Fugitive slave act 1793 to 1850

It allowed slave masters to capture back runaway slaves and even african-american which weren't slaves to be captured because they were identified as such

Fugitive Slave Acts, in U. S. history, statutes passed by Congress in 1793 and 1850 (and repealed in 1864) that provided for the seizure and return of runaway slaves who escaped from one state into another or into a federal territory