This was an agreement reached between Northern and Southern states during the Constitutional Convention. It was a method of calculating the population of slaves into the apportionment of the House of Representatives and distribution of taxes.

Which of the following answers best describe why the fugitive slave act was so controversial? a fugitive slaves who were caught were to be sent back to africa, and southern states disagreed with this practice. b it required all runaway slaves to be sentenced to death, and most people were against this extreme form of punishment. c fugitive slaves were required to work twice as long before they could be freed, and northern states opposed this. d it required all americans to return runaway slaves to their owners, and abolitionists in free states opposed this law.