[skybrian]

Furthermore, the Fugitive Slave Act would have been more honestly named the Kidnap Northerners Whenever We Feel Like It Act. No proof was required that the people abducted in this way were, in fact, escaped slaves. The threat to black northerners should be obvious.

So, this would be an example of the South using the power of federal government to impose its will on the North. It was only after it looked like they had lost the power to do that anymore, that they started a war.