Final answer:
A free African American could be falsely taken into custody under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed for their capture without a fair trial and made free blacks vulnerable to being sold into slavery
Step-by-step explanation:
A free African American could be falsely taken into custody under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The Act mandated that suspected fugitive slaves could be captured and returned to their purported owners on the basis of a mere oath without the right to a jury trial or the ability to testify in their own defense. Due to systemic biases and financial incentives, free blacks, who had never been enslaved or who were freedmen, were vulnerable to being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Federal commissioners tasked with judging these cases were paid more to rule in favor of the claimant, thereby encouraging wrongful adjudications and undermining the positions of free African Americans.
Moreover, the Fugitive Slave Act exacerbated tensions between the North and the South by compelling northern citizens to participate in the capture of fugitives and penalizing those who refused to aid slave catchers. This federal intrusion into personal freedom and local sovereignty triggered a profound backlash and played a role in heightening the antislavery sentiment that would eventually contribute to the outbreak of the Civil War.