Underground Railroad

By the early 1800s the North had essentially abolished slavery . In the South, however, slavery was becoming more crucial to the cotton -producing economy and showed no sign of fading out on its own. While political opponents in the North and South negotiated and argued about slavery, slaves increasingly sought freedom by running away. Most fled to the North, often with assistance from Northern sympathizers. In 1850 Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which required Northern states to return runaway slaves and established harsh penalties for individuals assisting runaways. Antislavery forces in the North responded by creating the Underground Railroad.

The secret network

The Underground Railroad was neither a railroad nor underground. It was a hidden network of people who agreed to help runaway slaves. Operating largely in darkness and disguise, free blacks with assistance from sympathetic Northerners provided direction, food, and shelter for those seeking freedom in the North or in Canada. The system was coded in railroad terminology for secrecy. The various escape routes were called lines, the hiding places were called stations, and the people who helped to transport escapees along the way were called conductors. The escaped slaves were called packages or freight. The escapees on the Underground Railroad traveled any way they could—by foot, small boat, or covered wagon. Some were even shipped in boxes by rail or sea. Stations consisted of hiding places in people's homes and businesses, such as barns, cellars, attics, and secret rooms. The most heavily used routes were through Indiana , Ohio , and western Pennsylvania .

Because of the secret nature of the Underground Railroad, no records were kept, but it is estimated that it provided an escape route for fifty thousand to a hundred thousand slaves during its years of operation. Due to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, many runaway slaves tried to escape to Canada, where they would be safe from U.S. law-enforcement officials and fugitive-slave hunters who could not cross the international border. A particularly common destination for many was southern Ontario, with the Suspension Bridge at Niagara Falls serving as a well-used border crossing.

Famous conductors

Historians believe that only about three thousand people actually served as conductors or otherwise assisted on the Underground Railroad. Many people associated with the Underground Railroad became well known, most notably Harriet Tubman (c. 1820–1913). A former slave herself who escaped via the Underground Railroad, Tubman traveled to the South on nineteen occasions in the 1850s. She reportedly helped three hundred slaves through her own action. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896), who wrote the antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin assisted fugitive slaves in Cincinnati, Ohio. Levi Coffin (1798–1877), a Quaker in Indiana, assisted more than three thousand slaves. Frederick Douglass (c. 1817–1895) a fugitive slave who rose to prominence as an eloquent spokesperson for the abolitionists, used his newspaper offices as a station on the Underground Railroad, helping countless runaway slaves on their road to freedom.