The third chapter explores slave flight to spaces of semi-formal freedom in the antebellum North. It analyzes why freedom seekers sought to risk their lives to escape the South rather than flee to nearby spaces of informal freedom; how they did so; their settlement processes; and how they fared in the legal quagmire of rendition and reenslavement. It begins with an examination of enslaved people's perilous northbound journeys, emphasizing the particular reasons some freedom seekers sought free soil and some semblance of legal freedom from slavery. It then delves into refugees' experiences settling in and sustaining themselves in the northern states, with an emphasis on their integration into northern free black communities. The chapter concludes with an extensive discussion of the ambiguous legal status of fugitive slaves in the Northern United States and how conflicts over legal rights and the conditions for rendition developed over time, often stimulating mass civil disobedience to federal fugitive slave laws and de facto protection from reenslavement.

takes a deeper examination of the dynamics that produce advancements in progressive state citizenship, with cases from both the historical and contemporary periods: the two-decade push for driver’s licenses in California and New York, the timing and spread of state sanctuary laws on immigration since 2005, and a historical examination of Black state citizenship in the antebellum North. Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) of policy change, the authors argue that some of the most notable legislative advancements in progressive state citizenship have occurred because of the intersection of two key factors: state advocacy coalitions that unite strong social movement actors and legislative champions alike, combined with policy openings created by federalism tensions. The chapter concludes by offering thoughts on the future of progressive state citizenship in a politically polarized United States.