Which provision of the Compromise of 1850 addressed the capture and return of runaway enslaved people?

• A. Stricter Fugitive Slave Act
• B. Abolition of the District of Columbia slave trade
• C. California admitted as a free state
• D. Creation of the state of Nevada

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is how the Compromise of 1850 handled fugitives by ensuring enslaved people who escaped to free states could be captured and returned. The provision that does this best is the stronger Fugitive Slave Act. It increased federal involvement in runaway cases, requiring authorities in free areas to help arrest and return runaways to their enslavers, and it established fast procedures with federal commissioners to decide cases, often limiting the protections traditionally afforded to the accused. This made the capture and return of enslaved people a national obligation, not just a local matter, which is exactly what the question is asking about.

The other measures in the Compromise addressed different issues: one adapted the balance of free and slave states by admitting California as a free state, another ended the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and the creation of Nevada isn’t part of the Compromise’s framework. Still, they don’t directly govern the capture and return of runaways the way the stronger Fugitive Slave Act does.