitive from service or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled.