Upwards of 200,000 people marched through downtown Chicago, March 10, chanting, “Si, se puede!,” meaning, “Yes we can!” defeat the Sensenbrenner bill.
Most of the marchers came from the Mexican immigrant community in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. They were joined by Korean, Polish, Irish, Arab and other immigrant communities. Together, they made up the largest rally of any kind in the history of Chicago.
You didn’t read much about this did you? Mainstream media ignored it. Me, I think Irish and Poles marching in solidarity with Mexicans in the biggest march ever in Chicago history is heartening, and a harbinger of much greater events to come.
In an attempt to appease the South, Congress passed the Compromise of 1850, which revised the Fugitive Slave Bill. The law gave slaveowners “the right to organize a posse at any point in the United States to aid in recapturing runaway slaves. Courts and police everywhere in the United States were obligated to assist them” (Blockson, 11). Private citizens were also obligated to assist in the recapture of runaways. Furthermore, people who were caught helping slaves served jail time as well as pay fines and restitution to the slaveowner.
http://education.ucdavis.edu/new/stc/lesson/socstud/railroad/SlaveLaw.htm