Local
1851 - Sarah Houston (Ransom Williams' future wife) is born in Texas. She is a mulatto and almost certainly a slave.
1851 - John Wheeler Bunton buys land in Hays County, Texas. At this time he is believed to be the "owner", or master, of Ransom Williams. Ransom will later buy his own land in nearby Travis County.
Map of Hays County, Texas
Map of Hays County, Texas
State
1850s - Slave population in Texas more than triples, from 58,161 to 182,566. Texas Cotton production increases from 60,000 bales to over 400,000 bales.
Image of 1855 news article
1850s - Thousands of Texas slaves escape to Mexico using Texas' Underground Railroad.
Map of underground railroad.
Map of underground railroad.
National
1850 - The Compromise of 1850 creates the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, requiring all escaped slaves, upon capture, to be returned to their owners. Abolitionists nickname it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves.
Illustration of effects of fugitive slave law
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle Tom's Cabin to highlight the evils of slavery. It sells 1.5 million copies in one year, making it the best selling novel of the 1800s.