=398. New Fugitive Slave Law.=—That part of the Compromise which provided for a Fugitive Slave Law was so stringent in its provisions that it defeated its own end, by arousing so vigorous an opposition in the North that it could not be enforced. It had been made retroactive, in order that slaves who had taken refuge in the North before the passage of the act might be seized by United States marshals, and, without trial by jury, forcibly taken to their old masters. This feature of the law had an instantaneous effect on public opinion. It soon came to be seen that the people would not permit men and women who, as they said, had become free by living in a free state, to be taken back into slavery. The law was frustrated in many ways, the framers having overlooked one special weakness in it. Though fugitives were not to be entitled to trial by jury, the right of such a trial was not taken from the rescuers. Many a fugitive was seized from the United States marshals, and the rescuers, when tried, were acquitted by jury.[179] New laws, known as Personal Safety Acts, designed to protect fugitives and frustrate the operation of the Fugitive Slave Law, were passed by the New England states and by New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. These were specially referred to as a cause of complaint in the South Carolina Act of Secession. For these various reasons, the number of slaves actually returned was very small, and both sections were dissatisfied with the result. =399. “The Underground Railroad.”=—There was also organized a system to assist fugitives to escape to Canada, where they could not be arrested. Stations were established, generally at private houses, where runaway slaves could be concealed in the daytime and helped forward to the next station in the night. The founder of this system was Levi Coffin, a Quaker living near Philadelphia, who for several years helped into freedom as many as one hundred slaves a year. This system, known as the “Underground Railroad,” gradually extended from the East as far west as the Missouri river. Thus, while the Fugitive Slave Law greatly inflamed the North, the ways in which it was frustrated greatly inflamed the South. =400. New Leaders.=—Soon after the passage of this obnoxious law, Calhoun, Clay, and Webster died. They were succeeded in influence by younger men, of more strenuous beliefs and methods. Of these William H. Seward of New York, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, and Salmon P. Chase of Ohio were prominent representatives of the anti-slavery element, while Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, William L. Yancey of Alabama, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia were the most influential leaders on the other side. INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.