Buildings and churches like these, that helped protect enslaved people as they moved north toward freedom, became popular in the 1830s and 1840s. Due to the increase in escaped enslaved people, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was reinforced in 1850. This strengthening of the act held Whites accountable for harboring or even ignoring runaways, with high fines and imprisonment if caught. It also allowed Whites to capture Blacks and enslave them, even if they had already been freed. This law was highly controversial in the Northern states and became one of the catalysts for the Civil War.
