What do you think Slave Patrols were...? Security to enforce private property. Slaves were property. Runaway slaves might be property that stole itself, effectively, but it's the same thing.
And also, the slave patrol link has much stronger ties in the southern states where slavery was more prominent. That's not to say it didn't happen in the north, of course it did, but it happened more in the south, the south's economy was near dependent upon both the slave trade and the massive amounts of free-at-point-of-use human labor that supplemented their agricultural industries. That's why the civil war happened and don't start with me about how it wasn't about slavery, the confederate constitution lays out in black and white (beige?) that it was absolutely, definitely about slavery. The south's economy would've utterly collapsed with total abolition.
Slavery was not free. The slaver still had to guard, feed, house, and provide medical care. Contrary to common belief, the only industry where it was profitable to use slaves was cotton. (One reason the South failed to industrialize.) One of the problems the South had was even that was becoming steadily less profitable.
The US became the dominant economic power of the world because of free (as in freedom) labor.
And also, the slave patrol link has much stronger ties in the southern states where slavery was more prominent. That's not to say it didn't happen in the north, of course it did, but it happened more in the south, the south's economy was near dependent upon both the slave trade and the massive amounts of free-at-point-of-use human labor that supplemented their agricultural industries. That's why the civil war happened and don't start with me about how it wasn't about slavery, the confederate constitution lays out in black and white (beige?) that it was absolutely, definitely about slavery. The south's economy would've utterly collapsed with total abolition.