In Jackson, a sermon delivered at the Congregational Church on October 13, 1850 by Reverend Gustavius Foster on obedience to authority became explosive when he applied it to the Fugitive Slave Law, which required Americans to assist in returning runaway slaves to their owners. In an area where many Christians were active in or morally supportive of the Underground Railway, Charles Deland, editor of Jackson’s American Citizen newspaper, obtained a transcript and printed it the next day. Foster had asked whether he should obey or disobey the law and advocated bold violation of it, a position that outraged some citizens even though most northerners were hostile to the law. Deland later played a key role in organizing the new Republican Party, serving as secretary for the call that summoned Michigan citizens to the historic July 8, 1854 meeting in Jackson. That call denounced the triumph of slave power, the violation of the Missouri Compromise, the opening of territory to slavery, and further aggressions against freedom, and invited citizens regardless of former political associations to unite in mass convention against the encroachment of slavery. Ultimately, that party sounded the death knell for laws supporting the institution of slavery.