Explain the significance of the following terms. a. fugitive b. secede

A fugitive is a person who escapes from a certain situation/condition. This vocabulary word is important in American society, especially during the early to mid 1800's. This is because any slave who ran away from their plantation would be considered a fugitive. With the Compromise of 1850, the South helped to pass a Fugitive Slave Law, which compelled Northerners to return escaped slaves back to their owners in the south.

Secede means to formally leave. In this case, the Southern states seceded (left) the US after Lincoln was elected president. Southern states feared that their way of life was in jeopardy since Lincoln became president. To counteract this, many states left the US and formed the Confederate States of America.

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