 They were "surrounded by crowds of angry farmers armed with clubs, scythes, and other farm implements", resisting their attempt.The raids failed to accomplish their objective but strengthened Southern demands for passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required residents and law enforcement even in free states to support capture of refugee slaves, and increased penalties for failure to do so.Biased toward slaveholders and slavecatchers, it required little documentation and put free blacks at risk for capture and sale into slavery.