The runaway slaves must be returned to their masters. When they were returned they would face horrible punishments. These punishments consisted of the amputation of limbs, whippings, branding and other terrible acts. Slaves would go from house to house. They would either go to the houses of whites or freed blacks and they would get shelter, food and clothing. When the masters found that the slaves were gone they would do everything to find their lost "property". Under the new Fugitive Slave act, the masters could send federal marshals down to the North to go get their "lost property." After this law was put into place even if the slave is freed he could be brought back to the south and sold to slavery if he or she didn't have the freedom papers. After this law any officer who does not arrest a slave would have to pay a fine. This fine would be $1000, 6 months in jail, and maybe a charge of treason for defying the law. This law also created a separate judicial system. This system accused fugitive slaves. This law had threatened every single blacks safety . The free blacks living in north could no longer leagally prove they were free, many were sent back into slavery, thousands of the fugitives living in the north fled to canada, and it made northerns determined to end slavery.It forced many people of the north to become more defiant in their support of the fugitives.