The only complaint I made in such regard is that these laws undermined the ex post facto Southern argument that Washington was undermining Southern interests before the Civil War. As BroJoeK pointed out numerous times, Southern interests virtually ran the federal government in the antebellum era.
“When were the Southerners calling for a stronger Federal government?”
Oy vey! In what world is setting up a hitherto nonexistent nationwide system of fugitive slave commissioners working for the feds with the power to impress citizen labor at will, NOT making a stronger Federal government?
They were not calling for any such thing until it became apparent that states would refuse to enforce Article IV, Section 2. To what other authority were they to appeal to enforce the law?
Blame Prigg vs Pennsylvania, and Justice Joseph Story for ruling that states didn't have to enforce Federal law, and could even interfere with others enforcing it, is what created this need for Federal agents.
And how much was this going to cost anyway? Are we arguing over a molehill instead of a mountain?