No, they were not criminals in any way. There were no federal criminal penalities on the slave for running away --- I guess Calhoon didn't think of that one.)
In the eyes of the government, they were "property" (that's what the slaveocrats insisted on) and treated by the Federal Government as such --- just like dogs and cats and cows.
Now is it a federal criminal offense for me to give your dog some food, water and a warm place to sleep for the night after he runs away from an abusive owner? There could be some civil liability, but a federal criminal offence --- especially in a day when there were literally only a handful of federal criminal offences on the books.
Slaves broke state law by escaping. I figured from the start this was so, but it took me a good while to find a statement on the web to confirm it.
Now is it a federal criminal offense for me to give your dog some food, water and a warm place to sleep for the night after he runs away from an abusive owner? There could be some civil liability, but a federal criminal offence --- especially in a day when there were literally only a handful of federal criminal offences on the books.
The FSA was a federal act, and it was constitutional. The Supreme Court upheld it in 1859. And yes there were punishments for breaking this federal law. The Supreme Court ruled that the enforcement of the FSA (possibly the earlier one?) was a federal responsibility. If you broke runaway slave law and were convicted, you got punished. Simple as that.
The FSA certainly trumped state laws that tried to prevent the return of runaway slaves. However, it didn't stop Northern states from nullifying or trying to nullify the fugitive slave part of the Constitution, mentioned as one of the causes of secession of Southern states.
Thanks for the offer to help my dog. Unfortunately, your offer won't do much good. My dog died at age 15 after several years of being both blind and deaf. When he got to where he couldn't walk either, we finally had to put him to sleep. A Simon Legree I'm not.